This evening in Israel

[panopticon]

So there I was minding my own bees wax and I followed a link about the US condemning Israel's attack on Gaza.

I thought to myself "well, the nobel peace prize might not have been a complete waste of time then".

I was further heartened when I started to read the article:

Israel condemned by US for killing civilians

The United States last night led international criticism of Israel's air strike that killed 14 civilians, including nine children, and a Hamas military commander.

The White House said the bombing of a building in a crowded neighbourhood of the Gaza Strip on Monday night was a "heavy-handed action that is not consistent with dedication to peace in the Middle East".

It was the strongest criticism of Israel for several months from President Bush.
Source

WTF? President Basil Brush? Sounding almost like a centrist?

Then I checked the date... 24th July 2002...

Shows how much things have changed that Bush Jr sounds reasonable!!!

I'm sure it's deliberate...

-- Pan

[panopticon]

Posted by Observer1964 (here)


Palestine before 1948

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=JGBoGKPZlQE

Good video Observer1964.

It's important to remember that there were people living in the land that is now called Israel prior to the Nation-States creation.

Those people were Muslim, Christian and Jewish. They were black, white and all the colours in between.

As Gandhi wrote in November 1938:

But my sympathy does not blind me to the requirements of justice. The cry for the national home for the Jews does not make much appeal to me. The sanction for it is sought in the Bible and the tenacity with which the Jews have hankered after return to Palestine. Why should they not, like other peoples of the earth, make that country their home where they are born and where they earn their livelihood?

Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs. What is going on in Palestine today cannot be justified by any moral code of conduct. The mandates have no sanction but that of the last war. Surely it would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home.

...

And now a word to the Jews in Palestine. I have no doubt that they are going about it in the wrong way. The Palestine of the Biblical conception is not a geographical tract. It is in their hearts. But if they must look to the Palestine of geography as their national home, it is wrong to enter it under the shadow of the British gun. A religious act cannot be performed with the aid of the bayonet or the bomb. They can settle in Palestine only by the goodwill of the Arabs. They should seek to convert the Arab heart. The same God rules the Arab heart who rules the Jewish heart. They can offer satyagraha in front of the Arabs and offer themselves to be shot or thrown into the Dead Sea without raising a little finger against them. They will find the world opinion in their favour in their religious aspiration. There are hundreds of ways of reasoning with the Arabs, if they will only discard the help of the British bayonet. As it is, they are co-shares with the British in despoiling a people who have done no wrong to them.

I am not defending the Arab excesses. I wish they had chosen the way of non-violence in resisting what they rightly regarded as an unwarrantable encroachment upon their country. But according to the accepted canons of right and wrong, nothing can be said against the Arab resistance in the face of overwhelming odds.

Source

Prior to the creation of the Nation-State of Israel there were many Jews that had moved to Palestine. I've read many accounts of how lots of the Jewish population got along extremely well with the Arab population who were already there. The first Kibbutzim were created during this time and I have studied their practices, successes and failures because of my interest in Permaculture. The present day Kibbutzim are a pale shadow that largely rely on Jewish children from the US in search of their roots as a low paid workforce and the Israeli Governments financial support for continued operation (though privatisation is of course now the buzzword even there). It is sad that such a vibrant and interesting experiment has been destroyed by greed, power and slothfulness (example source1 source2).

After this came the British and the Jewish civil defence group Haganah. From Haganah sprang the Jewish terrorist group Irgun from which the later splinter faction Lehi (aka The Stern Gang) emerged...

Uhumm, sorry for the regale, thank you again for the video.

-- Pan

[jerry]

Recently I read somewhere ISIS has put Israel in their crosshairs for the attacks on Palestine .
The following at least tells us where Obama stands
“I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.” The quote comes from page 261 of the paperback edition of “The Audacity of Hope

[Tesseract]

ISIS want to create an expanding fascist Islamic state in the Levant, just as Israel is an expanding fascist Jewish state in the South West Levant. ISIS are not supporters of the Palestinian cause, which is one of achieving equal rights. I hope people understand this.

Here is ISIS burning the Palestinian flag:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=IPkbNhOgWvE

[Frederick Jackson]

I have noticed for some time here in PA a disturbing anti Israel sentiment, even what may be an anti-Jewish sentiment. You see words like Zionist bandied about like we were in 30s Germany. See the new post on "Zionist owned Fox News". You all do recall reading about the the (phony) Protocols of Zion, do you not? And the Holocaust this kind of propaganda produced? Israel may not be hosting a Sunday picnic, but would you if you were having missiles lobbed on you daily?

Enough here on PA is whacky. This kind of stuff makes me want to quit PA. I am seriously thinking about it. It is beginning to outlive it's usefulness for me.

I will note that if Israel does not have the best interests of all humanity in mind in the Middle East, that is quite understandable as it is a matter of survival. US policy in the Middle East is another matter. I see no excuse whatever for US policy in the Middle East; see for what I see as a great take on this:

http://syriangirlpartisan.blogspot.mx/

For an Israeli take on Western opinion, be it from bleeding heart liberal types (eg NY Times) or just plain anti "semites" (hey, ISIS will rename the Holy Land Shem, or Sem or whatever) I post the following:

It’s Okay. Don’t Cry for Us Israelis

By Naomi Ragen

I’m sitting here in Jerusalem after a week of heartbreak over three murdered teens, followed by two weeks of sirens, bomb blasts, and finally, the funerals of young IDF soldiers, of whom one-third are students who should be taking their final exams, instead of risking their lives. I’m reading on the internet about what a horrible person I am as an Israeli and as a Jew, and what a terrible, immoral country I live in.

