6 jan 2009
ANALYSIS / The unspoken goal of bringing down Hamas in Gaza
By Amir Oren, Haaretz Correspondent
This morning the Israel Defense Forces operation in the Gaza Strip approaches a critical juncture: To be − deeper in, at a higher cost − or not to be.
The operation in its current format has exhausted itself. There is no point in pursuing it. The choice now is between going forward, at a price Israeli society is understandably reluctant to pay, or stopping, completing the mission in place and undertaking a unilateral withdrawal without waiting for the false hope of an agreement without Hamas’ participation. Additional achievements cannot be expected without further efforts that could prove too late and too great.
Last night’s blast, which killed three Israeli troops and wounded about 20 others, was a hint of what could happen if the ground operation is expanded. The IDF is advancing slowly and carefully in the northern Gaza Strip. Israelis, and especially those with loved ones risking their lives in battle, should be grateful to the entire chain of command for their caution. The commanders endanger themselves no less than their soldiers, as last night’s events demonstrated.
The troops’ measured advance is aimed at giving them superiority in every engagement with Hamas. Israel knows that Hamas seeks the blood of IDF soldiers, Israeli civilians and Palestinians not a party to the conflict. The IDF seeks to minimize the damage to these three groups and maximize it among a fourth group − Hamas members.
The operation is largely meeting its aims on that score, but it has still not achieved its goal. After one and a half weeks of fighting the operation is experiencing tension between the immediate goals and ultimate objectives. The immediate goals are destroying rocket launchers, killing fighters and arresting wanted men for interrogation and to swap for Gilad Shalit. The ultimate objectives are a lasting and stable cease-fire, and a long-term end to arms smuggling into Gaza.
This tension includes the inherent differences among the three highest-ranking entities behind the operation: the political echelon, and within it the conflicts among the Olmert-Barak-Livni trio; Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi; and Southern Command head Yoav Galant. No subordinate rank is capable of providing the rank above it with spectacular results at a minimal effort ?(and above the cabinet is Israeli society as a whole?). We can pay little and get little, or pay a lot and get little, and perhaps − no guarantees − we can pay a lot and get a lot.
As things stand now, Israel will find it hard to translate its military power into policy gains. As long as Hamas can fire into Be’er Sheva and north of the Israel Air Force base at Hatzor, the organization will not submit to Israel’s cease-fire terms, despite the hits it has taken.
Operation Cast Lead’s table of contents currently has two chapters. The first was the air campaign. The second was the movement of ground forces.
The IDF now faces two main military alternatives. The first is to step up the confrontation with Hamas in Gaza City and its environs. That will entail greater casualties among our soldiers, increase the hardships of the Palestinian population and lead to more calls from the international community to stop the fighting.
The second option is to expand the theater of operations and strive for a target that has not yet been set, which has been concealed or even denied: to bring down the Hamas government. Southern Command is capable of achieving this goal but is not enthusiastic about it, lest the Jabalya refugee camp turn into Somalia. In this context the IDF is afraid of being too successful.
In both cases it will take days before the cabinet that sent in the IDF is able to claim a lasting victory.
In these circumstances, with the IDF attempting to maneuver between two prohibitions − against bringing down Hamas on the one hand, and reaching an agreement with it on the other − Israel is dependent on the mercy of Hamas to allow it to declare victory. For that reason Hamas must agree to a coexistence in Gaza − of the Hamas government, stripped of its rockets; the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas along the Philadelphi Route ?(the two battalions trained in Jordan by the United States?); and perhaps also an inter-Arab or international force at the border crossings.
This morning the Israel Defense Forces operation in the Gaza Strip approaches a critical juncture: To be − deeper in, at a higher cost − or not to be.
The operation in its current format has exhausted itself. There is no point in pursuing it. The choice now is between going forward, at a price Israeli society is understandably reluctant to pay, or stopping, completing the mission in place and undertaking a unilateral withdrawal without waiting for the false hope of an agreement without Hamas’ participation. Additional achievements cannot be expected without further efforts that could prove too late and too great.
Last night’s blast, which killed three Israeli troops and wounded about 20 others, was a hint of what could happen if the ground operation is expanded. The IDF is advancing slowly and carefully in the northern Gaza Strip. Israelis, and especially those with loved ones risking their lives in battle, should be grateful to the entire chain of command for their caution. The commanders endanger themselves no less than their soldiers, as last night’s events demonstrated.
The troops’ measured advance is aimed at giving them superiority in every engagement with Hamas. Israel knows that Hamas seeks the blood of IDF soldiers, Israeli civilians and Palestinians not a party to the conflict. The IDF seeks to minimize the damage to these three groups and maximize it among a fourth group − Hamas members.
The operation is largely meeting its aims on that score, but it has still not achieved its goal. After one and a half weeks of fighting the operation is experiencing tension between the immediate goals and ultimate objectives. The immediate goals are destroying rocket launchers, killing fighters and arresting wanted men for interrogation and to swap for Gilad Shalit. The ultimate objectives are a lasting and stable cease-fire, and a long-term end to arms smuggling into Gaza.
This tension includes the inherent differences among the three highest-ranking entities behind the operation: the political echelon, and within it the conflicts among the Olmert-Barak-Livni trio; Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi; and Southern Command head Yoav Galant. No subordinate rank is capable of providing the rank above it with spectacular results at a minimal effort ?(and above the cabinet is Israeli society as a whole?). We can pay little and get little, or pay a lot and get little, and perhaps − no guarantees − we can pay a lot and get a lot.
