Why? What is the true story behind the scenes as Israeli attacks Palestine and troups move in for a ground war?

Israeli forces attack Gaza areas, killing father of three
Report, Al Mezan,

Palestinian mourners carry the body of Salah Oukal during his funeral in the Gaza Strip, 18 December 2008. (Hatem Omar/MaanImages)

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have escalated their military attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing a Palestinian and destroying houses and other civilian premises. Meanwhile, Israel's tight blockade of the Gaza Strip has continued, resulting in an unprecedented deterioration of the humanitarian situation due to severe shortages of food, water, fuel and medical supplies. Daily power outages, which last for long hours in Gaza, have exacerbated this crisis.

According to Al Mezan's field investigations, at approximately 4:50pm on 17 December, the IOF gunships opened heavy machine gun fire towards Qleibo area, eastern al-Sheikh Zayid town, and the Talet al-Zaitoun area in Jabaliya refugee camp. The firing lasted for more than 15 minutes spreading panic in the area. Five minutes later, IOF fired a missile at the former area; however, no injuries were reported.

At approximately 8:50pm on the same day, IOF, stationed on the borderline east of Jabaliya, launched a ground-to-ground missile that exploded in the house of 47-year-old Salah Abdul-Hadi Oukal. The victim was in his house's garden in Tel al-Za'tar area in Jabalia when the missile struck him. Oukal, who was the breadwinner of a family of eight, including three children, was blown into pieces as the missile hit him directly. His seven-year-old son, Ahmed, was also lightly injured in the attack, which caused severe damage to the house and partial damage to three adjacent houses.

At approximately 5am today, 18 December 2008, Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at the house of Hassan Mohammed Abu Nasser, which is located in a dense neighborhood in Block 8 in Jabaliya refugee camp. The target is a simple house roofed with asbestos. Field investigations indicated that the two missiles struck the garage, destroying a Subaru. It also caused damage to the house and several other neighboring houses.

In Khan Younis city, south of the Gaza Strip, Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a car maintenance workshop at approximately 1:15am today. The workshop, owned by 35-year-old Iyad Fathi al-Jbour, was completely destroyed. No casualties were reported in this attack; however, seven neighboring houses and three cars were damaged.

Al Mezan Center for Human Rights strongly condemns the continuous Israeli aggression against civilians in the Gaza Strip. Missile attacks that target homes and civil premises represent a grave breach of the international humanitarian law and must stop immediately.

Al Mezan Center also condemns the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, which represents a form of unlawful collective punishment of the Strip's population. The consequences of this blockade on civilians' well-being and human rights have been outrageous.

Al Mezan reiterates its calls on the international community to intervene without delay to ensure protection of the civilian population under Israel's occupation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and particularly in the Gaza Strip. Israel must respect its international obligations; especially as the warnings of military actions against Gaza by the Israeli army have been mounting during the past few days. The silence of the international community will only serve to encourage Israel to step up military operations, which, as experience shows, means killings of civilians and destruction of their property in Gaza.

Medclinician

Israeli government has created for itself a near monopoly over information coming out of the Gaza Strip. Journalists have been prevented from entering the Gaza Strip already since early November, a move the Foreign Press Association (FPA) in Israel labels “an unprecedented restriction of press freedom.”  The FPA filed a petition with the Israeli Supreme Court against this measure, and the petition is scheduled to be ruled on today (31 December).

The sole “journalists” allowed into the Gaza Strip are Israeli military photographers and writers, several buses of whom are transported into Gaza daily to write about and photograph what Israel wants the world to see, including the passage and distribution of international humanitarian aid. It is on these photographs and information that a majority of the mainstream western press is currently dependent.
The Israeli military further opened its own YouTube channel, which will broadcast army footage of “precise bombings, aid distribution” and other footage that Israel is interested in propagating.

Within this self-generated information vacuum, Israel has declared itself the victor in the war of public relations.  “We haven’t seen dramatic condemnations {from world leaders}, “said former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman,” only the expected and generic calls for calm and cease-fire.”  Israel’s National Information Directorate, established in the wake of the Winograd Report’s criticism of faulty media coordination during Israel’s 2006 war against Lebanon, now acts to synchronize Israeli media messages transmitted by various ministries and organizations.