All this criticism comes mainly from the European press: The Guardian, the BBC, papers in Italy, Norway, France, and don’t forget America: The New York Times, CNN. And I’m thinking: gee, the British should understand. After all, they lived through the blitz, Nazis raining bombs indiscriminately down on them, the way Hamas is raining bombs down on us. And when the brave pilots of the RAF aimed their bombs at Dresden killing 300,000 men, women and children, they didn’t throw down leaflets telling people to politely evacuate; didn’t send their soldiers to knock on doors to see if they’d followed the leaflets instructions (as CNN complained Israel failed to do at an UNRWA school, which was probably hit by a Hamas bomb anyway.)

And I think of the rest of Europe, who rounded up our grandparents and great-grandparents, and relatives – men, women and children—and sent them off to be gassed, no questions asked. And I think: they are now the moral arbiters of the free world? They are telling the descendants of the people they murdered how to behave when other anti-Semites want to kill them?

As for Americans, represented by the New York Times, that bastion of high-minded hypocrisy and mediocre journalism parading as the “newspaper of record,” one has only to read the article by Professor Auerbach in the New York Observer (Two Weeks of Shallow, Facile Moral Equivalency From the New York Times) to see how Jodi Rudoren and other Times apparatchiks have learned to close their minds and love Hamas. After all, there are CHILDREN DYING. It doesn’t matter that the Palestinians have educated an entire generation to be little Nazi-wannabes, who worship death and hate Jews, murdering their souls, and are now callously putting their bodies in harm’s way to use for touching photo ops. We shouldn’t be shocked by this omission by the Times. After all, The New York Times was one of the last news outlets to bring to the attention of the reading public the Nazi atrocities in Europe. Read the Times during the nightmare years, and see if you can’t find a pattern here.

And so, as an Israeli, brought up with Jewish values, and an American, taught to love freedom, justice, democracy and fair play, I have to tell all of you - Europeans, Americans, and last of all Muslim terrorist sympathizers and barbarians, that what you are saying no longer moves anyone of good moral judgment and intelligence. The current crisis in Gaza is so morally clear-cut, so absolutely a case of self-defense, that I must say to you, as someone finally said to Senator McCarthy: “Sir, have you no shame?” I prefer that you - writers of these lies and libels -- hate me and my country, if it means that you can save your tears for other peoples dead. We aren’t greedy for sympathy. After all, we got so much after the Holocaust, we prefer other people to have their share now. These days, we prefer to live, rather than have people cry over us and the injustices done to us.

So by all means, cry for the Palestinian people - men women and children - whose duly elected leadership has callously left them without protection from just retribution for their terrorist crimes. Who took their aid money and are living in Qatar in five star hotels building shopping centers for themselves. Who built terrorist tunnels under their homes, mosques, hospitals and schools, and recruited their sons to die for Allah, while they sit in bunkers waiting for the U.N. to rescue them.

PS Britain did warn Germany to quit using the Dresden rail nexus for military traffic or is would bomb the city. And Hamas expected no Israeli response? I suspect this is exactly what Hamas wanted, the deaths of civilians to help stir up anti Israel sentiment.

PPS I do not like the way Israel is handling the Jewish settlement issue in the West Bank, making a serpentine border just to grab and pull in good land for Israeli colonies. Yep, it is not all one sided. Either way.

[Tesseract]

When people act as if Hamas (Or Fatah, or Hezbollah, or PLO depending on the time and the place) is the instigator of every flare-up, they either don't follow the news (and one has to go to the minor web sites) during the periods between, or they are knowingly trying to mislead people. The mainstream presentation is that it is always the kidnapping of an Israeli, or the firing of a volley or rockets which is touted as the opening of hostilities. Previous kidnapping of Palestinians (in greater numbers) or firing of Israeli missiles (with greater damage) is never cited by these people. Panopticon has posted some instances above, to make the same point. I used to bookmark all instances of Israeli attacks on Palestinians (starting in late 2010) - but there were so many, it was taking up too much of my time. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights gives regular updates here:

http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/in...=84&Itemid=183

There is nothing wrong with using the word Zionist or Zionism.

As for Naomi Ragen, whose failed polemic only highlights the moral poverty of her own position, and who identifies herself as an Israeli and an American; maybe in her next article she can write about the day she stepped off the plane into Israel and instantly had more rights than a Palestinian who was born there. That is the problem with Israel. It is a state with a policy of Palestinians out, Jews in. All over the world, conscientious people are recognising the insidiousness of this program and are rejecting it. I am sure you are a reasonable person, and it's your choice to leave or stay with Avalon, but I dare say it won't spare you from future exposure to anti-Israel sentiment.

[Tesseract]

And some more (unverified at this stage) from the Knesset deputy speaker:

Feiglin writes that the Israeli army must “designate certain open areas on the Sinai border, adjacent to the sea, in which the civilian population will be concentrated, far from the built-up areas that are used for launches and tunneling. In these areas, tent encampments will be established, until relevant emigration destinations are determined.”

“Tent encampments,” where the Palestinian civilian population would be “concentrated,” are simply concentration camps.