As things stand now, Israel will find it hard to translate its military power into policy gains. As long as Hamas can fire into Be’er Sheva and north of the Israel Air Force base at Hatzor, the organization will not submit to Israel’s cease-fire terms, despite the hits it has taken.
Operation Cast Lead’s table of contents currently has two chapters. The first was the air campaign. The second was the movement of ground forces.
The IDF now faces two main military alternatives. The first is to step up the confrontation with Hamas in Gaza City and its environs. That will entail greater casualties among our soldiers, increase the hardships of the Palestinian population and lead to more calls from the international community to stop the fighting.
The second option is to expand the theater of operations and strive for a target that has not yet been set, which has been concealed or even denied: to bring down the Hamas government. Southern Command is capable of achieving this goal but is not enthusiastic about it, lest the Jabalya refugee camp turn into Somalia. In this context the IDF is afraid of being too successful.
In both cases it will take days before the cabinet that sent in the IDF is able to claim a lasting victory.
In these circumstances, with the IDF attempting to maneuver between two prohibitions − against bringing down Hamas on the one hand, and reaching an agreement with it on the other − Israel is dependent on the mercy of Hamas to allow it to declare victory. For that reason Hamas must agree to a coexistence in Gaza − of the Hamas government, stripped of its rockets; the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas along the Philadelphi Route ?(the two battalions trained in Jordan by the United States?); and perhaps also an inter-Arab or international force at the border crossings.
Gaza Horrors Creating Future Terrorists
Gaza horrors sow seeds for future violence
* Boy on Hamas TV: "When we will grow up, we will bomb them back"
* Tearful girl: "Maybe my sister could die some day, I don’t know. I am afraid"
* Psychiatrists say seeing destruction firsthand can create violence in the future
* One psychiatrist said earlier children witnessing violence grew into extremists
From Nic Robertson, CNN
Mohammed Abu Hassanin may be a young boy, but he’s old enough to know he’s scared of the attacks being launched by Israel in Gaza.
"When the Jews bomb us when we are asleep, [Hassanin] says ‘We get scared,’ " a translator says. Hassanin is one boy from Gaza speaking frankly to an anchor on Hamas TV about the attacks, which have gone on for 10 days.
Children like him have accounted for one-third of the casualties at Gaza’s main hospital, foreign doctors say. And now Hamas and their media are making them the face of the attacks. The children have seen terrible images of tragedy: their friends injured or killed and bloodied bodies in the streets. They are images Hassanin says he will never forget. He’ll keep them stored away until he’s old enough to do something about it.
"When we will grow up, we will bomb them back," a CNN translator quoted the boy saying on Hamas TV.
It’s a sentiment psychiatrists in Gaza say could be responsible a frightening future – that the violence children are witnessing will sow the seeds for future violence. VideoWatch how Arab media is covering the crisis »
In Gaza, a little girl wails as she talks about her friend who was killed in an attack on a Hamas house.
"She could be my sister," the girl tearfully says. "She is my friend but maybe my sister could die some day, I don’t know. I am afraid."
Gaza psychiatrist Eyad el Sarraj said similar trauma to children following past Palestinian intifadas has led to violent results. VideoWatch psychiatrists explain their fear »
"Today children are experiencing a serious kind of trauma, and I fear for the future," el Sarraj said. "The children of the first intifada were throwing stones at the Israeli troops. And because of the trauma they were subjected to, 10 years later, the same children became suicide bombers."
Nowhere is safe for the children, and many are without food.
On Sunday, Save the Children staff members delivered food parcels to 641 families — or nearly 6,000 people, including more than 3,000 children — in Gaza City, east Jabalyah, Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun and Um Al Nasser. But the group said the continuous air assaults and ground fighting are making movement dangerous for needy families.
"The situation has reached a critical level for children who are exposed to and experiencing violence, fear and uncertainty," said Annie Foster, Save the Children’s team leader for the emergency response in the region.
"Parents are facing enormous challenges to protecting and caring for their children. Either they cannot leave their house to attend to basic needs for fear of being caught in the crossfire — or they are being forced from their homes, into harm’s way, to find shelter."
In the streets of Gaza, where Israeli ground forces are operating, and on the Israeli side, where Hamas rockets are being launched, the streets are empty. Even playgrounds for children are equipped with bunkers. VideoWatch the latest on Hamas’ continued rocket threats »
Sirens wail on the Israeli side warning of Hamas rocket attacks. When asked what they think when they hear the sound, the children respond with only one word: "Fear."
The threat of Hamas rockets in the south of Israel is taken so seriously that almost all the schools within rocket range of Gaza have locked their gates and told children not to come to school. According to the Israeli government, 300,000 students are affected.
The threat to children is something, perhaps the only thing, that people on both sides of the border agree on.
Gaby Schrieber, an Israeli psychiatrist at Barzilai Hospital, says Israeli children get excellent help and structured support — something he fears children in Gaza won’t be receiving.
And if they don’t get the support they need or hope for a better future, Schrieber worries what will happen to them.
"Where is hope for them, and how can they structure their future in their minds?" Schrieber said. "They can become extremists."
