Month: January 2009

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Israeli war criminals to receive Spanish justice after all

In an amusing turn of events, Tipsy Livni is boasting that Spanish Foreign Minister has told her that the Spanish government is to enact legislative changes to head off Spanish trials of Israeli war criminals.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos informed Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Friday of Spain’s plan to amend legislation that granted a Spanish judge the authority to launch a much-publicized war crimes investigation against senior Israeli officials.

….

“I just heard from the Spanish Foreign Minister Moratinos, that Spain has decided to change its legislation in connection with universal jurisdiction and this can prevent the abuse of the Spanish legal system,” Livni told the Associated Press. “I think this is very important news and I hope that other states in Europe will do the same.”

This of course won’t help said Israeli war criminals if the US decides to support the ICJ.

Regardless of any alleged moves by the Spanish government to amend legislation, Israel is supplying documentation to the Spanish court.

Israel on Friday said it would provide “relevant material” for a Spanish crimes against humanity probe over a 2002 Israeli bombing in Gaza, after vowing to quash the investigation.

“The Israeli justice ministry will provide the Spanish government with the relevant material,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Israel’s embassy in Madrid on Friday sent judge Fernando Andreu of the National Audience documents which are still unofficial, in Hebrew and English, over the bombing in which a Hamas leader and 14 civilians were killed, a Spanish judicial source said.

The judge will decide whether to go ahead with the inquiry or shelve it once the documents have been translated into Spanish.

The changes in legislation, if any are indeed made, apparently will not affect cases currently before the Spanish courts.

Spain’s Foreign Ministry did not reply to repeated telephone requests for confirmation.

Spanish state television TVE quoted government sources as saying the possibility of a legal “adjustment or modification” may have been mentioned, but it would not be retroactive and would not affect the case before the courts.

…

Any government-initiated changes to Spanish law would have to be approved by congress. TVE said Spain would not renounce universal jursidiction, which has been on its statute books since 1870.

Looks like Livni’s remonstrations are just electoral bluster and the disgraceful Israeli war criminals will receive justice in Spain after all.

In parallel moves in Turkey, Mazlumbder, a human rights group has approached the Turkish courts with a suit against Israeli war criminals for their part on the more recent attack by Israel on the Gazan people.

Mazlumder Istanbul Branch chairman Ayhan Küçük and other members and volunteers went to Sultanahmet Court in ?stanbul “to ask investigation for Israel’s war crimes against humanity” for their involvement in Gaza massacre.

The written application demands “20 Israelis, whose names and involments in the killings of 160 Gazans are known”, to be put on trial and punished for “their crimes against humanity according to the Turkish Criminal Law and International agreements.”
After submitting the petition calling for the Israeli officials of the massacre in Gaza, Küçük said they went to Gaza to probe violations during Israeli bombings and assaults, and this petition is “the result of their findings that shows Israel committed serious crimes during the attacks.”

“What Israel did in Gaza is a genocide, war and crimes against humanity. In our first investigation, we witnessed that all infustracture of Gaza had been destroyed, people`s bodies were burned by phosporus bombs, Gaza Islam University building and its most important laboratory, stores in the city center, UN schools, mosques, ambulances, and official buildings were bombed, he added.

” Additionally, we have seen flatten out buildings, orange fields, animal farms, small manifacturing facilities, and public buildings in Jabaliya. We want all Israeli officials who are responsible for this attack to be put on trial in International Criminal Court and in Turkey,” he said.

Gazans have demonstrated in the streets in support of Hamas, waving Palestinian and Turkish flags in appreciation of Erdogan’s strong stand against Peres.

Across the Gaza Strip, thousands took to the streets in support of Hamas and its leader Khalid Mashaal who called for the creation of an alternative representative authority to replace the Fatah-run Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Press TV’s correspondent Tarek al-Farra reported from Khan Younis on Saturday.

…

“The Israeli cowards failed in this war they thought that they would destroy the resistance and Hamas, but we must tell them that the popularity of Hamas has grown more than before,” said one of the demonstrators.

“The resistance will continue to work toward achieving its goals, which are liberating all Palestinian prisoners, repatriating all Palestinian refugees and completely ending the siege,” he added.

Hamas Spokesman Hamid al-Rakeb, who took part in the rally, also said that Israel’s offensive had increased Palestinians’ confidence.

“The message coming out of Gaza after the war is a cry of rage against the Israeli occupation. Gazans are holding on more to their rights and the resistance is more confident of its ability to achieve bigger victories in the future,” al-Rakeb said in the southern city.

Hamas announced that it no longer recognized Mahmoud Abbas as the Palestinian Authority Chief after his term expired on January 8.

More Israeli war crimes are coming to light –

Two Gazans killed ‘in cold blood’, say witnesses

The idea to bombard the closing ceremony of the Gaza police course was internally criticized in the Israel Defense Forces months before the attack.

