Cycle of Violence
Israel and Palestine
Much of the violence is under-reported leaving a distorted picture of the cycle of violence. From the start of the roadmap process, this blog will try to catalog any violence resulting in deaths on either side, as well as the number of wounded with one entry per event. It also includes violence against peace activists and charitable volunteers. Prior violence is cataloged for context only.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
"All the research so far suggests they shot civilians that were leaving their homes with white flags."
������ : Information Clearing House - ICH:
Israeli Troops Killed Gaza Children Carrying White Flag, witnesses say | By Dion Nissenbaum
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More than 70 members of his family crowded into one apartment for days. On Jan. 7, Abed Rabbo said, the shelling intensified, and they heard an Israeli solider calling for people to come out of their homes.

Abed Rabbo said he gathered his wife, their three daughters and his mother, Souad. Souad Abed Rabbo said that she tied a white robe around a mop handle and two of her granddaughters waved white headscarves as they walked outside.

When they opened the door, they saw an Israeli tank parked in their garden about 10 yards away.

"We were waiting for them to give us an order," Khaled said last week as he stood in the ruins of his home. "Then one came out of the tank and started to shoot."

Souad Abed Rabbo said she was shot as she pushed her son back inside and her granddaughters fell on the stairs. When the shooting was over, she said, 2-year-old Amal and 7-year-old Souad were dead.

The allegation is one of at least five such white flag incidents that human rights investigators are looking into across the Gaza Strip. It's part of a growing pattern of alleged abuses that have raised concerns that some Israeli soldiers may have committed war crimes during their 22-day military campaign in Gaza.

"The evidence we've gathered in two of the cases so far is exceedingly strong," said Fred Abrahams, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch working in the Gaza Strip. "All the research so far suggests they shot civilians that were leaving their homes with white flags." ...
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The concept of 'Jewish morality' is truly dead. We can be fascists, terrorists, and Nazis just like everybody else.
The destruction, the trauma, is even greater than I expected. | The Progressive: "
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Out of all the devastation I have seen so far, there is one story in particular that I think the world needs to hear. I met a mother who was at home with her ten children when Israeli soldiers entered the house. The soldiers told her she had to choose five of her children to 'give as a gift to Israel.' As she screamed in horror they repeated the demand and told her she could choose or they would choose for her. Then these soldiers murdered five of her children in front of her. The concept of 'Jewish morality' is truly dead. We can be fascists, terrorists, and Nazis just like everybody else."
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Justifying War Crimes
������ : Information Clearing House - ICH: "Justifying War Crimes"
YouTube - Baroness Tonge: "Israel stands accused of war crimes witnessed by the whole world"
YouTube - Baroness Tonge: "Israel stands accused of war crimes witnessed by the whole world": "Baroness Tonge: 'Israel stands accused of war crimes witnessed by the whole world'"
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"... with the US turning it's usual blind eye ..."
Israel admits using white phosphorous in attacks on Gaza
21st Century America The Times | January 24, 2009
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The incident in question is thought to be the firing of phosphorus shells at a UN school in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip on January 17. The weapon is legal if used as a smokescreen in battle but it is banned from deployment in civilian areas. Pictures of the attack show Palestinian medics fleeing as blobs of burning phosphorus rain down on the compound. ...
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CHANGING TUNE

January 5 The Times reports that telltale smoke has appeared from areas of shelling. Israel denies using phosphorus

January 8 The Times reports photographic evidence showing stockpiles of white phosphorus (WP) shells. Israel Defence Forces spokesman says: “This is what we call a quiet shell – it has no explosives and no white phosphorus”

January 12 The Times reports that more than 50 phosphorus burns victims are taken into Nasser Hospital. An Israeli military spokesman “categorically” denies the use of white phosphorus

January 15 Remnants of white phosphorus shells are found in western Gaza. The IDF refuses to comment on specific weaponry but insists ammunition is “within the scope of international law”

January 16 The United Nations Relief and Works Agency headquarters are hit with phosphorus munitions. The Israeli military continues to deny its use

January 21 Avital Leibovich, Israel’s military spokeswoman, admits white phosphorus munitions were employed in a manner “according to international law”

January 23 Israel says it is launching an investigation into white phosphorus munitions, which hit a UN school on January 17. “Some practices could be illegal but we are going into that. The IDF is holding an investigation concerning one specific unit and one incident” Source: Times database

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