* Boy on Hamas TV: "When we will grow up, we will bomb them back"
* Tearful girl: "Maybe my sister could die some day, I don’t know. I am afraid"
* Psychiatrists say seeing destruction firsthand can create violence in the future
* One psychiatrist said earlier children witnessing violence grew into extremists
From Nic Robertson, CNN
Mohammed Abu Hassanin may be a young boy, but he’s old enough to know he’s scared of the attacks being launched by Israel in Gaza.
"When the Jews bomb us when we are asleep, [Hassanin] says ‘We get scared,’ " a translator says. Hassanin is one boy from Gaza speaking frankly to an anchor on Hamas TV about the attacks, which have gone on for 10 days.
Children like him have accounted for one-third of the casualties at Gaza’s main hospital, foreign doctors say. And now Hamas and their media are making them the face of the attacks. The children have seen terrible images of tragedy: their friends injured or killed and bloodied bodies in the streets. They are images Hassanin says he will never forget. He’ll keep them stored away until he’s old enough to do something about it.
"When we will grow up, we will bomb them back," a CNN translator quoted the boy saying on Hamas TV.
It’s a sentiment psychiatrists in Gaza say could be responsible a frightening future – that the violence children are witnessing will sow the seeds for future violence. VideoWatch how Arab media is covering the crisis »
In Gaza, a little girl wails as she talks about her friend who was killed in an attack on a Hamas house.
"She could be my sister," the girl tearfully says. "She is my friend but maybe my sister could die some day, I don’t know. I am afraid."
Gaza psychiatrist Eyad el Sarraj said similar trauma to children following past Palestinian intifadas has led to violent results. VideoWatch psychiatrists explain their fear »
"Today children are experiencing a serious kind of trauma, and I fear for the future," el Sarraj said. "The children of the first intifada were throwing stones at the Israeli troops. And because of the trauma they were subjected to, 10 years later, the same children became suicide bombers."
Nowhere is safe for the children, and many are without food.
On Sunday, Save the Children staff members delivered food parcels to 641 families — or nearly 6,000 people, including more than 3,000 children — in Gaza City, east Jabalyah, Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun and Um Al Nasser. But the group said the continuous air assaults and ground fighting are making movement dangerous for needy families.
"The situation has reached a critical level for children who are exposed to and experiencing violence, fear and uncertainty," said Annie Foster, Save the Children’s team leader for the emergency response in the region.
"Parents are facing enormous challenges to protecting and caring for their children. Either they cannot leave their house to attend to basic needs for fear of being caught in the crossfire — or they are being forced from their homes, into harm’s way, to find shelter."
In the streets of Gaza, where Israeli ground forces are operating, and on the Israeli side, where Hamas rockets are being launched, the streets are empty. Even playgrounds for children are equipped with bunkers. VideoWatch the latest on Hamas’ continued rocket threats »
Sirens wail on the Israeli side warning of Hamas rocket attacks. When asked what they think when they hear the sound, the children respond with only one word: "Fear."
The threat of Hamas rockets in the south of Israel is taken so seriously that almost all the schools within rocket range of Gaza have locked their gates and told children not to come to school. According to the Israeli government, 300,000 students are affected.
The threat to children is something, perhaps the only thing, that people on both sides of the border agree on.
Gaby Schrieber, an Israeli psychiatrist at Barzilai Hospital, says Israeli children get excellent help and structured support — something he fears children in Gaza won’t be receiving.
And if they don’t get the support they need or hope for a better future, Schrieber worries what will happen to them.
"Where is hope for them, and how can they structure their future in their minds?" Schrieber said. "They can become extremists."
Palestinians Will Never Forget
Palestinians wait in line to buy bread outside a bakery in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Jan. 6, 2009
How can anyone watching Gaza burn escape the bitter realization that history repeats itself? Many have compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to Apartheid South Africa. But not in their cruelest hour did the Apartheid regime wreak such wanton murder and destruction. Let us stop mincing words. What is happening to Palestinians now whispers of Warsaw and Lodz.
Schools, universities, mosques, police stations, homes, water treatment plants, factories, and anything that supports civil society, including the only mental health clinic in Gaza, have been blown to rubble from planes that rain death from clear skies without any resistance, because Palestinians have no opposing air force. Nor do they have an army or navy. No mechanized armor or heavy weaponry. Thanks to Israel, they haven’t even had continuous electricity or fuel for the past two years. Or food and medicine. Israel’s siege and blockade of Gaza has prevented the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza, including the import of the most basic goods necessary for survival.
A recent study by the Red Cross showed that 46 percent of Gazan children suffer from anemia. Malnutrition affects 75 percent of Gaza’s population, half of whom are under the age of 17. There has been widespread deafness among children due to Israel’s intentional and frequent sonic booms from low overflights. An alarming number have stunted growth and serious mental disorders due lack of food. The only way they have been able to survive thus far has been due to the tunnels that smuggle food and goods from Egypt.
Half of Gazan children under 12 have lost their “will to live.” Can anyone fathom the kind of oppression that leads small children en mass to lose their will to live?
