Rockets from Lebanon hit Israel
Several rockets have been fired into northern Israel from neighbouring
Lebanon, Israeli police say. Micky Rosenfeld, an Israeli police
spokesman, said the rockets fell around the town of Nahariya, about 8km
south of the Lebanese border, early on Thursday. The attacks came after
Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah, warned that "all
possibilities" are open against Israel as he gave a speech condemning
Israel's offensive in Gaza and voicing support for Hamas.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/20091855216577820.h...

Abbas says hopes Lebanon rocket incident isolated
Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas said he hoped rockets fired from Lebanon to
strike northern Israel on Thursday was an isolated incident and would
not exacerbate the current conflict.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Lebanon/10273494.html

Israel given offensive extension
Israel was given eight days to continue its attack on Gaza, according
to a peace plan proposed on Wednesday, which Tel Aviv praised but
stopped short of endorsing.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10273418.html

US rearming Israel from Greece?
On Dec. 31, the US Military Sealift Command published a solicitation
for bids from shipping companies to ship two boats, each containing 168
TEU's (twenty-foot equivalent container units) of ammunition, from
Greece to Israel. That's a considerable amount of ammunition. Its type
was not stated. If the international community is serious about a
ceasefire this must involve credible efforts to impose an arms embargo
on both sides until the ceasefire is concluded. US arms shipments to
Israel are sent (free of cost to Israel) for the express purpose of
"self defense." There is no way Israel's current war against Gaza could
be described as self-defense without a truly Orwellian effort to bend
the meaning of the term completely out of any logic or acceptability.
http://justworldnews.org/archives/003311.html

Israel threatens to bomb Al-Shefa hospital
The Israeli occupation army that launches a monstrous military
aggression on Gaza Strip has threatened to reduce Al-Shefa hospital to
rubbles, alleging that Hamas leaders were hiding inside it.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m...

Thousands of people flee their homes in southern Gaza after threats by the army
Thousands of Palestinian residents from the southern Gaza strip city of
Rafah were forced to flee their homes on Wednesday after threats by the
Israeli army of shelling them.
http://www.imemc.org/article/58359

IOF warplanes blast tens of Palestinian homes along borders with Egypt
Israeli
warplanes on Wednesday blasted dozens of Palestinian civilian homes in
Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, along the borders with Egypt displacing
thousands of inhabitants, eyewitnesses reported.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m...

Israeli troops kill U.N. truck driver at Gaza crossing
JERUSALEM
- Israeli soldiers opened fire Thursday on a truck attempting to
deliver humanitarian aid to the beleaguered Gaza Strip, killing one
United Nations-contracted driver and seriously wounding another, U.N.
officials said.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/59250.html

UN agency says suspends Gaza operations over Israeli fire
A United Nations aid agency said on Thursday it suspended its
operations in the Gaza Strip because of the risk posed by Israeli
forces in the territory.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L8615674.htm

"Bring it on": UN demands Israel provide proof of claims gunmen were in school
The
UN is demanding that Israel provide evidence for its claims that
Palestinian gunmen fired on Israeli forces from a UN school compound in
northern Gaza before an Israeli artillery attack that killed more than
40 Palestinian civilians. "We have nothing to hide," UNRWA spokesperson
Chris Gunness told CNN on Wednesday. "Bring it on. We want to see the
evidence. We want to clear any suspicion."
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34744

Fighters, women and a UN driver among the latest victims
Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinians this afternoon including fleeing
women, resistance fighters near a mosque and a United Nations
employee. Since Saturday, 27 December, Israeli forces have killed at
least 710 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4437&Ite...

Israeli air strike kills father and sons in Gaza, death toll climbs to 701
A
Palestinian father and his three sons were killed in when an Israeli
fighter targeted their vehicle in the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit
Lahia, witnesses and Palestinian medical sources said.
http://english.ramattan.net/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=39725

Witnesses: Resumed airstrikes on Gaza kill 3 children
Palestinian
medical sources said that right after the three-hour ceasefire was over
on Wednesday afternoon, Israeli warplanes struck three different
targets in northern and central Gaza Strip, adding that three children
were killed. Residents in eastern Jabalia refugee camp said that an
Israeli tank fired a shell at a house, where three children from the
Abed Rabbo family were killed, adding they are aged 2, 4 and 6 years
old.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/08/content_10620858.htm

Cast Lead: 14 children killed in attack on UNRWA school
On 6 January, 14 children were killed in the targeting of Al-Fakhora
UNRWA school in Jabalia camp. The school was used as shelter by
families who had fled their homes in north Gaza.
http://www.dci-pal.org/english/display.cfm?DocId=928&CategoryId=1

12th day under attack: death toll in Gaza reaches 700
Palestinian local sources in Gaza reported that the Israeli army has killed five
Palestinian civilians on Wednesday evening.
http://www.imemc.org/article/58356

Children make up third of Gaza dead: medics
AFP
- Almost a third of the 689 Palestinians killed in Israel's Gaza
offensive are children, with most killed since the start of a ground
offensive after a week of aerial bombardment, medics said on Wednesday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/af...

Israel strike kills up to 60 members of one family
Some of the Samouni family died from shrapnel wounds and others from being crushed
by falling masonry.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/4143303/Isra...

Israeli forces holding at least 500 Palestinians in camps in Gaza Strip
The
Israeli military imposed four detention camps in the Gaza Strip where
they are holding at least 500 Palestinians. At the site of the former
settlement of Netzarim is one camp, with a second in the north's Beit
Hanoun, another in Bani Suheila in the south and a four near the Karni
Crossing.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4436&Ite...

