Top Ten Reasons For Lifting the Blockade of Gaza

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10. 80% of the population is dependent on international aid
9.
61% of the population is food insecure
8.
Unemployment rate is around 39%, one of the highest in the world
7.
Power outages usually last 4-6 hours a day and often longer
6.
60% of Gaza’s population receives running water only once every 4 or 5 days, for 6-8 hours
5.
50 to 80 million liters of untreated or partially treated sewage are released into the sea every day
4.
About 90% of water supplied to Gaza residents is not suitable for drinking and is contaminated with salt and nitrates
3.
78% of homes with major damages from Operation Cast Lead have not been rebuilt

These are the key humanitarian indicators of Gaza as listed in a new report by a coalition of 22 development, human rights, and peace-building organizations. The report Dashed Hopes: Continuation of the Gaza Blockade (pdf) describes the lack of change in Gaza despite Israel’s pledge to ease the blockade. The report calls for the international community to renew action for an immediate, unconditional, and complete lifting of the blockade and comes shortly after Tony Blair, the international Mideast envoy, emphasized that Israel needs to ease the blockade after meeting with the Israeli prime minister:

There has been significant change in Gaza, but not nearly as much as we need

His words echo the September statement made by EU foreign policy Chief Catherine Ashton, who stated

Gaza remains a source of great concern for me … at the present time, we think that what’s happened with Gaza is unsatisfactory, the volume of goods is not increasing as significantly as it needs to.

While the international community has relaxed its pressure on Israel, little has been done to ease the restrictions for the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, half of whom are children. According to the report, Israel has not only neglected to ease the blockade but also failed to live up to various commitments it made.

Israel promised to expand and accelerate imports of construction-materials for UN and other international reconstruction projects. Israel has thus far only approved the import of materials for 25 UNRWA schools and clinics, for which only a fraction of the necessary materials has been allowed to enter Gaza. Furthermore, the approved plans represent only seven percent of UNRWA’s total reconstruction strategy. This fall 40,000 eligible children were unable to enroll in UN schools because materials were unavailable for building construction. Additionally, the UN estimates that rebuilding houses alone will require 670,000 truckloads of construction materials, a tough number to meet when an average of only 715 truckloads per month have entered the Gaza Strip since June.

The so-called ‘easing’ has had no impact on the current ban on exports. Two-thirds of industrial businesses in Gaza have closed and the remainders are operating at partial capacity due to the stagnant economy. Production in Gaza cannot compete with the influx of finished consumer goods entering the Strip and undercutting the local economy.

No Freedom of Movement

For the majority of people living in Gaza the freedom to travel, work, study, or visit family and friends outside the blockade has been continually denied. The exception to this is the increase in flows of businesspeople, who have been allowed to travel across the border. However, despite this improvement, the number of Palestinians in Gaza crossing into Israel remains below one percent of levels prior to the second intifada in 2000.

The Top Two Reasons

2. The blockade is collectively punishing the entire civilian population, and is thus illegal under international law
1.
You tell me (There is a comment section below, or just shoot me a tweet @ckoettl…)

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60 thoughts on “Top Ten Reasons For Lifting the Blockade of Gaza

  1. Thank you for calling attention to this continuing travesty. Although life in the West Bank is extremely difficult, Gazans suffer far more. All of this is subsidized by our American tax dollars. The boycott, divestment and sanction movement, begun in Europe and slowly joined by US citizens, is an important tool against Israel's illegal actions. Check out Friends of Sabeel North America's website, http://www.fosna.org for more information.

  2. Thank you for calling attention to this continuing travesty. Although life in the West Bank is extremely difficult, Gazans suffer far more. All of this is subsidized by our American tax dollars. The boycott, divestment and sanction movement, begun in Europe and slowly joined by US citizens, is an important tool against Israel's illegal actions. Check out Friends of Sabeel North America's website, http://www.fosna.org for more information.

  3. Thank you for calling attention to this continuing travesty. Although life in the West Bank is extremely difficult, Gazans suffer far more. All of this is subsidized by our American tax dollars. The boycott, divestment and sanction movement, begun in Europe and slowly joined by US citizens, is an important tool against Israel's illegal actions. Check out Friends of Sabeel North America's website, http://www.fosna.org for more information.