This is what Israel has done to Gaza over the past two years. They ghettoized Gaza and turned it into an open air prison – a concentration camp of civilians with no way to earn a living, no way to defend themselves and no place to run from the slaughter bombarding them from air, land, and sea. From the white phosphorous disemboweling young and old alike. Hear eyewitness accounts
But Gazans dared to try to resist with pathetic homemade rockets that, until Israel’s barbaric attack, generally landed in open desert. The rockets were mostly symbolic of resistance, very much like the fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. But who would have called on a ceasefire there, in 1943, for “both parties” to “cease the violence”? Who would have blamed the Ghetto fighters for their ultimate fate? Who would say they had no right to resist? No right to fight back?
Just as Nazis gave Jews only the right to die silently, Israel starves and besieges Palestinians, giving them only that same right. Just as the Warsaw Ghetto was blown to rubble, Gaza is left to burn in an inferno, its hospitals bursting with the puss of death and unspeakable wounds. The entire population of Gaza is terrorized and traumatized. No one is spared the insecurity and fear. Imagine, please, that you are a Gazan.
What have Palestinians done to deserve such a fate? To be endlessly hunted like animals? To have their homes demolished, their ancient history and heritage cast into forgotten space? To languish in refugee camps and slums, while Jews from all corners of the earth flock to fill their confiscated homes and farms? To be tortured, imprisoned, and denied in every conceivable way?
What have we done that leaders will not speak against this massive and cold aggression against our people? With what logic do you call Palestinians terrorists when their streets flow with the blood of their own children? When they have been stripped naked of possessions, dignity and hope?
Why? Because they elected Hamas? Hamas has held power for less than two years. Yet, Palestinians have suffered this kind of slaughter for 61 years. Whether now in Gaza, in 2002 in Jenin, in 1947 and 1948 in Deir Yasin, Balad el-Sha, Yehida, Tantura, and the list goes on. Or 1982 in Sabra and Shatila.
Palestinians are killed as if insects not because of Hamas or Yasser Arafat before them. Not because of Qassasm rockets or hand thrown rocks. Palestinians burn and bleed because they are the non-Jewish natives of that land. There is no other reason. Just like Jews were killed for being Jewish. Palestinians are killed for being the Muslims and Christians who hold historic, legal and even genetic title to that land.
But unlike Jews of Europe, Palestinians are killed slowly over decades. Unlike Israel, Nazi Germany did not establish such an effective global propaganda machine that would demonize its victims and blame them for their own ghastly fate. But most importantly, like the fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto, Palestinians do not march like mice to their death. In six decades of enduring unspeakable oppression, their will has not been broken. Now is no exception.
Israel, and the United States with its unconditional support, will only succeed in radicalizing a whole new generation of its victims. Of revving world hatred and resentment against this unholy duo.
Palestinians will not forget this, as they have not forgotten the past 60 years. But what will you remember a week or a year or a decade from now, when a Gazan, who stood before the long rows of corpses and vowed vengeance, creates your 9-11? When one of those few million children without a will to live straps on a belt that rips through your daily routine? Will you remember what we did to them?
How can anyone watching Gaza burn escape the bitter realization that history repeats itself? Many have compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to Apartheid South Africa. But not in their cruelest hour did the Apartheid regime wreak such wanton murder and destruction. Let us stop mincing words. What is happening to Palestinians now whispers of Warsaw and Lodz.
Schools, universities, mosques, police stations, homes, water treatment plants, factories, and anything that supports civil society, including the only mental health clinic in Gaza, have been blown to rubble from planes that rain death from clear skies without any resistance, because Palestinians have no opposing air force. Nor do they have an army or navy. No mechanized armor or heavy weaponry. Thanks to Israel, they haven’t even had continuous electricity or fuel for the past two years. Or food and medicine. Israel’s siege and blockade of Gaza has prevented the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza, including the import of the most basic goods necessary for survival.
A recent study by the Red Cross showed that 46 percent of Gazan children suffer from anemia. Malnutrition affects 75 percent of Gaza’s population, half of whom are under the age of 17. There has been widespread deafness among children due to Israel’s intentional and frequent sonic booms from low overflights. An alarming number have stunted growth and serious mental disorders due lack of food. The only way they have been able to survive thus far has been due to the tunnels that smuggle food and goods from Egypt.
Half of Gazan children under 12 have lost their “will to live.” Can anyone fathom the kind of oppression that leads small children en mass to lose their will to live?
This is what Israel has done to Gaza over the past two years. They ghettoized Gaza and turned it into an open air prison – a concentration camp of civilians with no way to earn a living, no way to defend themselves and no place to run from the slaughter bombarding them from air, land, and sea. From the white phosphorous disemboweling young and old alike. Hear eyewitness accounts
But Gazans dared to try to resist with pathetic homemade rockets that, until Israel’s barbaric attack, generally landed in open desert. The rockets were mostly symbolic of resistance, very much like the fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. But who would have called on a ceasefire there, in 1943, for “both parties” to “cease the violence”? Who would have blamed the Ghetto fighters for their ultimate fate? Who would say they had no right to resist? No right to fight back?
Just as Nazis gave Jews only the right to die silently, Israel starves and besieges Palestinians, giving them only that same right. Just as the Warsaw Ghetto was blown to rubble, Gaza is left to burn in an inferno, its hospitals bursting with the puss of death and unspeakable wounds. The entire population of Gaza is terrorized and traumatized. No one is spared the insecurity and fear. Imagine, please, that you are a Gazan.
