One IOF Violation of Human Rights Intensifies

Thank you Davboz for commenting on my blog. It is always good to engage in debates, especially when it is between a Palestinian blogging and an Israeli who likes commenting on Palestinian and anti-Zionist blogs - and who has no blog of his own, only a bloggers ID. So, I hope to see you here again - with friends if you like - and lets debate.
----

The central focus of this post is the Bil’in weekly peaceful demonstrations against the building of the Wall and the annexing of Palestinian land, brought as an example of the violation of the freedom of speech and expression by the Israeli Occupation Forces against the demonstrators.

It seems that the IOF were instructed to harden their blows on the Bil’in demo. It has been the trend, since the July war on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. The demonstrations have been going on since January 2005. Ever since and the demonstrators have been met with rubber-coated metal bullets, sound grenades, gas bombs, physical abuse, verbal abuse and arrest squads.



Basque Nationalist Musical group met with bullets and sound grenades
The Basque musical group joined Palestinians, internationals and Israelis in the Bili’n weekly demonstration on the 7th of July. They dressed in full fest costumes and carried bells on their lower backs, keeping the beat for the march that headed towards the Israeli gate in the Wall, which leads to the villages agricultural lands.
The Basques expressed their solidarity with the Palestinians and support for their resistance; "we too have been fighting an occupation of our lands for generations".
The arm manning the location threw tear-gas and sound grenades at the demonstrators and used rubber bullets. They also intended to arrest twice Iyad Buranat, a member of the Bil’in committee against the wall and settlements. The soldiers physically abused the Palestinians who came to his aid.
The demonstration ended with five reported injuries;
"Ahmed Mohammed Hamad, 55, of Bil’in suffered damage to his right ear from a sound bomb.
Mohammed Katib, 33, member of the Bil’in committee against the wall and settlements, suffered bruises and tears to the skin in his left torso from soldiers roughing him up.
Michael, 23, from the US, suffered tears in the skin of his forearms from shrapnel from a sound bomb. His right forearm was damaged when he was thrown by one soldier against another’s shield with extreme force.
Ashraf , 22, of Tulkarem, suffered a rubber bullet to his upper left thigh as he was walking by the soldiers.
Khaled, 18, of Bil’in, was hit with a rubber bullet in the leg.



Palestinian Wedding as part of the Demo Interrupted
Mansour and Iman, two happy couple from Bil’in, celebrated their wedding ceremony as part of the 14th of July Bil’in protest. The army manning the gate in the Wall to the village’s fields prevented the procession from holding the wedding celebration amongst the olive trees.
Few rocks were thrown at the Israeli military vehicles that said to activate a response from the soldiers. However, the response lasted for an hour and an incursion on the Bil’in village and ended up injuring 26 participants, including the bride.
The soldiers used sound grenades and brutal physical abuse against some protesters.

Injuries - 14 July
The bride was hit in the face, across the right jaw with a baton and afterward dragged back in a chokehold, her dress stained with dirt.
Yosi, an Israeli activist, was severely beaten and immobile.
The first round of injuries were from sound bombs:
Fernanado (35, Euskalaria)—bruising to his right thigh
Koldo (32, Euskalaria)—ruptured skin and bruising to his right hip
Rojay Mohammed (press)—beaten after being injured by a sound bomb; afterward the soldiers broke his camera.

Several injuries were sustained from the batons resulting in welts, bruises
and bumps—some several inches long leaving a few with difficulty walking:
Martin (24, Sweden)—bruising on his legs
Ashraf (22, Tulkarem)—bruising to his legs
Sean (20, Ireland)—multiple bruises to his arms and legs
Shees (23, US)—knees and legs beaten
Waji (50, Bil’in)—right arm and hand beaten
Elad (31, Tel Aviv)—knees and hands beaten and bruised
Woody (27, US)—right arm and left leg beaten
Allen (25, Scotland)—severe bruising to his right arm
Mohammed (35, Biddo)—severe bruising to his legs and knees
Amna (US)—legs and arms beaten
Falah Abu Rahma (30, Bil’in)
Megan (23, US)—hit with baton
Yosi (19, Tel Aviv)—knocked unconscious for a brief time
Othman Mansour (45, Bil’in)—needed to be carried to the village.

In addition the soldiers used rubber bullets which hit a few people:
Yasin Farras (14, Bil’in)—in his leg
Ashraf (22, Tulkarem)—in his back
Unnamed woman (36, Europe)—to the back of her head.