“The supply of electricity and water to the formerly populated areas will be disconnected,” he adds.

He then calls for the “formerly populated areas” to be “shelled with maximum fire power. The entire civilian and military infrastructure of Hamas, its means of communication and of logistics, will be destroyed entirely, down to their foundations.”

The Israeli army would then “exterminate nests of resistance, in the event that any should remain.”

Expulsion

“Israel will start searching for emigration destinations and quotas for the refugees from Gaza,” Feiglin writes, but “those who insist on staying, if they can be proven to have no affiliation with Hamas, will be required to publicly sign a declaration of loyalty to Israel, and receive a blue ID card similar to that of the Arabs of East Jerusalem.”

From:

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/...-genocide-plan

[Tesseract]

For those with time to watch it; a recent investigation of Israel's abduction, imprisonment and torture of Palestinian children:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tpxCM_-DakA

Very eye opening if you are not already aware of these terrible practices.

[panopticon]

Posted by Tesseract (here)
ISIS want to create an expanding fascist Islamic state in the Levant, just as Israel is an expanding fascist Jewish state in the South West Levant. ISIS are not supporters of the Palestinian cause, which is one of achieving equal rights. I hope people understand this.

Here is ISIS burning the Palestinian flag:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=IPkbNhOgWvE

I agree with you Tesseract.

This is one of the overarching problems in discussions concerning the siege of Gaza: It's Middle Eastern context.

The difficulty is that Israeli's and Palestinians are right to be concerned about Islamic extremism.
I know I am!

A quick look at the history of violence during the 2nd Intifada and the Islamic States numerous slaughters shows this is not a misplaced fear for Israeli's.

Unfortunately looking at it through this lens focuses attention on extremists and not the vast majority who are moderates, these are the people who are being killed in their homes and UN emergency shelters.

This present assault is more about a Nation-State legitimising its use of force on a civilian population through propaganda and early socialisation/training of its citizens than achieving a solution to a long running problem.

To divorce the siege of Gaza from the history that led to its inception and the complex interrelated political machination (with its to and fro of non-negotiation) does not explain why Gaza is under siege, why Israeli authors are able to write about genocide and expulsion (remember these are in the English versions of their media outlets, not just the Hebrew), why nationalist sentiments are so high and how there is complicity from the media (in Israel & beyond) to push a nationalist agenda that is extreme.

It is a quagmire we have been negotiating in this thread quite well (I hope)...

Posted by Frederick Jackson (here)
I have noticed for some time here in PA a disturbing anti Israel sentiment, even what may be an anti-Jewish sentiment. You see words like Zionist bandied about like we were in 30s Germany. See the new post on "Zionist owned Fox News". You all do recall reading about the the (phony) Protocols of Zion, do you not? And the Holocaust this kind of propaganda produced? Israel may not be hosting a Sunday picnic, but would you if you were having missiles lobbed on you daily?

Enough here on PA is whacky. This kind of stuff makes me want to quit PA. I am seriously thinking about it. It is beginning to outlive it's usefulness for me.

I agree Fred. There have been many in the neo-Nazi right that have made use of the term "zionist" as a sort of almost acceptable codeword for "Jew". It's part of the suggested phraseology that is promoted by Stormfront & other anti-Semitic groups (and yes I use the term anti-Semitic to include a whole spectrum of people not just "Arab Jews" because the propaganda from Stormfront et al is anti-Semitic, anti-Islamic, "pro-white" racist extremism -- which was the reason I was so surprised to see an Israeli nationalist wearing a shirt with one of their emblems on [see here]). I try to avoid the terms use because of that very reason however Zionism is a major part of Israeli society and an underling aspect of the Nation-States historical creation. Sometimes it is difficult to have a discussion without at least eluding to it as it is a major part of the political discourse and explains why Nationalist sentiment was so easily bought to the front in the lead up to this present assault.

Your quote from Ragen is a very good example of how the Nationalist discourse has been carefully constructed and controlled:

I’m sitting here in Jerusalem after a week of heartbreak over three murdered teens, followed by two weeks of sirens, bomb blasts, and finally, the funerals of young IDF soldiers, of whom one-third are students who should be taking their final exams, instead of risking their lives.

I have said from my first post in this thread that there is no evidence whatsoever that the 3 Israeli-Jewish youths were slaughtered by Hamas. This is not to say that Hamas wouldn't do an act like this, merely that there was and still is no evidence that they did. Netanyahu, Israeli Cabinet Ministers and the media repeatedly stated that it was Hamas. To this day there is no evidence that it was Hamas and there is ample evidence that even if the men accused of this horrific act did do it (which is debatable) they would not have been doing it under instruction from Hamas' leadership.

The entire reason that Israel is attacking Gaza at the moment stems back to that one thing. If that was false the rest falls into place like a complex jig-saw puzzle.

• 3 Israeli- Jewish Youths slaughtered.
• Hamas blamed.
• Operation Brothers Keeper enacted to detain 550 Hamas supporters (including politicians in the newly formed Palestinian Unity Government).
• Hamas retaliates by removing policing of factional rocket teams.
• Hamas' Qassam Brigade eventually starts firing rockets (from memory after the 2012-ceasefire agreement has been made null-and-void by Israel but I'm not certain of this).
• Israel launches aerial bombardment & drones.
• Discourse moves from 3 youths slaughtered to rockets threat.
• Egypt brokers ceasefire deal with Israel & Israel (Hamas and/or its representatives not included in negotiations) which Hamas has not agreed to.
• Israel launches ground assault.
• Discourse changes from Rockets to "terror tunnels".
• Last tunnel announced destroyed
• Discourse changes to one of "containment" with assistance from Egypt & possibly UN.