Exploiting its self-made near monopoly on access to and type of information coming out of the Gaza Strip, Israel has launched a massive international public relations campaign to convince the western world of the necessity of its attacks on Gaza. Yesterday, tens of international journalists – banned from entering the Gaza Strip – wandered around southern Israel, interviewing random  Israelis out on the streets and transmitting these voices and images back to Europe and North America. The official Israeli government version of its war against the Palestinian people in Gaza is broadcast again and again, while Israel prevents journalists from entering Gaza and bringing updated information from the ground.  

Moreover, Israel baldly negates the professional capacities of international journalists reporting from the region. Danny Seaman, the Director of Israel’s Government Press Office, shockingly states that “the foreign journalists don’t have the backbone and courage to speak against Hamas in Hamas-controlled territory. So they become the fig leaf placed over Hamas propaganda.”  The assertion here, of course, is that media reports which do not act as mouthpieces for Israeli government positions should be dismissed.

The Gazans themselves have almost no access to news and outside information, given the Israeli military attacks, electricity outages which sever the possibilities for internet access and the absence of newspapers from the Palestinian territories and Arab world.

During an emotional conversation this morning with A., one of the very few international activists currently located in the Gaza Strip, the AIC conveyed news from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in addition to messages of solidarity from Israeli anti-occupation activists. A. said that no information about the widespread protests throughout the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Israel, the Arab world and Europe had reached him, and that he would bring these messages to Palestinian grassroots activists in Gaza.

comment: If it is the intention of the Western world to bring peace to the Middle East, it cannot be achieved by the incredible military attack on Palestine. Reporters and the eyes of the world are being banned from releasing news and truly the only news in the main media is primarily the simple fact that Israel is attacking Palestine and bombing them because they have acquired technology (as well as the Hezbollah) to attack Israel.

No doubt, the conflict between Israel and Palestine is the core of the entire barrier to a lasting peace and an end to terrorist activities and conflict in a band of countries from Palestine to Afghanistan.

Medclinician

Seems rather clear the official stance of the outgoing administration is the Hamas brought it on themselves, therefore the Israel has the full support of the U.S. in attacking and invading Palestine.

You all realize if I was a typical capitalistic American I would not post another word on this thread, go finish my Bird Book and my Med Book - perhaps do well - buy a ranch - plant a garden next spring and except for signing books and giving lectures put duct tape on my fingers and just sit on my hands.

Maybe just posting facts without a lot of comments would be a better path.  One thing is for sure, the media in the Gaza strip and most of the world is heavily controlled and the spin going out there is pretty one direction. It is so one direction the Internet, mainstream, and the voices of power have spoken. Of course, there are a few questions here. For one, if this is such a good vs. evil war, then why are reporters being banned from covering it. Surely, if it is so clear, how would reporters be a threat. Perhaps by bringing reality of the human carnage and death and suffering where twice as many civilians are dying as Hamas. The main leaders, except one who was terminated in his home seem to be laying low in shelters.

Let's look a little objectively and since we are not engaged in the actual battle, and our troops are not over there fighting... maybe spread the beam of light a little wider so inquiring minds might have a little more info.

Lets start with the biggee. Hamas. Why Hamas and not the Hezbollah?

The Hamas were democratically elected in 2006 to rule Palestine.

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Hamas_wins_Palestinian_election

This morning, Hamas leaders announced that they had an "outright majority" in the 132-seat Palestinian Legislative Council. "Hamas has won more than 70 seats in Gaza and the West Bank, which gives it more than 50 percent of the vote," said Ismail Haniyeh, a leader of Hamas.

In order for Hamas to have a majority, they needed at least 67 seats. Ismail Haniya, a senior Hamas leader, said they "expected to win at least 70 seats."

