Saturday
Oct172009
Israel-Palestine: UN Council Endorses Goldstone Report --- What Now?
Saturday, October 17, 2009 at 8:05
Israel-Palestine: No UN Progress on Goldstone Report on Gaza
Transcript: The Palestinian Authority Draft to UN Human Rights Council (15 October)
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On Friday the United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed the Goldstone Report, which found evidence of war crimes by both Hamas and Israel in the Gaza War. The vote was 25-6 with 16 abstentions. The US opposed the resolution while Britain and France did not vote. (The full list is at the bottom of the entry.)
The five-page resolution was remarkable for two reasons. First, it not only condemned Israeli crimes during Operation Cast Lead but also, beyond the war, denounced Israeli human rights violations in east Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. Second, although Goldstone Report cites both Hamas and Israel, the resolution explicitly names only Israel as a violator of international law. Goldstone criticized the UN decision to condemn only Israel, saying that the wording of the resolution was unfortunate.
Israel's Foreign Ministry rejected the resolution and called the decision "unjust":
In contrast, Hamas welcomed the decision and said that they hoped that it would lead to "the beginning of the prosecution of the leaders of the occupation". The Palestinian Authority said that a follow-up on implementation of the recommandations in the report, "to protect the Palestinian people from Israeli aggression", was needed.
This may be the end of the line, however, for the report. The resolution asks that the Security Council forward the findings to the International Criminal Court, but the US, France, and Britain are unlikely to support the move. Indeed, with substantive action unlikely, the resolution may be an unexpected victory for Israel, with the United Nations proving its "one-sided position".
FOR the resolution: Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Cuba, Djbouti, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia
AGAINST the resolution: United States, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia and Ukraine
ABSTAINING: Belgium, Bosnia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Korea, Slovenia, Uruguay, Britain, France, Madagascar, Kyrgyzstan and Angola
Transcript: The Palestinian Authority Draft to UN Human Rights Council (15 October)
Receive our latest updates by email or RSS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FEED
Buy Us A Cup of Coffee? Help Enduring America Expand Its Coverage and Analysis
On Friday the United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed the Goldstone Report, which found evidence of war crimes by both Hamas and Israel in the Gaza War. The vote was 25-6 with 16 abstentions. The US opposed the resolution while Britain and France did not vote. (The full list is at the bottom of the entry.)The five-page resolution was remarkable for two reasons. First, it not only condemned Israeli crimes during Operation Cast Lead but also, beyond the war, denounced Israeli human rights violations in east Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. Second, although Goldstone Report cites both Hamas and Israel, the resolution explicitly names only Israel as a violator of international law. Goldstone criticized the UN decision to condemn only Israel, saying that the wording of the resolution was unfortunate.
Israel's Foreign Ministry rejected the resolution and called the decision "unjust":
Israel will continue to exercise its right to self-defense and to preserve the security of its citizens.
Israel believes that the decision harms efforts to protect human rights in accordance with international law and hinders efforts to promote the peace process as well as encouraging terror organizations around the world.
Israel thanks the countries that supported our position, and those who, with their vote, voiced their opposition to the unjust decision which ignores the murderous Hamas attacks against Israeli citizens... The decision ignores the fact that the Israel Defense Forces took unprecedented measures to avoid harming innocent civilians, and the fact that terror organizations used civilians as human shields in Gaza.
In contrast, Hamas welcomed the decision and said that they hoped that it would lead to "the beginning of the prosecution of the leaders of the occupation". The Palestinian Authority said that a follow-up on implementation of the recommandations in the report, "to protect the Palestinian people from Israeli aggression", was needed.
This may be the end of the line, however, for the report. The resolution asks that the Security Council forward the findings to the International Criminal Court, but the US, France, and Britain are unlikely to support the move. Indeed, with substantive action unlikely, the resolution may be an unexpected victory for Israel, with the United Nations proving its "one-sided position".
FOR the resolution: Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Cuba, Djbouti, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia
AGAINST the resolution: United States, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia and Ukraine
ABSTAINING: Belgium, Bosnia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Korea, Slovenia, Uruguay, Britain, France, Madagascar, Kyrgyzstan and Angola
Reader Comments (31)
Accusing Israel of war crimes is unjust!!!!