I could go on but it is well documented from the beginning of this thread.

So, why?

There are varying hypotheses that have been proposed but I view there is no one singe answer to that question. The interim Palestinian Unity Government's formation definitely was a motivator. Gas/oil on and off-shore of Gaza another. The Quartets March 2014 proposal for Palestinian development is another (nothing like a bit of Disaster Capitalism - I'll post the summary in the next post). I could go on but I hope that I have covered that there is at least reason for suspicion of the motivations behind the Israeli & other International Governments actions.

I view that the discourse has been carefully constructed and controlled to funnel Israeli public opinion to one conclusion. This is why polls are showing such a high support for the "War".

I am definitely not anti-Jewish and as an anarchist I am always anti-State so in that respect I don't support either the one or two state solutions that are talked about.

I do support individuals and groups being allowed to live fulfilling lives and that is not the case in either Gaza or the occupied West Bank.

In that sense I support the Palestinian cause against the Israeli Nation-State.

I do not support anti-Jewish sentiment nor Statist control of discourse to promote an agenda.

Of course I know that the problems (and there are many of them) are complex.

Locking up 1.8 million people and radicalising them through created disadvantage and periodic assaults is not a solution.

-- Pan

[panopticon]

As promised here is the March 7th Quartet plan for the Palestinians. Please notice that these are all to encourage/compliment the "peace process". The formation of the interim Palestinian Unity Government created difficulties for all non-Palestinian parties and I don't think it was part of the plan.

###

The Initiative for the Palestinian Economy - An Overview
Friday, Mar 07, 2014 in Office of the Quartet Representative



The Initiative for the Palestinian Economy (IPE) is designed to effect transformative change and substantial growth in the Palestinian economy and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs. It is a complementary process to the political negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), led by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and is not a substitute for it.

• Download a detailed summary of the Initiative for the Palestinian Economy

The ambitious plan was drafted by a team of policy advisors, external economic analysts and international domain experts under the leadership of Quartet Representative Tony Blair in support of renewed Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.

The initiative focuses on catalysing private sector-led growth in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. The success of the IPE relies heavily on the inflow of new financing into the Palestinian economy, in particular from the private sector, continued and significantly expanded Israeli easing measures and boosted institutional capacity within the PA.

The plan:

• Is a focused, multi-year project covering eight key sectors to support the Middle East Peace Process;
• Aims to achieve a significant reduction in unemployment, a substantial increase in average Palestinian household income, a large surge in investment flows - both domestic and foreign - and a significant decline in PA reliance on direct budgetary assistance;
• Is underpinned by in-depth sector analyses and project proposals, which include mechanisms to deliver and finance the projects;
• Is tied to a clear set of regulatory and economic enablers that are pre-requisites to the success of the economic plan;
• Takes into account the interdependency of the different sectors (e.g. water and agriculture), requiring thoughtful coordination to execute successfully;
• Leverages the resources of the local and international private sector to finance the economic plan.

Key Sectors as Catalysts for Growth

Eight sectors are included in the IPE. These were chosen based on their private sector orientation, relative contribution to GDP and employment figures, their potential for economic growth and their potential as enablers for other sectors (such as water and energy).

The IPE centres on:

• Agriculture: This sector already makes a relatively large contribution to GDP, but it could deliver significantly more to the Palestinian economy, including through better economies of scale, bringing more land into production, and access for Gazan produce to the Israeli and West Bank markets.
• Construction: Expanding construction in housing is a central part of the Initiative as we aim to better meet the huge demand for affordable housing. The IPE envisions the construction of different types of housing to address the various demographic and geographic segments across the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza - including on available land in city centers, around the urban periphery, and in new locations.
• Tourism: Boosting tourism is vital to long-term Palestinian economic growth. The West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza are immensely rich in historical and ecological attractions. We will focus on two tracks: a short-term track concentrating on strategic marketing of the Holy Land in certain target markets, and a medium-term track aimed at the development of five tourism hubs within the West Bank and Gaza.
• Information and communication technology (ICT): This is a critically-important and growing service sector in the Palestinian economy, and the IPE aims to attract both domestic and international investment in specific IT services. The goal is to leverage the quality and relative wage competitiveness of the Palestinian labour force, create opportunities for multinational corporations and encourage investment in IT incubators and trade promotion agencies to create a platform around which start-ups can grow and attract more funds.
• Light manufacturing: The potential for growth in this sector hinges on the competitive wages of a young and educated Palestinian workforce, low operating costs and a positive investment climate. The IPE foresees the scaling up of investment in several sub-sectors with high growth potential (e.g. domestic appliances, motor vehicle parts, pharmaceuticals). Multi-national companies (MNCs) would be a key driver for this sector, and target important export markets in the region. By enhancing existing local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to supply complementary products to the MNCs, exports and transfers can be furthered expanded in certain sub-sectors.
• Building materials: Expanding this sector will help unlock the economic potential of other sectors, with the Initiative focusing on increasing domestic production capacity, diversifying import sources and improving capabilities.
• Energy: Reliable energy supply is critical for all sectors of the Palestinian economy. The goal is an increase of the supply of electricity from third-party power producers, and at the same time, expansion of capacity for local electricity generation through local power plants These plants will need to be fueled by natural gas, and so the development of the Palestinian Gaza Marine gas field, as well as gas pipeline infrastructure will play an important part in these efforts. In addition, the development of a robust renewable energy sector will help increase the supply of electricity in the West Bank and Gaza.
• Water: To match the ever growing need for water by Palestinian households and business, major efforts in infrastructure are required to generate new sources of water. The development of waste water treatment facilities in the West Bank and in Gaza are important not only for health and sanitation - but also to enable the re-use of treated water for agricultural irrigation.