Exceptional Non-Violent Response from the IOF
The 21st of July demonstration was overshadowed with grief. The demonstrators carried posters and a 20 meters long black flag to mourn the killing of 425 Palestinian and Lebanese civilians killed since the 28th of June and until the 20th of July. Demonstrators also had sealed their mouths with a tape; "We are against the Arab and International apathy and silence towards the ongoing Israeli violations of human rights" Mohammed Al Khateeb of the Popular Committee of Bil’in explained.
This demo ended with no engagement from the Israeli soldiers manning the gate and, consequently, no injuries.



Demonstrators Being Alarmed for the First Time
The demonstrators on the 28th of July carried a coffin rapped in both the Palestinian and Lebanese flags with "The New Middle East" written on one of the sides. They laid the coffin of the barbed-wire of one of the fences blocking access to the village’s agricultural lands. Immediately, soldiers throw sound-grenades at the demonstrators and followed shortly by rubber bullet shots.
There was some fear and suspicion in the air that the soldiers might cause some severe injuries or deaths amongst the demonstrators. "We must be very careful," Mohammed Khatib, from the popular committee, said. "Four internationals were killed in Lebanon and the Israeli military is allowed to claim that they didn’t do it on purpose because everyone believes them." That fear was also attributed to the fact that the media attention was drawn away from a peaceful demonstration by what was happening in Lebanon at the time.
Fortunately, the demo ended with very few injuries caused amongst the protesters. However, the events uncovering in the following demos proved some of their doubts.

Two Scots in their 50s were amongst the injured and extinguishing fire attempt targeted
Palestinians, Internationals and Israelis carried the Palestinian, Lebanese and black flags on the demonstration of the 4th of August, while mourning the killing of more than a 1,000 Palestinian and Lebanese civilians. The demonstrators attempted to cross the Israeli military reinforced fences that separates the villagers of Bil’in from their agricultural lands that are annexed by the Israeli government. They were met with tear-gas bombs, sound grenades and rubber bullets.
Amongst the injured were Margaret, 52, and John, 53, from Scotland. Margaret was shot in the back with a rubber-coated metal bullet, while John sustained facial injuries from a concussion grenade thrown directly at him. Another Spanish participans, Yasir, was also shot in the back with a rubber-coated metal bullet.
During the demonstration, a tear-gas grenade ignited two fires that lasted for 40 minutes. Some participants from the demonstration attempted to distinguish the rapidly spreading fire, but were shot at and gassed by the IOF.



An Israeli and a Dan receive serious head injuries
Each demonstration in Bil’in has a theme and each one demonstrate a creative means of protest. The demo of the 11th of Aug had the title "New Style of Killing". Some demonstrators carried mock bodies of a Lebanese family killed during the war. Even before they reached their destination, which the site of the Wall, the demonstrators were met with sound bombs and rubber-coated metal bullets. That came despite the fact that an Israeli military court decision that people in Bil’in have the right of freedom of speech through "legitimate resistance".
An Israeli lawyer, Lymor, amongst the demonstrators was shot in the neck and head by rubber-coated metal bullet at close range and a Danish national was beaten by an Israeli soldier on the head by the butt of his gun causing sever concussion. Lymor underwent a successful surgery to remove the bullet and shards of his skull. However, his condition remains unstable. Rina, on the other hand, is still waiting for her test results, but is showing signs of recovery.
* Watch ISM film from the demo on the 11th of Aug, showing Israeli soldiers shooting Lymor and Israeli commander shouting "This is Lebanon!" - Click here

Injuries - 11 Aug
Lymor from Israel, shot with 3 rubber bullets at close range, with injuries to head and neck.
Two villagers, El Haj Wa’el Fahene and Nimer Mustafa Abu Rahma were both shot with rubber bullets to their backs and legs.
Gavin from UK, beaten
Martin from Sweden, beaten
Rina from Denmark, hit with a rifle butt on side of head
Jonathon from Israel, shot with rubber bullet
Uri, 20, from Israel, struck by rubber bullet
Rojo Didier, 43, from France, shot with rubber bullet in back and leg
Jonas from USA, struck with rubber bullets on hip and leg
Cheryl, 45, from USA, struck with rubber bullet to the back
Margaret from UK, struck by exploding sound grenade
Yoshki, 22, journalist from Japan, shot by rubber bullet
Abudullah Abu Rahma, beaten



Chemicals
On the morning of the 18th, the Israeli military threatened to use force against the demonstrators in a phone call to a member of the of the Popular Committee of Bil’in. During this demo, the IOF fired blue liquid from a massive tank at the demonstrators, colouring their hair, skin and cloths blue, and causing burning and irritation of skin for at least 7 hours.
"Tear gas was also used against the demonstrators as soon as the water canon was engaged, so it is unclear whether the burning was from gas being absorbed into the wet skin and clothing, or whether the water itself contained a chemical" (ISM 18th Aug report)



Injuries and Arrests - 25 Aug
The latest Bil’in demonstration was met with extreme physical abuse by the Israeli army. Many participants in the demo suffered injuries, one injury of which resulted in a concussion.

