ISRAEL SUGGESTS 18 MONTH TRUCE - HAMAS LOWERS IT TO 12

Taken from: http://www.zionism-israel.com/israel_news/

Hamas wants 1 year truce, Israel wants 18 months

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/01/hamas-wants-1-year-truce-israel-wants.html

Last update - 19:26 25/01/2009

Hamas: Israel proposes 18-month Gaza truce, but we insist on just one year
By News Agencies

A Hamas official said Sunday that Israel has proposed to Egyptian mediators an 18-month cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, but the Islamist group - which controls the coastal territory - is insisting on a truce of just one year.

"Hamas listened to the Israeli proposal presented by [Defense Ministry official] Amos Gilad, and with it a proposal for a ceasefire for a year and a half, but Hamas presented a counterproposal of one year only," Ayman Taha told reporters in Cairo after talks with Egyptian intelligence officials.

Jerusalem has not yet released information on the results of Gilad's meeting in Egypt.

Taha reiterated the group's calls for a lifting of the blockade imposed on the impoverished and devastated Gaza Strip by Israel and Egypt as a condition for the truce. "[Hamas] called for a complete lifting of the blockade and an opening of all the crossings," Taha said.

Hamas proposed to Egyptian mediators that European and Turkish monitors be present at the border crossings, but rejected the presence of Israeli monitors, saying Israeli monitoring was "a large part of the problem," according to Taha.

Asked if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's forces would be present at the crossings, Taha said: "Hamas is the existing government in Gaza."

Hamas wrested control of the Gaza Strip from Abbas's Fatah faction in fighting in 2007. Egypt has ruled out opening the Rafah crossing in the absence of the Palestinian Authority and European Union observers.

Commenting on the talks, Hamas's representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, told Al Jazeera satellite television on Sunday that Hamas was unwilling to alter its positions to Israel's benefit.

"The Israelis must understand that they will not achieve through politics what they failed to do militarily," Hamdan said.

Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip in late December with the declared aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks on its southern communities. About 1,300 Palestinians, at least 700 of them civilians, were killed during the 22-day offensive, while Israel put its death toll at 10 soldiers and three civilians.

Hamas: No reconciliation with Fatah until it ends Israel peace talks

Hamas official Hamdan also said Sunday that Fatah movement must end peace negotiations with Israel before any reconciliation talks can take place.

The remarks were bound to complicate Arab efforts to reconcile Hamas, which controls Gaza, and the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

Speaking at a rally in Beirut Sunday, Hamdan - a close ally of Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal - said that the group welcomed Palestinian dialogue, but any reconciliation should be based on a resistance program to liberate territory and regain rights.

He also demanded that the PA end security coordination with Israel, and maintained that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process had ended.

"Those who committed mistakes must correct their mistakes through a clear and frank declaration to stop security coordination with the [Israeli] occupation, release [Hamas] prisoners and later end negotiations [with Israel] because the peace process is irreversibly over," said Hamdan.

"It's time for us to talk about a reconciliation based on a resistance program to liberate the [occupied] territory and regain rights," he added.

Hamas: No mediated truce unless Gaza borders opened

Earlier Sunday, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that the Islamist militant group would not accept any mediated truce agreement with Israel in Gaza unless Israel reopened the Palestinian territory's border crossings.

Barhoum made the comments ahead of talks with Egyptian officials on means to reopen the Gaza border, largely closed since the group violently took over Gaza in June 2007.

"We are not going to accept less than opening the borders ... and lifting the sanctions," said the spokesman, adding that discussions would address a detailed cease-fire agreement.

The issue of the crossings is key to preserving the cease-fire declared after Israel's 3-week offensive against Hamas in Gaza. Israel, the United States and Egypt are trying to work out security arrangements to ensure Hamas does not smuggle weapons into the strip before any opening.

Another Hamas spokesman, Ayman Taha, told London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper Saturday that his group wants European Union and Turkish troops to patrol Gaza's border crossings with Israel.

"We reject an open-ended cease-fire, but temporary calm with guarantees can be discussed," he also said, without specifying how long.

A low-level delegation from Hamas' rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' West Bank-based government, is also in Cairo for talks, but is not expected to meet with the Hamas envoys.

Asharq Al-Awsat also reported Saturday that Hamas had suggested representatives of the Palestinian Authority be stationed at the Rafah crossing, but that they be residents of Gaza, not the West Bank.