At Least 19 Pal Resistance Rockets Pound Settlements
For
the 13th consecutive day, The Color Red alert sounds across the
occupied territories followed by a rocket explosion proving that the
Palestinian resistance in Gaza has never lost momentum although the
Palestinian deaths have reached more than 700 martyrs including 225
children and 98 women, and more than 3100 injured since Israel's Gaza
massacre started on December 27. At least ninteen Palestinian rockets
have been fired at the Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip on
Thursday. Four Israelis were wounded by mortar shell in western Negev,
the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=69552&language=en

IDF officer killed during battle with Hamas militants in Gaza
An Israel Defense Forces officer was killed and another soldier was
lightly wounded on Thursday during a gunbattle with Hamas militants in
the Gaza Strip.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1053805.html

4 IDF soldiers wounded when Gaza mortar shell strikes Negev
Two IDF troops were moderately wounded Thursday morning, and another
two sustained light wounds when Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip
fired a barrage of 12 rockets and mortar shells at the western Negev.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1053878.html

Israeli police say Palestinian killed trying to set gas station alight
AFP
- A Palestinian man was killed on Thursday by Israeli police as he was
trying to set fire to a petrol station at a Jewish settlement in the
occupied West Bank, police said.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/af...

Red Cross: Israel breaking int'l law, letting children starve in Gaza
Relief workers said they found four starving children
sitting next to their dead mothers and other corpses in a house in a
part of Gaza City bombed by Israeli forces, the Red Cross said on
Thursday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1053877.html

Amnesty International: Israel using Palestinians as human shields
Bethlehem
- Ma'an - Amnesty International said on Wednesday that both Israeli
soldiers and Palestinian fighters were endangering the lives of
Palestinian civilians-including by using them as human shields and by
battling in densely populated residential areas.
"Our sources in Gaza report that Israeli soldiers have entered and
taken up positions in a number of Palestinian homes, forcing families
to stay in a ground-floor room while they use the rest of their house
as a military base and sniper position," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty
International's Middle East and North Africa Program director.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34733

Israel continues to target Palestinian medics in Gaza
A Palestinian medic, traveling with two international Human Rights
Activists, has been shot by Israeli forces in Jabaliya, northern Gaza.
Red Crescent medic, Hassan al-Attal, was shot through the thigh while
collecting a civilian killed by Israeli fire from Zemmo, east of
Jabaliya refugee camp.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2009/01/07/click-the-star-to-watch-thi...

Petition: IDF targets ambulances
Human rights groups petition High Court , say IDF preventing medical teams from
assisting Gazans hurt in strikes.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3652515,00.html

OPT/Gaza: Palestinian Red Crescent Society endures enormous strain
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EDIS-7N3LPA?OpenDocument&RS...

Food, medicine, blankets and trauma therapists headed for Gaza
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/CJAL-7N3NZJ?OpenDocument&RS...

OPT: Gaza Palestinians rush for food during bombing lull
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/YSAR-7N3LUP?OpenDocument&RS...

Gaza short of food
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10135.shtml

By comparison
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/01/by-comparison-thanks-michele-who.h...

Eyewitness accounts/testimonials
B'Tselem: Testimony: Abu Dahruj family flees from bombing
http://www.btselem.org/English/Testimonies/20090103_Abu_Dahruj_family_fl...

B'Tselem: Testimony: Parents and two toddlers flee from place to place
http://www.btselem.org/English/Testimonies/20090103_A_Nabahin_family_fle...

B'Tselem: Testimony: Wakes up in hospital and learns his children were killed
http://www.btselem.org/english/testimonies/20081228_three_children_kille...

B'Tselem: Wounded Gazans trapped in shelled buildings
http://www.btselem.org/English/Press_Releases/20090106.asp

Videos from al-Shifa hospital
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2009/01/07/videos-from-al-shifa-hospit...

Listen to the victims: More Children Killed In Israel's Attack On Gaza
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21673.htm

CNN: In Gaza, living with anger and fear
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2009/01/07/cnn-in-gaza-living-with-ang...

In the Shadow of Gaza
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2009/01/07/in-the-shadow-of-gaza/

A dad, a refugee and a reporter in Gaza
I
was outside trying to fix my car radio on a calm, sunny day around
11:30am. It was 27 December 2008. Suddenly there were loud booms
overhead. Pillars of smoke began rising up in the sky. The main thing I
cared about at that moment were my four children, particularly, my
two-year-old son Muhammad who always follows me around when I am off
work on weekends. The Electronic Intifada correspondent Rami Almeghari
reports from the besieged Gaza Strip.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10133.shtml

Testimony: "I fear nothing now"
Nael Shaeth, 40, a father of four, talked to IRIN by telephone from his
home in al-Naser neighborhood, central Gaza, about the challenges faced
by people who have been trapped in their homes since the Israeli
offensive on Gaza began on 27 December.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10137.shtml

Tales from Gaza III: "I am Still Alive"
"I
was working at the [Kamal Edwan] Hospital here in Jabalia, when the
ambulances arrived with the dead and injured from Al-Fakhoura school.
Most of the dead were women and children, and most of the survivors had
terrible shrapnel wounds. We had to turn the maternity ward into a
surgical theatre so that we could try to save more lives."
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article773

Inside Gaza: An Eyewitness Report
WHEN I got there, the gates of Beit Hanoun hospital were shut, with
teenage men hanging off them. The mass of people striving to get inside
was a sign that there had been an attack. Inside the gates, the
hospital was full. Parents, wives, cousins, emotionally frayed and
overwhelmed, were leaning over injured loved ones. The Israeli Apache
helicopter had attacked at 3.15pm. Witnesses said that two missiles had
been fired into the street in Hay al Amel, east Beit Hanoun, close to
the border with Israel. With rumours of an imminent invasion this empty
scrubland is rapidly becoming a no-man's land which people cross
quickly, fearing attack by Israeli jets.
http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticlePrint/20192

AP Gaza reporter finds hometown in rubble
I
live alone in my office. My wife and two young children moved in with
her father after our apartment was shattered. The neighborhood mosque,
where I have prayed since I was a child, had its roof blown off. All
the government buildings on my beat have been obliterated. After days
of Israeli shelling, the city and life I have known no longer exist.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jsMyKBzwJoyVjuASkcjQfx...