What have Palestinians done to deserve such a fate? To be endlessly hunted like animals? To have their homes demolished, their ancient history and heritage cast into forgotten space? To languish in refugee camps and slums, while Jews from all corners of the earth flock to fill their confiscated homes and farms? To be tortured, imprisoned, and denied in every conceivable way?
What have we done that leaders will not speak against this massive and cold aggression against our people? With what logic do you call Palestinians terrorists when their streets flow with the blood of their own children? When they have been stripped naked of possessions, dignity and hope?
Why? Because they elected Hamas? Hamas has held power for less than two years. Yet, Palestinians have suffered this kind of slaughter for 61 years. Whether now in Gaza, in 2002 in Jenin, in 1947 and 1948 in Deir Yasin, Balad el-Sha, Yehida, Tantura, and the list goes on. Or 1982 in Sabra and Shatila.
Palestinians are killed as if insects not because of Hamas or Yasser Arafat before them. Not because of Qassasm rockets or hand thrown rocks. Palestinians burn and bleed because they are the non-Jewish natives of that land. There is no other reason. Just like Jews were killed for being Jewish. Palestinians are killed for being the Muslims and Christians who hold historic, legal and even genetic title to that land.
But unlike Jews of Europe, Palestinians are killed slowly over decades. Unlike Israel, Nazi Germany did not establish such an effective global propaganda machine that would demonize its victims and blame them for their own ghastly fate. But most importantly, like the fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto, Palestinians do not march like mice to their death. In six decades of enduring unspeakable oppression, their will has not been broken. Now is no exception.
Israel, and the United States with its unconditional support, will only succeed in radicalizing a whole new generation of its victims. Of revving world hatred and resentment against this unholy duo.
Palestinians will not forget this, as they have not forgotten the past 60 years. But what will you remember a week or a year or a decade from now, when a Gazan, who stood before the long rows of corpses and vowed vengeance, creates your 9-11? When one of those few million children without a will to live straps on a belt that rips through your daily routine? Will you remember what we did to them?
Where would you go?
If your unbelievably small and overcrowded land was being terrorized, pulverized by bombs from the world’s 4th largest military, and your borders were closed; if your house was not safe, mosque (church) not safe, school not safe, street not safe, UN refugee camp not safe…Where would you go, run, hide?
Over 15,000 have been made homeless, internal refugees from Israel’s house-bombings, shelling, and shooting. Some have been housed in UN schools around Gaza.
In Jabaliya today, Israeli warplanes bombed one such school. Shifa’s director conservatively estimates 40 dead, 10s injured. It must be higher. I will go to the recieving hospital and look at the mutilated survivors, maybe see the corpses come in. Then I will tell and show you, if I’m not bombed.
The Shifa director also told me that emergency medics still cannot reach the Zaytoun house that yesterday morning was bombed with inhabitants locked inside. There are two main accounts of the story, both criminal. One: Israeli soldiers rounded up the inhabitants of the multi-story house, separated the men –15, I was told–and shot them point blank in front of the women and children of the family, 20, I was told. Then, laid explosives around the house and bombed the rest of the extended family.
Two: Israeli soldiers rounded up the inhabitants of the multi-story house, locked them in one room for a day, and bombed it the following morning.
Either way, Israeli soldiers intentionally imprisoned and bombed the inhabitants of the house. And are actively preventing medics from reaching any potential survivors. The medics have tried to coordinate with the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) without success: no one can reach the house.
Is this logical, humane, moral? What’s going on with the ICRC? Would this happen in any other place, with any other invading force?
A house in Beach camp, off the coast and in Gaza city, was shelled yesterday around 8:30 am, seven killed, including five children.
And of course, the bombing of residential houses in the north goes on. I’m cut off from what happens in the central and southern areas, until I’m able to sit with journalists and get the news. But I know they are not excluded from this carnage.
Over 15,000 have been made homeless, internal refugees from Israel’s house-bombings, shelling, and shooting. Some have been housed in UN schools around Gaza.
In Jabaliya today, Israeli warplanes bombed one such school. Shifa’s director conservatively estimates 40 dead, 10s injured. It must be higher. I will go to the recieving hospital and look at the mutilated survivors, maybe see the corpses come in. Then I will tell and show you, if I’m not bombed.
The Shifa director also told me that emergency medics still cannot reach the Zaytoun house that yesterday morning was bombed with inhabitants locked inside. There are two main accounts of the story, both criminal. One: Israeli soldiers rounded up the inhabitants of the multi-story house, separated the men –15, I was told–and shot them point blank in front of the women and children of the family, 20, I was told. Then, laid explosives around the house and bombed the rest of the extended family.
Two: Israeli soldiers rounded up the inhabitants of the multi-story house, locked them in one room for a day, and bombed it the following morning.
Either way, Israeli soldiers intentionally imprisoned and bombed the inhabitants of the house. And are actively preventing medics from reaching any potential survivors. The medics have tried to coordinate with the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) without success: no one can reach the house.
Is this logical, humane, moral? What’s going on with the ICRC? Would this happen in any other place, with any other invading force?
A house in Beach camp, off the coast and in Gaza city, was shelled yesterday around 8:30 am, seven killed, including five children.