Listen to Cameron Reilly’s podcast with guest Antony Loewenstein from Independent Australian Jewish Voices. Cameron conducts a very professional in depth interview eliciting superbly comprehensive content from Antony – this podcast provides an essential overview of the politics surrounding current events in Israel and Palestine.

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Bliar Pronounces on Hamas

Does anyone really take any notice of discredited Tony Bliar anymore? Still, as Middle East envoy for the Quartet, he has a whole story in Haaretz devoted to his thoughts on Hamas.

Blair is the Middle East envoy for the quartet of Middle East peace negotiators – the United States, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union.

Blair told the newspaper that that the strategy of “pushing Gaza aside” and trying to create a Palestinian state on the West Bank “was never going to work and will never work.”

“Yes, we do need to show through the change we are making on the West Bank that the Palestinian state could be a reality,” said Blair.

“The trouble is that if you simply try to push Gaza to one side then eventually what happens is the situation becomes so serious that it erupts and you deliver into the hands of the mass the power to erupt at any point in time.”

Blair repeated the Quartet position that there can be no talks, official or unofficial, with Hamas until they renounce violence and recognize Israel. However, he said that his “basic predisposition is that in a situation like this you talk to everybody.”

So what is he really saying? that his private position differs from that of the Quartet? furthermore has he REALLY noticed the changes on the West Bank in the past year?

In the Times, Bliar expands his position:

Hamas must somehow be brought into the Middle East peace process because the policy of isolating Gaza in the quest for a settlement will not work, …

In an interview with Ginny Dougary in the Saturday Magazine, Mr Blair says that the strategy of “pushing Gaza aside” and trying to create a Palestinian state on the West Bank “was never going to work and will never work”. He hints in references to how peace was eventually achieved in Northern Ireland that the time may be approaching to talk to Hamas … “My basic predisposition is that in a situation like this you talk to everybody.”

…

Mr Blair, speaking after talks with the new US envoy George Mitchell, says that Gaza will not be pushed aside because there are 1.25 million people there who want a Palestinian state.

However, he repeated the Quartet position that there can be no talks, official or unofficial, with Hamas until they renounce violence and recognise Israel.

Mr Blair then says that there is a distinction between the difficulty of negotiating with Hamas as part of a peace process if they would not accept one of the states in the two-state solution, and “talking to Hamas as the de facto power in Gaza”.

He declines to answer whether he has talked to Hamas unofficially, although his staff later insists that he has not, and that all contacts have been via Egyptian diplomats. Under intense questioning later he replies: “I do think it is important that we find a way of bringing Hamas into this process, but it can only be done if Hamas are prepared to do it on the right terms.”

Pressed to go further Mr Blair says that he has to be careful how he expresses things because “if you do this in the wrong way it can destabilise the very people in Palestine who have been working all through for the moderate cause”.

He added: “We do have to find a way of making sure that the choice is put before Hamas and the people of Gaza in a clear, understandable, unambiguous way, for them to choose their future. You have to find a way of communicating that choice to them in their terms. Now exactly what way you choose at the moment, that is an open question.”

Diplomats will point out that Mr Blair fully signed up to the Annapolis accord which envisaged the creation of a Palestinain state by the end of 2008 whether Gaza was part of it or not. Even though sceptics said that the goal was unrealistic, Mr Blair insisted that a deal could be done by the end of last year.

Why none of these Quartet goons recognise that it is the right under international law for an illegally occupied people to resist occupation with arms if necessary is beyond us. To not do so is to implicitly back fully Israel’s continued illegal occupation and repulsive domination of the Palestinian territories. Why are Palestinians denied the right to defend themselves from Israel’s obvious, disgusting aggression?

If Bibi Netanyahoo obtains power in the Israeli elections, extended confrontation between his goals to expand settlements and renounce previous agreements and Obama’s policies is liable to delay peace and the potential for a Palestinian state for years.

Hamas’ stance toward Israel’s demands is consolidated by senior member, Khalil Al-Hayya.

Hamas had not yielded on its demands that the Israeli blockade of the Gaza enclave be lifted and Gaza’s borders opened to normal trade, he said.

Hayya reaffirmed his group’s demands to conclude a prisoner swap with Israel that would see the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for the return of Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, kidnapped by Gaza militants in 2006.

“Gilad Shalit will never see the light and life until our prisoners see the light among their women and children,” he said.

YnetNews steps up its vapid, transparent propaganda campaign, quoting unnamed sources in an attempt to show that Al Qaeda has thousands of supporters in Gaza. Who are they trying to kid? only the terminally stupid would believe such blatant manufactured claptrap.

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Devastation is the Bible’s Fault – the Fringe is Mainstream

TV documentary icon Sir Richard Attenborough can hardly be accused of being an environmental extremist – and now he’s confirming that which we on the Fringe have been saying for donkey’s years – the Old Testament Christian god is an irresponsible, ignorant, environmental vandal. The predominant cause of current planetary environmental devastation has roots in myths inculcated in western unconsciousnesses by primitive idiocies in the Bible, that selective, tarnished collection of fairy stories.