What was Israel supposed to do when Hamas fired rockets on Israeli cities on daily basis.
This terror organization, which rules Gaza Strip is openly calling for Israel's destruction and firing thousands of missiles purposely targeting Israeli civilians and Israel supposed to take it quietly?
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal"(c)
The United Nations Human Rights Council's permanent obsession with Israel has nothing to do with human rights protection.
Reality check: Israel is and has since 1948 when it massacred and forced 750.000 Palestinians from their homes and lands, been the aggressor. Hamas kept the ceasefire until Israeli troops violated it on Nov 4 2008. Palestinians use homemade and smuggled rockets because they have no F16, tanks and artillery with which to throw off the illegal occupation of their lands by the 4th most powerful military machine on the planet, Israel. It's long past time that some of the myths of the violent Israeli regime. Lets start with the false claim that Cast Lead was begun because of "hundreds of rockets fired from Gaza". It's a lie!
http://www.spinwatch.org/-articles-by-category-mainmenu-8/73-middle-east/5317-how-israel-torpedoed-its-ceasefire-with-hamas-to-produce-a-casus-belli
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10123.shtml
For further enlightenment to truths about the slaughter by Israel of 1400 innocent people and the burning and maiming of 5 times that many:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11680
..and for just one in thousands of examoples of Israeli brutality and oppression:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSECq3kxT4I
If I were treated like thes innocent people, I'd fire rockets too!
For the reason few of us know the truth about Israel, I suggest that you check out these videos:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6604775898578139565#
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SbjAanvUqs
...and for more facts: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/
"Rights Watchdog, Lost in the Mideast"
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/opinion/20bernstein.html?_r=3&scp=1&sq=rights%20watchdog&st=cse
"When I stepped aside in 1998, Human Rights Watch was active in 70 countries, most of them closed societies. Now the organization, with increasing frequency, casts aside its important distinction between open and closed societies.
Nowhere is this more evident than in its work in the Middle East. The region is populated by authoritarian regimes with appalling human rights records. Yet in recent years Human Rights Watch has written far more condemnations of Israel for violations of international law than of any other country in the region.
Israel, with a population of 7.4 million, is home to at least 80 human rights organizations, a vibrant free press, a democratically elected government, a judiciary that frequently rules against the government, a politically active academia, multiple political parties and, judging by the amount of news coverage, probably more journalists per capita than any other country in the world — many of whom are there expressly to cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Meanwhile, the Arab and Iranian regimes rule over some 350 million people, and most remain brutal, closed and autocratic, permitting little or no internal dissent. The plight of their citizens who would most benefit from the kind of attention a large and well-financed international human rights organization can provide is being ignored as Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division prepares report after report on Israel."
Awamori, diversion is an old trick. Of course there are many brutal regimes in the world, some of them imposed and supported by US and other powerful states. Let's stay focused on the issue at hand in this thread. None of the states that you or the article you link to cite are practicing ethnic cleansing of the original inhabitants of the land. Nor are these states expanding their borders. Israel is, in fact Israel has no defined borders as it is intent on expanding and colonizing other's lands: Zionist ambitions would carry "Israel" beyond the territories it had conquered in 1948. "Zionist mainstream thought," writes Benny Morris "had always regarded a 'Jewish' (Zionist) state from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River as its ultimate goal."
* * *
At various times, Zionists had made more expansive territorial claims that included - besides Palestine - Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and the Sinai.
In October 1936, even while accepting the recommendations of the Peel Commission to partition Palestine, Ben-Gurion had explained, "We do not suggest that we announce now our final aim which is far reaching - even more so than the Revisionists who oppose Partition."