Israel has been allowing some supply convoys into Gaza, though its borders remain largely closed. The Israel Defense Forces says more than 125 trucks a day - on some days nearly 200 - have entered Gaza since fighting ended on January 17th, but aid workers say the numbers are not enough.

Hacks not happy with Hamas

Sunday, January 25 2009

IFJ Slams Hamas Press Restrictions

The International Federation Of Journalists has slammed Hamas.
IFJ's Aiden White:

“In Gaza we found evidence of intimidation by Hamas. This is completely unacceptable. We understand that humanitarian help to media including safety vests for journalists in danger have been seized and confiscated. This is intolerable,” said White.

Another IFJ press release states:

"The last month has been hell for journalists working in Gaza, "said Aidan White. "It is impossible to properly investigate the media situation in Gaza without considering the difficulties facing journalists, particularly because of the Hamas regime. It is clear that Hamas are no friends of media freedom and have been ruthless in their intimidation and manipulation of the media. The situation of journalists in Gaza was already intolerable without military activity and this latest conflict has not made it any better. The IFJ is particularly concerned by Hamas' attempts to interfere in the work of Palestinian journalists. Now that the violence has stopped, it is time for all sides, including Hamas, to allow journalists to work freely."

The BBC Under Fire

Within the space of a day, a huge row has erupted involving the BBC.


Unlike ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, the BBC has refused to air a public appeal for aid to Gaza.
BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons voiced concern that comments made by politicians are coming close to "undue interference" in the BBC's editorial independence.

He said that the judgment on whether the broadcast should be shown was not for the Trust, which oversees the Corporation on behalf of the public, but for the BBC's senior editorial executives, led by director general Mark Thompson.

On Friday night, Mr Thompson rejected a plea from International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander to screen the appeal.

"After consultation with senior news editors, we concluded that to broadcast a free-standing appeal, no matter how carefully couched, ran the risk of calling into question the public's confidence in the BBC's impartiality in its coverage of the story as a whole," he said.

Thousands of British people have marched through London in protest at this. A motion has been tabled in the House Of Commons for next week. But perhaps most bizarrely, the BBC is now being blamed for 'increasing the misery' of the Palestinians...!

Justice minister Shahid Malik, who was Britain's first Muslim minister, said:"Sadly, across the globe the BBC's decision will be viewed as one which inflicts still further misery on the beleaguered and suffering people of Gaza. "

So let's get this straight. The Palestinians elect Hamas, knowing it is a terrorist group that aims to kill all Israeli Jews. Hamas then spends several years terrorising Israeli and murdering Israeli civilians by way of suicide bombings and missile attacks. Finally Israel retaliates.


And now the BBC is to blame for what the Palestinians are suffering???


Well, I guess it makes a change from blaming Israel!


Seems that Britain is determined to blame everyone and everything but the Palestinians themselves.

It's also worth noting that when Israelis were being killed by Hamas, and Israeli schools and hospitals and towns were being destroyed, the world didn't give a damn, much less run public appeals for aid.

I'm no fan of the BBC, but if they do stick to their guns on this one, I will salute them.


If.

Here are links to some films well worth watching, courtesy of http://www.honestreporting.com Download

Shedding Light on the Gaza ‘Siege’ Flash Film Time: 2 minutes Date: June 2008 Subject: Who is really responsible for the suffering in Gaza? Are the media telling the truth when they blame Israel?

Download

Cycle of Violence? Flash Film Time: 2 minutes Date: March 2008 Subject: Israel's attempts to defend herself should never be equated with Palestinian acts of terrorism. There is no cycle of violence.

Download

Seven Years on the Front Lines Flash Film Time: 2 minutes December 2007 Subject: HonestReporting has been fighting media bias for seven years. See what a difference we can make together.

Download

New Media, Same Old Bias Flash Film Time: 98 seconds September 2007 Subject: Millions of people now get their news through the Internet. HonestReporting has developed a variety of cutting edge tools to promote fair and accurate reporting about the Middle East — wherever people get their information.

Relentless "Relentless" is an important documentary for anyone interested in learning the truth about the Middle East conflict. – Alan Dershowitz American civil rights libertarian, Harvard University law professor, Leading Defence Attorney, and Author of "The Case for Israel"

Download

15 Seconds Flash Film Time: 90 seconds June 2007 Subject: In Sderot, children have just 15 seconds to take cover. Is the media covering this story accurately?