The Demolition of Rafah
Jenny
Linnel a British ISM volunteer in Rafah said following escalated
Israeli attacks in Rafah, "Shortly before midnight on the 6th of
January, missiles began raining down on Rafah in one of the heaviest
Israeli air strikes since the current atrocities began. Continuous
sorties pounded the southern Gaza city for over 12 hours. Many homes
were destroyed or severely damaged, especially in the neighbourhoods
along the border with Egypt."
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2009/01/07/the-demolition-of-rafah/

Babies cling to life in stricken hospital
Even with the glimmer of hope that a ceasefire may finally be under
negotiation, the situation at Gaza's biggest hospital remains
desperate, with more than 70 life-support patients now precariously
dependent on generators because the main power supply has been down for
five days.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/babies-cling-to-life...

Kids' plight: Wet beds, recurring nightmares
Medical
officials in Gaza said that children are the worst affected since the
Israeli assault began, amid warnings that the bombardment and the
continuing blockade could spur a new generation to embrace violence.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10273328.html

Ambulance trip from Gaza a harrowing ordeal
RAFAH, Egypt - It's a 2½-hour journey that should take 30 minutes. A
hair-raising sprint on dirt roads through bombed-out cities and
military checkpoints, all while coping with the ever-present threat of
gunfire or a stray bomb.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-01-07-gazamedics_N.htm

Anger and aid as Israeli offensive in Gaza rolls on
AFP
- Protests and aid drives took place from Kano to Karachi as Israel
briefly silenced its guns Wednesday, while European Jews announced
their own rallies to support the Jewish state's offensive on Gaza.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/af...

Civilians unable to escape brunt of Gaza offensive: UN
AFP - Civilians, many of them children, "bear the brunt of the
violence" in Israel's Gaza offensive and have no to place to flee, a
senior UN official said on Wednesday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/af...

Red Cross Reports Grisly Find in Gaza
JERUSALEM,
Jan. 8 -- The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday
that it had found at least 15 bodies and several children -- emaciated
but alive -- in a row of shattered houses in the Gaza Strip and accused
the Israeli military of preventing ambulances from reaching the site
for four days.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/07/AR200901...

Israel May Face Charges for War Crimes
"The repeated bombing of clearly marked civilian buildings, where civilians were
sheltering, crosses several red lines in regard to international law," Sourani told
IPS.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45321

The Israeli army injures five Palestinians near Ramallah
The Israeli army injured five Palestinian youth from the village of
Nil'in, located near the central West Bank city of Rammallah, on
Wednesday.
http://www.imemc.org/article/58358

Israel justifies killing Palestinians by claiming it doesn't target civilians, kills
3 during "lull"
Feelings were further provoked today at the official Israeli statement
regarding the bombing of the United Nations school in Jabaliya Refugee
Camp and the targeting of several other UN schools. No apology
necessary for the killing of 46 Palestinians taking refuge at UNRWA
schools, was the Israeli line on Wednesday. "We are screaming into the
wind," were the words of a Gaza father speaking to PNN.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4430&Ite...

Gaza invasion: latest news
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2009/jan/08/gaza-israel

The victims
At Age 14, She Died of Fear
Al
Quds Newspaper, January 4, 2009 - In a phone conversation today, from
Gaza the Latin Patriarchate Church priest, Father Manaweil Musallam,
clearly shaken, said, "her name is Christine, a tenth grade student.
Her father is a doctor and she lived near the YMCA in Al-Remal area [in
Gaza]. She died of fear. Since the war started she felt apprehensive of
the danger. She suffered from neurotic disorder and a hysteric
situation just as many children are suffering. On Friday, during the
shooting of F-16 missiles, she fell on the ground due to the dreadful
sound. Her father tried to help, but he couldn't. Then he held her in
his arms hoping to rescue her in the hospital, but she died before
reaching there."
http://gazasiege.blogspot.com/2009/01/at-age-14-she-died-of-fear.html

Videos of the attacks
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/jan/07/gaza-israel-roundup
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21678.htm
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/123138629871.htm

Pictures of the carnage
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2009/01/07/photo-of-the-day/
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=50118
http://www.kabobfest.com/2009/01/gaza-news-round-up.html

Truce
Palestinian groups: Egypt's Gaza ceasefire plan not valid
Groups
based in Syria, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, see 'no valid basis
in the Egyptian plan for a solution to the crisis' since it is 'a
threat to the resistance and the Palestinian cause'.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3653035,00.html

Fayyad signals PA's support for Egyptian ceasefire plan
Ramallah
- Ma'an - The Palestinian Authority (PA) signaled its support for an
Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian
caretaker Prime Minister in Ramallah, Salam Fayyad, said the Egyptian
plan is logical and practical. According to Fayyad, the plan calls for
an end to the Israeli assault and lifting the siege of the Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34760

Ahmed Yousef: Hamas welcomes the Franco-Egyptian initiative to end fighting in Gaza
Ahmed Yousef: We want a ceasefire agreement to end the suffering caused
by the present violence and Israel's economic blockade of Gaza.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/07/gaza-israel-hamas

Arab and international reactions
Report: Mutiny in Egyptian Camp over Gaza Offensive
The Qatari "Arab" newspaper said that Egyptian security officers disobeyed orders in
protest at the Israeli aggression on Gaza.
The daily quoted the Egyptian "Sawt el-Umma" Arabic for the "Voice of
the Nation" weekly that members of the Egyptian security apparatus in
the Nasser Central Security camp refused orders to take guard shifts at
the Rafah crossing on the border with Gaza.
The daily said that the officers demanded their command to go to Gaza
to defend it, not to ban Gazans from entering Egypt, stressing Interior
Ministry services detained three of the officers and sent another group
to provisional arrest for allegedly leading the mutiny.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=69613&language=en