In another speech in 1938, Ben-Gurion revealed that his vision of a Jewish state included Cis-Jordan [the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean], southern Lebanon, southern Syria, today's Jordan, and the Sinai. Ten years later, he spoke, grandiosely, of settling "the account with Egypt, Assyria and Chaldea on behalf of our ancestors."
http://www.abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&p=4&id=154934
Israel was born on the blood and the land stolen from hundreds of thousands of other people. ALL violence between Israelis and Palestinians is subsequent to that fact. Israel is in violation of more than 100 UN Resolutions and international court decisions, and the leaders in Jerusalem continue to steal evermore land (settlement building all over the West Bank, building The Wall, etc.) from the land's rightful owners and moving them out of the way.
Israel is not a democracy. It is an ethnocracy, as it has more than 20 laws regarding different treatment of it's Arab citizens (those few who still live in Israel Proper - those excluding Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, who are under brutal military domination) Housing laws, marriage and co-habiting laws, subsidies and benefits laws that are discriminatory, etc. In other words, democracies treat all citizens equal. Israel doesn't. The US gives Israel more money than any other nation on the planet (3 billion per year), despite Israel's wealth. We also give weapons and military tech secrets, some of which they sell to China. Israel, despite what our media parrots continue to tell us, is not a friend of the US. It's abuses and belligerance are the primary reason that there is so much animosity towards the US expressed by Middle East and Asian nations.
To anyone reading this, please don't mistakenly believe that my disdain for Israel are the rantings of an anti-Semite. Two of my childhood friends were Jews whose family escaped Germany. Their grandparents perished in the death camps. I have great admiration for people of all faiths, that they put faith and love above self, and seek enlightenment or a higher calling. The false charge of anti-Semitism is a powerful tool used by Zionists and their supporters to demonize any and all legitimate criticism of the Israeli government and its inhumane policies towards Christians, Muslims, Druse and others in Palestine.
Osama bin Laden referenced "80 years of domination and humiliation" after our buildings were attacked. Check out the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and the aftermath of the end of the Ottoman Empire and the meddling by Western powers during the Mandate Period. Zionists and Israel are at the very heart of what bin Laden was referring to. As I said, Israel is not our friend.
David, so many lies...I even don't want to respond to every single one of them.
You are certainly living in some alternative reality, where Israel is expanding, Israeli arabs (1.5 million) are few, US gives Israel more money than any other nation on the planet, Israel cells to China US secrets, etc. But you will be always wellcomed to come back to a real world.
BTW all the antisemits like to claim, that they have some Jewish friends.
It's a known trick. Try something else.
Awamori, rather than dismiss the truths I've posted here, challenge me with facts and evidence. For evidence that Israel is expanding:
http://www.alternet.org/rights/96598/israel_expanding_settlements_in_east_jerusalem/
http://www.britannica.com/bps/additionalcontent/18/41034934/Five-Years-After-ICJ-Ruling-Israel-Expands-Its-Illegal-Wall-Onto-More-Palestinian-Land
For a chart of recipients of US foreign aid:
http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/politics/us-foreign-aid.htm
Note Israel is at the top of the list.
Israeli Arab population vs total:
Sep 16, 2009 ... Israel's population on the eve of the Jewish New Year 5770 is 7465500. This figure includes 5634300 Jews (75.5%), 1513200 Arabs (20.3%)
1.5 million is relatively few compared to 7.5 million.
My reality is factual, Awamori. Factual reality is not alternate reality.
If you have factual argument rather than childish slights, maybe we can both learn something here.
David, incomplete truth and lies are pretty the same thing.
1)Regarding Israel's expanding you don't want to notice, that the recent building is inside the existing settlements, not outside. That is not expanding.
Besides, after 1967 Israel keeps withdrawing - Sinai in 1979, South Lebanon in 2000, Gaza and additional settlements on West Bank in 2005.
All this unilaterally, w/o any conditions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel%27s_unilateral_disengagement_plan_of_2004
In general, all the "extra" territory was gained by Israel during defensive wars.
2) You have claimed: "The US gives Israel more money than any other nation on the planet (3 billion per year)". So this is I call lies. You can read in your own link, that there is economical aid and the military aid. In 2006, for example the numbers were 240 and 2,260 respectively. So the point is, that military aid is not a "money". It is American armament and investment in common military research projects (like "Arrow" missile), which are to the common interest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_(missile)
3)1.5 million Arabs INSIDE the 1948 borders it is not a few at all. There are only 300,000 Jewish settlers OUTSIDE those borders. Ratio of 5:1.