  4. Thank you for calling attention to this continuing travesty. Although life in the West Bank is extremely difficult, Gazans suffer far more. All of this is subsidized by our American tax dollars. The boycott, divestment and sanction movement, begun in Europe and slowly joined by US citizens, is an important tool against Israel’s illegal actions. Check out Friends of Sabeel North America’s website, http://www.fosna.org for more information.

  5. "After a freedom of information request by the Israeli human rights organisation Gisha, the Israeli government released documents saying the blockade was originally tightened as part of a policy of "deliberately reducing" basic goods for people in Gaza in order to put pressure on Hamas." So nothing to do with security at all – collective punishment pure and simple.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11868

  6. "After a freedom of information request by the Israeli human rights organisation Gisha, the Israeli government released documents saying the blockade was originally tightened as part of a policy of "deliberately reducing" basic goods for people in Gaza in order to put pressure on Hamas." So nothing to do with security at all – collective punishment pure and simple.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11868

  7. "After a freedom of information request by the Israeli human rights organisation Gisha, the Israeli government released documents saying the blockade was originally tightened as part of a policy of "deliberately reducing" basic goods for people in Gaza in order to put pressure on Hamas." So nothing to do with security at all – collective punishment pure and simple.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11868

  8. In November 2006, Father Manuel, the parish priest at the Latin Church and school in Gaza warned the world:

    "Gaza cannot sleep! The people are suffering unbelievably. They are hungry, thirsty, have no electricity or clean water. They are suffering constant bombardments and sonic booms from low flying aircraft. They need food: bread and water. Children and babies are hungry…people have no money to buy food. The price of food has doubled and tripled due to the situation. We cannot drink water from the ground here as it is salty and not hygienic. People must buy water to drink. They have no income, no opportunities to get food and water from outside and no opportunities to secure money inside of Gaza. They have no hope.

    "Without electricity children are afraid. No light at night. No oil or candles…Thirsty children are crying, afraid and desperate…Many children have been violently thrown from their beds at night from the sonic booms. Many arms and legs have been broken. These planes fly low over Gaza and then reach the speed of sound. This shakes the ground and creates shock waves like an earthquake that causes people to be thrown from their bed. I, myself weigh 120 kilos and was almost thrown from my bed due to the shock wave produced by a low flying jet that made a sonic boom.

    "Gaza cannot sleep…the cries of hungry children, the sullen faces of broken men and women who are just sitting in their hungry emptiness with no light, no hope, no love. These actions are War Crimes!"

    http://wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_co

  9. In November 2006, Father Manuel, the parish priest at the Latin Church and school in Gaza warned the world:

    "Gaza cannot sleep! The people are suffering unbelievably. They are hungry, thirsty, have no electricity or clean water. They are suffering constant bombardments and sonic booms from low flying aircraft. They need food: bread and water. Children and babies are hungry…people have no money to buy food. The price of food has doubled and tripled due to the situation. We cannot drink water from the ground here as it is salty and not hygienic. People must buy water to drink. They have no income, no opportunities to get food and water from outside and no opportunities to secure money inside of Gaza. They have no hope.

    "Without electricity children are afraid. No light at night. No oil or candles…Thirsty children are crying, afraid and desperate…Many children have been violently thrown from their beds at night from the sonic booms. Many arms and legs have been broken. These planes fly low over Gaza and then reach the speed of sound. This shakes the ground and creates shock waves like an earthquake that causes people to be thrown from their bed. I, myself weigh 120 kilos and was almost thrown from my bed due to the shock wave produced by a low flying jet that made a sonic boom.

    "Gaza cannot sleep…the cries of hungry children, the sullen faces of broken men and women who are just sitting in their hungry emptiness with no light, no hope, no love. These actions are War Crimes!"

    http://wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_co

  10. In November 2006, Father Manuel, the parish priest at the Latin Church and school in Gaza warned the world:

    "Gaza cannot sleep! The people are suffering unbelievably. They are hungry, thirsty, have no electricity or clean water. They are suffering constant bombardments and sonic booms from low flying aircraft. They need food: bread and water. Children and babies are hungry…people have no money to buy food. The price of food has doubled and tripled due to the situation. We cannot drink water from the ground here as it is salty and not hygienic. People must buy water to drink. They have no income, no opportunities to get food and water from outside and no opportunities to secure money inside of Gaza. They have no hope.