Download

Are There Two Sides to Every Story? Flash Film Time: 90 seconds March 2007 Subject: Israeli construction in Jerusalem's Old City is both legal and in accordance with international standards. So why do the media keep repeating unfounded claims?

Download

Demand Accuracy Flash Film Time: 2 minutes December 2006 Subject: HonestReporting's look back at the media's coverage of Israel in 2006.

Download

Back To School Flash Film Time: 90 seconds September 2006 Subject: As Palestinian children head back to school, are they being educated for peace or for violence?

Download

Disproportionate Flash Film Time: 2.5 minutes September 2006 Subject: Was it the Israeli military response to terror or the media's coverage of the conflict itself that was "Disproportionate"?

Download

Lebanon: Myths and Facts Flash Film Time: 2.5 minutes August 2006 Subject: A brief overview of the myths and facts surrounding Israel’s 2006 conflict with Hezbollah.

Download

Stand Up Flash Film Time: 90 Seconds September 2005 Subject: A call to action for fair treatment in the media regarding the use of the word "terror" and the portrayal of terrorism in Israel.

Download

How Far Will They Go Flash Film Time: 60 seconds August 2005 Subject: The media's portrayal of synagogue desecration after the Gaza withdrawal.

Download

Five Years on the Front Lines Flash Film Time: 2 Minutes April 2005 Subject: A brief overview of HonestReporting's first five years

Download

Arafat's Dark Legacy Flash Film Time: 60 seconds November, 2004 Subject: A brief overview of Arafat's Dark Legacy

The UN: doing sweet F A for Israel

The UN members must be really enjoying themselves at present. After all, we know they love nothing more than the chance to unfairly demonise Israel. This week, they are gleefully accusing Israel of 'war crimes'.

It's almost redundant to point out that this is absurd. Israel targetted terrorists and went to great lengths to warn before hitting buildings, so that innocents had the chance to escape. It was Hamas that had a nasty habit of shooting Palestinians in the legs to stop them escaping the Israeli assaults.

And where, you might wonder, are the UN condemnations of Hamas terrorism...?

Here is a great piece from http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/

"Here is a list of war crimes and grave violations of humanitarian law that are not only well known but many of which Hamas openly admits to and brags about:

• Deliberately targeting civilians
  
• Attacking from within civilian areas and civilian structures, including hospitals and mosques
• Using humanitarian symbols for attacks, such as by transporting terrorists in ambulances
• Direct and public incitement to genocide
• The systematic attacks against civilians upgrades that war crime into a crime against humanity
• The recruitment of children into the conflict
• Firing at the enemy while wearing civilian clothes
• Wearing the uniforms of the enemy
• Shooting rockets with phosphorus payloads deliberately at civilians
• Not adhering to international standards on the treatment of prisoners of war
• Immediate execution of alleged "collaborators" without a trial
• Deliberately placing military targets, such as weapons caches and rocket launchers, among civilians
  

The worst I could find that the UN has said about Hamas was that rocket attacks against civilian targets are "unlawful." Usually the word "Hamas" is barely mentioned in these statements. No, the rocket attacks against civilians are "unlawful," sort of like jaywalking, and they happen by themselves being mentioned in a passive voice.

When will we be seeing the UN accusing Hamas of the obvious war crimes they have committed? When will we see UN officials call numerous press conferences that accuse Palestinian Arab groups of war crimes without mentioning Israel? When will we see committees set up for the purpose of investigating exposing Arab terror alone?

Only when the UN does so can we possibly entertain the idea that the UN is an honest, evenhanded organization that is truly concerned with violations of war crimes. Not by them mentioning as an aside that Hamas also does some not-so-nice things which do not justify Israel's actions, but when they focus on the many Arab terrorist war crimes exclusively as they have focused on Israel.

As it is, the UN in this context is simply a hate organization with a single-minded goal on vilifying the Jewish state alone."

Well said!

OK, this is getting seriously surreal.

Anyone who suffers through British coverage of the middle east will know that the bias against Israel is astonishing. Israeli fatalities are ignored, opinions are presented as 'facts' and deadly Iranian missiles that Hamas lobs into Israel are dismissed as 'firecrackers'.

Yet today, the BBC is actually being accused of PRO Israel bias!

A row has broken out after the BBC refused to screen an appeal for Gaza. The national broadcaster said it had rejected the ad as it might harm the BBC's reputation for 'impartiality' and because it could not be sure humanitarian aid would reach the needy in the chaotic territory.

The ad has also been turned down by numerous private investors.