Next Steps

The Office of the Quartet Representative (OQR) is working closely with the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government on implementation of the initiative, and on ensuring that the necessary enablers are in place to safeguard the success of the plan. Furthermore, the OQR is involved in focused outreach efforts with donors and investors to secure financing support, in conjunction with key stakeholders.

In addition over the coming months, the Office of the Quartet Representative will:

• Work with the PA on outreach to donors on the public financing aspects of the plan and supporting the PA in attracting private sector investments, both domestic and overseas;
• Participate in a series of high-level conferences and meetings that will bring together potential investors and unveil the Initiative's specific proposals and projects.
• Support the Palestinian private sector and, where relevant, PA, to implement specific projects (e.g., development of a cement mill in the West Bank) within the context of the IPE;
• Continue discussions with the Government of Israel – at all levels – on the next steps (enablers) necessary for the implementation of the IPE;
• Engage with the PA and the Government of Israel on ensuring high-level implementation and monitoring arrangements for the IPE.

Source

[panopticon]

Posted by Tesseract (here)
For those with time to watch it; a recent investigation of Israel's abduction, imprisonment and torture of Palestinian children:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tpxCM_-DakA

Very eye opening if you are not already aware of these terrible practices.

Excellent link Tesseract.

This a report from the respected ABC current affairs program Four Corners (Australia's longest running current affairs program starting back in 1961).

The episodes webpage is available (link below) and the documentary is still viewable (geo-blocked). There is also a transcript of the program at the bottom of the linked page:
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stori...10/3939266.htm

###

Stone Cold Justice
By John Lyons, Janine Cohen and Sylvie Le Clezio
A SPECIAL FOUR CORNERS / THE AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER INVESTIGATION
Monday 10 February 2014



The Israeli army is both respected and feared as a fighting force. But now the country's military is facing a backlash at home and abroad for its treatment of children in the West Bank, occupied territory.

Coming up, a joint investigation by Four Corners and The Australian newspaper reveals evidence that shows the army is targeting Palestinian boys for arrest and detention. Reporter John Lyons travels to the West Bank to hear the story of children who claim they have been taken into custody, ruthlessly questioned and then allegedly forced to sign confessions before being taken to court for sentencing.

He meets Australian lawyer Gerard Horton, who's trying to help the boys who are arrested, and talks to senior Israeli officials to examine what's driving the army's strategy.

The program focuses on the stories of three boys. In two cases the army came for the children in the middle of the night, before taking them to unknown locations where they are questioned. A mother of one of the boys described the scene:

"Every soldier stood at the door of a room. I was telling him 'What do you want with him?' He said 'Shut up woman.' And then they started hitting him and pulling him out of bed."

"They started kicking me with their boots in my stomach, slaps on my face. They pulled me up by my t-shirt and took me out of bed." Arrested boy

Is this, as many Israelis suggest, simply part of the drive to maintain security? Or is it, as Palestinians claim, part of a much wider plan to make life in the West Bank intolerable for them?

"I think that they want to kick us out of here and drive us away because they don't want Arabs in this area."

It's a claim that's dismissed out of hand by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

"Let me say this very clearly. There is no such policy. A policy to create fear? There is no such thing. The only policy is to maintain law and order, that's all. If there's no violence, there's no law enforcement." Yigal Palmor

The United Nations children's agency (UNICEF) has been investigating these claims and last year released a scathing report finding that "children have been threatened with death, physical violence, solitary confinement and sexual assault."

As Four Corners discovered, though, Palestinian children have more to fear than the Israeli army. Reporter John Lyons shows clear evidence that Israeli settlers in the West Bank regularly attack Palestinian school children, knowing the authorities will not intervene. He also discovers there are two legal systems operating. One for Israeli children and one for young Palestinians. It's an impossible situation that may provide temporary security for Israel, but in the long term may well breed a new generation of Palestinians prepared to do anything to gain retribution.

Source

[panopticon]

I have no words for this video from the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=kQU_SieVOG0

-- Pan

[panopticon]

10 minutes to the latest Israeli promoted Humanitarian Ceasefire.

Maybe this is to do with the Palestinian/Egyptian negotiations in Cairo?

Remember this is one of the "kind of" ceasefires the IDF has instigated in the past.
They are still in Rafah and elsewhere doing "operations".

If Hamas engages with IDF soldiers (eg on the battlefield in a face to face engagement) then this is a reason for the IDF to claim that the ceasefire "agreement" has been breached.

Hamas & the factions have repeatedly said in the past that if their soldiers have to engage with IDF troops they will (as would the IDF troops if they came across Hamas & co troops).