Andrianes an Italian activist beaten badly with a baton.
Mansour Mansour the Palestinian ISM Campaign Coordinator was severely beaten with a baton.
Saif Abu Keshek the Palestinian Coordinator living in Spain was beaten with a baton and shot with 3 rubber bullets in the back and one in the leg.
Anna from US suffered injuries on her hand as well as 2 rubber bullets, one in the back and hip.
Lina from Germany suffered a rubber bullet wound on her leg.
Jonathon Pollack from Israel suffered severe beatings with a baton.
Dave from Ireland suffered beatings and a rubber bullet wound to the back.
Magan from US suffered harsh beatings with the baton, including one to her head, resulting in a concussion.
Coby from Israel suffered beatings from a baton.
Adeeb a Palestinian suffered beatings and was detained and later released.
Mohammad Khatib local Popular Committee member was detained and later released.
David from Catalonia was detained and later released.

For more information visit ISM/Bil’in Village

Two Al Quds Brigades Members Assassinated and Long-Term Detainee Released - Bethlehem

I was in bed when I heard the gun fire last night. It went on for at least an hour.
Unfortunately, I was trying to heal some of my scars while this was going on. I could not find out what was happening in the town, then. Well, I did not consider it as an option, really. Was thinking to myself, ‘what if it is a new Israeli invasion on Bethlehem?’, ‘what if I am going to be stuck at home for weeks under curfew, with gun fire and tanks roaring in the background’, ’what if… what if it is someone I know is shot’. I did not want to know.

Today, checking the news - on Ma’an News Agency and IMEMC - I learned that two members of Al Quds Brigades from Obeideyeh, East of Bethlehem City, were killed. One source said that the two parties were exchanging fire before the two assassinated were trapped in a cave. The other got a phone call from the spokesperson of Al Quds Brigade, who informed them that there has been two dozens Israeli military vehicles invading the town under the cover of an war-plane. Commonly, the two sources said that the two were killed by a rocket while in the cave.
“The two were released from an Israeli jail few months ago and soon they were claimed wanted by the Israeli military. An Israeli military spokesperson claimed that the two are involved in planning a shoot out at an Israeli military checkpoint near the West Bank village of Sheikh Sa’ad wounding three Israeli soldiers.” (IMEMC)
The person who carried the act on the checkpoint was killed by Israeli soldiers on the spot, Ma’an reported.

Now, why would those two Palestinian fighters from Bethlehem be released from jail the first place if the Israeli government thought they might still be a cause of ‘terror’.

Also, why would the IOF invade the town to kill them instead of actually detain them while they were trying to pass an Israeli checkpoint, granted that there are at least two Israeli checkpoints placed on Palestinian lands in every single Palestinian towns’ boundaries. Besides, the IOF violated, again, an international law by entering the town. To make my point clearer; soldiers of a “civilised and democratic” state crossing the borders to ‘area A’ - lands administered fully by the Palestinian Authority, scare the s**t out of residents of Bethlehem, hunt down and then kill brutally two Palestinians in their home town, is a bit too much to fathom, don’t you think?

The latest thing I read from Bethlehem news was concerning the release of a long-term administrative detainee from Al Nagav Israeli prison. Majdi al Shrouf served five years in Israeli prisons making him the second to serve the longest period of distractive detention in an Israeli prison.

Let us hope that we never hear the news of his assassination by Israeli soldiers next.


Ma'an News - IMEMC - Administrative Detention; Definition

ISM Film Shows Shooting of Israeli Activist at Peaceful Demo --- and Testimony of an Activist

Click here to watch film from ISM showing the shooting of Lymor.