International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said the BBC had made the wrong decision. And - brace yourselves - Health Minister Ben Bradshaw called the BBC's decision inexplicable and accused the publicly funded broadcaster of being cowed by the Israeli government...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"I am afraid the BBC has to stand up to the Israeli authorities occasionally," Bradshaw said.

BBC director-general Mark Thompson said the Gaza crisis was "an ongoing and highly controversial news story." He said the BBC had decided "that to broadcast a free-standing appeal, no matter how carefully couched, ran the risk of calling into question the public's confidence in the BBC's impartiality in its coverage of the story as a whole.

Will the BBC stand firm?

Place your bets, please.

On a more serious note, Bradshaw's pathetic comment that the BBC is scared of the Israeli government has echoes of that old, weary, anti semitic refrain; 'the jews control the media'....

Shame on him.

Obama: wonderful friend to Hamas

Five minutes after becoming President and already Obama is willing to risk Israeli lives. He has now apparently told Israel that she 'must' open the border with Gaza. Oh, and never mind about all those crazed Hamas terrorists that love nothing better than strolling across said border, into Israel, with explosives strapped to their waists.

Hamas, has stated that 'Israel has until Sunday to open the border'.

Or what...?

Since when do America and a an Islamic terrorist group get to decide what happens with Israeli borders...?

We already know that Hamas has seized control of the tunnels through which arms from Iran get smuggled into Gaza via Egypt. Israel desperately tried to destroy them but recent reports suggest there may be 'thousands' of such tunnels.

Mind you, should we be that surprised at Obama's solidarity with Hamas? After all his very first phone call to a foreign leader was placed not to any of America's customary allies, but to the head of Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas is a member of terrorist group PLO as well. How gratified he must have been, to have the new president of America placing him first on his list of people to chat to!

Obama has also stated that he is 'deeply concerned' about the loss of life in Gaza. No mention at all of the thousands of Israelis who have died at the hands of Hamas.

A large majority of American Jews voted for Obama.

I can only imagine they are now shaking their heads and muttering a collective 'Oy vey...'

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=83365&sectionid=3510203

When Bombs Are More Precious Than Children

Ever seen a music video which teaches that bombs are more precious than children?


Probably not.


But Palestinians in Gaza are seeing it. Palestinian *children*, to be specific. For this is what appears in a Hamas video. A five year old girl discovers that her mother was a suicide bomber, and then sings:

"Now I know what was more precious than us."

She then swears to follow in her mother's footsteps

- as a suicide bomber.

And sadly, this is not unique. Rather, it is merely one in an array of vile messages appearing regularly on Hamas TV. The sole purpose is to 'teach' children the Hamas values.


A few other choice gems appearing on Hamas TV including:

a music video depicting a boy's transition from childhood to adulthood, climaxing in his heroic Martyrdom death; a puppet show promising world Islamic supremacy, death of infidels and the conversion of the White House into a mosque; and a talk show segment featuring kindergarten kids marching in military formation, brandishing weapons and calling for Jihad and Martyrdom.

To view the actual film and read more, check out http://www.pmw.org.il/Bulletins_Jan2009.htm#b110109

What Hamas Doesn't Want You To See

Here's the one thing that you'll never see on the BBC or indeed any British news channel: footage of Israeli soldiers playing with and helping Palestinian children. It's a total contrast to what we're told about events in Gaza. Compare it with what comes later on in this clip - the masked Hamas terrorists preparing their deadly missiles, destined for Israeli civilian areas.


http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WxTHL9NYgOk


Hamas doesn't want you to see any of this.

And strangely, nor does the British media.

BBC - biased broadcasting corporation?

Is the BBC now actually being run by Hamas?

I ask this because the far from neutral news channel has now gone way beyond bias and is actually little more than a mouthpiece for the terrorist group. Check out its comments on Hamas:

"Branded a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US and the EU, it is seen by its supporters as a legitimate fighting force defending Palestinians from a brutal military occupation".

Er, hello??? The BBC is determined to make it sound as though defining Hamas as 'terrorists' is a mere matter of subjective opinion! In fact, it is objective, verifiable reality that Hamas openly states it aims to kill Jews across the globe and, certainly, leave the middle east 'bathed in jewish blood'.

Hamas publicly boasts about using human shields, as well as training children as young as four to hate Jews. Indeed, the highest honour that Hamas affords anyone is that they become a 'shahid' or 'martyr to allah' - in other words, that they die during a suicide mission in Israel. Or as most sane beings would put it: TERRORISM.