-- Pan

[panopticon]

New documents from Snowden released today 'shed substantial new light on how the U.S. and its partners directly enable Israel’s military assaults'.

Article is very informative:

Cash, Weapons and Surveillance: the U.S. is a Key Party to Every Israeli Attack By Glenn Greenwald, 4 Aug 2014

[panopticon]

Article I came across just now that reflects some of what I've said above about the framing of the grounds and continuing justification for the assault.

Mr Netanyahu’s messaging to his own public on the war has been fluid: it began in concert with his calls for vengeance on Hamas for the three teenage settlers slain in the West Bank in June (even though many in Israel’s security establishment have concluded that the perpetrators were not acting under orders from the Hamas leadership); then it was cast as an effort to neutralise Hamas’s capacity to fire rockets at Israel’s cities, and later as a drive to shut down the tunnels through which Hamas sent fighters into Israeli territory.

Finally, however, the primary goal was recast as the familiar “restoring Israel’s deterrent” – or “mowing the lawn”, as it is called in Israel’s security establishment – by periodically inflicting massive destruction on Gaza as punishment for Hamas continuing to bear arms against Israel.

###

Realities in Gaza undermined Netanyahu’s flawed narrative
By Tony Karon, August 3, 2014 Updated: August 4, 2014



‘Sources familiar with conversations between [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and senior US officials, including secretary of state John Kerry say the Israeli leader advised the Obama administration ‘not to ever second guess me again’ on the matter (of seeking a truce in Gaza),” the Associated Press reported on Saturday, adding that Mr Netanyahu expected the trust of his allies in the matter of Hamas.

An educated guess says the sources leaking this account of these high-level conversations were Israeli, since it’s hard to see why their American counterparts would want to publicise the spectacle of US officials being scolded like errant children by Mr Netanyahu. The Israeli leader, on the other hand, mindful of the challenge from rivals in his cabinet who have staked out more hawkish positions on how to end Operation Protective Edge – and are more hostile to the idea of a new ceasefire – needs to spin the inconclusive outcome of his Gaza operation as a singular triumph.

Thus Saturday’s reports that Israel would no longer engage in ceasefire talks, and would instead dial down the Gaza operation on its own terms, keeping the option of continued shelling and bombing even as it pulled back ground troops from the potential quagmire into which they were being drawn. Israel lost 64 soldiers in the first two weeks of the ground war, which is a high figure for an Israeli public more accustomed to cost-free pummeling of Gaza.

Mr Netanyahu’s messaging to his own public on the war has been fluid: it began in concert with his calls for vengeance on Hamas for the three teenage settlers slain in the West Bank in June (even though many in Israel’s security establishment have concluded that the perpetrators were not acting under orders from the Hamas leadership); then it was cast as an effort to neutralise Hamas’s capacity to fire rockets at Israel’s cities, and later as a drive to shut down the tunnels through which Hamas sent fighters into Israeli territory.

Finally, however, the primary goal was recast as the familiar “restoring Israel’s deterrent” – or “mowing the lawn”, as it is called in Israel’s security establishment – by periodically inflicting massive destruction on Gaza as punishment for Hamas continuing to bear arms against Israel.

Mr Netanyahu’s aversion to a formal ceasefire is not hard to understand. Any plausible truce would, inevitably, share the key characteristics of the November 2012 ceasefire brokered by Egypt, which would be a win for Hamas. That’s because the previous truce required an end to the crippling economic siege that Israel, with help from Egypt, has imposed on Gaza for the past seven years. Hamas made reopening the border crossings, extending fishing limits and farmers’ access to land in areas unilaterally branded “buffer zones” by Israel the focus of its current demands – which even many Israeli commentators branded as perfectly reasonable.

When the US sought a cease­fire, it naturally defaulted to the parameters of the November 2012 one, at which the Israelis baulked.

Mr Netanyahu had taken extensive criticism from within a coalition moving steadily to the right for failing to destroy Hamas in the 2012 campaign, and for the prisoner swap that achieved the release of soldier Gilad Shalit. A ceasefire that Hamas would claim as a victory, and his coalition partners would scorn as a failure, held no appeal for the Israeli leader. Nor could Israel afford the cost in both the lives of its soldiers and the international isolation that would follow a reoccupation of Gaza, from which an exit would be increasingly difficult.

Even destroying the Hamas leadership in Gaza held perils – Israel’s generals and securocrats have long warned that Israel needs Hamas to police the more radical factions, being fully aware that if Hamas was destroyed in Gaza its successor would be more like the Islamic State than the Palestinian Authority.

What had been a war of choice for Mr Netanyahu – Hamas had signalled publicly at the outset that it was willing to fight, but preferred to avoid a confrontation – has achieved dubious political results. Hamas, which had been struggling for its political life as a result of the regional political tide turning sharply against it, has been reinvigorated, its difficulty governing now overshadowed by its reclaimed mantle of “resistance”. Indeed, the earlier Israeli demand that the crossings into Gaza be policed by PA security would still have been a win for Hamas, since that’s what it had agreed to in the Palestinian reconciliation deal months earlier.

Mr Netanyahu had opted for a fight in which Hamas proved capable of inflicting heavier military casualties on Israel than anyone had expected, and it also struck the psychologically powerful blow of forcing a two-day refusal by major western airlines to fly into Ben Gurion Airport.