Just hours after the statement, and based on results that Hamas supplied from representatives at polling stations, Prime Minister, Ahmed Qurei of Fatah and his cabinet submitted their resignations. "This is the choice of the people. It should be respected. If it's true, then the president should ask Hamas to form a new government," said Qurei. "For me, personally, I sent my resignation."

So, Phase 1. Through a democratic, not tampered with, and not a military coup, Palestinians - not by force or intimidation chose the Hamas to lead them.

Phase 2 - The Israelis wish to destroy the Hamas and the Hamas wish to destroy Israel.

Hamas is labeled as a terrorist group by both the European Union and the United States State Department, and now will be the ruling faction of the Palestinian Authority, this creates difficulties for US and EU participation in efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Washington Post reported last week that the US secretly channelled US$2 million to Fatah in the final weeks of the campaign.

United States Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice repeated the US/EU call for Hamas to reject violence and recognize Israel, and reminded that the US still considers Hamas a terrorist group. Elmar Brok, a senior member of the EU Parliament, said that the EU may cut off aid to the Palestinians if Hamas institutionalizes terrorism once it takes control of the government.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaking through a spokesman, stated that Britain "can only do business with people who renounce terrorism."

The basic facts in the Middle East is that neither the "Palestinians" nor the Israelis are angels of some god all shining bright. It is no secret that the Zionists came into a land where other people were living (where their ancestors lived before, by the way) and kicked butt. The white Europeans did the same thing just a few hundred years earlier in North, South and Central America (where their ancestors had never been).

What is also true is that the Muslims worked closely with the Nazis during WWII as they cheerfully exterminated the European Jewish population - or has this writer forgotten this little tidbit. There has been no love lost between Jews and Muslims since about the 7th century - it is an old battle.

Europeans invaded America and mostly wiped out my ancestors, most of them, Native Americans. To us, the teeming hoards from the east, who used germ warfare via smallpox, massacred villages of many a peace loving tribe who had lived in their home for 40,000 years. We can than the Winchester family, which is forever cursed for inventing a repeating rifle that would make the proud warriors with bows and arrows on their noble horses, tumble to the soil, dead, and riddled with bullets.

The gods of one nation are the demons of another. The terrorists of one nations are the freedom fighters of another.  We choose allies, and those who attack them are terrorists.

Atrocities committed against the Palestinians date back to the 40s. Remember, facts, no opinions. The slaughter of many many people was done and those who dared question it were slaughtered it themselves.

now.. a BRIEF comment.

Is there, or is there not  world wide organization all the Al Queda and do or do not terrorists possess suitcase and other nuclear weapons and have they not for years. Does the term Jihad mean anything or not. Either the Muslims are a threat or they are not.  Are there, or are there not cells in place in the U.S. right now ready to blow up cities with nuclear devices.

That being the case, is it so wise to support such a flagrant aggressive military campaign without out some second thoughts of bringing that conflict, into America and starting a series of retalitory strikes against us here, by upset Muslims.

It would have been wiser by far not to take sides and let the chips fall where they might. Since 3,000 years ago the bodies of those in Canaan lay strewn as far as the eye could see from the invaders who massacred dozens of whole civilizations.

IMHO this was a bad choice. The enemies of America are spread across the globe and within America itself. We were so careful to keep Israel from baring its fangs and attacking Iraq so as to avoid a potential Jihad.

It would seem the threat of a massive Jihad against the Western Block has now become considered a myth.  The 1.2 billion Muslims, with a healthy number of extremists has suddenly been waved away as a threat, and the fear of retaliation as thousands of Palestinians are slaughtered has become a non-consideration.

IMHO this was a bad choice. They have been firing rockets for years, Israel has been conducting massive air strikes and the fighitng has gone on for 3,000 years. 

But, I am Christian. I believe in the End of Days, I believe in a massive final battle and that by pure ego and pride, we do not restrain the forces that could upset the entire stasis in the Middle East.

Is it that the missiles fired by the Hamas may soon have nuclear teeth? It is not an excuse to attack Palestine instead of Iran? Has anyone consider the effect on Iran, of he entire Muslim League, our oil supply, our chances of any type of lasting peace after we create 10,000 martyrs to fuel the hatred between the nations.