The destruction of the planet is encouraged in the English translation of the book of Genesis. Attenborough points out ‘the devastation of the environment has its roots in the first words that God supposedly uttered to humankind, as detailed in Genesis 1:28: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”‘

An atheist raised in an academic, non-religious family, Sir David said Genesis peddled untruths about how animals and plants appeared on earth and was also at the root of why there was now serious environmental degradation due to the greedy overexploitation of the earth’s natural resources.

“The influence of the Book of Genesis, which says the Lord God said ‘go forth and multiply’ to Adam and Eve and ‘the natural world is there for you to dominate’, [is that] you have dominion over the animals and plants of the world,” Sir David said.

“That basic notion, that the world is there for us and if it doesn’t actually serve our purposes, it’s dispensable, that has produced the devastation of vast areas of the land’s surface.

“Of course it’s a gross oversimplification, but that’s why Darwinism, and the fact of evolution, is of great importance because it is that attitude which has led to the devastation of so much, and we are in the situation that we are in,” he told the science journal Nature.

How different the planet might have been if Genesis had been translated to say, “live in harmony with the planet and don’t over-populate to the detriment of other creatures with whom you shares its space, for if you do, therein lies your doom.”

Interestingly, the more intellectually advanced New Testament in Revelations 11:18, says: “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.”

Perhaps not as many people finished reading the book as those who began it.

In contrast, the Koran contains numerous references to the environment, and it’s being used to teach environmentalism in countries like Indonesia.

The Koran, Suaedy says, contains numerous references to environmental protection, including the line: “Don’t do destruction upon this earth.” At one point, the Koran equates a human life with that of a tree: “Do not kill women, elders, children, civilians or trees.”

Saleem Ali, associate dean of graduate studies at the Rubenstein School for the Environment at the University of Vermont, says Islamic environmentalism can be traced back to the religion’s origins in the seventh century.

“The advent of Islam as an organized religion occurred in the desert environment of Arabia, and hence there was considerable attention paid to ecological concerns within Islamic ethics,” he said. “There is a reverence of nature that stems from essential pragmatism within the faith.”

Lo! We offered the trust
Unto the heavens and the
Earth and the hills,
But they shrank from bearing it
And were afraid of it
And man assumed it
Lo! He is a tyrant and a fool

—The Koran 33:72

Buddhism also contains elements of respect for life other than human on the planet.

Environmental efforts based on Buddhism include ordaining selected trees and groves as symbolic members of a Buddhist order.47 With its strong ethical basis, Buddhism has been connected to the Deep Ecology movement, as has Hinduism to a lesser extent.

For atheists like us, science and the history of civilisations more than adequately explain what happens when populations crash after devouring the resources that sustain them.

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Gaza Humanitarian Needs Update

The UN is now feeding 1 million plus people in Gaza – and Israel pays not one cent toward the human and infrastructure disaster it deliberately provoked in its disgraceful quest to expand its illegal settlements and maintain its ugly illegal Occupation.

Press conference on Gaza situation by World Food Programme official

Source: United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI)

Date: 29 Jan 2009

Joining the chorus of United Nations officials calling for the uninterrupted opening of border crossings into the Gaza Strip, the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Regional Director for the Middle East today said that meeting the immediate needs of Palestinians left traumatized and homeless by Israel’s three-week war with Hamas required the free flow of not just emergency food, but fuel, medicines and necessary building supplies.

World Food Programme’s Daly Belgasmi, whose responsibility also includes Central Asia and Eastern Europe, told correspondents during a Headquarters press conference that the sporadic border closings were only adding to the challenges the agency faced as Operation Lifeline Gaza scaled up deliveries of nutrition-fortified date bars, ready-to-eat meals for hospitals and schools, as well as sugar, wheat flour and vegetable oil.

He said WFP’s portion of the wider United Nations appeal for $613 million, announced earlier today in Davos by the Secretary-General, was $82.3 million. That was “really the minimum to be able to provide some assistance to the people in need”. The formal appeal would be announced by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs next week in Geneva. His agency had enough stocks in Gaza for the next three weeks, and was providing school meals of milk, date bars and bread to 50,000 children to encourage attendance and improve nutrition.

The Operation aimed to reach some 365,000 people and, he said, together with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the United Nations was feeding a little over 1 million of Gaza’s roughly 1.4 million inhabitants. “There are sad, traumatized people in Gaza, who, even before this war, had nothing in their homes but what has been given them by WFP,” he said, stressing that borders, which Israel again briefly closed on Tuesday following a border bomb attack, had to be open on a continuous basis and restrictions on the movement of people and goods lifted so that urgently-needed assistance could reach the population.

“The crossing points remain very, very challenging,” he continued, noting that each of the five border crossings -– Erez, Rafah, Karni, Kerem Shalom and Sufa — presented specific logistical challenges. For instance, at Kerem Shalom, the largest and perhaps most critical of the lifelines into Gaza, WFP and other agencies not only had to deal with security measures, but with complicated pick-up procedures: trucks dropped goods off, shipping and customs documents had to be checked and then the process might simply stall while crews waited on the Palestinian side for pack animals and delivery men to get to the staging area to pick up the shipments. The process of picking up the goods on the Gaza side was also hampered because there were not enough trucks or enough fuel, and no spare parts for repairs.