"an Israeli in critical condition who was shot on neck and just above his right ear with 3 rubber bullets at close range. He has had surgery at Tel Hashomer hospital to remove a rubber bullet that was lodged in his skull. Currently he is in a medical induced coma in moderate but stable condition, but has sustained brain damage of unknown severity. Today his condition is listed as stable but serious since the doctors do not know the extent of brain damage that has occured." Read more from ISM media release, 12 Aug
- - -

Checkpoint Humiliation and Bullets at Peaceful Demonstrations
by Jenny Digi
11 Aug 2006
From Bethlehem Bloggers

On Thursday I left Nablus to travel to Bethlehem, Bil’in and Hebron, never an easy journey. The checkpoint just outside Nablus, Huwarra, was in a bad state when we arrived. 100s of Palestinians; men and women, children and the old, doctors, ambulances, Red Cross vehicles, trucks loaded with fruit and vegetables, students, everyone was being held in the burning hot afternoon sun. As my friend and I debated what to do, either to try and use our passports to get through the queue quicker (which always feels wrong), to leave the Palestinians behind, or to stand in solidarity with them, the decision was taken from us. Suddenly, at the front of one of the waiting groups, shouting broke out and we could see soldiers surrounding one of the men. We pushed our way to the front to try and intervene, both of us on the phone; myself to international human rights workers in the city who could come out to help with the situation, and my friend to an Israeli law group who are able to work on the Israeli commanders to stop them behaving so badly.

As the man who was being beaten was dragged away, the penned in crowd were shouting out to the soldiers to stop, to calm down and to let him go and the rest of them through the checkpoint. We questioned the soldiers about why they wouldn’t let people through, one young soldier, not even in his twenties, replied that the commander had given an order that no-one was to be let through, not even women giving birth. When asked what the justification was, he could give none, adding that just because he was serving in the army didn’t mean he didn’t have a conscience.

There was a family with three young children, the eldest, a girl of about seven, was cradled in the arms of her father - obviously quite unwell, and they were pleading with the soldiers to let them pass. Repeatedly, they were physically forced back by the soldiers pushing them away. I spoke to the soldiers, pointing out the obvious to them, that the child was ill, that she was just a child, and asking them to be let through, eventually after about 15 minutes they were. One of the soldiers kept on pushing towards the crowd, shouting angrily that they had to go back, others fingered the triggers on the guns and pushed them against those of us at the front, sometimes not even seeming to notice when they hit us in the face with them.

Another woman came up holding the hand of her son, a young boy of about 3 or 4 who had just been discharged from hospital, on his other hand was a bandage covering where his IV had been. The mother was unable to afford to pay for a taxi or ambulance to get him home so she was stuck at the checkpoint, having to ask permission from soldiers (who have no right to be there) to get her child somewhere safe. She asked me to help, passing me the letter from the hospital explaining that he had been treated for severe asthma and was only being allowed home under strict instructions, which included avoiding too much heat, dust and smoke. None of the soldiers would let her through, one claimed she was using her son, another kept telling her to go and wait in the immobile line. All the while we were trying to get the soldiers to open the checkpoint, and to at least let the women and children through the waiting crowd, who were getting understandably more agitated. One man who had been shouting at the soldiers was dragged off, his crying wife following behind him. As the woman got increasingly distraught, the crowd pushed forwards a little, then, with no warning the soldier I had spoken to earlier, grabbed hold of her child and as he stepped back towards the military vehicles behind him, the woman and I grabbed the bewildered child and had to pull him from the soldiers arms.

Behind us a young girl with a clown mask pushed up into her hair had her face screwed up in fear as she pushed torn plastic into her mouth to try and stifle her screams. Shortly after that, in an apparent acceptance that touching the boy had been very wrong, we were able to get them to let the woman and child through and we accompanied them to the other side. Soon after, other people started following us through in dribs and drabs, though it would have taken hours for them all to get passed, having to go through the ritual humiliation of ID checks and searches.

Today, there was a demonstration in the small village of Bil’in, near to Ramallah. There has been a weekly protest there for months now, against the construction of the Apartheid Wall, and an illegal Settlement, which is stealing yet more land, and more water, from the Palestinians. 10 Palestinians, internationals and Israeli peace activists gathered, at the front of the march, where there were about 10 of us carrying mock bodies of children, signifying those who have died in Palestine and Lebanon, to lay near the gate in the barrier. Before we got near to the site, a line of Israeli soldiers were waiting in a line across the road, in some of their hands were orange sound grenades, others had wooden batons and all had their guns. Our group walked peacefully towards them until we were within a few feet, then, with little warning, a soldier pulled the pin on a sound grenade and rolled it straight at us. The people behind us rushed backwards as we moved quickly to the side, our fingers pushed in to our ears to soften the deafening explosion that soon followed. As we took cover behind a pile of bricks, rubber bullets, more sound grenades and tear gas canisters were flying over us and landing around us.