Summary:
Look, in the real world in any conflict it simply can't happen, that first side is always right, and second is always wrong. One is an innocent victim, and second is pure evil.
But in your reality it is like this.
Awamori, The Wall is continuing to be built and hundreds of thousands of acres of Palestinian land is being stolen. Farmers are cut off from their fields, some are being shot by Israeli snipers hundreds of feet from these walls in an effort to keep them from harvesting their crops: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSECq3kxT4I. The continuing colony-building in the West Bank by Israel is on land that is to be negotiated as Palestinian land in a two-state solution proposal. How can Israel claim it will negotiate this land as it continues to fill it up with settlements? These settlements are OUTSIDE already illegally-colonized lands:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a6Vxvb5L5I
For a myriad of truths to this conflict I suggest that you educate yourself with facts. Following is a good source: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/
It is you, not I, who bring lies to this venue.
David, the wall's purpose is not to steal the land, but protect Israeli citizens (both Jews and Arabs) from terrorist attacks.
I know, it doesn't look very nice, but Israel simply has no choice. In contrary, Palestinians always had a choice -they could accept Israel back in 1948, they also can accept it right now. If they don't want peace, they get a wall - simple and clear.
"Israeli officers (including the head of the Shin Bet) quoted in the newspaper Maariv have claimed that in the areas where the barrier was complete, the number of hostile infiltrations has decreased to almost zero. Maariv also stated that Palestinian militants, including a senior member of Islamic Jihad, had confirmed that the barrier made it much harder to conduct attacks inside Israel. Since the completion of the fence in the area of Tulkarem and Qalqilyah in June 2003, there have been no successful attacks from those areas. All attacks were intercepted or the suicide bombers detonated prematurely.[17] In a March 23, 2008 interview, Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdallah Shalah complained to the Qatari newspaper Al-Sharq that the separation barrier "limits the ability of the resistance to arrive deep within [Israeli territory] to carry out suicide bombing attacks , but the resistance has not surrendered or become helpless, and is looking for other ways to cope with the requirements of every stage" of the intifada."
This website, you are referring to is pathetic. For example it compares number of Palestinians dead from the beginning of conflict with number of Israelis. Which conclusions is one supposed to make from this numbers?
Let's compare, for example, the number of Americans dead in Iraq and the number of Iraqis ? Or American casualties during WW2 with the Japanese ones. I guess, the ratio will be more o less same if not higher. Conclusions?
BTW, Those Youtube videos, your bringing here are called "Pallywood". Do you know why? Because they are staged.
Awamori, The Wall is an illegal tool which is used to encroach into and acquire Palestinian land. You continue to deny truths I present with distracting argument and non-factual BS.
"Since December 2000, according to the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem, the settler population of the West Bank has grown by 86,000 and that of East Jerusalem by 50,000. Gaza was evacuated of settlers and soldiers in 2005, but Israel retains near complete control over egress and exit of people and goods to and from the coastal strip, regularly cuts supplies of fuel and other necessities to punish the residents and mounts military incursions at will. All the Palestinian territories are subject, to one degree or another, to the measures of house demolitions, “closures” that halt economic activity, administrative restrictions on movement, deportation, induced out-migration and much more.
Indeed, the matrix has reconfigured the country to such an extent that today it seems impossible to detach a truly sovereign and viable Palestinian state from an Israel that has expanded all the way to the Jordan River. Anyone familiar with Israel’s “facts on the ground,” perhaps first and foremost the settlers, would reach the conclusion that, in fact, the matrix cannot be taken apart in a piecemeal fashion, leaving a few settlements here, a road there and an Israel “greater” Jerusalem in the middle. The matrix has become far too intricate. Dismantling it piece by piece, with Israel stalling by arguing for the security function of each “fact on the ground,” would be a frustrating series of confrontations that would eventually exhaust itself. The only way to a genuine two-state solution and not a cosmetic form of apartheid is to cut the Gordian knot. The international community, led by the United States, must tell Israel that the occupation must be ended entirely. Israel must leave every inch of the Occupied Territories. Period."
http://www.merip.org/mero/mero091109.html
What I present here is links to data and truth. All you present is opinions and lies.