Not content with trying to sanitize Hamas, the BBC is now also quite happy to MISstate history:

"Hamas also has a long-term aim of establishing an Islamic state on all of historic Palestine - most of which has been contained within Israel's borders since its creation in 1948."


This is utter rubbish. Quite apart from anything else, Jordan takes up 82% of what was Palestine, and was established years before Israel. But the BBC is now clearly so determined to demonise Israel and justify Palestinian terrorism, that it doesn't balk at totally fabricating history.

If you want to read more partisan garbage which is being presented as 'fact', then follow this link to the BBC. Better make sure you have a bucket on standby, for if you're anything like me, you'll experience a violent need to vomit after spending more than ten minutes reading the Palestinian Propaganda at this site.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1654510.stm

Amazing Israelis

It's sadly predictable that the world media is ignoring how Israeli victims of Hamas terrorism are themselves trying to help the Palestinians in Gaza, in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead.

Hundreds of Israelis, many from rocket-battered communities in southern Israel, are mobilizing to help suffering civilians on the opposite side of the border.

What started on Thursday as the private initiative of Lee Ziv, an activist in peace organizations, and Hadas Balas, a student at Sderot's Sapir Academic College - has developed into a countrywide drive to help Palestinian civilians.

"There is no connection to politics," said Ziv. "We don't represent a side, we just see an immediate need for blankets for people who have nothing to cover them at night and milk for infants who have nothing to eat."

Since a radio interview on Sunday morning, Ziv said her phone had been ringing non stop: "Within two minutes of the interview, I had 40 voice messages. The response has been overwhelming. Schools have called asking how they can help. A father called who had three sons serving in the IDF in Gaza. A woman called who had a mortar fall on her house."

Four drop-off points have been established around the country, in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem and Kibbutz Kfar Aza, just kilometers from the Gaza border.

The Kfar Aza drop-off point is run by kibbutz resident Eyal Mazliah, director of the Hillel Jewish campus organization at nearby Sapir College.

The college's Hillel had "spent the past month gathering equipment for bomb shelters and running activities for children on our side of the border," Mazliah said. "When [Ziv and Balas] approached us for help, we already had many blankets and coats collected."

On Friday, mortars landed inside Mazliah's small kibbutz. Yet she still wishes to help the Palestinians, the very people who elected Hamas?

"Look, even when your windows shake at night from the rocket attacks, you can see across the border that Gaza is dark for a month," he explains. "You feel the humanitarian situation. Most people here say Hamas brought this upon them, but we're still talking about children who we will have to live with in the future. The people who are closest to this should do the most. It's a basic humanitarian act."

Hillel volunteers "have been moving from bomb shelter to bomb shelter almost 24 hours a day for the past month," Mazliah said. "Now, with the limitations forced upon us, we have the privilege of helping civilians who are hostages of Hamas on the other side."

The organizers are careful to keep the initiative apolitical, refusing to divulge the names of groups that are helping to collect supplies. But they add that they are coordinating with official channels.

"The only way to get this stuff into Gaza is through the UN and the IDF, and of course they are part of this," said Ziv.

(source: Jerusalem Post)

Please feel free to copy and paste this story, and submit it to online forums, as well as British newspapers, especially the Guardian and Independent. And of course, the BBC...

White Phosphorus

The world has been quick to accept as fact, allegations that Israel has 'illegally' used white phosphorus in Gaza. In particular, Human Rights Watch has jumped on this bandwagon and condemned Israel for employing 'unlawful' methods and weapons. This charge was swiftly repeated by the Guardian, The Times, Christian Science Monitor and CNN.

Shame they didn't bother to do a bit of decent fact-checking first, isn't it?

The International Red Cross has openly stated there is no evidence to suggest that Israel has used white phosphorus in any manner that is unlawful.

As the AP reports:

"In some of the strikes in Gaza it's pretty clear that phosphorus was used," [Peter] Herby told The Associated Press. "But it's not very unusual to use phosphorus to create smoke or illuminate a target. We have no evidence to suggest it's being used in any other way."

Herby said that using phosphorus to illuminate a target or create smoke is legitimate under international law, and that there was no evidence the Jewish state was intentionally using phosphorus in a questionable way, such as burning down buildings or consciously putting civilians at risk.

