Saturday
Dec272008
Gaza Update: More than 220 Dead
Saturday, December 27, 2008 at 21:45
Latest Update: Pressing the Bombardment
And so the tragedy unfolds.
The death toll from today's Israeli attacks on Gaza is now more than 200 with at least 700 injured. The Israeli Government has made clear that the assault will continue. (Significantly, the statements have come from Defense Minister Ehud Barak --- ""The operation will go on and be intensified as long as necessary" --- and spokesmen for the Israeli Defence Forces. Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was less than enthusiastic about an assault, has joined in, "Israel is now seeking to wipe out the terrorism which is trying to undermine the whole area.")
The political leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, has made equally clear that Hamas will stand firm. A spokesman emphasized, "We will continue our struggle with absolute strength and steadfastness."
The State Department, predictably, has lined up behind Tel Aviv, blaming the deaths on Hamas' irresponsibility. More intriguing is the quick condemnation of the attacks by Palestinian Authority and West Bank leaders Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad, despite their rivalry with Hamas for political leadership throughout Palestine.
In short, the immediate effect of the Israeli operation is to suspend any other regional initiatives, such as negotiations with the Palestinian Authority to bolster the West Bank and "isolate" Gaza. Of course, Abbas and Fayyad could be playing the game of condemn the attacks in public and applaud them in private but, if that's the case, they will eventually pay the political reaper for selling out Palestinians to the Israeli offensive.
The suspension of political process is redoubled in cases such as a possible Israeli-Syrian rapprochement, given Damascus's support of Hamas. And don't expect the population of the Lebanon to be eagerly embracing a Western narrative of "freedom" that includes these developments.
And so the tragedy unfolds.
The death toll from today's Israeli attacks on Gaza is now more than 200 with at least 700 injured. The Israeli Government has made clear that the assault will continue. (Significantly, the statements have come from Defense Minister Ehud Barak --- ""The operation will go on and be intensified as long as necessary" --- and spokesmen for the Israeli Defence Forces. Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was less than enthusiastic about an assault, has joined in, "Israel is now seeking to wipe out the terrorism which is trying to undermine the whole area.")
The political leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, has made equally clear that Hamas will stand firm. A spokesman emphasized, "We will continue our struggle with absolute strength and steadfastness."
The State Department, predictably, has lined up behind Tel Aviv, blaming the deaths on Hamas' irresponsibility. More intriguing is the quick condemnation of the attacks by Palestinian Authority and West Bank leaders Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad, despite their rivalry with Hamas for political leadership throughout Palestine.
In short, the immediate effect of the Israeli operation is to suspend any other regional initiatives, such as negotiations with the Palestinian Authority to bolster the West Bank and "isolate" Gaza. Of course, Abbas and Fayyad could be playing the game of condemn the attacks in public and applaud them in private but, if that's the case, they will eventually pay the political reaper for selling out Palestinians to the Israeli offensive.
The suspension of political process is redoubled in cases such as a possible Israeli-Syrian rapprochement, given Damascus's support of Hamas. And don't expect the population of the Lebanon to be eagerly embracing a Western narrative of "freedom" that includes these developments.
Reader Comments (15)
I live near the Mexican border. If Mexicans were lobbing rockets and mortars into my neighborhood and I had to live underground, dammed straight that I would want Mexico bombed.
I never understood the "beautiful defeat is a victory" philosophy of the arabs. They seem to want to sacrifice 100 of their own to kill one jew. They seem truly barbaric.
It's clear why you feel that way scott, you are either a lying fool that denies knowing the history of the region, or you are just an ignorant fool that don't know anything about the region.
Israel is an illegal state and Palestinians are fighting for independents. Americans have turn a blind eye and will always turn a blind eye to the massacres that Israel does with the approval of American policy and American weapons.
There is no point of explaining what war crimes are to you people because you only see war crimes when you're blood is spilled and not the thousands of Palestinian blood
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Some poets see this is as divine art:
"We will not leave our land, we will not raise white flags and we will not kneel except before God," Ismail Haniyeh said in a letter to the Palestinian people carried by a pro-Hamas website after Israeli air strikes killed 205 in Gaza.
"There is blood everywhere, there are wounded and martyrs in every house and in every street. Gaza today was decorated by blood ... There can be more martyrs and there can be more wounded but Gaza will never be broken and will never surrender," Haniyeh said.
As I recall, my home is in an area once part of Mexico. It was taken in war. The history of war and misery with Mexico would not justify them rocketing my home and targeting my kids. I'm no fool. Are you? Are you a zealot?
If I lived in Mexico, and the United States supported a pseudo nation that came in and stole my land, my commerce, and my culture, replacing them with its, I would be sufficiently angry to resort to extraordinary measures. The Palestinians' land and homes were seized by the "israeli" forces in 1948, an act justified by that most ridiculous tome, the bible, and supported by the USA and most other nations guilty for not helping the jews in the holocaust.