A group of soldiers went by where we now stood, some people had their legs hit with the wooden batons and more sound grenades were thrown all over. None of us reacted in a violent manner; the Israeli activists tried to reason with the soldiers, some internationals and Palestinians just sat in the way of the soldiers - trying to calm the situation down. Still the soldiers fired at people, one passing by me, pushing his gun against me as he reached for more plastic bullets, most people had returned towards the village, not wanting people to be seriously injured. A young Swedish woman was screaming, holding her ears after a sound bomb had been thrown just in front of her whilst she sat in the road, the woman next to her was bleeding from her arm, hit by flying plastic from the same grenade. The young soldiers seemed both out of control and unsure of what they should be doing; some would start hitting out with the batons only after their colleagues did it, or load their bullets when reminded and when they ran towards the demonstrators it was with little coherence.

As I headed back to the village, between the two lines of soldiers, I saw a small group of people, soldiers and demonstrators, crouched by the side of the road with an obviously injured lad in the middle. Pulling my gloves on (first aid training coming to the fore), I ran up to them, I could see a heavily bloodied bandage lying next to his head, crouching down to get a better look I saw his skull was fractured and there appeared to be white matter showing through. Again, the soldiers didn’t know what they were doing, whilst treating him - doing the little we could under the circumstances - some of them were still firing from nearby, even through their colleagues asked them not to. When we were finally able to move him onto a stretcher the soldiers wouldn’t let us take him to the waiting vehicle at first, as some of the young Palestinians were throwing stones, holding the life of the shot lad hostage. The injured lad, one of the Israeli peace activists, was evacuated to hospital where he has just undergone emergency surgery to remove the plastic bullet lodged in his head.

Plastic bullets are supposed to be a “gentle” way to subdue protests. The unlawful, inhumane and immoral actions of the soldiers today at a peaceful protest are abhorrent. Using tear-gas, bullets, batons and sound grenades against peaceful protestors is another example of how out of control the military are in this country. This lad was shot twice, in the head and in the neck, his only crime was to try and demonstrate for a more peaceful and just world, he stood up against his country and spoke out about the crimes being committed in his name and now he is lying in hospital and may not live.
---
For subsequent reports and photos, see the International Solidarity Movement website

Ma'an: Feathered foe foils fearless flying force...

From Ma'an News Agency

The Israeli newspaper Maariv has stated that the Israeli Air Force will start to decrease the frequency of its sorties, not as a result of international pressure, but due to the expected arrival of half a million migrating birds in the coming few weeks.

According to the Air Force, those birds cause harm to more than 200 military air flights each year. Last year alone, 70 collisions with migrating birds ended in material losses for the Air Force, causing the deaths of three pilots.

The damage incurred is dependant upon two factors: the speed of the aircraft and the weight of the bird. A bird weighing 800 grams will strike an F16, flying at a speed of 1000 km per hour, as if it weighed 15 tons. If the bird weighs 10 kilograms, its strike will equal 100 tons, the weight of two military tanks combined.

Image from Carleton University/ Department of Physics

George Galloway: Hizbollah Is Not A Terrorist Organization

Galloway may not be the most respected Member of British Parliament by the mainstream media or 'straights', but this might be worth watching for some.

The following is found on Information Clearing House



Click here if frame above doesn't work or here.

How Can We Ignore Their Death?

Around 10 this morning, a demonstration was launched in Beit Sahour, a town in the Bethlehem district. The demo started from in front of the Greek Orthodox church in the town, immediately after the Sunday mass. There was about 300 people at the demo. There were women and children, Muslims and Christians, religious and secular people, and it was led by a scouts group from the town.
This demonstration was actually a funeral ceremony. People of Beit Sahour had buried three today.
In the town, when a Christian dies, his body is taken to a burial site after being marching through the town, carried by people in a coffin. The scouts usually lead the procession - especially when the deceased is very known - drumming a sad tune. The priests then pray over the body of the deceased; “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust”, asking his/her God to have mercy on their soul.
Today, the three coffins were for the Arab League, the United Nations and the International Conscience. They were carried by the scouts who marched them in the town while drumming that tune, then buried in the town-centre. The priests prayed on “their souls” as people started chucking stones at the coffins - instead of ashes. When that was done, the scouts led the procession back towards the starting point. They were playing a happy tune this time, as if to say, ‘We got rid of the bastards. We are better without them anyway.”