    "Without electricity children are afraid. No light at night. No oil or candles…Thirsty children are crying, afraid and desperate…Many children have been violently thrown from their beds at night from the sonic booms. Many arms and legs have been broken. These planes fly low over Gaza and then reach the speed of sound. This shakes the ground and creates shock waves like an earthquake that causes people to be thrown from their bed. I, myself weigh 120 kilos and was almost thrown from my bed due to the shock wave produced by a low flying jet that made a sonic boom.

    "Gaza cannot sleep…the cries of hungry children, the sullen faces of broken men and women who are just sitting in their hungry emptiness with no light, no hope, no love. These actions are War Crimes!"

    http://wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_co

  11. Operation Cast Lead was enabled by US-supplied weapons and we the people of the US who pay taxes provide over $3 billion annually to Israel although Israel has consistently misused U.S. weapons in violation of America's Arms Export Control and Foreign Assistance Acts.

    America is the worlds largest arms supplier to Israel and under a Bush negotiated deal with Israel, we the people who pay taxes in America will also provide another $30 billion in military aid to Israel over the next decade.

    During the 22 days of Israeli assault on Gaza, "Washington provided F-16 fighter planes, Apache helicopters, tactical missiles, and a wide array of munitions, including white phosphorus and DIME. The weapons required for the Israeli assault was decided upon in June 2008, and the transfer of 1,000 bunker-buster GPS-guided Small Diameter Guided Bomb Units 39 (GBU-39) were approved by Congress in September. The GBU 39 bombs were delivered to Israel in November (prior to any claims of Hamas cease fire violation!) for use in the initial air raids on Gaza.

    In a 71-page report released March 25, 2009, by Human Rights Watch, Israel’s repeated firing of US-made white phosphorus shells over densely populated areas of Gaza was indiscriminate and is evidence of war crimes.

    "Rain of Fire: Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza," provides eye witness accounts of the devastating effects that white phosphorus munitions had on civilians and civilian property in Gaza.

    "Human Rights Watch researchers found spent shells, canister liners, and dozens of burnt felt wedges containing white phosphorus on city streets, apartment roofs, residential courtyards, and at a United Nations school in Gaza immediately after hostilities ended in January.

    "Militaries officially use white phosphorus to obscure their operations on the ground by creating thick smoke. It has also been used as an incendiary weapon, though such use constitutes a war crime.

    “In Gaza, the Israeli military didn’t just use white phosphorus in open areas as a screen for its troops," said Fred Abrahams, senior emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report. "It fired white phosphorus repeatedly over densely populated areas, even when its troops weren't in the area and safer smoke shells were available. As a result, civilians needlessly suffered and died." [Ibid]

    During the 22 days of attack on Gaza, the UN Security Council, Amnesty International, International Red Cross, and global voices of protest rose up and demanded a ceasefire, but both houses of Congress overwhelmingly endorsed resolutions to support a continuation of Israel’s so called "self defense."

    Eileen Fleming,
    Founder of WeAreWideAwake.org
    Staff Member of Salem-news.com
    A Feature Correspondent for Arabisto.com
    Producer "30 Minutes with Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu"
    Author of "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory" and BEYOND NUCLEAR: Mordechai Vanunu's FREEDOM of SPEECH Trial and My Life as a Muckraker: 2005-2010

  12. Palestinians in Gaza paid for their democratic elections in January 2006 -the majority voted for the "wrong" party, Hamas, which the US and Israel, describe as terrorist.

    In 2006, prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, reaffirmed Hamas's commitment to recognize the Jewish state, proposing only that Israel obey international law and respect the borders of 1967.

    Israel refuses, for it is aided and abetted by US collaboration/collusion/TAX DOLLARS which have erected a 30 foot high apartheid wall that denies Palestinians access to their resources, jobs, land, families, holy sites.