As to the history of the region, money was raised to buy the many hothouses and greenhouses built by the settlers which grew vegetables for Europe. It was very profitable and the Europeans were looking forward to the trade with the palestinians. The settlers left the industry intact and when the palestinians took back their land, the first thing that they did was destroy all the buildings and lost a golden opportunity to earn foreign currency and grow food for themselves. All out of what?Anger? Zealotry?
Gee...here's a thought...stop shooting rockets into Israel and you won't get blown to Hell and back with bombs!
Aslo, to those who have zero clue about the history of the so called Palestinian area, try reading something not published by an Arab newpaper, the PLO, Hammas, etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Palestine
My gut instinct if I was dealing with Mexicans firing rockets here would be to try to settle differences. But, but, if I felt too threatened or felt that the other side did not want a compromise, I would scorch the earth of Northern Mexico to protect my family and global popularity be damned. Israel will protect its citizens and if it is sufficiently threatened it will ignore global opinion and destroy Gaza. Pray that this never happens.
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You guys are so blindly ignorant and have no idea of whats going on.. so naive to think this is about rockets... but even if its .. did UK bomb Iraland for the IRA attacks? even though the IRA attack were much more effective..? would the world have said england has the right to kill hundreds or thousands of people because of it?
what the [forces] in Israel are doing are against all international law and basic human rights that are in Geneva and UN decelaration of human rights.. but ofcourse I will not expect some ignorant people to know this or understand it..
Like noam chomsky said, dont blame the victim for shouting at you when your foot is on his nick.. Israel has been the worse state in human history .. people in gaza were denied basic human rights, food, drink, power and basica medical supplies for over two years.. it has been killing people.. and most importantly its an occuping force.. do you know what that means ? OCCUPATION.. so people are permited under international law to defend themselves..
The fact is.. Israel will not survive for long.. its a fact.. no way it will.. the arab leaders are currently corrupted regims supported by both Israel and the states..but they either can not last forever.. one day things will dramatically change.. but I hope it will not be too late then for all Jews, christians, and Muslims to live in Peace in future Palestine.. as equal citizens.. and just like they were before zionism..
Our prayers to the amazing great people in Gaza who defending humanity these days.. are prayers for the victim martyers and for their families.. you refused to live as slaves.. and died as heros.. you taught humanity how with stones.. you can stand in front of the most advanced military technology in the world.. you are heros by all means..
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Fine,Israel is a brutal illegal opressor state that should not be allowed to exist.... I am sure [that when that happens] the noble Palestinian martyrs will cease any violence and a new era of Islamic peace will radiate from the middle east....
Todd,
First of all, you need to know that reality is so far from what you see on TV.. you have to understand that networks such as FOX have no news but actually its a propaganda machine.. its more like if the news is a water milon.. FOX and other networks make you see the darkness of few black seeds of that water milon.. so all you see is something black.. and have no idea of what sorround it.. they will never allow you to see the big picture.. otherwise it will be an honest news reporting.. and this is what they are scared to be known.. the truth has to be hidden.. that is their agenda.. the whole world knows, except Americans which is so sad.. here is a challenge.. there is no way any rational person will go and live in Palestine and see the reality for themselves and still support Israel.. no way.. except for these fanatic religous zionists who choose to give this a blind eye in order to "fulfill God promise "..
going back to your comment
1. What you saw are very few seeds of extremely disparate ppl who suffer alot because of the aparthied system in Israel that is highly condemned by the world and protected by the states.. and even for those minority.. this is to show you how hopeless of their lives they are.. this reaction was only at the beginning of the sep 11 attacks.. and all they thought about is the US is being attacked.. I am sure most of them didnt even process the live of innocent people who were killed.. but were cheering that the states is being attacked.. and not because they hate the states.. but because they hoped that this attack will make the states stop supporting the...regim in Israel and start giving attention to their basic human rights.. anyways.. you saw extremly very few people.. I am sure you understand applying the same logic.. giving a camera filiming at teh right time.. I can make american look like racist, people to enourage rape, malusting children.. or pratically anything I want.. as I am sure I can find samples of every good or bad people in a large society..
2. what was edited by the moderator is that you will continue to cheer the killing of people of Gaza.. well no comments here actually except that you should feel ashamed of yourself.. watching ppl killed, children.. how dare you cheer from the suffering of a child ? or any other human being.. shame on you
you guys are saying isreal is defending itself.. hamas is sending rockets to empty areas, isreal evacuated all the places with people near gaza. Hamas kills 1 person and wounded 4.. so now isreal is going to kill over 200 and wound over 300 .. Many countries get in trouble for collective punishment, so why can isreal kill so many innocent citizens without being condemned? The fact is that isreal CONTROLS america, and all you people saying its the right thing.. how can this be justified whats happening, what the isrealis is doing is terrorism...
Isreal is killing people and they expect those palestinians to just take it?? i mean honestly their houses are burning down and their children are dying.. do you consider a 1 yr old baby who cant even talk a terrorist? if so, then isreal has killed a hell of a lot of terrorists
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