Thank you Gaialing - from Bethlehem Bloggers: Voices from the Bethlehem Ghetto - for providing the images

"Qana: Scars that Don't Heal" by Nour Odeh

(Friday August 04 2006)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Twenty years from now, members of the international community who have led this campaign of hypocrisy and indifference, should not be surprised when the children who manage to survive these atrocities grow up to be adults revolted by their hypocrisy and still bearing the scars of their indifference."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Our fathers had reached the frontiers which were recognized in Partition Plan. Our generation reached the frontiers of 1949. Now the Six-day generation (referring to those who participated in 1967 war) has managed to reach Suez, Jordan and the Golan Heights. This is not the end. After the present cease-fire lines, there will be new ones. They will extend beyond Jordan - perhaps to Lebanon and perhaps to Central Syria as well."
-- Moshe Dayan, The Times of London (June 25, 1969)

Qana, again, comes back to haunt what little humanity remains in international politics. Qana, that small southern Lebanese village stands now as a testament to the inhumanity with which Arab victims are treated and the worthlessness awarded to their blood and lives. Three weeks and 900 civilian Lebanese victims into the Israeli war on Lebanon, the international coalition led by the United States remains adamant against calling for an immediate cease fire or even a cessation of hostilities, reinforcing the above-conclusion.

At approximately 1:00a.m. Sunday, 30 July 2006, Israeli warplanes attacked a number of buildings in Qana, pulverizing three homes and heavily damaging a three-story building, where the remaining Qana residents had been huddling. They were sleeping in the basement, using it as a make-shift shelter, thinking that the small sand hills around the building would protect them from Israeli artillery fire. They did not know that death would rain on them from the dark skies above because they thought the Israeli drones constantly over their heads would record the house was inhabited by women and children, thus saving it from an attack…

Over 60 people, mostly women and children, members of two extended families, were sleeping when the missiles rained down. Some were able to leave the building to assess the damage and look for help. In front of their horrified eyes and amidst the smoke, moans, and cries of the wounded, the building collapsed, crushing those inside. At 7:00 a.m. the air strikes resumed, killing most of those who were able to flee the targeted shelter… Lebanese Red Cross crews and other rescuers could not reach the village until 9:00 a.m. because the roads were so heavily damaged by the incessant Israeli bombing. In all, and according to Lebanese sources, 62 civilians were killed, including 42 children of whom 15 were disabled. These were the village residents too poor, sick, or old to flee the village. Some of them tried but couldn’t get out because of the bombed roads, others couldn’t afford the now-astronomical cabs fares for the often-deadly trip up north (up to $1,000).

The scenes of recovery operations were nothing short of heart wrenching. Rescue crews and survivors dug with their hands through the rubble, pulling out one tiny, limp, cold, and dusty body after another. One child was pulled out holding his mother’s hand, seeking comfort during death where protection became beyond reach. In another corner, a toddler is pulled out with his pacifier still attached to his pajamas. Next to him lay bodies of victims who died with their hands reaching out in what seems to have been a cry for help that no one heard or an attempt to reach out through the crushing rubble that was simply impossible.

In the hospital, a distraught mother recalls how she was able to dig out, with her bare hands, her disabled husband and youngest child. “But I couldn’t reach Zeinab. Zeinab died,” she kept repeating, with shock blanketing her bandaged face. Zeinab, her daughter, was buried deeper in the rubble. After a lot of desperate digging, the injured mother found her daughter’s tiny hand. She recalls from her hospital bed, “I felt a small hand and I knew this was my daughter’s hand. I caressed her hand and kissed it then I told her: I can’t get to you Zeianb. I don’t know how. I can’t. I’m sorry”. Zeinab’s mom offered her dying child all she could; a kiss, a caress, and a prayer.

Body after body, the massacre unfolded and the horror was revealed and relived: Entire families wiped out; helpless children twisted and entangled in the crushing rubble of what was home… Survivors kept screaming to journalists accompanying the rescuers: Why? But who could answer such a devastating question? Who could even dare?

