Updates - 6mo. delay
lots of time to get the facts on the table - like this kind of thing
THE BLOCKADE
Originally Posted by Steve_G View Post 01-04-2009, 04:11 PM
It is true that Hamas has been firing rockets into Israel- I think 3 Isreali's have died in those attacks. It's also true that it was the Palestinians who refused to sign a new cease-fire agreement when the old one expired. What isn't being reported in the western media is why.
As I understand it (and I'm open to correction here) the Israeli's had Gaza under seige, pretty much in the traditional sense of the word. Nothing gets in or out. That includes food, medical supplies and all the other things that people need to live. They allowed a trickle of the aid that's been sent to get in but that's all, keeping the Palestinians on the brink of starvation and prone to disease, and also denying them the medicines they needed to fight the effects of the deprivation.
So Hamas had a choice- either watch their people die slowly through starvation and illness or fight back militarily in their severely limited way and invite the Israeli response we see now. In a nutshell, die slow or die fast.
It isn't the first time the media have manipulated our perception of events surrounding the Gaza situation. I remember not long ago when Hamas launched "unprovoked" rocket attacks on Isreal, with very similar consequences. The media were all over it of course, condemning the Palestinian "Terrorists" for their assault.
What they neglected to mention was that in the preceding couple of weeks Israeli warships had been shelling Palestinian beaches full of civilians, killing some and injuring many more. Somehow that little detail never made it into the western media either.
Same ****, different day. The Isrealis provoke the attacks through what amount to war crimes, the western media and nations turn a blind eye and then condemn the Palestinians when they are forced to respond.
As always, the truth is probably somewhere in between, but I'd bet dollars to donuts that it's a lot closer to what isn't being reported than what is.
http://projectavalon.net/forum/showt...tanyahu&page=4
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U.N. Council Compromises Over Gaza Report Debate
By REUTERS
Published: October 7, 2009
Diplomats said the council's monthly discussion of the Middle East, originally slated for October 20, would now be held on October 14, in a compromise with Libya -- currently a council member -- and its Arab allies including the Palestinians...
The Human Rights Council had been due to vote on Friday on a resolution that would have condemned Israel's failure to cooperate with the inquiry and forwarded the report to the Security Council.
But action was postponed until March after U.S. pressure aimed at getting the peace process back on track. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has come under sharp criticism at home for agreeing to the delay.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/...israel-un.html