The United Nations had a “very strong and very capable team” coordinating activities with Israeli officials in Tel Aviv, at Kerem Shalom and the other borders to address logistics as well as the on-again, off-again situation with the borders. “We are doing our best, but the closure of the crossing points is a critical challenge,” he said, stressing that, after Israel’s earlier 18-month blockade, the food chain in Gaza had collapsed. Many basic food items were no longer available in the market, and the price of available commodities such as cooking gas and fuel had increased sharply. After this latest round of fighting, if the borders were not opened for the free movement of goods as well as people, the problem would only worsen.

Responding to questions, he acknowledged that supply trucks were backed up on both sides of the Gaza Strip — the Egyptian and particularly Israeli borders. “It’s not perfect,” he said, but the situation was improving, even if only incrementally.

On tough political issues, including Hamas’ role in the recovery effort and one reporter’s charge that Egypt and the wider Arab world had done nothing while the war inside Gaza had raged, Mr. Belgasmi said that humanitarians tried not to get bogged down by politics. “We are firemen. We go in and put out the fire — in this case, feed the people — and go on with our work,” he said, stressing that WFP, at least, believed that its work was helping to build the peace and promote the self-sufficiency of the Palestinian people. Indeed, by targeting schools and hospitals with feeding programmes, WFP was hoping to help address immediate needs and provide the tools to build a foundation for hope for a better future in Gaza.

“The challenge is to get jobs. When you have, today, unemployment of 70 per cent, people should work on construction […] We need to get them items for construction, we need to get the hospitals working, we need to get the schools coming back to a normal educational life,” he said.

WFP was also carrying out its operations in a way that would allow space for other humanitarian actors, including other United Nations agencies, and especially private companies and non-governmental organizations that could directly assist small farmers and businesses, whose work was vital for the survival of the people in Gaza. He also stressed that reconciliation among Palestinian factions was another key to long-term recovery in Gaza. “By making peace among themselves and forgetting about ideologies”, Palestinians could contribute to the broader effort to promote peace and development in Gaza.

The Australian Government begins to release some of its $5m aid to Gaza:

Australia provides support to NGOs for humanitarian relief in Gaza

Source: Government of Australia

Date: 30 Jan 2009

AA 09 02

BOB McMULLAN MP
PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR FRASER

I am pleased to announce the Australian Government is providing $2 million for Australian NGOs to deliver immediate emergency assistance to Gaza.

This funding is part of the $5 million package of assistance announced by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith on 27 January. The remaining $3 million is for United Nations agencies to replenish food and emergency stores.

Details of the support and funding:

Australian Red Cross ($300,000): In partnership with the Palestine Red Crescent Society, the Australian Red Cross will focus on improving access to safe water for up to 50,000 families through the provision of hygiene kits, water purification supplies and the deployment of water treatment units and jerry cans.

CARE Australia ($425,000) will provide basic medical assistance, non-food items such as building materials, cooking equipment, blankets, winter clothes and hygiene kits, and increased access to safe water supplies by deploying water trucks and repairing water pumping stations. Their activities will focus on assisting conflict affected families in the north of Gaza.

Oxfam Australia ($425,000) will distribute family emergency hygiene kits, baby hygiene kits and cleaning kits to 5,000 conflict-affected households across Gaza. They will also improve the water and sanitation conditions in target communities, kindergartens and primary schools by repairing damaged community infrastructure and deploying 10 mobile water tanks.

Save the Children Australia ($425,000) will focus their emergency response on improving the health of mothers, newborns and children in hospitals, health care centres and shelters in the north and south of Gaza, as well as Gaza City. This will involve advising mothers on the care of their newborns, establishing community support networks and providing supplementary food and micronutrients.

World Vision Australia ($425,000) will meet the immediate food and hygiene needs of 2,150 vulnerable families that have been affected by the recent conflict in Gaza. These families are located in both the north and south of Gaza.

Contacts: Sabina Curatolo (Mr McMullan’s Office) 0400318205, AusAID 0417680590

Further aid to Gaza is being considered by Australia –

Australia is considering what further aid it can send to help rebuild the Gaza Strip, on top of a recent $5 million contribution.

…

Speaking on Radio National Breakfast, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith said Australia views the secretary-general’s appeal with great sympathy.

“We will make a contribution, you can be reliably assured of that,” he said.

“The extent of the contribution and the amount, of course we have to make judgements about that, but also see what other countries are doing, and see where we can be of most assistance – whether it’s a cash contribution, or whether it’s other things that we can do in terms of technical expertise.”

Technical expertise is moot without the oppressor state allowing more than emergency aid into stricken Gaza.

Further threatening the lives of people in Gaza, Israel is refusing to allow the French to import a water purification plant into the stricken region.