Someone will unleash the dragon. Someone will set off the nuke or nukes in the midst and dancing around the corpses.

If there were a true Al Queda, in the sense it has been hyped for 8 years, don't you think hands holding suitcases are getting restless?

I support my country and its leaders.

During Clinton's presidency, we were making gains in peace between Palestine and Israel.   To me, this action may be the beginning of the end of Israel as we know it. Martyrs only strengthen the enemy with renewed resolve and purpose. Do not create martyrs. They have been the downfall of the greatest civilzations in history.

Thus fell the Roman Empire.

You cannot destroy a philosophy with tanks and bombs. 

And so we let those who enmeshed in the bitter drawn out occupation of Iraq leave as their final legacy, a chance to make even a worse decisions. To call out the Muslims with the blood of their sons and daughters - to declare the Jihad.

The Western World does not believe it will happen or is even possible.

My sleep will be restless tonight as have been my dreams. Those of Bluebird, my friends, and myself. Of running, trying to find a place deep in the ground to hide, when the cloud rising like the fervent heat above Sodom - we all have been having these dreams.

War is not the solution. Hatred breeds hatred and violence, violence, but never peace.

Medclinciian

FluMom wrote: I do not blame Israel. Hamas just keeps sending mortars so what do they expect? Just think what the U.S. would do if Cuba kept sending mortars to Miami and Key West, killing people and destroying property? We would flatten Cuba! Be careful "Do Not Wake A Sleeping Giant" Hamas may have done just that... so go Israel.

It isn't Israel that is the sleeping giant. It is 1.2 billion Muslims. This storming into countries with tanks and guns is getting to be a habit with no payback except for the destruction of our economy. The Romans cheered for the lions in the Roman Collesium. It is an eerie place, I have been there, filled with ghosts, and by night hundreds of cats.

Some of my friends were at 9/11 pulling the bodies of babies out of the wreckage. The carnage in Palestine will soon make our 9/11 look like pale in comparison. For every Hama killed two innocent civilians are dying. The people didn't launch the missiles, the Hamas did, and you can blame them all you wish, innocent people are still dying.

Sigh

God grant me the serenity to change that which I can, accept what I cannot, and the wisdom to know the difference. Is it not interesting there are no terrorist tapes or Al Queda threats warning of dire consequences, could it be the reason they attack so boldly is because the whole terrorist threat was an illusion created to justify the actions of the last last eight years? Had there been a coordinative effective body of terrorists, why are they dead silent now.

Since 9/11 we see the blogs echo with threats of nuclear and bio warfare strikes, and now the streets echo with the cries of their dying people, all is strangely silent. Too silent.

History reveals all those who are close to their demise commit their biggest oppression before their fall.

Medclinician

Why.

The reality is indeed unthinkable, but not in the way so neatly portrayed by sound-bite media accounts of Palestinian children being shot by Israeli soldiers. Indeed, powerful and secret forces are at work in Palestinian nurseries, preschools, entertainment venues, classrooms and summer camps - forces that shape the current and future battles between Palestinians and Israelis, indeed, make them all but inevitable. However, up until recently, this amazing story has for the most part been hidden from Western eyes.

Palestinian children are taught to hate Jews, to glorify "jihad" (holy war), violence, death and child martyrdom almost from birth, as an essential part of their culture and destiny.

As captured on an Israeli video documentary produced in 1998, a "Sesame Street"-like children's program called the "Children's Club" -- complete with puppet shows, songs, Mickey Mouse and other characters -- focused on inculcating intense hatred of Jews and a passion for engaging in and celebrating violence against them in a perpetual "jihad" until the day the Israeli flags come down from above "Palestinian land" and the Palestinian flag is raised.

Palestinian children throwing rocks at an Israeli military vehicle.

In one song on the "Children's Club," very young children are shown singing songs about wanting to become "suicide warriors" and to take up "a machine gun" to direct "violence, anger, anger, anger" against Israelis.