Dr. Abu Al-Fotouh: Egypt blocks Arab doctors from helping Gaza doctors
Dr. Abdelmoneim Abu Al-Fotouh, the secretary-general of the union of
Arab doctors, denounced the Egyptian authorities for blocking Arab
medical teams from extending a helping hand to Gaza doctors.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

UNHCR: Egypt did not respond to our call to allow in fleeing Gazans
The
UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) said that it had not received
any response from Egypt to its call on the neighboring countries of
Gaza to allow in civilians fleeing the war on Gaza.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

Saudis say no to sit-ins supporting Palestinians
JEDDAH
// The Saudi government has turned down a request for peaceful sit-ins
throughout the kingdom, dealing a blow to activists who were hoping to
show their solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. The denial of the
request coincided with the head of the Supreme Judicial Council, Sheikh
Saleh Al Luhaidan, issuing a religious edict that condemns public
protest, describing them as a "moral corruption".
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090108/FOREIGN/794061246/1002/rss

Saudi FM rules out using oil as weapon in Gaza conflict
AFP - Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal on Wednesday ruled
out the use of oil as a weapon by Arab states to secure an end to the
12-day Israeli military onslaught in the Gaza Strip.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090107/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictgazas...

Al Maliki denounces Israel crime in Gaza
Iraqi
Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki denounced the "major crime" Israel is
committing in Gaza urging Arab countries to stop any secret or declared
contacts with this brutal regime.
http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News/1-26396-Al-Maliki-denounces-Israel-...

Hamas executes 'collaborators', restricts Fatah movement
An
official in the Hamas-run Interior Ministry told Haaretz that the steps
were taken only against Fatah members who expressed "happiness" at the
aerial attack and even "distributed candy" in the streets as it began.
An independent source corroborated Hamas' account.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1053825.html

Injured Fatah veterans rooting against Hamas
"I'm
happy to see them eradicated," he said, blaming Hamas for the carnage
and destruction now taking place in Gaza. Mahmoud as-Shatat, 23, a
former student leader for Fatah, agrees. "Hamas consider us infidels,"
he said. "They brutalized us, their own people. I have no sympathy for
them."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090107.wgazafatah07...

Hamas: We will not recognize Abbas as president after 9 January
The Hamas Movement on Wednesday reiterated its rejection of extending
the tenure of PA chief Mahmoud Abbas after it expires on 9/1/2009.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

Vatican cardinal calls Gaza "big concentration camp"
Pope
Benedict's point man for justice and peace issues on Wednesday issued
the Vatican's toughest criticism of Israel since the latest Mideast
crisis began, calling Gaza a "big concentration camp".
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L7220014.htm

Ecuador seeks probe into Israeli 'terrorism'
Ecuadorian lawmakers say Israeli policies in Gaza amount to "crimes against
humanity" and must be stopped by an international probe.
http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=80922&sectionid=351020706

A statement from the Bishop of Jerusalem
Suheil Dawani: The Anglican hospital in Gaza is stretched to breaking
point.http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/jan/08/gaza-anglican-dawani-bishop

New US Congress expected to consider resolution backing Operation Cast Lead
Several US House leaders are also expected to sponsor a nonbinding resolution
backing Israel in its battle with Hamas as one of their first pieces of business.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShow...

Ban Ki-moon avoids condemning Israel over massacre in UNRWA school
Ban Ki-moon, the secretary-general of the United Nations has
deliberately avoided issuing a condemnation of the Israeli army bombing
of an UNRWA school in Gaza city.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

Media Bias
Arab media portray Palestinians as courageous victims (also see below)
Reporting from Cairo and Beirut -- Face splotched in blood, eyes
closed, mouth aslant, the child seems to be slumbering, but she is
dead. The only part of her you see is her head tilting in ash and
rubble above the caption, "A day of massacres in Gaza."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-arab-media8-2009jan0...

Angry Arab commentary: And why is the White Man the judge of what is balanced and
objective?
And Jeffrey Fleishman thinks that he can present US media coverage as
model of "balanced coverage"? And do you notice the new trick of
Western media? They write the most hostile articles against Arabs, and
they attach the name of a token Arab (a stringer) in order to lend
legitimacy by borrowing the native informant.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/01/white-man-judgeth.html

Major networks keep anchors home for Gaza story
NEW YORK (AP) - ABC, CBS and NBC haven't sent their top news anchors to
the Middle East to cover Israel's conflict with Hamas. That stands in
contrast to 2006, when each network sent their biggest names overseas
to cover Israel's war with Hezbollah.
The networks said their decisions weren't economic, despite tough
budget times that have caused them to retrench in overseas coverage.
Rather, they cited a busy news period and restrictions placed by Israel
on access to the fighting. CNN sent Anderson Cooper to Israel, but he
returned Wednesday partly because of those restrictions.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g7dyEbkKg0vVC9zgNtCkZX...

Watching the War on BBC
On February 29 last year the BBC's website reported deputy defense
minister Matan Vilnai threatening a 'holocaust' on Gaza. Headlined
"Israel warns of Gaza 'holocaust'" the story would undergo nine
revisions in the next twelve hours. Before the day was over, the
headline would read "Gaza militants 'risking disaster'". (The story has
since been revised again with an exculpatory note added soft-pedalling
Vilnai's comments). An Israeli threatening 'holocaust' may be
unpalatable to those who routinely invoke its spectre to deflect
criticism from the Jewish State's criminal behaviour. With the
'holocaust' reference redacted, the new headline shifts culpability
neatly into the hands of 'Gaza militants' instead.
http://www.counterpunch.org/idrees01072009.html

Peter Preston: The US media should speak out on the conflict in Gaza
Forget, alas, all the usual stuff about fairness, balance and freedom of independent
thought. Merely follow Editor and Publisher magazine's own accounting for the first
eight media days of Gaza warfare. Coverage:
"Largely one-sided, with little editorialising or commentary arguing
against broader Israeli actions." And: "Most notably, the New York
Times produced exactly one editorial, not a single commentary by any of
its columnists and only two op-eds (one already published elsewhere)."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/07/gaza-america-media

Fox News inside communication: fair and balanced
As
we hand off the updating of the Gaza story into this evening, please
make SURE we keep at least these three grafs in our updating story: Hamas,
whose charter specifically calls for the destruction of the state of
Israel, is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States,
Canada, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdon and the European Union and
is banned in Jordan.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/01/fox-news-inside-communication-fair...
Massacre of children? What massacre of children?
Steven
Erlanger writes a tribute to the Israeli terrorist army here. And while
the entire world acknowledged that Israeli terrorists committed a
massacre at a school, Erlanger is not sure: "While accounts of exactly
what happened were unclear on Tuesday night." Unclear to whom? To you,
Mr. Erlanger? Do you think that the accounts are clear to those who
died? Or to their parents? Or are accounts foggy in their minds too?
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/01/massacre-of-children-what-massacre...