    A Palestinian Christian SABEEL connection wrote:

    The Need for a Wake up Call

    November 23, 2010

    Dear Friends:

    What is it going to take to shake the world awake? Again and again it is the same old story, and when I wrote much earlier that it is a waste of time, money and energy to keep sending those envoys to our region so as to ensure that the peace process does not fall apart, I was not exaggerating. You have all seen, watched and heard the intransigence of the Israeli Prime Minister.

    Not only did he refuse to extend the freeze on the Israeli settlements after the direct negotiations had restarted in Washington, he literally challenged the USA president by announcing the building of 1300 settler units as he was on his way to Washington to meet the Vice President, Mr. Biden and the Secretary of State, Mrs. Clinton . When he is met so warmly with smiles and hugs, no wonder he could not care less. Even the United Nations Secretary General received him with warm hospitality despite the fact that Israel continues to flout all United Nations resolutions.

    I was in Hawaii on November 11, 2004 when Yasser Arafat passed away, and I wrote my regular reflection for the Witness magazine from there at the time, “Arafat and the Mirage of Peace,” http://www.thewitness.org/article.php?id=253 After six years that article is just as relevant as it was then.

    What is amazing however is that the USA administration is now offering Israel so many incentives and guarantees for simply freezing the settlement building for three months so that the peace talks can be resumed. On the other hand the Palestinian Authority is blackmailed should it refuse to get engaged in those peace talks. So what happens after the three months are over. More bribery, more aid money and more planes? When does this charade come to an end? It never will because Israel creates a new distraction and deviation from the core issue every day. And today the headlines in the papers focus on the approval of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) of having a referendum regarding the Israeli withdrawal from Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, as if there are no UN resolutions regarding those territories, or no international law to set the record straight.

    Nothing can be said any more. Absolutely nothing!!! But there is plenty that can be done. And we are challenging you my dear friends, churches, human rights organizations and mostly, the United Nations and the USA administration to start talking and planning for sanctions so as to put an end to this brutal occupation. An occupation that has torn apart not only the Palestinian Territories into separate enclaves, but it has torn the people apart; with different identities in the different locations: Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza. Over and above the shameful conflict between Fateh and Hamas has become almost as hopeless as the Palestinian Israeli conflict itself. And only the occupation is benefiting from that internal conflict, and it is because of the occupation that the rift is there in the first place.

    But then nothing makes sense any more neither on the international or local affairs. Yesterday the US special envoy for North Korea said that Pyongyang’s claim of a new uranium enrichment facility is provocative and disappointing. Ironically on the other hand, we never heard one comment of disappointment from US envoys to the Middle about Israel not allowing its nuclear facilities to be inspected. That is over and above the fact that Israel has not signed the nonproliferation treaty.

    When Saddam Hussein did not abide by the United Nations resolution, Iraq, a once upon a time flourishing country, got destroyed completely physically and morally, and up to this day innocent people are paying the price. The democracy, which was promised to the Iraqis, turned into a devastating nightmare. And the most recent attacks on worshipers in their churches have become a great concern for all Christians in the Middle East. But neither Christians nor Muslims have been spared in that futile war, or the war in Afghanistan. And all that Mr. Bush could do about it now is sit and write his memoirs. History will one day reveal the whole sad truth. I am sure Mr. Obama is much wiser than to wage a war on Iran or to give the blessing to Israel to do so.

    Best wishes to all of you who are celebrating Thanksgiving over this coming week end, and I hope the day will come when all people can genuinely celebrate when justice and peace prevail. – Samia

  13. “After a freedom of information request by the Israeli human rights organisation Gisha, the Israeli government released documents saying the blockade was originally tightened as part of a policy of “deliberately reducing” basic goods for people in Gaza in order to put pressure on Hamas.” So nothing to do with security at all – collective punishment pure and simple.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11868589

  14. Palestinians in Gaza paid for their democratic elections in January 2006 -the majority voted for the "wrong" party, Hamas, which the US and Israel, describe as terrorist.

    In 2006, prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, reaffirmed Hamas's commitment to recognize the Jewish state, proposing only that Israel obey international law and respect the borders of 1967.