And there's more, because white phosphorus has been used as a weapon against civilians during this conflict - by Hamas. On Tuesday a mortar shell fired from Gaza into Israel contained white phosphorus. As the regional council's security chief said: "the potential danger of using such a rocket is enormous. It is far more dangerous than other Qassam rockets and mortal shells. This is an escalation in the type of explosives the Palestinians use on civilians."

So will Human Rights Watch condemn this attack by Hamas, as swiftly and energetically as it wrongly condemned Israel? Call me cynical, but I'm guessing not. Feel free to share your concern over this bias by emailing your thoughts to hrwnyc@hrw.org.

A Strange Silence

Hamas has been very busy since Israeli forces left Gaza. Not with trying to help the Palestinians who are now homeless, but rather, with turning on any fellow Palestinians who support rival group Fatah.


Yet strangely, as Hamas swiftly executes, maims and tortures numerous Palestinians, the world falls silent.

Where are all the rallies and protests?

Where are all the celebs who only last week, were marching through London declaring 'We're all Hamas now' and simultaneously labelling Israel as 'evil' for its actions in Gaza...?

And where are all the news stories with their images of dead Palestinians who have been killed by Hamas?

Where have they all gone?

It seems that Palestinians murdering Palestinians is, well, rather boring. Not nearly as newsworthy as when Israelis regretfully kill Palestinians while trying to defeat Hamas. Talk about a double standard.

And we're not talking about a few random murders by Hamas. No. Hamas has murdered dozens of Fatah members in the Gaza Strip for merely violating the Hamas-imposed house arrest. Palestinian daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida the atrocities, which also included shooting people in the legs, has created a backlash in the West Bank.

Popular Palestinian singer, Jamal Najar, has condemned Hamas as "gangs of anarchic security forces," describing how Hamas murdered his cousin right in front of his children for simply stepping outside. [PA TV (Fatah)]

The following are excerpts from the article in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida and the transcript of the words of Jamal Najar:

Headline: "Reports of persecutions and liquidation of Fatah members by Hamas members evoke anxiety and condemnation in the West Bank."

Reports mentioning liquidations of Fatah members in the Gaza Strip by members of Hamas evoked popular condemnation which was added yesterday to the erupting anger, which influenced the level of popular activities carried out in solidarity with the Gaza residents in the towns Ramallah and El-Bira.

The reports from Gaza pointed out the death of dozens of Fatah members caused by Hamas members. A prominent leader stated that isolated random incidents of murder have occurred, but ruled out that this is a case of organized persecution.

Wafa A-Najar, Gaza resident who lives in the town El-Bira, said that her father was killed the day before yesterday and nine of her family members were injured by shooting by Hamas, among them were three small children and two young people in critical condition...

According to the family's story, a squad belonging to Hamas came to her family's house in [the] Sheikh Radwan [neighborhood] in Gaza and shot at the legs of young Badran A-Najar, claiming that he was violating the house arrest which was imposed on him, at the time when he was sitting with his cousins in front of the house...

A prominent leader in the Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip, Ibrahim Abu A-Naja, ruled out that this is a case of persecution by some organization, which aims at Fatah, however he pointed out that "a number of isolated incidents [of murder]" had occurred, as has been reported by the Israeli media...

Abu A-Naja called for Hamas to halt any step which provides Israel the opportunity to attack us...

Groups within the Fatah movement in the West Bank estimated that more than a hundred of its people in the Gaza Strip had been exposed to persecution, shooting, and liquidation."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Fatah), Jan. 9, 2009]

Jamal Najar, popular Palestinian singer:
"I express my condolences to my cousins, some of them were killed yesterday by the gangs of the anarchic [Hamas] security forces in the Gaza Strip... The father was killed right in front of his children, because he didn't stay at home, after they placed him under house arrest, he and everyone who belongs to Fatah."
[PA TV (Fatah) Jan. 6, 2009]

Double Standard Extraordinnaire

I am reproducing here a slightly abbreviated article by Alan Dershowitz, one of Israel's most articulate supporters. (bits highlighted in bold emphasised here and not in original). For those who want to read the entire piece, just click on his name.

The Israel Exception

By Alan M. Dershowitz


Every time Israel seeks to defend its civilians against terrorist attacks, it is accused of war crimes by various United Nations agencies, hard left academics and some in the media. It is a totally phony charge concocted as part of Hamas strategy—supported by many on the hard left—to demonize the Jewish state.