Israeli victims are...shocked. SHOCKED
Taghreed
El-Khodary is back (with a chaperone). She reports on the horrors that
the Palestinians are inflicting on poor Israelis: "The Israeli military
reported on Wednesday that a rocket fired from Gaza landed in a yard in
the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and nine people were treated for
shock. Three other rockets landed elsewhere." If the Palestinians have
the luxury of being treated for "shock", how many would be treated?
What an insult. What a racist insult.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/01/israeli-victims-victims-areshocked...

Those poor killers
Who
can accuse the New York Times of insensitivity? Look at this picture. I
mean, the New York Times is really concerned over the exhaustion that
those killers may feel as they go about their business of butchering
Palestinian children: "Soldiers rested on the Israeli side of the
border with Gaza during the three-hour cease-fire on Wednesday", said
the caption. Pictures like that cause Michale Lerner and Nation
Magazine to write their articles about the "anguish" of Israeli
terrorist soldiers. (AlJazeera is reporting that half of 700
Palestinians killed are children).
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/01/those-poor-killers.html

Why Israeli academics are part of the military apparatus
Here
is another confirmation that Israeli academics are mere tools in the
hands of the Israeli war machine: ""We are trying to coordinate
everything that has to do with the image and content of what we are
doing and to make sure that whoever goes on the air, whether a minister
or professor or ex-ambassador, knows what he is saying," said Aviv
Shir-On, deputy director general for media in the Foreign Ministry. "We
have talking points and we try to disseminate our ideas and message."
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-israeli-academics-are-part-of....

Joe the Plumber to cover Gaza op
Ohio resident made famous by McCain campaign heads to Israel to 'let average Joes
tell their story' about fight against Hamas.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3652495,00.html

Solidarity
Oakland Education Association Condemns Israeli Assault On Gaza And Role Of US
Government
The
Oakland Education Association which represents the teachers in Oakland,
California has passed a strong resolution protesting the Israeli attack
on the people of Gaza and the role of the US in supporting these
assaults. Oakland Education Association Condemns Israeli Assault On
Gaza And Role Of US Government. The OEA unreservedly condemn the
murderous Israeli assault on Gaza, their deliberate targeting of the
civilian population, including schools and hospitals, and Israels
ongoing collective punishment of the Palestinian people which has been
carried out with the strong support of the U.S. government. We support
the Right to Return and call for the establishment of a bi-national
secular state in Israel-Palestine. In line with this motion, we
encourage teachers to open their classrooms to discussion and teaching
on the crisis in Gaza.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/01/07/18559409.php

Israeli tennis star Shahar Peer faces Gaza protest while playing in New Zealand
Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer, 22, was subject to a small but noisy
protest over her country's invasion of Gaza when she played a
quarter-final match at the ASB Classic tournament in Auckland on
Thursday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1053793.html

Shi'ites and Sunnis find common cause
From Gaza to Kabul, signs are growing that common ground created by the
Israeli offensive in Gaza may yet bridge Islam's age-old divide between
Sunnis and Shi'ites. At the root of the unexpected new alliance is
Shi'ite Iran's support of Sunni militants like Hamas, and its status as
the recognized champion in the Muslim world for Palestine.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KA09Ak02.html

Tulkarem: 3,000 protest the annihilation of Gaza
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/1813.shtml
Bethlehem demonstrators rally for Gaza at Nativity Square
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34753
Israeli soldiers fire tear gas at Bil'in women's protest
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34758
Of sowing and harvests: Subcomandante Marcos' speech on Gaza
http://www.kabobfest.com/2009/01/of-sowing-and-harvests-subcomandante.ht...
Al-Jazeera Video: Breaking the siege on Gaza - Jan7 09
http://palestinianpundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/al-jazeera-video-breaking-...
1500 West Bank medics march in support of Gaza counterparts
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&Do=&ID=34759
Free Gaza Movement: We are coming back, and we are putting Israel on notice
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2009/01/07/free-gaza-movement-we-are-c...
Petition against massacres on Gaza
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2009/01/07/petition-against-massacres-...
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians protest Israel offensive
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Syria/10273473.html
Jailed Hamas members condemn Israeli assault on Gaza
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34721
Journalists demonstrate in Ramallah, condemn Gaza attacks
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34722
Palestinian Prisoners' Society announces Thursday strikes
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34726
Tulkarem launches aid and solidarity campaign for Gaza
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34728
In Lebanon, this year's Ashura procession turned into a massive show of support for
the Palestinians in Gaza
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7816675.stm
Video: Hezbollah leader condemns Israel
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/jan/07/ashura-hizbullah
Saturday 10 January: International Day of Mobilization against Israeli Attacks on Gaza
http://www.alternativenews.org/content/view/1516/104/
Women in Nablus take stand against ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2009/01/07/women-in-nablus-take-stand-...

Jewish Women Occupy Israeli Consulate in Toronto
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/canada070109.html

Thousdands of Lebaneses, Palestinians rally agaisnt Israeli aggression on Gaza
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/07/content_10620829.htm
Sudanese demonstrators threaten attacks on Westerners: US
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/af...