    Israel refuses, for it is aided and abetted by US collaboration/collusion/TAX DOLLARS which have erected a 30 foot high apartheid wall that denies Palestinians access to their resources, jobs, land, families, holy sites.

    A Palestinian Christian SABEEL connection wrote:

    The Need for a Wake up Call

    November 23, 2010

    Dear Friends:

    What is it going to take to shake the world awake? Again and again it is the same old story, and when I wrote much earlier that it is a waste of time, money and energy to keep sending those envoys to our region so as to ensure that the peace process does not fall apart, I was not exaggerating. You have all seen, watched and heard the intransigence of the Israeli Prime Minister.

    Not only did he refuse to extend the freeze on the Israeli settlements after the direct negotiations had restarted in Washington, he literally challenged the USA president by announcing the building of 1300 settler units as he was on his way to Washington to meet the Vice President, Mr. Biden and the Secretary of State, Mrs. Clinton . When he is met so warmly with smiles and hugs, no wonder he could not care less. Even the United Nations Secretary General received him with warm hospitality despite the fact that Israel continues to flout all United Nations resolutions.

    I was in Hawaii on November 11, 2004 when Yasser Arafat passed away, and I wrote my regular reflection for the Witness magazine from there at the time, “Arafat and the Mirage of Peace,” http://www.thewitness.org/article.php?id=253 After six years that article is just as relevant as it was then.

    What is amazing however is that the USA administration is now offering Israel so many incentives and guarantees for simply freezing the settlement building for three months so that the peace talks can be resumed. On the other hand the Palestinian Authority is blackmailed should it refuse to get engaged in those peace talks. So what happens after the three months are over. More bribery, more aid money and more planes? When does this charade come to an end? It never will because Israel creates a new distraction and deviation from the core issue every day. And today the headlines in the papers focus on the approval of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) of having a referendum regarding the Israeli withdrawal from Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, as if there are no UN resolutions regarding those territories, or no international law to set the record straight.

    Nothing can be said any more. Absolutely nothing!!! But there is plenty that can be done. And we are challenging you my dear friends, churches, human rights organizations and mostly, the United Nations and the USA administration to start talking and planning for sanctions so as to put an end to this brutal occupation. An occupation that has torn apart not only the Palestinian Territories into separate enclaves, but it has torn the people apart; with different identities in the different locations: Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza. Over and above the shameful conflict between Fateh and Hamas has become almost as hopeless as the Palestinian Israeli conflict itself. And only the occupation is benefiting from that internal conflict, and it is because of the occupation that the rift is there in the first place.

    But then nothing makes sense any more neither on the international or local affairs. Yesterday the US special envoy for North Korea said that Pyongyang’s claim of a new uranium enrichment facility is provocative and disappointing. Ironically on the other hand, we never heard one comment of disappointment from US envoys to the Middle about Israel not allowing its nuclear facilities to be inspected. That is over and above the fact that Israel has not signed the nonproliferation treaty.

    When Saddam Hussein did not abide by the United Nations resolution, Iraq, a once upon a time flourishing country, got destroyed completely physically and morally, and up to this day innocent people are paying the price. The democracy, which was promised to the Iraqis, turned into a devastating nightmare. And the most recent attacks on worshipers in their churches have become a great concern for all Christians in the Middle East. But neither Christians nor Muslims have been spared in that futile war, or the war in Afghanistan. And all that Mr. Bush could do about it now is sit and write his memoirs. History will one day reveal the whole sad truth. I am sure Mr. Obama is much wiser than to wage a war on Iran or to give the blessing to Israel to do so.

    Best wishes to all of you who are celebrating Thanksgiving over this coming week end, and I hope the day will come when all people can genuinely celebrate when justice and peace prevail. – Samia

  15. In November 2006, Father Manuel, the parish priest at the Latin Church and school in Gaza warned the world:

    “Gaza cannot sleep! The people are suffering unbelievably. They are hungry, thirsty, have no electricity or clean water. They are suffering constant bombardments and sonic booms from low flying aircraft. They need food: bread and water. Children and babies are hungry…people have no money to buy food. The price of food has doubled and tripled due to the situation. We cannot drink water from the ground here as it is salty and not hygienic. People must buy water to drink. They have no income, no opportunities to get food and water from outside and no opportunities to secure money inside of Gaza. They have no hope.