And of course, the bombing of residential houses in the north goes on. I’m cut off from what happens in the central and southern areas, until I’m able to sit with journalists and get the news. But I know they are not excluded from this carnage.
|
Israel shells houses, schools in 11th day of offensiveAn Israeli armored personnel vehicle march towards the south of the Gaza Strip, Jan. 6, 2009. Over 540 Palestinians have been killed and some 2,500 others injured in the Gaza Strip during Israel's Operation Cast Lead starting from Dec. 27, 2008
Israel pressed on with its airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday by shelling houses and a school run by the United Nations, killing 82 Palestinians, the majority women and children, in the eleventh day of violence. An Israeli air and ground strike on al-Fakhoura school run by the UN agency |
for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Jabalia refugee camp on Tuesday evening killed 46 people and wounded 150 others, medics said.
The school is located in the center of Jabalia refugee camp, sheltering 200,000 refugees displaced by the ongoing Israeli offensive. According to UN officials, the school was directly targeted by the Israeli army.
Adnan Abu Hasna, UNRWA spokesman in Gaza, condemned the attack on the school, saying that "we have several times noted to the Israeli sides to avoid targeting our schools that shelter civilians."
"In spite of rising the blue flag of UNRWA on our schools, the Israeli army has been targeting those schools by missiles and tanks shells," said Abu Hasna, adding "four of our schools were hit. The latest was al-Fakhoura school."
Israel's military said its shelling on the school in northern Gaza Strip was in response to mortar fire from within the school.
Meanwhile, an official statement issued by the Palestinian Health Ministry said that 42 civilians were killed in the tanks shelling of al-Fakhoura school in northern Gaza Strip.
Ibrahim Abu Tahoun, an observer based in Gaza City, said "In less than 24 hours, some 82 people were killed and 150 wounded in a series of massacres committed by the Israeli army in airstrikes on central and northern Gaza Strip."
Mo'aweya Hassanein, chief of emergency and ambulance services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, told reporters up to Tuesday 670 people have been killed and around 3,000 others wounded since the launch of the Israeli offensive on Dec. 27.
Hundreds of families went to the school run by the UNRWA to take shelter after their houses were either destroyed or threatened to be destroyed by the Israeli army warplanes.
The UNRWA spokesman in Gaza said the UN group, which offers humanitarian aid to two thirds of the Gaza population, decided to open 10 of its schools in the Gaza Strip as shelters.
Eyewitnesses near the school said two tank shells landed into the schoolyard, adding that dozens were killed and injured, and were all taken to three major hospitals.
"Dozens of people, who were inside the school, turned into pieces and most of them were women and children," said Hassan, a Palestinian paramedic, who asked not to give his second name.
Abu Tahoun, the Palestinian observer, expected that "the massacre in Jabalia today reminds us of the massacre committed on the Lebanese village of Qana, when so many civilians were killed by Israeli shelling in 1996."
He said Qana massacre obliged Israel to end its offensive on Lebanon after it was embarrassed by the world public opinion, and "I hope that this massacre would embarrass Israel again and stop this war soon."
The Israeli army earlier targeted another school in the beach refugee camp, killing three people of the al-Dayah family. Thirteen others of the family were killed in another strike in Gaza City.
Tuesday's predawn witnessed a series of airstrikes and shelling, mainly on central Gaza Strip, where a father and two of his children were killed in al-Bureij refugee camp.
Also 10 more Palestinians, including two Islamic Jihad militants were killed in separate airstrikes and tanks shelling on the Gaza Strip early on Tuesday morning.
The school is located in the center of Jabalia refugee camp, sheltering 200,000 refugees displaced by the ongoing Israeli offensive. According to UN officials, the school was directly targeted by the Israeli army.
Adnan Abu Hasna, UNRWA spokesman in Gaza, condemned the attack on the school, saying that "we have several times noted to the Israeli sides to avoid targeting our schools that shelter civilians."
"In spite of rising the blue flag of UNRWA on our schools, the Israeli army has been targeting those schools by missiles and tanks shells," said Abu Hasna, adding "four of our schools were hit. The latest was al-Fakhoura school."
Israel's military said its shelling on the school in northern Gaza Strip was in response to mortar fire from within the school.
Meanwhile, an official statement issued by the Palestinian Health Ministry said that 42 civilians were killed in the tanks shelling of al-Fakhoura school in northern Gaza Strip.
Ibrahim Abu Tahoun, an observer based in Gaza City, said "In less than 24 hours, some 82 people were killed and 150 wounded in a series of massacres committed by the Israeli army in airstrikes on central and northern Gaza Strip."
Mo'aweya Hassanein, chief of emergency and ambulance services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, told reporters up to Tuesday 670 people have been killed and around 3,000 others wounded since the launch of the Israeli offensive on Dec. 27.
Hundreds of families went to the school run by the UNRWA to take shelter after their houses were either destroyed or threatened to be destroyed by the Israeli army warplanes.
The UNRWA spokesman in Gaza said the UN group, which offers humanitarian aid to two thirds of the Gaza population, decided to open 10 of its schools in the Gaza Strip as shelters.
Eyewitnesses near the school said two tank shells landed into the schoolyard, adding that dozens were killed and injured, and were all taken to three major hospitals.
"Dozens of people, who were inside the school, turned into pieces and most of them were women and children," said Hassan, a Palestinian paramedic, who asked not to give his second name.