The Israeli representative to the United Nations Ambassador Dan Gillerman addressed the Security Council later that day during its consultative meeting about the Qana massacre. “If there were no Hizbollah, this would never have happened”, Mr. Gillerman said, charging, “Israel has repeatedly beseeched the residents of Qana to leave. I would not be surprised if Hizbollah made them stay”. One could argue that this statement was the eloquent repetition of one made by the Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon on 27 July to the BBC in which he declared, “All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah”. The haughty representative also declared that there was “a huge moral dis-equivalence” between the Israeli killing of Lebanese civilians and the Israeli deaths caused by Hezbollah attacks, a point made days earlier by his American counterpart, Ambassador John Bolton. Finally, Mr. Gillerman countered Lebanese and other requests to the Security Council to call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire by saying, “They [Hezbollah] want the Council to be called up to arms and to seize the fire…. I beseech members not to play into their hands”, accusing Hezbollah of “[sacrificing] their own people as human shields and as victims”. Not surprisingly, the US-led UN Security Council did not condemn the Israeli bombing nor call for an immediate ceasefire. Instead, it issued a bland statement in which it expressed its “shock and distress” and called for an “end to violence”.

Ten years ago, the Israeli army launched a sweeping offensive against Lebanon that also targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure. Most shockingly then, the Israeli air force fired at least 12 missiles at a UNIFIL post manned by a Fijian force in Qana, yes Qana, where 800 hundred Lebanese civilians had sought shelter from the Israeli offensive. One hundred and six civilians, mostly women and children, were literally burned to death.

Robert Fisk of the UK daily Independent wrote on 5 June 1996, how a UNIFIL observer told him that “in one [UNIFIL] observation post a colleague could hear – a mile away across the valley at Qana – ‘a sort of chorus of screams’ A set of still photographs of the shelling shows only one shell falling outside the compound – in the opposite direction to the Katyusha launch site at which the Israelis claim they were firing”. The horrific scenes of that massacre were earth shattering: charred remains of victims burned while sitting, having been consumed by the fires faster than they could fall, and babies beheaded by the shrapnel, as well as bloodied and deformed corpses of mothers huddling with their children – the signs of sheer horror still apparent on their faces.

Israel then, like today, denied any responsibility for that act of mass murder or knowledge of the presence of civilians in the targeted post and blamed Hezbollah for the atrocity. This is despite the fact that the Israeli Army’s Chief of Intelligence then admitted the army’s knowledge that 800 civilians had sought shelter in that post and that UN observers in nearby bases had confirmed hearing Israeli drones overhead before and after the air strike… Israel’s representative to the UN at the time though put those facts aside and told the Security Council, “We know that the Hezbollah have been cynically using civilians as a shield”.

Back to Southern Lebanon in July 2006. Israeli investigations have already revealed that the Israeli army had no intelligence about Hezbolla fighters, assets, or rockets being in, near, or around the targeted building. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on 1 August, “It remains unclear at this stage why that specific house…was targeted. The Israel Defense Forces’ inquiry has yet to establish a connection between residents of the building and Hezbollah operatives”. Again in 2006, the Israeli military denies knowing that the building was inhabited by civilians, despite its prevalent deployment of drones in Southern Lebanon. That puts Dan Gillerman’s sinister remarks that one should not expect to wake up if he sleeps next to a missile into a disturbing perspective. It also makes the Israeli Prime Minister’s bravado and adamant declarations two days ago, “We will not apologize” and that Israel was in “no rush” to cease fire, all the more disturbing.

A day following the Qana massacre, journalists accompanied a Lebanese Red Cross and Civil Defense convoy to other cut off southern villages. They uncovered a horrifying series of an untold and yet unknown number of civilian deaths. In Srifa, also a small southern village, the scenes were unbearable. Up to forty civilians were killed and buried under their homes eleven days prior; only thirty bodies have been found thus far but the search remains for those still missing. “Eleven days ago, we received a call from the residents who informed us that their village had been struck and that there were a lot of injuries. A second air strike occurred and we lost all contact with the village after that,” a Lebanese Civil Defense officer told reporters. He went on to explain that despite his information about the injuries and possible deaths, his crews couldn’t reach the village before due to the incessant Israeli air strikes, which also targeted all moving vehicles. The camera lenses accompanying the despaired rescuers couldn’t transmit the stench of decomposing bodies under the rubble but the pictures were unmistakable. Fifteen homes and their residents turned to pebbles and dust while ten other homes were leveled to the ground. For health reasons, the decomposed body parts found were immediately buried, without a marking or a name, compounding the tragedy of the victims’ death with the inability to provide them with a dignified and proper burial. The rest of the victims remain under the rubble to date.