    “Without electricity children are afraid. No light at night. No oil or candles…Thirsty children are crying, afraid and desperate…Many children have been violently thrown from their beds at night from the sonic booms. Many arms and legs have been broken. These planes fly low over Gaza and then reach the speed of sound. This shakes the ground and creates shock waves like an earthquake that causes people to be thrown from their bed. I, myself weigh 120 kilos and was almost thrown from my bed due to the shock wave produced by a low flying jet that made a sonic boom.

    “Gaza cannot sleep…the cries of hungry children, the sullen faces of broken men and women who are just sitting in their hungry emptiness with no light, no hope, no love. These actions are War Crimes!”

    http://wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1903&Itemid=239

  16. Operation Cast Lead was enabled by US-supplied weapons and we the people of the US who pay taxes provide over $3 billion annually to Israel although Israel has consistently misused U.S. weapons in violation of America’s Arms Export Control and Foreign Assistance Acts.

    America is the worlds largest arms supplier to Israel and under a Bush negotiated deal with Israel, we the people who pay taxes in America will also provide another $30 billion in military aid to Israel over the next decade.

    During the 22 days of Israeli assault on Gaza, “Washington provided F-16 fighter planes, Apache helicopters, tactical missiles, and a wide array of munitions, including white phosphorus and DIME. The weapons required for the Israeli assault was decided upon in June 2008, and the transfer of 1,000 bunker-buster GPS-guided Small Diameter Guided Bomb Units 39 (GBU-39) were approved by Congress in September. The GBU 39 bombs were delivered to Israel in November (prior to any claims of Hamas cease fire violation!) for use in the initial air raids on Gaza.

    In a 71-page report released March 25, 2009, by Human Rights Watch, Israel’s repeated firing of US-made white phosphorus shells over densely populated areas of Gaza was indiscriminate and is evidence of war crimes.

    “Rain of Fire: Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza,” provides eye witness accounts of the devastating effects that white phosphorus munitions had on civilians and civilian property in Gaza.

    “Human Rights Watch researchers found spent shells, canister liners, and dozens of burnt felt wedges containing white phosphorus on city streets, apartment roofs, residential courtyards, and at a United Nations school in Gaza immediately after hostilities ended in January.

    “Militaries officially use white phosphorus to obscure their operations on the ground by creating thick smoke. It has also been used as an incendiary weapon, though such use constitutes a war crime.

    “In Gaza, the Israeli military didn’t just use white phosphorus in open areas as a screen for its troops,” said Fred Abrahams, senior emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report. “It fired white phosphorus repeatedly over densely populated areas, even when its troops weren’t in the area and safer smoke shells were available. As a result, civilians needlessly suffered and died.” [Ibid]

    During the 22 days of attack on Gaza, the UN Security Council, Amnesty International, International Red Cross, and global voices of protest rose up and demanded a ceasefire, but both houses of Congress overwhelmingly endorsed resolutions to support a continuation of Israel’s so called “self defense.”

    Eileen Fleming,
    Founder of WeAreWideAwake.org
    Staff Member of Salem-news.com
    A Feature Correspondent for Arabisto.com
    Producer “30 Minutes with Vanunu” and “13 Minutes with Vanunu”
    Author of “Keep Hope Alive” and “Memoirs of a Nice Irish American ‘Girl’s’ Life in Occupied Territory” and BEYOND NUCLEAR: Mordechai Vanunu’s FREEDOM of SPEECH Trial and My Life as a Muckraker: 2005-2010

  17. As far as Gaza dumping 50 to 80 million litres of untreated sewage into the sea each day, this is a disgusting practice and Israel should definitely do more to help them, if for no other reason than Israel shares the nearby Mediterranean coast with Gaza.

    But this is an extremely common practice around the world, practiced by most of the richest counties in the world, including for example most European countries that also border the Mediterranean.

    For just one example, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, with a population of less than 10% that of Gaza, 100,000 people, discharges 129 million liters of untreated sewage into the ocean every day, as opposed to Gaza's 1.5 million people who only discharge a measly 50-80 million liters into the sea.