Israel is the only democracy in the world ever accused of war crimes when it fights a defensive war to protect its civilians. This is remarkable, especially in light of the fact that Israel has killed far fewer civilians than any other country in the world that has faced comparable threats.

In the most recent war in Gaza fewer than a thousand civilians—even by Hamas skewed count—have been killed. This, despite the fact that no one can now deny that Hamas had employed a deliberate policy of using children, schools, mosques, apartment buildings and other civilian areas as shields from behind which to launch its deadly anti-personnel rockets. The Israeli Air Force has produced unchallengeable video evidence of this Hamas war crime.

Just to take one comparison, consider the recent wars waged by Russia against Chechnya. In these wars Russian troops have killed tens of thousands of Chechnyan civilians, some of them willfully, at close range and in cold blood.

Yet those radical academics who scream bloody murder against Israel (particularly in England) have never called for war crime tribunals to be convened against Russia. Nor have they called for war crime charges to be filed against any other of the many countries that routinely kill civilians, not in an effort to stop enemy terrorists, but just because it is part of their policy.

Nor did we see the Nuremburg-type rallies that were directed against Israel when hundreds of thousands of civilians were being murdered in Rwanda, in Darfur and in other parts of the world. These bigoted hate-fests are reserved for Israel.

The accusation of war crimes is nothing more than a tactic selectively invoked by Israel’s enemies. Those who cry “war crime” against Israel don’t generally care about war crimes, as such, indeed they often support them when engaged in by country’s they like. What these people care about, and all they seem to care about, is Israel. Whatever Israel does is wrong regardless of the fact that so many other countries do worse.

When I raised this concern in a recent debate, my opponent accused me of changing the subject. He said we are talking about Israel now, not Chechnya or Darfur.

Well, you can’t just talk about Jews. Nor can you just talk about the Jewish state. Any discussion of war crimes must be comparative and contextual. If Russia did not commit war crimes when its soldiers massacred tens of thousands of Chechnyans (not even in a defensive war) then on what basis could Israel be accused of accidentally killing a far fewer number of human shields in an effort to protect its civilians? What are the standards? Why are they not being applied equally or selectively?

Can human rights endure in the face of such unequal and selective application? These are the questions the international community should be debating, not whether Israel, and Israel alone, violated the norms of that vaguest of notions called “international law” or the “law of war.”

If Israel, and Israel alone among democracies fighting defensive wars, were ever to be charged with “war crimes,” that would mark the end of international human rights law as a neutral arbitrator of conduct. Any international tribunal that were to charge Israel, having not charged the many nations that have done far worse, will lose any remaining legitimacy among fair-minded people of good will,

If the laws of war in particular, and international human rights in general, are to endure, they must be applied to nations in order of the seriousness of the violations, not in order of the political unpopularity of the nations. If the law of war were applied in this manner, Israel would be among the last, and certainly not the first, charged.

---

Alan M. Dershowitz is a Professor of Law at Harvard. His most recent book The Case Against Israel’s Enemies: Exposing Jimmy Carter and Others Who Stand In The Way of Peace is being published by Wiley at the end of this month.

What Really Went On In Gaza

Did Britain take reporters into Iraq? No.

How about Afghanistan? No. Of course not.

No sane nation allows journalists into a war zone. Yet Israel has been condemned for not permitting foreign media into Gaza, during her attempts to destroy the Hamas terrorist bases there. Once again, the Jewish state is expected to do things that no other country ever is. The hypocrisy is astonishing.

For if reporters had been granted access, and any of them killed in the crossfire, we know just who would have been blamed, don't we? Yep, got it in one: Israel.

Now that the 'ceasefire' is in place, though, and journalists have arrived in Gaza, it's intriguing to note what they are actually saying. Newsweek talked to gunmen who admitted using a hospital as a base from which to fire at Israel:

"One of the most notorious incidents during the war was the Jan. 15 shelling of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society buildings in the downtown Tal-al Hawa part of Gaza City, followed by a shell hitting their Al Quds Hospital next door; the subsequent fire forced all 500 patients to be evacuated . . . In the Tal-al Hawa neighborhood nearby, however, Talal Safadi, an official in the leftist Palestinian People's Party, said that resistance fighters were firing from positions all around the hospital. "

Daily Telegraph correspondent Tim Butcher is also in Gaza:

"I knew Gaza well before the attacks, so when Israel ended its ban on foreign journalists reaching Gaza on the day the ceasefire was announced, I was able to see for myself. One thing was clear. Gaza City 2009 is not Stalingrad 1944. There had been no carpet bombing of large areas, no firebombing of complete suburbs. Targets had been selected and then hit, often several times, but almost always with precision munitions. Buildings nearby had been damaged and there had been some clear mistakes, like the firebombing of the UN aid headquarters. But, in most the cases, I saw the primary target had borne the brunt."