Qana and Srifa are not alone in their momentous tragedies. They share their pain with tens of other Southern Lebanese villages, where tens of lives and homes have been torn to bits by Israeli shelling. The stories keep pouring in, as do the haunting images of children who will never grow up and entire families that once were. To date, Lebanese officials report that 900 civilians are confirmed dead and 3200 others injured although the number is certain to rise once the bodies under the mounting rubble are recovered. The number of internally displaced persons has risen to nearly one million, one fourth of the Lebanese population. Human Rights Watch has condemned Israel for using cluster bombs against civilians in Lebanon during this war. It also confirmed documenting “dozens of cases in which Israeli forces have carried out indiscriminate attacks against civilians while in their homes or traveling on roads to flee the fighting”.

Sadly, the number of civilian casualties is not the only factor that makes this war unquestionably disturbing. Instead, it is the apathy that highlights international reaction to this monumental human catastrophe. Grave violations of international humanitarian law, the destruction of an entire country, and the literal obliteration of entire villages in Southern Lebanon have yet to move world leaders to call for an immediate cease-fire while they look for a supposedly “lasting” political solution. The death and destruction have not even invoked a forceful condemnation. Instead, the mounting death toll of Lebanese civilians is treated with utmost detachment. Contrasting this cold reaction are the repeated and impassioned expressions of grief regarding Israeli civilians killed as well as the vehement condemnation of the attacking party.

In 21 days, the international community has managed to convince an entire nation - and with them the rest of the Arab - world that the lives and dreams and rights of Arab victims are not worth more than the formal and mundane expressions of condolences. Twenty years from now, members of the international community who have led this campaign of hypocrisy and indifference, should not be surprised when the children who manage to survive these atrocities grow up to be adults revolted by their hypocrisy and still bearing the scars of their indifference. If they were interested in a different future reality, scenes from Qana 2006 would have been enough to turn the Israeli death machine off.

"The Achilles heel of the Arab coalition is the Lebanon. Muslim supremacy in this country is artificial and can be easily overthrown. A Christian state ought to be set up there, with its southern frontier on the river Litani. We would sign a treaty of alliance with the state. Thus, when we have broken the strength of the Arab legion and bombed Amman, we could wipe out Trans-Jordan; after that Syria could fall. And if Egypt still dared to make war on us, we would bomb Port Said, Alexandria and Cairo. We should thus end the war and would have paid to Egypt, Assyria and Chaldea on behalf of our ancestors." “The present map of Palestine was drawn by the British mandate. The Jewish people have another map which our youth and adults should strive to fulfill -- From the Nile to the Euphrates."
-- David Ben Gurion, Excerpts from his diary on May 21, 1947

Nour Odeh is a Palestinian Journalist who has worked in a number of Palestinian print and television media institutions, including the Palestine Media Center (as the Head of Communications Department), Ramttan News Agency (as the Chief Editor), and Palestine TV (as an English TV anchor). Read another recent article by Odeh; "Not in My Name"

This article was found on Media Monitors Network

War Crimes and Lebanon

Letter by;
Tariq Ali, Noam Chomsky, Eduardo Galeano, Howard Zinn, Ken Loach, John Berger & Arundhati Roy

The Guardian, August 3, 2006

The US-backed Israeli assault on Lebanon has left the country numb, smouldering and angry. The massacre in Qana and the loss of life is not simply "disproportionate". It is, according to existing international laws, a war crime.
The deliberate and systematic destruction of Lebanon's social infrastructure by the Israeli air force was also a war crime, designed to reduce that country to the status of an Israeli-US protectorate. The attempt has backfired. In Lebanon itself, 87% of the population now support Hizbullah's resistance, including 80% of Christian and Druze and 89% of Sunni Muslims, while 8% believe the US supports Lebanon. But these actions will not be tried by any court set up by the "international community" since the US and its allies that commit or are complicit in these appalling crimes will not permit it.

It has now become clear that the assault on Lebanon to wipe out Hizbullah had been prepared long before. Israel's crimes had been given a green light by the US and its loyal British ally, despite the opposition to Blair in his own country.

In short, the peace that Lebanon enjoyed has come to an end, and a paralysed country is forced to remember a past it had hoped to forget. The state terror inflicted on Lebanon is being repeated in the Gaza ghetto, while the "international community" stands by and watches in silence. Meanwhile, the rest of Palestine is annexed and dismantled with the direct participation of the US and the tacit approval of its allies.

We offer our solidarity and support to the victims of this brutality and to those who mount a resistance against it. For our part, we will use all the means at our disposal to expose the complicity of our governments in these crimes. There will be no peace in the Middle East while the occupations of Palestine and Iraq and the temporarily "paused" bombings of Lebanon continue.

This letter was found on Chomsky.info