Israel has refused to allow a French-made water purification system into Gaza amid a drinking water crisis in the Palestinian strip.

The French Foreign Ministry said Friday that Tel Aviv had blocked the entry of a much-needed water purification station into Gaza and had forced its repatriation.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Eric Chevallier said the move has sparked an outcry in the Elysée, prompting it to summon the Israeli ambassador to Paris to explain why the system was denied access.

“There were a very great number of steps taken at all levels to try to get the water purification station into Gaza,” he said, adding that Israel’s explanation was not satisfactory.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recently warned that Israel’s 23-day onslaught on Gaza has pushed its sewage system on the brink of collapse and thus increased risks of groundwater contamination in the Palestinian territory.

“The most dangerous thing is the contamination of drinking water with sewage. We need an international organization like the World Health Organization to investigate the matter,” said Monther Shoblak, head of the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU).

According to the UN, Israel’s three week-long saturation bombing of the Palestinian territory has seriously damaged pipes and has left drinking water in very short supply.

Warning of the serious public health risks, the World Bank has urged the Israeli government to allow enough fuel into Gaza to operate some 170 water and sewage pumps there.

The bank called on Israel to allow maintenance crews to shore up a sewage lake in northern Gaza before it overflows at the expense of the 1.5 million Palestinians living in the area.

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Erdogan Spanks Peres at Davos

Erdogan’s rejoinder to Peres’ pack of lies is at about 1hr1min into the video.

Some of my notes on the above vid (now superceded by a full transcript available here):

Erdogan –

Erdogan in his first address comments on the June 2008 ceasefire end in November – there were no rocket attacks at that point. He points out that Gaza is an open air isolated sealed prison. Erdogan was told by Israel that the rockets are used by Palestinians but they don’t kill anyone – in the meantime there were more than 24 Palestinians killed by Israel during the cease fire, electricity cuts to hospitals in Gaza, food was restricted and Turkey was already sending food to Gaza.

Erdogan says “If we would like to see democracy take root then we must respect the people who have received the vote of the people of the country – we might not like them but we must respect the process”. He said before the war to Olmert that Israel was holding members of parliament and suggested these could be released, but Olmert said this would make things difficult for Abbas. He then suggested that perhaps some of the women and children prisoners could be released, Olmert didn’t respond. Instead Israel’s war on Gaza ensued.

Erdogan mentions the attack by Israel on UN, school and hospitals and that the world did not react in comparison with say, Georgia.

Erdogan suggests the democratic rights of the Palestinians have not been recognised. Ending isolation of Palestinian people – will the crossings be opened? How will the people survive – Israel needs to respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the crossings must be opened. With arms smuggling and tunnels, Egypt responsible at its side of the border.

He highlights the division in Palestine, reconciling differences between Hamas and Fatah – to bridge the gap, we need to consider all the parties – it is only Fatah present, not sufficient to project needs of Palestinian people – Hamas has won the election and must be considered as part of the equation. He hopes the UN puts its weight along with the US into these efforts for a solution, and not do this within previous administration’s agreements, but in a new opening, Hamas must be considered in this process and Turkey would be willing to be involved.

There needs to be elections and whoever is elected by the Palestinian people needs to be respected.

Amr Moussa –

Commended role of Turkey. Future – things can’t be swept under the carpet – situation in Gaza was not just a reaction for some rockets against Southern Israel – we are against anything affecting children, women and children, Palestinians and Israels. The situation in Gaza and Palestine is a situation of foreign military occupation, in siege and blockage. Barriers, settlements, colonies – Palestinians are trying to find a future.

You cannot ask Gazans who live under starvation and blockage and ask them to stay calm – you cannot starve them and ask them to be quiet. You strangle them with not a single window of opportunity and then ask them about illicit trade, you have to give them food, water and medicine – it is a miserable life because of the blockade imposed by Israel for 3 years.

The Palestinians believed in the call for democracy, ran elections, Hamas won and 25 minutes after, Hamas was served notice that aid would be suspended and blockade imposed, Hamas was put on teh defensive. But people in Gaza are not Hamas, women, children and civilians paid the price for the game going on imposed by the military occupation by Israel. Abbas brought nothing to negotiations, Hamas would accept pre-67 borders. Points out that the action of blockade brought a reaction of resistance, then Israel assaults Gaza. Needs opening of crossings, and conciliation.

Moussa does not absolve Arabs from blame, but will not exonerate Israel from its destruction of Gaza.

Moussa sees hope in Obama and Mitchell and sees chance of US returning to role of honest broker, a key point which we haven’t seen for the last several years. The Arab nations are ready at the highest level to establish peace, recognise Israel and carry on commitments with Israel. But we have not received any answer from Israel for the last 7 years. There is no authorised decision or answer taken by Israel to respond to Arab message of 2002. We call on Israel now for a formal position to the formal Arab initiative to recognise Israel. If there is real intention from honest broker, then a response from Israel is required. If there is no result this year, there are other alternatives. Israel cannot reach any of its goals through military means, a political solution only is viable.