Eight cities hold vigil for Gaza
http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/General/10273426.html
Australian Jews protest against Israel's action
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/01/05/1231003936981.html
Israel's Gaza War Prompts Rallies in Belgium
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=69317&language=en
World Protests Israeli Ground Offensive in Gaza
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=69146&language=en
LA Jews for Peace
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/01/on-italian-yahoo-these-you...
Jews call on Israeli soldiers to stop war crimes
http://www.ajjp.org/campaigns/signStatement.php?cid=15

Hamas appreciates Venezuelan president's expulsion of Israeli ambassador
Hamas
on Wednesday said it greatly appreciated the "courageous" step of
president Hugo Chavez of Venezuela who expelled the Israeli ambassador
to Caracas in protest over the Israeli massacres in Gaza.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m...

PNA official says damages to Gaza fighting at $2 bln
A
senior Palestinian National Authority (PNA) official said on Wednesday
that the estimation of losses in the Gaza Strip due to the current
Israeli offensive on the enclave have reached 2 billion U.S. dollars.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/08/content_10620888.htm

Opinion/Commentary/Analysis
Former Amb. Martin Indyk vs. Author Norman Finkelstein: A Debate on Israel's Assault
on Gaza and the US Role in the Conflict
The Israeli assault on Gaza is entering its thirteenth day. Some 700
Palestinians have been killed, with many thousands more wounded, and a
humanitarian crisis is mounting. Ten Israelis have died, four by
"friendly fire." A ceasefire has not been reached, and the offensive
continues. We host a debate between Martin Indyk, the former US
ambassador to Israel and Assistant Secretary of State for Near East
Affairs during the Clinton administration, director of the Saban Center
for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution and author of,
Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the
Middle East, and Norman Finkelstein, author of several books, including
The Holocaust Industry, Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine
Conflict and Beyond Chutzpah.
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/8/former_amb_martin_indyk_vs_author

For
Disappointed Palestinians, Arab Inaction Trumps Arab Words/ Despite
Arab Outrage, European Union Far Outpaces Arab States in U.N. Aid
More than a week of acute humanitarian crisis in Gaza has bolstered a persisting
Palestinian suspicion: While Arab states talk much of their support for the cause,
they have taken little action.
So far, as Palestinians see it, both Arab states and non-state actors like Hezbollah
have failed to respond concretely in their time of crisis.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=6598917&page=1

Holocaust Denied
"When the truth is replaced by silence," the Soviet dissident Yevgeny
Yevtushenko said, "the silence is a lie." It may appear the silence is
broken on Gaza. The cocoons of murdered children, wrapped in green,
together with boxes containing their dismembered parents and the cries
of grief and rage of everyone in that death camp by the sea, can be
viewed on al-Jazeera and YouTube, even glimpsed on the BBC. But
Russia's incorrigible poet was not referring to the ephemeral we call
news; he was asking why those who knew the why never spoke it and so
denied it. Among the Anglo-American intelligentsia, this is especially
striking. It is they who hold the keys to the great storehouses of
knowledge: the historiographies and archives that lead us to the why.
http://www.antiwar.com/pilger/?articleid=14015

Ian Williams: What the shelling of Gaza schools means for the UN's relationship with
Israel
As well as the untimely and tragic end of over 40 Palestinian
civilians, the Israeli shelling of UN schools in Gaza could be taken as
a final farewell salute to the honeymoon between Ban Ki-moon and
Israel. Ban came into office with somewhat limited appreciation of the
Middle East, and seemed to take much of his attitude second-hand from
Washington. But his own deep sense of ethics and growing experience of
Israeli duplicity and obduracy could be plotted on the rising curve of
indignation in his public statements. Israel has been provided with the
exact coordinates of all UN agency installations in the strip. So are
those who fired the shots incompetent, ruthless or undisciplined and
vindictive?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/jan/08/un-school...

The Israel rules
America's support of the Gaza attack proves once again that our
mythical image of Israel has blinded us to its faults -- a myopia with
devastating consequences for both countries.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2009/01/06/gaza_war/

"Weapons And Iran Trained Fighters" Smuggled Into Gaza
(RBN) - Hamas is smuggling ballistic missiles of possibly
intercontinental range into Gaza. Through tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt
border high capacity missiles are entering Gaza and are now readied to
hit targets in central Europe and possibly even the United States. Due
to high tech developments, stolen by Chinese spies from defense
laboratories in western countries, these
missile - while small - are capable of reaching extraordinary
distances.
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2009/01/weapons-and-iran-trained-fighters-s...

Simon Tisdall: At last, France and others are filling the diplomatic vacuum in the
present Gaza conflict
Much sneering criticism has been aimed at French president Nicolas Sarkozy over his
one-man-show Middle East peacemaking efforts. And it's true that the Elysee's
hyperactive tenant has a well-developed tendency to hog the limelight.
But Sarkozy's accelerated form of supercharged mediation - it might be
termed space shuttle diplomacy - appears finally to be producing some
results as details emerged today (weds) of a tentative Gaza ceasefire
plan. Both Israel and Hamas are reacting positively so far.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/07/gaza-sarkozy-hamas-i...