The scale of civilian casualties in Gaza turned the tide of international public opinion sharply against Israel, serving to widen the appeal in western civil society of the movement to pressure Israel via economic and cultural boycotts. Closer to home, the Gaza events and the crackdown that preceded them have set the tinder for a new surge of protest in the West Bank.

The Gaza war has also heralded the collapse of the narrative that has sustained Mr Netanyahu’s tenure since 2009 – his claim to have delivered security “calm” despite the steady expansion of the occupation, and despite abandoning any pretence of seeking to resolve the conflict through the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

These are long term trends which thatt be easily reversed. Months of turmoil lie ahead, following a conflict that has laid bare the fallacy of the assumptions that a “peace process” remains underway that will resolve the occupation by the creation of a Palestinian state. Whatever Mr Netanyahu believes events in Gaza have demonstrated, it’s unlikely they’ve made a case for western governments to trust that his method of dealing with Hamas is either viable or sustainable.

Tony Karon teaches in the graduate programme in international affairs at the New School in New York

Source

[panopticon]

Reports that IDF has broken its own ceasefire after bombing a house in the Al-Shati refugee camp, Northern Gaza, injuring more than 15 (some reports indicate as many as 30), IDF officials said to be investigating these reports (source). Bets anyone it will be found by Israel to be a misfired Hamas rocket?

-- Pan

[panopticon]

More of what I've been saying being reported: Hannibal Directive, Palestinian deaths.

Notice that now the "suicide bomber" who was wearing a "suicide vest" is now a militant shooting his rifle...

the inquiry concluded that the terrorist who came nearest the three soldiers wasn’t wearing a suicide belt, but simply continued firing his rifle until he was killed.

So the earlier reports were what? Inaccurate? Mistaken?

How about:
Propaganda? Emotive dehumanisation for the purpose of justifying killing 130 civilians?

-- Pan

###

Dozens of innocents killed in IDF's 'Hannibal' protocol
By Gili Cohen, 04.08.14



The protocol – involving massive use of force in an effort to rescue a captured soldier, even at risk to his life – was employed in the rescue attempt of 2nd Lt Hadar Goldin. Palestinians say more than 130 people were killed.

After Friday’s abduction of 2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces executed in full its “Hannibal procedure,” a protocol that calls for the massive use of force in an effort to rescue a captured soldier, even at risk to his life. As a result of the heavy fire in the Rafah area, dozens of innocent civilians were killed.

A senior General Staff officer said Sunday that “a great deal of fire was used in the area, and targets were attacked” in order to isolate it.

According to Palestinian reports, more than 130 Palestinians were killed in this onslaught, with some of the bodies located only in the days after it happened. Palestinians also accused the IDF of attacking vehicles en route to the Rafah hospital, including several ambulances.

IDF sources said that senior commanders in the field ordered the procedure implemented in full. The army knows that innocents were hurt as a result of the massive use of force after the soldier's capture.

An IDF inquiry concluded that about 75 minutes after a cease-fire was to have taken effect on Friday morning, a Givati Brigade patrol came under heavy fire while moving toward a building where a tunnel shaft was located. Company commander Maj. Benaya Sarel and his communications officer, Staff Sgt. Liel Gidoni, were killed. The IDF now believes Goldin, a squad commander, was also killed in the incident.

Contrary to earlier reports, however, the inquiry concluded that the terrorist who came nearest the three soldiers wasn’t wearing a suicide belt, but simply continued firing his rifle until he was killed.

When other soldiers from the company arrived at the scene a few minutes later, they found three bodies, those of Sarel, Gidoni and a Hamas operative wearing an IDF uniform. They then realized that Goldin was missing. The company’s deputy commander, 1st Lt. Eitan, decided to take some of his men into the tunnel to search for Goldin, in violation of protocol.

A few hundred meters into the tunnel, the troops found some of Goldin’s personal effects, which later helped the IDF to establish that he had been killed. The tunnel itself had several branches, some of them blocked. One led into a mosque, which the soldiers searched, but it was empty. Another led to a Hamas outpost.

The IDF then sent additional forces to the area, including aircraft and observation equipment. According to an IDF source, virtually all the firepower in the south-central region of the Gaza Strip were sent to the Rafah sector, where the incident took place, on orders from Givati Brigade commander Col. Ofer Winter. This included a tank battalion and an infantry battalion, which helped search for additional tunnel shafts. These forces also laid down heavy fire “from all directions,” including tank shells, artillery bombardments and air strikes, in an effort to isolate the area where Goldin was thought to be, block all access routes to and from it and thereby ensure that nobody could either enter or leave without the soldiers noticing, the IDF source said. This was in line with the Hannibal procedure, which one senior officer said is meant to ensure that “every effort to locate the kidnapped [soldier] and the kidnappers” is made.

Source

[panopticon]

Lieberman suggests UN take control of Gaza Strip
By Jonathan Lis, 4th August 2014



Foreign Minister cites British Mandate over Palestine and UN mandates in East Timor and Kosovo as examples.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Monday that Israel and the Palestinian Authority should consider transferring control of Gaza to the UN.

"Everyone is asking, what happens after the operation ends? Suppose Israel defeats Hamas. There are a few options. International control of Gaza, by the UN, should certainly be considered."

Speaking at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Lieberman cited the British Mandate over Palestine and the UN mandates in East Timor and Kosovo as examples.