Abu Tahoun, the Palestinian observer, expected that "the massacre in Jabalia today reminds us of the massacre committed on the Lebanese village of Qana, when so many civilians were killed by Israeli shelling in 1996."
He said Qana massacre obliged Israel to end its offensive on Lebanon after it was embarrassed by the world public opinion, and "I hope that this massacre would embarrass Israel again and stop this war soon."
The Israeli army earlier targeted another school in the beach refugee camp, killing three people of the al-Dayah family. Thirteen others of the family were killed in another strike in Gaza City.
Tuesday's predawn witnessed a series of airstrikes and shelling, mainly on central Gaza Strip, where a father and two of his children were killed in al-Bureij refugee camp.
Also 10 more Palestinians, including two Islamic Jihad militants were killed in separate airstrikes and tanks shelling on the Gaza Strip early on Tuesday morning.
A smoke column rises following an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Jan. 6, 2009.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday rejected a European Union (EU) request for a 48-hour ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, vowing to push ahead the offensive in the Gaza Strip till security is restored to southern regions of Israel. |
Palestinians carry a wounded boy, who according to the Palestinian medical source was injured in Israeli forces' operations in Gaza, to Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Jan. 6, 2009.
Israel attacked three UN schools sheltering hundreds of Palestinian refugees in Gaza on Tuesday, causing 40 dead and more than 60 wounded. |
Palestinians carry a wounded boy, who according to the Palestinian medical source was injured in Israeli forces' operations in Gaza, to Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Jan. 6, 2009.
Israel attacked three UN schools sheltering hundreds of Palestinian refugees in Gaza on Tuesday, causing 40 dead and more than 60 wounded. |
Palestinians take shelter at a United Nations aid centre situated in a school in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Jan. 6, 2009.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday rejected a European Union (EU) request for a 48-hour ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, vowing to push ahead the offensive in the Gaza Strip till security is restored to southern regions of Israel. |
Israeli army strikes Gaza's UN School, 40 killed: Medics
United Nations school in Jabalya
The death toll has risen to 40 Palestinians killed and dozens wounded on Tuesday afternoon when the Israeli army struck a school run by the United Nations in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip, medics said.
Mo'aweya Hassanein, chief of emergency and ambulance services in the Palestinian Health Ministry told reporters that 40 civilians were killed and dozens injured in the strike on the al-Fakhoura school in the refugee camp.
Hassanein did not say weather it was a tank shell or a warplane missile that hit the school, but several Israeli army tanks are stationed some three kilometers east and north of the camp.
But witnesses said that Israeli warplanes struck on the UN school, adding that the strike came shortly after Palestinian militants fired mortar shells from an area near the school at Israeli army ground forces stationed north of the camp.
Hassanein said that the death toll in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the Israeli offensive on Dec. 27 has hit more than 600 with over 2,700 wounded.
The death toll has risen to 40 Palestinians killed and dozens wounded on Tuesday afternoon when the Israeli army struck a school run by the United Nations in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip, medics said.
Mo'aweya Hassanein, chief of emergency and ambulance services in the Palestinian Health Ministry told reporters that 40 civilians were killed and dozens injured in the strike on the al-Fakhoura school in the refugee camp.
Hassanein did not say weather it was a tank shell or a warplane missile that hit the school, but several Israeli army tanks are stationed some three kilometers east and north of the camp.
But witnesses said that Israeli warplanes struck on the UN school, adding that the strike came shortly after Palestinian militants fired mortar shells from an area near the school at Israeli army ground forces stationed north of the camp.
Hassanein said that the death toll in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the Israeli offensive on Dec. 27 has hit more than 600 with over 2,700 wounded.
Reigniting Violence: How Do Ceasefires End?
By Nancy Kanwisher, Johannes Haushofer, & Anat Biletzki
As Israel and Palestine suffer a hideous new spasm of terror, misery, and mayhem, it is important to ask how this situation came about. Perhaps an understanding of recent events will afford lessons for the future.
How did the recent ceasefire unravel? The mainstream media in the US and Israel places the blame squarely on Hamas. Indeed, a massive barrage of Palestinian rockets were fired into Israel in November and December, and ending this rocket fire is the stated goal of the current Israeli invasion of Gaza. However, this account leaves out crucial facts.
First, and most importantly, the ceasefire was remarkably effective: after it began in June 2008, the rate of rocket and mortar fire from Gaza dropped to almost zero, and stayed there for four straight months (see Figure 1, from a factsheet produced by the Israeli consulate in NYC). So much for the widespread view, exemplified in yesterday's New York Times editorial that: "There is little chance of restraining Hamas without dealing with its patrons in Syria and Iran." Instead, the data shows clearly that Hamas can indeed control the violence if it so chooses, and sometimes it does, for long periods of time.
Second, and just as important, what happened to end this striking period of peace? On November 4th, Israel killed a Palestinian, an event that was followed by a volley of mortars fired from Gaza. Immediately after that, an Israeli air strike killed six more Palestinians. Then a massive barrage of rockets was unleashed, leading to the end of the ceasefire.
Figure 1. Number of Palestinian rockets fired in each month of 2008 (adapted from The Israeli consulate in NYC [PDF])
As Israel and Palestine suffer a hideous new spasm of terror, misery, and mayhem, it is important to ask how this situation came about. Perhaps an understanding of recent events will afford lessons for the future.