Shimon Peres –

Cries about the difficulties of confronting ‘an illegal terroristic group’. Whimpers about the rockets. Democracy – who was elected? Abu Mazen. Ignores election of Hamas. Slanders Hamas as democracy. Quotes from Hamas charter calling for destruction of Israel which was renounced in 2004, but Peres propaganderises.

Lies about Israeli restraint. Wanks about rockets and sleepless nights. Lies about lack of Israeli incursions. Bullshits that Israel didn’t start it. Lies about Gaza withdrawal, lies that the occupation ended. Lies about blockade. Lies that there was no starvation. Lies that the only thing that got in were rockets. Goes to pathetic Oslo agreement. No mention of illegal settlements. Wanks about 7 wars, boycotts. Sucks up to Abbas “who accuses Hamas not Israel”.

Fails to mention occupation. Accuses Iran. Accuses Meshaal – incoherent about rockets. “What we did is not what we wanted to do, our choice is peace, we acted because of a lack of a choice”. Calls PLO a terroristic organisation.

Accuses Hamas of rebelling against Fatah – fails to mention Dahlan and backing by US & Israel. Lies that Hamas has turned mosques, schools and universities into interrogation centres (must have faulty xray vision). Lies that Hamas only distributes food to Hamas supporters, not Fatah. Lies that “Israel does not want to shoot anybody”.

Lies that Hamas puts bombs in kindergartens. Claims Israel has no choice. Claims Israel didn’t start it again, lies that Israel isn’t about killing people.

Jerusalem – “we are trying to find a way”. Bullshit. Lies that most of the West Bank is left to the Palestinian people.

Unbelievable compendium of lies. “There was not a day we didn’t supply water and oil in Gaza”. Peres lies upon lies upon lies. Lies that Hamas created dictatorship. Claims that tunnels are created to bring in missiles.

Lies that Israel would like to see Gaza flourishing. Says Gaza and West Bank is 9 times larger than Singapore. Says the problem is education. Wants to restore life in Gaza without dictatorship. Wants to work with Quartet, doesn’t want to waste time, aim is peace not war. Victory is peace not war. Lies again that Israel only uses power when it has no other choice.

Lies that he hopes Hamas will start talking not shooting (of course Israel refuses to talk with them).

Erdogan –

1 minute … President Peres, you are older than I am, and you have a very strong voice, I feel that you perhaps feel a bit guilty and that is why you have been so loud. Well you kill people, I remember the children who died on beaches and I remember two former prime ministers from your country who said they felt very happy that they were able to enter Palestine in tanks. That they have been very happy with themselves for this and I feel very sad when people applaud what you have said because there have been many people who have been killed and it is very wrong and not humanitarian for people to applaud such actions.

I will just say two things. Please let me finish. Sixth commandment – thou shall not kill, but we are talking about killing. And second point, Gilad Atzomi says Israeli barbarity is way beyond what it should be and Professor from Oxford University Avi Schlom has said this … thank you very much, thank you very much thank you very much .. I don’t think I will come back to Davos after this, thank you, because you don’t let me speak, the President spoke for 25 minutes, I only spoke for half that. [Erdogan walks out]

I was impressed by the number of people in the audience who left when Erdogan stormed out.

Significantly, Peres met with Putin on Thursday asking for assistance to prevent arms trafficking from Iran to Gaza and is quoted in YnetNews saying:

“Israel has learned from Russia that there are some measures a country must resort to when it has no other choice. This was the case in Gaza; it was not out of choice that we launched (the offensive), but out of necessity.”

That lesson would be from Grozny and the siege of Leningrad, or both, one could imagine.

Al Jazeera wraps the story:

Peres told Erdogan during the heated panel discussion that he would have acted in the same manner if rockets had been falling on Istanbul.

Moderator David Ignatius, a Washington Post columnist, then told Erdogan that he had “only a minute” to respond to a lengthy monologue by Peres.

Erdogan said: “I find it very sad that people applaud what you said. There have been many people killed. And I think that it is very wrong and it is not humanitarian.”

Ignatius twice attempted to finish the debate, saying, “We really do need to get people to dinner.”

Erdogan then said: “Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I don’t think I will come back to Davos after this.”

…

Amr Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab League and former Egyptian foreign minister, said Erdogan’s action was understandable.

He said: “Mr Erdogan said what he wanted to say and then he left. That’s all. He was right,” adding that Israel “doesn’t listen”.

…

Asked about achieving peace in Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of Israel’s Likud party who was attending the forum, swiftly turned his answer to Iran, which he said was in a “100-yard dash” to get nuclear weapons.

While he did not specify any planned military action, Netanyahu said if Iranian rulers were “neutralised”, the danger posed to Israel and others by Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in south Lebanon would be reduced.

Netanyahu said the global financial meltdown was reversible but “what is not reversible is the acquisition of nuclear weapons by a fanatic radical regime”.