"We saw it works quite well there," he said. "… It requires an agreement between us and the Palestinian Authority. It doesn't require consent from the UN, just from the parties involved – Israel and the PA."

"The latest news from Cairo and the demands from the gangs running Gaza, it's clear that this is a non-starter," Lieberman said. "We need to think about how to achieve the targets: Quiet for the settlements around Gaza, eliminating the rocket threat and preventing a strengthening of Hamas."

Lieberman added: "We face three clear options: An agreement, defeating Hamas or limbo, meaning they fire and we don't respond. The third option, limbo, is irrelevant - that way you leave Hamas with the initiative of when to open fire. It controls the height of the flames and you just respond."

Lieberman also criticized the foreign journalists broadcasting from Gaza. "The media inside Gaza is in many ways cooperating with Hamas," he said. "You won't see pictures of Hamas shooting protesters… you won't see terrorists grouping together and shooting from schools, hospitals and mosques. When you see how the media is reporting from inside the Strip, it's not being true to its job."

"We are facing several simultaneous attempts to damage the legitimacy of our self-determination," Lieberman said. "There is a wave of anti-Semitism that was unleashed in light of this conflict… we have organized many interviews in the media, organized protests. It's true that on screen they first show civilian casualties, and unfortunately there are civilian casualties, but [they also show] the Israeli narrative, that terror organizations are using the population as a human shield. Whoever thought that the media would show a one-sided picture, a knock-out - it doesn't exist in the world media. We're managing to bring the Israeli side."

Lieberman said that today, Israel has significant international backing to continue to act militarily against Hamas. "I want to stress [the issue] of political credit," he said. "In the fourth week of the operation, the IDF is free to act despite the international pressures. The UN Security Council, the first [forum] that discusses international crises, has not made any decisions so far, aside from press releases. It should also be honestly stated that this situation is possible thanks to the cooperation with the U.S. The U.S. is a decisive factor, but it's also thanks to a lot of work from our diplomats."

Source

[panopticon]

A bus has been turned over by an excavator in Jerusalem resulting in at least one death on the bus (update: the death was a pedestrian who was injured by the excavator, no-one was on the bus).
The driver of the excavator is also dead and was shot multiple times by police (update: he was shot at least 23 times! [source]).

I've seen both long distance mobile phone video of the event and close-up footage of after the bus was turned over (including the police shooting the excavator operator).

This is a very, very strange "terrorist attack"...

The bus was empty...

Evidently the excavator operator was "known to security services" (there again every Arab who works in Jerusalem is) and his 2nd cousin had his house demolished a couple of weeks ago (again, almost random, lots of Arabs could be said to have had something like that happen to a relative over the last month).

Initial reports were that the 'driver may have attempted to run over those waiting at the bus stop' (source). His name and photo have been published so I'm sure a narrative will unfold soon enough.

The footage of the full assault I've seen seems to look like an excavator operator trying to move either into or out of the way of a bus and gun shots are heard. This is when the arm/bucket swings and repeatedly hits the bus in what seems to be an attempt to force it over on its side.

I can not work out whether the excavator operator was shooting at the bus, someone was shooting at him or someone else was shooting at the bus. (Update: I've come across no reports that the excavator operator was armed other than with the excavator itself so where did the shots come from before the bus gets side swiped/toppled?).

It is very grainy so hard to make out (close up of police actions and firing on excavator operator after bus turned on it side available on youtube here -- not embedding video or images that may be unsuitable).

Another attack in Jeruslaem:
IDF soldier wounded in ride-by in Jerusalem (critical condition).

Reports of random attacks on Arabs in Jerusalem.

Reports of Palestinians rioting in East Jerusalem:

Dozens of Palestinians riot against police in Isawiya neighborhood of East Jerusalem
by Noam 'Dabul' Dvir, 08.04.14

Several dozens of masked Palestinians began throwing rocket and Molotov cocktails at police forces in the Isawiya neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Police pushed the rioters back through the streets by using crowd control measures.

Source

Hopefully not a sign of things to come...

-- Pan

[panopticon]

Ban Ki-moon statement 'This madness must stop' it is 'a moral outrage and a criminal act' via spokesperson on the ongoing shelling by Israel of UNRWA emergency shelters.

Wow. Stop, or I'll say stop again...

###

New York, 3 August 2014 - Statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General on attack outside UNRWA shelter

The Secretary-General strongly condemns the killing today of at least 10 Palestinian civilians in shelling outside of an UNRWA school in Rafah providing shelter to thousands of civilians. The attack is yet another gross violation of international humanitarian law, which clearly requires protection by both parties of Palestinian civilians, UN staff and UN premises, among other civilian facilities.

United Nations shelters must be safe zones not combat zones. The Israel Defence Forces have been repeatedly informed of the location of these sites. This attack, along with other breaches of international law, must be swiftly investigated and those responsible held accountable. It is a moral outrage and a criminal act.

The Secretary-General is profoundly dismayed over the appalling escalation of violence and loss of hundreds of Palestinian civilian lives since the breach of the humanitarian ceasefire on 1 August. The resurgence in fighting has only exacerbated the man-made humanitarian and health crisis wreaking havoc in Gaza. Restoring calm can be achieved through resumption of the ceasefire and negotiations by the parties in Cairo to address the underlying issues.

The Secretary-General repeats his demand to the parties to immediately end the fighting and return to the path of peace. This madness must stop.

Source