How did the recent ceasefire unravel? The mainstream media in the US and Israel places the blame squarely on Hamas. Indeed, a massive barrage of Palestinian rockets were fired into Israel in November and December, and ending this rocket fire is the stated goal of the current Israeli invasion of Gaza. However, this account leaves out crucial facts.
First, and most importantly, the ceasefire was remarkably effective: after it began in June 2008, the rate of rocket and mortar fire from Gaza dropped to almost zero, and stayed there for four straight months (see Figure 1, from a factsheet produced by the Israeli consulate in NYC). So much for the widespread view, exemplified in yesterday's New York Times editorial that: "There is little chance of restraining Hamas without dealing with its patrons in Syria and Iran." Instead, the data shows clearly that Hamas can indeed control the violence if it so chooses, and sometimes it does, for long periods of time.
Second, and just as important, what happened to end this striking period of peace? On November 4th, Israel killed a Palestinian, an event that was followed by a volley of mortars fired from Gaza. Immediately after that, an Israeli air strike killed six more Palestinians. Then a massive barrage of rockets was unleashed, leading to the end of the ceasefire.
Figure 1. Number of Palestinian rockets fired in each month of 2008 (adapted from The Israeli consulate in NYC [PDF])
Thus the latest ceasefire ended when Israel first killed Palestinians, and Palestinians then fired rockets into Israel. However, before attempting to glean lessons from this event, we need to know if this case is atypical, or if it reflects a systematic pattern.
We decided to tally the data to find out. We analyzed the entire timeline of killings of Palestinians by Israelis, and killings of Israelis by Palestinians, in the Second Intifada, based on the data from the widely-respected Israeli Human Rights group B'Tselem (including all the data from September 2000 to October 2008). |
We defined "conflict pauses" as periods of one or more days when no one is killed on either side, and we asked which side kills first after conflict pauses of different durations. As shown in Figure 2, this analysis shows that it is overwhelmingly Israel that kills first after a pause in the conflict: 79% of all conflict pauses were interrupted when Israel killed a Palestinian, while only 8% were interrupted by Palestinian attacks (the remaining 13% were interrupted by both sides on the same day). In addition, we found that this pattern -- in which Israel is more likely than Palestine to kill first after a conflict pause -- becomes more pronounced for longer conflict pauses. Indeed, of the 25 periods of nonviolence lasting longer than a week, Israel unilaterally interrupted 24, or 96%, and it unilaterally interrupted 100% of the 14 periods of nonviolence lasting longer than 9 days.
Figure 2. For conflict pauses of different durations (i.e., periods of time when no one is killed on either side), we show here the percentage of times from the Second Intifada in which Israelis ended the period of nonviolence by killing one or more Palestinians (black), the percentage of times that Palestinians ended the period of nonviolence by killing Israelis (grey), and the percentage of times that both sides killed on the same day (white).
Virtually all periods of nonviolence lasting more than a week were ended when the Israelis killed Palestinians first. We include here the data from all pause durations that actually occurred. |
Thus, a systematic pattern does exist: it is overwhelmingly Israel, not Palestine, that kills first following a lull. Indeed, it is virtually always Israel that kills first after a lull lasting more than a week.
The lessons from these data are clear:
First, Hamas can indeed control the rockets, when it is in their interest. The data shows that ceasefires can work, reducing the violence to nearly zero for months at a time.
Second, if Israel wants to reduce rocket fire from Gaza, it should cherish and preserve the peace when it starts to break out, not be the first to kill.
Note: For a detailed account of the breakdown of the ceasefire and the precise numbers of rockets fired in November from the point of view of the Israeli military, see here.
The lessons from these data are clear:
First, Hamas can indeed control the rockets, when it is in their interest. The data shows that ceasefires can work, reducing the violence to nearly zero for months at a time.
Second, if Israel wants to reduce rocket fire from Gaza, it should cherish and preserve the peace when it starts to break out, not be the first to kill.
Note: For a detailed account of the breakdown of the ceasefire and the precise numbers of rockets fired in November from the point of view of the Israeli military, see here.
bombing the news
The building i was in was just bombed. From the 10th floor news studio where i’d had an interview, a series of strikes against the building, housing numerous TV stations, threatened to bring down the walls, bring down the building.
The journalists i was with say it was 7 hits, suspect it was shelling from tanks east of Gaza, it’s hard to say really because it happened very quickly, very suddenly.
As the theme goes: no where is safe from Israeli strikes.
And as the Palestinians say, hek idinya: that’s life.
S. asks me the question every Palestinian is asking: “Why are they bombing us?” He adds the bit that many add: “I’m not Fatah, not Hamas. I like vodka.”
He tells me he’ll show me sometime, in the future. “If I have a future,” he adds with a grin.
The journalists i was with say it was 7 hits, suspect it was shelling from tanks east of Gaza, it’s hard to say really because it happened very quickly, very suddenly.
As the theme goes: no where is safe from Israeli strikes.
And as the Palestinians say, hek idinya: that’s life.
S. asks me the question every Palestinian is asking: “Why are they bombing us?” He adds the bit that many add: “I’m not Fatah, not Hamas. I like vodka.”
He tells me he’ll show me sometime, in the future. “If I have a future,” he adds with a grin.
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