And that would have to be a PKB of the highest order considering that it is Israel which is the fanatic radical regime with undeclared nuclear weapons and a Samson option. Israel has ignored repeated requests by every other nation in the Middle East for many years in the UN that the whole Middle East region be declared a nuke free zone. Thus it is Israel which is primarily responsible for any proliferation which may ensue in the region to counter-balance its nukes.

Peres has apparently apologised for his behaviour to Erdogan.

It appears Ignatius’s inconsistent, slanted moderation has not gone unnoticed by Davos organisers.

Sources told A.A on Friday that moderators in the further sessions, which would be attended especially by heads of state & government, would be chosen after a tight selection.

WEF officials said that panel moderators would be comprised of experts from now on.

Syd Walker presents some more comment about David Ignatius in his latest post about Davos. it appears Ignatius is of Armenian descent.

Paul Woodward points out the main story has been missed in the kerfuffle over Erdogan’s walkout.

The real story — the story that an obsequious press corps has chosen to under-report — was a tirade from Shimon Peres that should rank on a par with Nikita Kruschev’s outburst at the United Nations in 1960 when he pounded his shoe in protest.

…

If Hugo Chavez, or Muammar al-Gaddafi, or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or any other non-Western leader had spoken with the vulgarity, deceitfulness and rage that Shimon Peres displayed, the universal response would have been that this was unbecoming and unacceptable behavior for a political leader on a world stage.

In a further story, Al Jazeera quotes Australian Gareth Evans, head of the International Crisis Group who commented on Erdogan’s walkout and Peres speech.

Noticeably, no Australian media source bothers to publish Evans’ observations.

Gareth Evans, the president of the International Crisis Group think-tank, told Al Jazeera that Erdogan’s walk-out was “deeply depressing”.

“I thought the tone of the debate had been reasonably moderate up until Shimon Peres laid some heavy-duty stuff on the line, in a very uncompromising and rather un-Peres like fashion,” he said.

“In particular, what was depressing was Peres’ utter unwillingness to acknowledge the real significance of the Arab peace initiative and to respond to Erdogan and Amr Moussa, saying how important it is that Israel formally say that the plan is a major step towards peace.

“Turkey was Israel’s best friend in the Muslim world. I think Israel has to come to grips with the fact that it has alienated a very large proportion of the world’s population.”

Erdogan is interviewed after Davos by Newsweek-The Post’s Lally Weymouth. Erdogan makes some interesting comments on previous negotiations with Israel in which he’s participated:

In order to release the Israeli soldier, did you ask the Israelis to do something for Hamas?

I said to Prime Minister Olmert that if you want us to mediate in order to get the Israeli soldier freed, we can do this and we believe we can achieve something. But . . . once the soldier is free, Israel should [release from jail] Hamas’s speaker of parliament and its members of parliament.

Why do you have such a close relationship with Hamas, which is an arm of Iran and is run by Khaled Meshal, who lives in Damascus?

First of all, Hamas is not an arm of Iran. Hamas entered the elections as a political party. If the whole world had given them the chance of becoming a political player, maybe they would not be in a situation like this after the elections that they won. The world has not respected the political will of the Palestinian people. On the one hand, we defend democracy and we try our best to keep democracy in the Middle East, but on the other hand we do not respect the outcome of . . . the ballot box. Palestine today is an open-air prison. Hamas, as much as they tried, could not change the situation. Just imagine, you imprison the speaker of a country as well as some ministers of its government and members of its parliament. And then you expect them to sit obediently?

It sounds like you and Prime Minister Olmert were on the eve of an actual breakthrough between Israel and Syria.

I’m sharing my excitement with you.

The Israelis have been frustrated that they couldn’t talk directly to the Syrians.

We were trying to be their hope. Olmert’s last sentence [as he left] was, “As soon as I get back I will consult with my colleagues and get back to you.” As I waited for his response, . . . on December 27, bombs started falling on Gaza. There had not been any casualties in Israel since the cease-fire of June 2008. The Israelis claim that missiles were being sent [from Gaza]. I asked Prime Minister Olmert, how many people died as a result of those missiles? Since December 27 there have been almost 1,300 dead, 6,000 injured, no infrastructure left, no buildings left, everything is damaged, Gaza is a total wreck. It’s all closed, under total siege. The United Nations Security Council makes a decision, and Israel announces it does not recognize the decision. I’m not saying that Hamas is a good organization and makes no mistakes. They have made mistakes. But I am evaluating the end result.

…

Is your relationship with Israel over?

We have a serious relationship. But the current Israeli government should check itself. They should not exploit this issue for the upcoming elections in Israel.

Do you expect President Barack Obama to play a more even-handed role between the Palestinians and the Israelis?

There is no justice right now. We expect justice from now on.

Israel, established with Zionist terrorism and maintained by terrorism and hasbara, with its long and continuing record of land thievery and butchery of civilians, disdain for international humanitarian conventions and UN Security Council Resolutions, is a major threat to world peace and security.

