Fatima Jadallah, 55, killed by Israeli bullets while in her own home in Rafah Refugee Camp
The Israeli army continues its’ military operation in Rafah in the south of Gaza. Army tanks are heading into the refugee camp under cover of helicopters that fire shells on the civilian population. Four citizens at least were killed, including one woman and two children, tens more are severely injured and reported to be received at Rafah’s only hospital. The number will increase.
Many of the in-patients were discharged to make space for the injured. My colleagues tell me that the shelling is too severe and ambulances can’t reach many of the injured. The army tanks are very close to the hospital and one of the houses in the area was specifically targeted.
It seems that the military operation into Rafah will continue…….as evidenced by the increasing number of army tanks in the area.
We Are Untouchable
Tanya Hsu 4 August 2006
We are Israelis. We are untouchable. No matter what we do, the international community will not act against us. Oh, there will be talks at the United Nations but we know that the United States will intervene on our behalf. There will be Arab League discussions but we know that no state will take action against us. There will be mass protests and demonstrations; there will be activists and advocates begging for peace; there will be rallies and fund-raisers to help the targets of our bombs. And we know that nothing will make a difference because we are Jews — we are victims of the holocaust. We have suffered such that we have the right to make the rest of the world pay (even though organized Zionism officially declared war on Germany in 1933, long before Hitler’s Final Solution). Because we are victims.
Yes, we know that peoples all over the world have suffered worse crimes than ours, but they were not the Chosen People. We know that over 22 million Russians were killed under Stalin, 15 million Chinese were killed by the Japanese, millions elsewhere in the world suffered the same fate in the bloodiest 20th century. [MORE]
The wars in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon are all inter-linked, as US abuses in Iraq provide a model for Israel’s indiscriminate violence against civilians and its breach of international humanitarian law. Moreover, this lawless brutality is losing these wars for the United States, Israel, and, ultimately, everyone, says Patrick Seale.
The problems of the region must be tackled frontally and together, because they are interlinked:
* The Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be resolved with the creation of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.
* The Israeli-Syrian conflict must be resolved with the return to Syria of the Golan.
* Lebanon must be rebuilt with a massive injection of aid and international guarantees for its future security.
* The United States must start a bilateral dialogue with Iran aimed at restoring diplomatic relations and recognising Iran’s regional interests and security fears.
* Israel must give up its vain ambition to dominate the region militarily and should instead, safe within its 1967 borders, conclude peace treaties with the entire Arab world based on mutual respect and good neighbourliness.
As Professor Finkelstein put it: Not complicated. Not controversial.