Jonathan Cook, "Israel's Aim: To Regain Control of the Rafah Border"
After
the withdrawal, Israel hoped the steel wall along the Rafah border and
its oversight of the crossing point into Egypt would ensure that
nothing went in or out without its approval. However, a small private
industry of tunneling under the wall quickly burgeoned, becoming a
lifeline for ordinary Gazans and a route for smuggling in weapons for
Hamas.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/cook070109.html

If its reckless military action in Gaza causes a break with Turkey, Israel will pay
a high price of regional isolation
Bülent Kenes: If its reckless military action in Gaza causes a break
with Turkey, Israel will pay a high price in terms of regional
isolation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/08/israel-gaza-turkey

The Middle East's Rogue Regime
A striking feature of the War in Gaza is the extraordinary immunity
Israel has enjoyed to strike and kill at will. Defence Minister Ehud
Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, leading members of the Israeli
government, have not hesitated to resort to mass murder. Yet, no one
has been able to stop them. To all appearances, Israel is a rogue
regime, spinning out of control. Unrestrained by the rules of
international legality, and indifferent to the most elementary
considerations of morality, Israel is bombing into the stone age a
besieged, battered and largely defenseless Arab society of 1.5 million
people. At the time of writing, it had killed at least 437 people,
wounded more than 2,300, and flattened every building in sight. The
final casualties will undoubtedly be higher.
http://www.agenceglobal.com/article.asp?id=1856

Bombing to make the Gaza prison even more secure for Israel
It is a gross misunderstanding of what is unfolding in Gaza to believe
Israel's motives are capricious. The politicians and generals have been
preparing for this attack for many months, possibly years -- a fact
alone that suggests they have bigger objectives than commonly assumed.
Israel seized this particular moment -- with western politicians dozing
through the holidays and a changeover of administrations in Washington
-- because it ensured the longest period to implement its plan without
diplomatic interference.Jonathan Cook comments.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10132.shtml

Israel's 'colonial tactics' decried
Azmi Bishara, an Arab-Israeli analyst and former member of the Israeli
parliament, has lashed out at the Israeli media campaign being run
alongside its war on Gaza that criminalises the victims and victimises
the coloniser.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/200916191833159347....

Blood on our hands
Shulamit Aloni amazed by public's ability to get caught up in wave of patriotic zeal
over Gaza op.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3650771,00.html

Gaza: "If Not EU, Who?"
Jerusalem/Brussels: The collapse of the weak ceasefire in December and
the return to all-out conflict between Israel and Gaza under Hamas has
tempted many to say, "here we go again", with comparisons to the summer
2006 Israel-Lebanon war flowing freely from the keyboards of
commentators everywhere.
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5850&rss=1

What Kind of Security Will This Barbarism Bring Israel?, By SAREE MAKDISI
Israel has killed and wounded almost four thousand men, women and
children so far in its assault on Gaza; it has entombed whole families
together in the ruins of their homes. As I write these words, news is
breaking that Israeli bombs have killed at least 40 civilians huddling
in a UN school which they mistakenly thought would be safer than the
homes from which Israel's relentless barrage-and its deliberately
terrorizing "warning" leaflets and prerecorded phone calls-had already
driven them. (I still have one of the leaflets the Israelis dropped on
besieged Beirut in 1982 and the language is exactly the same-"flee,
flee for your lives!"). Mosques, schools, houses, apartment buildings,
have all been brought down on the heads of those inside.
http://www.counterpunch.org/makdisi01072009.html

Philip Slater: A Message to Israel: Time to Stop Playing the Victim Role
I can understand that after centuries of persecution it's satisfying
for a Jewish state to be the aggressor for a change, but there's a
codicil that goes with that role. You don't get to act like a victim
any more. "Poor little Israel" just sounds silly when you're the
dominant power in the Middle East. When you've invaded several of your
neighbors, bombed and defeated them in combat, occupied their land, and
taken their homes away from them, it's time to stop acting oppressed.
Yes, Arab states deny your right to exist, threaten to drive you into
the sea, and all the rest of their futile, helpless rhetoric. The fact
is, you have the upper hand and they don't. You have sophisticated arms
and they don't. You have nuclear weapons and they don't. So stop
pretending to be pathetic. It doesn't play well in Peoria.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-slater/a-message-to-israel-time_b_1...

What is New About Gaza?
Ever since Israel's withdrawal of its settlers from the Gaza Strip in
2005 it has slowly turned that territory into a besieged ghetto. All
land, sea and air access in and out of Gaza was and is controlled and
the amount of supplies in and out have been reduced over time. In this
process the governments of the United States and Egypt cooperated.
Washington commenced a financial stranglehold on the Hamas controlled
territory and Egypt sealed up Gaza's Western border.
http://www.counterpunch.org/davidson01072009.html

The Only Exit from Gaza is Death
Gresham's Law briefly states "Bad money drives out good money." A
corollary has: "Bad news analysis drives out good news analysis."
Reports and dialogues on the events in Gaza give the impression that a
mighty Hamas
has wantonly attacked Israel, pulverized its southern cities with
missiles and a patient Israel ran out of patience and finally
retaliated.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2009/01/the-only-exit-from-gaza-is-death/

Seumas Milne: Israel and the west will pay a price for Gaza's bloodbath
Over
the last 12 days, Israel has inflicted a bloodbath on the Gaza Strip
that matches the darkest days of the Iraq war. Backed to the hilt by
the US author of that catastrophe, it has killed more than 650 people
in less than a fortnight, including at least 200 children, and wounded
three thousand. Yesterday, after killing 50 civilians in UN schools
sheltering refugees - "C'est la guerre", the Israeli minister Meir
Shitreet told the BBC when asked about the atrocities - the Israeli
government agreed a three-hour daily lull in the carnage for
"humanitarian purposes", as diplomatic manoeuvring intensified over a
possible ceasefire deal. All this at the cost of only 10 Israeli dead,
six of them soldiers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/08/gaza-israel-hamas-us

One last roll of the dice, By Gideon Levy
The
intoxicating sensation of this move is known to every gambler: Just one
more roll of the dice, another hand, another spin of the roulette
wheel, and we will be winners. At a time when there is talk about an
Israeli agreement to the French-Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire, air
force aircraft dropped fliers over Rafah, in which the civilians were
called to evacuate their homes before yet another air attack.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1053588.html

Gaza: The Problem and How the West Makes it Worse
Although
as a news hound, I am glued to the minutiae, the developments and steps
unfolding around this massacre and conflict in Gaza, it is important to
keep my eye on the big picture as well. Hamas, and the Israeli
discourse about Hamas, are not occurring in some ahistorical vacuum --
as much as western news outlets and Israeli talking heads would like
you to believe.
http://www.kabobfest.com/2009/01/gaza-problem-and-how-west-makes-it.html