During the show, which features children aged 4-10, one young boy sings, "When I wander into Jerusalem, I will become a suicide bomber." Afterward, other children stand to call for "Jihad! Holy war to the end against the Zionist enemy."

In another segment, a boy who appears to be no more than 8 or 9 years old chants: "My patience has run out. All Arab existence cries for revenge" against the Jews in Israel.

The documentary also juxtaposes the children's programming with television news reporting, in which the news anchor - reflecting the same message the children are receiving -describes Palestinians as "noble, courageous" fighters, while describing Israel as "mean, fascist, racist, genocidal" and "Nazis."

Other "highlights" of the "Children's Club":

• Groups of children are gathered together, shouting for "Jihad against Israel."

• One girl, who appears to be in a Palestinian school classroom, sings of donning "battledress" to "attack the Zionists."

• A small girl chants the now-familiar ditty, "When I wander into Jerusalem, I will become a suicide bomber."

• An adult narrator reads material in a Palestinian school pamphlet: "I have raised my children for jihad and on the principle that they never give up on their land."

• One segment depicts a small boy on the street chanting, "Revolution until victory."

• Another boy is shown in class proclaiming, "We will settle our claims with stones and bullets."

In Palestinian school classrooms, the message is the same.

"It's very scary - it's a state-run educational system that teaches its children to be martyrs," said Meyrav Wurmser, Ph.D., an expert in Middle East politics who taught at the U.S. Naval Academy and Johns Hopkins. Wurmser is the author of the recently published book, "Schools of Ba'athism," in which she makes a comprehensive survey and analysis of Syrian school textbooks. What she found is identical to what goes on with the Palestinians, she says.

"In the Palestinian case, what we see is the cynical use of children, who are exposed to a state-run ideology that pushes them to their death, in the name of Palestinian nationalism," she says. "Children are taught to idealize death, to view it as a positive. In many cases, they are told that death is not death at all, but rather the beginning of a new life."

Wurmser is currently the executive director of The Middle East Media & Research Institute, or MEMRI, and has published extensively on the Middle East and Arab and Israeli politics.

How can children be sold on dying in battle?

"The state threatens children if they're not willing to commit jihad," says Wurmser, "and tells them they will be punished by God if they do not commit jihad. If they do commit jihad, they and their families will be benefited by the state. [Their families] are promised major financial benefits if they kill themselves in suicide attacks against Israel."

To get over the fear, explained Wurmser, "they are told by their teachers that they're not going to die at all. There is definitely an element of denial they are exposed to."

This is not to say that some parents won't object to having their children converted to terrorists, says Wurmser, "but in the more religious families, there is no sense of sorrow. We see Palestinian mothers who have lost children - especially parents from very fundamentalist Muslim backgrounds -- who are not upset at all, but who say their sons have brought great honor to their families." This is typical, she says, of "radical national Arab regimes who have adopted the Islamic line."

This shocking assessment was bolstered in an Oct. 27 Jerusalem Post editorial, in which writer Gerald M. Steinberg provided details of statements made by Palestinians to reporters after their children had been killed in fighting.

"Interviewed by journalists after [recent] tragedies, some of the parents of these young victims refer to their children as shaheeds (martyrs), whose lives were given willingly and proudly to the Palestinian cause in fighting the hated Zionist enemy," Steinberg said.

Palestinian man teaching children how to fire M-16 automatic assault rifles.

"In an unbelievably shocking scene, one mother boasted that she bore her son precisely for this purpose, and the father proudly claimed credit for providing the training. The parents will also receive a sizeable financial 'reward' from the Palestinian Authority," he said.

"For a people who count Abraham (or Ibrahim) among their ancestors, this willful child sacrifice violates the fundamental tenets of morality and ethics," said Steinberg. "The message of Abraham's non-sacrifice of Isaac was, and remains first and foremost, the absolute rejection of such practices."

Middle East sources consulted by WorldNetDaily said the "Children's Club" is no longer being produced, but that other programs with similar messages and themes have taken its place.

Why will there be a Jihad? Because the Palestine are taught from the time they can listen to fight it.  The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world, and in Palestine the lullaby is Jihad.

Medclinician