There are promising signals that Obama’s regime may be about to put its weight behind the UN. How will the oily, deceptive Netanyahoo cope with such changes?

Israel must investigate allegations that its army violated international law during its three-week war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, the new U.S. envoy to the United Nations said on Thursday.

“We expect Israel will meet its international obligations to investigate and we also call upon all members of the international community to refrain from politicizing these important issues,” Ambassador Susan Rice said in her debut speech before the UN Security Council.

…

Some 1,300 Palestinians, including at least 700 civilians, were killed during Israel’s Gaza offensive, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the territory. Israel put its losses at 10 soldiers and three civilians.

During the campaign, Israel fired on several UN installations in Gaza, including schools, where hundreds of Palestinians had been seeking shelter from the fighting. Israel rejects allegations that its army was guilty of war crimes.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said there would also be a UN investigation of the deadly attacks on United Nations sites in the Gaza Strip.

Rice made it clear that the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama had a very different view of the role of the United Nations from George W. Bush’s government, whose officials were often suspicious of the world body and occasionally spoke of it with disdain.

She said Obama’s long-term goals included enhancing global peace and security, fighting terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, dealing with climate change, alleviating poverty and improving respect for human rights worldwide.

“The United Nations is indispensable for advancing these goals and making our world a better, safer place,” she said.

She also hinted that Obama had a different attitude towards The Hague-based International Criminal Court, the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal.

President Bill Clinton’s administration had signed the ICC treaty, which was never ratified by Congress. Bush later rejected the idea of ever joining the court.

“The International Criminal Court, which has started its first trial this week, looks to become an important and credible instrument for trying to hold accountable the senior leadership responsible for atrocities committed in the Congo, Uganda and Darfur,” Rice said.

karma
Further comments by Susan Rice are presented in the NYTimes:

In a closed session about the protection of civilians, she noted “the loss of Palestinian and Israeli life in recent weeks and the tragic suffering of Palestinian civilians, who require urgent humanitarian and reconstruction assistance.”

UN staff are insisting they were targeted by Israel in its assault on Gaza. These are serious allegations whose investigation and relevant followup must be supported by the US consistent with Rice’s statements.

In a seminar Tuesday morning, United Nations staff claimed that they were directly targeted by the Israeli army during the 23-day standoff at Gaza.

“I mean what I am saying,” said Dr. Sami Mushasa media director for United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA.)

His agency, he said, “was targeted and a scores settlement was made by Israel to disrupt our work in Gaza and Palestine”.

According to Mushasa, ten UN buildings and numerous UN schools and aid centres were targeted during the Israeli offensive on Gaza.

…

Mushasha said that since January 21, Israelis have blocked a building materials shipment worth $110 million as well as 250,000 school books and medical supplies.

…

As many as 58 mosques and churches were destroyed, 83 hospitals and were razed, 25 schools were levelled and all of Gaza is now communicating through one fibre optic cable with the world.

An estimated 80 percent of its communications infrastructure has been wiped out.

“Currently we have to re-establish the medical, educational, government and banking institutions in Gaza as life has been completely stopped,” he said. “The children are suffering from psychological trauma from the conflict and need serious psychological rehabilitation now.”

There are 450,000 children who are returning to school in Gaza and all of them suffer from psychological trauma, according Ayman Abu Laban, UNICEF representative to the Gulf.

“We need to rehabilitate the children and introduce stability and security to them now as they are suffering from different psychological disturbances such as bed wetting, animosity, aggressiveness and detachment,” he said.
Relief agencies and authorities are also facing the challenge of repatriating the refugees. “Currently, Gaza has 150,000 refugees whose homes have been destroyed,” said Mushasha. “The majority of them are living in the schools, we need 450 million dollars to provide relief and aid to them in the next nine months.”

Let’s hold the senior leadership of Israel since 1948 accountable for their war crimes as well.

Meanwhile, Israel tries to wiggle out of a Spanish trial for war crimes perpetrated by the occupier state in 2002.

Israel will on Friday appeal a decision by a Spanish judge to open a probe against National Infrastructures Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and six other current or former Israeli officials over a 2002 bombing in Gaza that killed one Hamas militant and 14 other people, inluding nine children.

Ben-Eliezer, who was defense minister at the time of the bombing, blasted the decision as “ludicrous” adding that “even more than ludicrous, it is outrageous. Terror organizations use the courts of the free world and the mechanisms of democratic nations to file suit against a country that operates against terror.”

Ben-Eliezer demonstrates that vile disregard for human life outside Israel we have come to know and despise.

9 non Israeli children for him are as nothing – this monster would speak differently if they were Israeli children – how many would he kill in retaliation then?

Netanyahoo makes it clear he wont’ be making illegal settlers leave their illgotten abodes.

Likud Party Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said he would not be bound by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s commitments to evacuate West Bank settlements and withdraw from the territories.

“I will not keep Olmert’s commitments to withdraw and I won’t evacuate settlements. Those understandings are invalid and unimportant,” Netanyahu said.