"But, for the most part, I was struck by how cosmetically unchanged Gaza appeared to be. It has been a tatty, poorly-maintained mess for decades and the presence of fresh bombsites on streets already lined with broken kerbstones and jerry-built buildings did not make any great difference."


Oh, and don't expect to see any of these reports either on the BBC or in the Guardian or Independent. After all, these Palestinian propaganda machines could hardly give Israel fair coverage now, could they...?

"WE'RE ALL HAMAS NOW"

So, when did the love affair between Britain and Hamas begin?

It certainly wasn't back in 2005, when Islamic terrorists strolled onto London tube trains and then proceeded to blow both themselves and those around them into little pieces. No. The Brits were livid and terrified in equal measure - hardly a sympathetic audience for any Islamic extremist group.

And yet.

Fast forward to 2009 and what do we have? Mass rallies, marching through central London, bearing banners declaring that all Israelis, Jews and 'zionists' are 'murderers'. Young Muslim and non Muslim men, their faces masked, their voices rough with hate, declaring affiliation to Hamas as they set about smashing up nearby shops and hurling rocks at the police.

And hundreds of thousands of ordinary British people, screaming their loathing of Israel for daring to react to the relentless missile attacks by terrorist group Hamas. This has been the scene in cities across the UK as the British swear their allegiance to Hamas.

It beggars belief.

As for the British media, with the possible exceptions of the Daily Express, The Times, and The Sun, most of the newspapers have been gleefully casting Israel as the villain of the piece. No mention of the thousands of dead Israelis, courtesy of all the Hamas suicide bombers and rockets over the past eight years. No harrowing images of Israeli mothers weeping over the corpses of their children. No shots of Israeli homes lying in ruins after suffering missile assaults.

Instead, we Brits have been fed a steady diet of partisan and at times, downright deceitful 'journalism'.

So is it any wonder that the British public is short on sympathy for Israel right now? Even so, their bloodcurdling cries of 'We Are All Hamas Now' are still enough to make British Jews look at one another uneasily and ensure they have an up to date passport at home...

And of course, honourable mention must go to the BBC, which has not once pointed out that Israel's actions were in *response* to the Hamas attacks. Incredibly, even Al Jazeera has been more even handed in its coverage, for at least it offered a platform to an Israeli army spokesman who wanted to set the record straight and convey the fact that Israel is not at war with the Palestinians - it just has to stop Hamas.

Most Brits seem to think that Hamas is some small, badly organised, underfunded little band of Palestinian men, dedicated to 'freeing palestine'. This romanticised image defines Hamas as 'freedom fighters' and Israelis as 'oppressors'. And woe betide anyone who tries to explain that this view ignores basic, objective fact.


For let's be crystal clear:


Hamas is a big, highly organised offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood; a radical Islamic organisation that shares much in common with Al Queda. Hamas doesn't want to 'free palestine'. It just wants to destroy Israel. The official Hamas Charter openly says this, as do many Hamas leaders, in their charming little videos on how to destroy the 'jewish enemy and bathe the region in jewish blood'.

And Hamas has money. Forget what the BBC keep claiming about these 'homemade rockets'. It's bull, frankly. Hamas receives millions a year from Iran and Syria. More: much of the financial aid that pours into Gaza gets diverted to Hamas and thus to terrorism.

Hamas leaders teach and preach Jihad. They urge all young Palestinians, from the age of five upwards, to become a 'shahid', or 'martyr for allah'. They boast about using innocents as human shields and they celebrate when Americans, Brits and indeed anyone in the West dies as a result of terrorism.

But don't take my word for it. You don't need to. Here is Hamas cheerfully conveying what it believes in and what it desires:

Hamas: religious duty to kill Jews
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsvqcp4aWF8

Hamas: Islam must commit genocide on all Jews:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YKeAVBYAbn0&feature=related


Remember: the Palestinians voted Hamas into power in free and democratically held elections. And they knew what Hamas stood for when they did so.

Just like Brits know full well what Hamas stands for. And just like the Palestinians, they don't give a damn.

Seems like British dislike of Jews is stronger than their fear of Islamic extremists.