Fact: Israeli terrorists moved several hundred thousand people out of their way to build their state. Israel now illegally militarily occupies lands and neighborhoods of people who want them to leave. Israel is the aggressor state. Palestinians are the victims of the aggression. All violence towards Israel is the result of these facts. If you would actually read and view some of the links that I have provided here, you would know that.
are these killings of innocent children staged?
http://killedbaby.blogspot.com/
Is this story staged?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nDUFiuZLhc
...and your claim that Israel gained land in defensive wars is another of many great lies and myths of Israel:
"The former Commander of the Air Force, General Ezer Weitzman, regarded as a hawk, stated that there was 'no threat of destruction' but that the attack on Egypt, Jordan and Syria was nevertheless justified so that Israel could 'exist according the scale, spirit, and quality she now embodies.'...Menahem Begin had the following remarks to make: 'In June 1967, we again had a choice. The Egyptian Army concentrations in the Sinai approaches do not prove that Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves. We decided to attack him.' "Noam Chomsky, "The Fateful Triangle."
Was the 1967 war defenisve? - continued
http://www.wrmea.com/jews_for_justice/1967war.html
also, Awamori, while I'm on the subject of lies of Israel, I'd like to address this recent lie: 'Israel launched operation Cast Lead in response to the hundreds of rockets being fired fro Gaza by Hamas. Israel has a right to protect itself."
How many times was that lie repeated by our media talking puppets on the nightly news during the 22 day murderous rampage on innocent people by the Israeli war machine?
Here is the truth:
http://www.themediaoasis.com/Hamasrockets.htm
Check out the links to the stories, particularly the story that shows that Hamas arrested Palestinians caught firing rockets into Israel. Hamas kept their end of the brokered ceasefire despite Israeli home invasions, shootings of farmers and fishermen, continued choking of the Gaza borders and arrests and capture of Palestinian citizens, all violations of the ceasefire. It was only after Israeli troops invaded Gaza on Nov 4 and killed hamas leaders that Hamas RETALIATED with rocket fire.
For one of the reasons that Israel launched it's attack (which was 2 years in the planning):
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11680
What really happened on November 5th:
"Israel launched an airstrike on Gaza early Wednesday after its troops clashed with Hamas militants who fired mortars into Israel, leaving six Palestinians dead. It was the first battle since a June truce mostly quieted violence in the volatile territory.
The Israeli army said the clashes erupted late Tuesday after its forces uncovered a tunnel in central Gaza that militants planned to use to abduct Israeli soldiers. It said a special army unit headed to the area to destroy the tunnel. One Palestinian was killed in fierce gunbattles that ensued.
Hamas then fired mortars across the Gaza border into southern Israel and Israel answered with the airstrike in the early hours of Wednesday, killing five suspected Palestinian militants, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. The army said the airstrike aimed at the mortar launchers and hit them."
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?i...