Picking Up The Pieces In Gaza
Eventually it will come to that of course. When this latest festival
of death is over, when Israeli politicians decide that the status quo
in Gaza has been suitably altered, when enough 'militants' have died to
make the whole operation 'worthwhile'. Who knows? Perhaps Israel will
even manage to force regime change in Gaza and oust the Hamas
government, although it seems unlikely. Similar tactics (and by that I
mean mass murder of civilians in the hope that they will turn on their
leaders) have failed utterly in the past to produce the desired results
- think Lebanon 2006 or Operation Defensive Shield, 2002. Neither
Arafat nor the Hezbollah suffered any diminishment in their popularity
on these occasions - rather the reverse in fact.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21671.htm

Disarming Palestine
Those of us who originate from that unholy land, are gripped by
helplessness, disgust and depression during those recurring
depredations inflicted on the Palestinians, as they are now in Gaza,
whose inhabitants had been systematically starved and reduced to misery
for years. It's as if the most insightful, humane reflection, all the
rationality and political analysis, is inadequate to explain the
horrors that unfold with awful predictability.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14618

Ex-Communicated: Enclosure Landscapes in Palestine
For centuries, the landscape in historic Palestine was dominated by
agriculture, in an organic relationship between agrarian villages such
as Husan and nearby croplands of farmers from the town. The
Palestinians managed to create an agrarian landscape ideally suited to
an arid, challenging topography. Far from a desert, however, the
Palestinian landscape in places such as Jayyous has a verdant
character. In most places, the olive, however, still predominates,
both on the landscape and as a way of life.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/fields070109.html

Tariq Ramadan - In the Name of the Palestinians
Startling-and
stomach turning : where Palestinians are involved, memory and sense of
proportion fail us. The Jewish conscience, justifiably, has long called
upon the world's powers and upon their citizens to remain vigilant,
never to forget -in the name of "the duty of memory"- the atrocities,
massacres and genocides of the past. But where the State of Israel is
involved, we are expected to set all sense of proportion aside, to leap
to conclusions. Suddenly, it would be assumed that these are two
equally powerful belligerents. After a six-month ceasefire, one of the
two parties to the conflict (the Palestinians) is said to have broken
the truce by unleashing its rockets. The victim of aggression (Israel)
is acting solely in self-defense-if we are to believe the version sold
to the world by Israel, and relayed by complacent and complicit Western
media with the full support of the Bush administration and of many
European governments. The bravest among them can barely bring
themselves to point out Israel's "disproportionate" reaction. What
courage !
http://www.tariqramadan.com/spip.php?article10489

Obama's 'Hope'less Response to the War on Gaza
Bush gave up golf after America's invasion of Iraq. "I don't want some
mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief
playing golf," he told Americans. "I think playing golf during a war
just sends the wrong signal." Last week, as war broke out in Gaza,
President-elect Obama was seen playing golf with friends near his
multi-million dollar rented holiday home. So much for change you can
believe in.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ahmed-shihabeldin/obamas-hopeless-response...

Obama's Silence
The
silence, Obama must know, is extremely costly. As the bombs fall on
Gaza children and civilians, his credibility comes under greater
question. The bright promise of moral leadership is sullied and
squandered, along with the potential of America's ability to be an
even-handed diplomatic mediator. As January 20 approaches, he will have
to make a lonely decision, the first of many, to remember his 2007
words about Palestinian suffering and his campaign pledge to talk
unconditionally with adversaries.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-hayden/obamas-silence_b_156036.html

Reportedly, two-time loser to be given a third chance to fail by Obama
Dennis
Ross who was a dead-hand on the wheel as peacemaker in the Clinton the
first Bushjr term. His chief accomplishment the Hebron
agreement--enough said.
http://bostonuniversity.blogspot.com/2009/01/reportedly-two-time-loser-t...

Bend Over Professor Dershowitz
"Israel is leveling Gaza to strike at Hamas, just as they pulverized
south Lebanon to strike at Hezbollah. Yet in both cases civilian
populations were attacked, countless innocents killed or injured,
infrastructure targeted and destroyed, and civil law enforcement
negated. All this was, and is, disproportionate, indiscriminate mass
violence in violation of international law. Israel is not exempt from
international law and must be held accountable. It is time for the UN
to not just call for a cease-fire, but for an inquiry as to Israel's
illegal actions." - US Congressman Dennis Kucinich, 12/29/08
http://www.counterpunch.org/lamb01072009.html

The Herrenvolk's Femmes Fatales
The
Israel Defense Forces has been putting its female face forward as it
battles for public opinion in cyberspace. The New York Times printed a
blog on Wednesday showing that the army's English Web site features a
self-updating banner with pictures of one glamorous female soldier
after another, while the Hebrew site shows images of male soldiers.
(Haaretz) Remember this point. Israel is the only country in the
Middle East where the government uses feminine sexuality to market mass
murder.
http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/2009/01/herrenvolk-femmes-fatales...

State to help fund treatment of pets hurt by rockets
With
cats and dogs facing rocket threat just like their human companions,
Agriculture Ministry decides to help pay for medical care of pets
injured by rocket fire.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3651173,00.html

Massacre Palestinians in Raid Gaza! Flash-based Game
Your
goal is to kill as many Palestinians as possible in an alloted
timeframe. You get three minutes to click on four squares and build an
HQ to request money (denoted in Israeli shekels), a barracks to build
tanks, an airport to queue planes and helos, and a missile pad. Click
the pad to launch a missile, the airport to launch aircraft, or the
barracks for tanks. Your units soar or trundle over to the strip and
pound it to putty, producing a disproportionate kill ratio, with
Palestinian casualties wildly outnumbering Israeli.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/156542/massacre_palestinians_in_raid_gaza...

Cartoons
http://palestinianpundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-post_6921.html
http://palestinianpundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/click-on-cartoon-to-enlarg...
http://palestinianpundit...

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