Conflict escalates
On November 4, 2008, Israeli forces raided a Hamas-dug tunnel near the Israel-Gaza border. The IDF claimed the tunnel was intended for the capture of Israeli soldiers while Hamas asserted that the tunnel served defensive purposes.[59] The raid and the associated air strike killed six Hamas fighters. Hamas launched 35 rockets into southern Israel in what was described by a Hamas spokesman as a "response to Israel's massive breach of the truce".[60][61] According to a November 17 article in The Daily Telegraph, "since violence flared on November 5, Israeli forces and militants, some of them from Hamas, have engaged in almost daily tit-for-tat exchanges."[62] Rocket attacks targeted at Israeli cities near Gaza sharply increased during November 2008, approaching pre-truce levels.[63]
On December 13, Israel announced that it was in favor of extending the cease-fire, provided Hamas adhered to the conditions.[64] On December 14, a Hamas delegation in Cairo proposed that the parties return to the original ceasefire arrangement: Hamas would undertake to stop all rocket attacks against Israel if Israel would agree to open up the border crossings, not to reduce commercial traffic, and not to launch attacks into Gaza. At an Israeli cabinet meeting on December 21, Yuval Diskin, head of Israel's internal security agency, said he thought Hamas was "interested in continuing the truce, but wants to improve its terms...it wants us to lift the siege of Gaza, stop attacks, and extend the truce to include the West Bank."[65]
On December 20, Hamas officially announced that it would not extend the cease-fire which had expired on December 19. It cited the Israeli border blockade as the primary reason and resumed shelling of the western Negev.[66] Israel said that it had begun to ease the blockade, but reimposed it when Hamas failed to end all rocket fire and weapons smuggling.[67]
On December 23, senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar reiterated that Hamas was willing to renew the cease-fire under the original terms.[68] That same day the IDF killed three Palestinian militants, claiming that they had been planting explosives on the Israel-Gaza border.[69] On December 24, more than 60 Palestinian mortar shells and Katyusha and Qassam rockets hit the Negev.[70] Hamas code-named the attacks "Operation Oil Stain" and claims it fired 87 rockets and mortar rounds at Israel that day.[71]
On December 25, after Israel had "wrapped up preparations for a broad offensive," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert delivered a final warning in an interview with the Arabic language satellite channel al-Arabiya. He said "I am telling them now, it may be the last minute, I'm telling them stop it. We are stronger."[72]
On Friday, December 26, Israel reopened five border crossings between Israel and Gaza to supply fuel for Gaza's main power plant and to provide about 100 truck loads of humanitarian aid, including grain and other goods.[73] That same day, militants fired approximately a dozen rockets and mortar shells from Gaza at Israel; one accidentally struck a northern Gaza house, killing two Palestinian sisters and wounding a third.[74][75] According to Israeli officials, its subsequent December 27 offensive took Hamas by surprise, thereby increasing militant casualties.[76]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_War#Conflict_escalates
Reading further in the link that Awamori provided:
"Analysts and some politicians[who?] argue that the real motivation behind the Gaza War was ambitious Israeli politicians and Israeli elections, which were due in February 2009. A comparison has been made to Israel's "Grapes of Wrath" campaign into Lebanon in 1996, which also occurred during election time.[79] The UNHRC report compiled under Richard Goldstone rejected Israel's claim that the Gaza War had been waged as a response to rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.[21]"
Again...Look at the evidence: http://www.themediaoasis.com/Hamasrockets.htm
Another reason Israel launched the war on innocent people that it had imprisoned in a walled camp with no way to escape:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11787
The graph shows that Hamas abided by the cease-fire until the incursion into Gaza and the killing of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers on Nov 4, 2008. Only then were rockets again launched in large numbers from Gaza (Hamas actually arrested those militants who were caught launching rockets during the cease-fire, despite Israel's continuing choking of supplies at the Gaza border crossings - a clear violation of the ceasefire. Israel never did allow enough food medicine fuel and other supplies in to relieve the shortages suffered by Gazan citizens. Israel never did honor their bargain, their part of the cease-fire agreement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jOFXL62zw0
To #22
Because it is a balanced article, which analyzes all the aspects of the conflict and compares different sources and oppinions. I suggest you to adopt similar approach as well.
Regarding the elections - could be truth, could be not. It is hard to know. But bottom line - Kadima lost the elections anyway.
To #23
November 4th:
"Israeli troops crossed into the Gaza Strip late last night near the town of Deir al-Balah. The Israeli military said the target of the raid was a tunnel that they said Hamas was planning to use to capture Israeli soldiers positioned on the border fence 250m away. Four Israeli soldiers were injured in the operation, two moderately and two lightly, the military said.
One Hamas gunman was killed and Palestinians launched a volley of mortars at the Israeli military. An Israeli air strike then killed five more Hamas fighters. In response, Hamas launched 35 rockets into southern Israel, one reaching the city of Ashkelon.
"This was a pinpoint operation intended to prevent an immediate threat," the Israeli military said in a statement. "There is no intention to disrupt the ceasefire, rather the purpose of the operation was to remove an immediate and dangerous threat posted by the Hamas terror organisation."