    Question :

    So if this dumping of untreated raw sewage into the sea is being done by Victoria, BC. the capital city of the richest province of the richest country in the world, what the heck do you honestly think the 1 billion poor of Africa, who live in far worse poverty that Gaza or the 1 billion poor on the Indian sub-continent are doing with all their ka-ka ?

    Answer :

    According to recent studies, more than 600 million people just in India alone do not even have any toilets of any kind, not even outhouses, and just use fields and open ditches. You can watch the movie Slumdog Millionaire which accurately and graphically shows the kind of sickening outhouses many hundreds of millions in India would consider themselves lucky to be able to use.

    Of the tiny fraction of the ka-ka that does make it into the sanitation system at all, almost all is going straight into the sea untreated, not just from Gaza but world wide. The fact is that billions of humans world wide are killing our oceans by using them as a toilet.

    This is a huge human rights issue world wide, access to decent sanitation, and the destruction of our oceans is another huge issue, and the suggestion that Gaza alone suffers from this, or that Gaza is even unusually bad off compared to most of the 3rd world in regard to sanitation is just ridiculous.

  18. Palestinians in Gaza paid for their democratic elections in January 2006 -the majority voted for the “wrong” party, Hamas, which the US and Israel, describe as terrorist.

    In 2006, prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, reaffirmed Hamas’s commitment to recognize the Jewish state, proposing only that Israel obey international law and respect the borders of 1967.

    Israel refuses, for it is aided and abetted by US collaboration/collusion/TAX DOLLARS which have erected a 30 foot high apartheid wall that denies Palestinians access to their resources, jobs, land, families, holy sites.

    A Palestinian Christian SABEEL connection wrote:

    The Need for a Wake up Call

    November 23, 2010

    Dear Friends:

    What is it going to take to shake the world awake? Again and again it is the same old story, and when I wrote much earlier that it is a waste of time, money and energy to keep sending those envoys to our region so as to ensure that the peace process does not fall apart, I was not exaggerating. You have all seen, watched and heard the intransigence of the Israeli Prime Minister.

    Not only did he refuse to extend the freeze on the Israeli settlements after the direct negotiations had restarted in Washington, he literally challenged the USA president by announcing the building of 1300 settler units as he was on his way to Washington to meet the Vice President, Mr. Biden and the Secretary of State, Mrs. Clinton . When he is met so warmly with smiles and hugs, no wonder he could not care less. Even the United Nations Secretary General received him with warm hospitality despite the fact that Israel continues to flout all United Nations resolutions.

    I was in Hawaii on November 11, 2004 when Yasser Arafat passed away, and I wrote my regular reflection for the Witness magazine from there at the time, “Arafat and the Mirage of Peace,” http://www.thewitness.org/article.php?id=253 After six years that article is just as relevant as it was then.

    What is amazing however is that the USA administration is now offering Israel so many incentives and guarantees for simply freezing the settlement building for three months so that the peace talks can be resumed. On the other hand the Palestinian Authority is blackmailed should it refuse to get engaged in those peace talks. So what happens after the three months are over. More bribery, more aid money and more planes? When does this charade come to an end? It never will because Israel creates a new distraction and deviation from the core issue every day. And today the headlines in the papers focus on the approval of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) of having a referendum regarding the Israeli withdrawal from Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, as if there are no UN resolutions regarding those territories, or no international law to set the record straight.

    Nothing can be said any more. Absolutely nothing!!! But there is plenty that can be done. And we are challenging you my dear friends, churches, human rights organizations and mostly, the United Nations and the USA administration to start talking and planning for sanctions so as to put an end to this brutal occupation. An occupation that has torn apart not only the Palestinian Territories into separate enclaves, but it has torn the people apart; with different identities in the different locations: Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza. Over and above the shameful conflict between Fateh and Hamas has become almost as hopeless as the Palestinian Israeli conflict itself. And only the occupation is benefiting from that internal conflict, and it is because of the occupation that the rift is there in the first place.

    But then nothing makes sense any more neither on the international or local affairs. Yesterday the US special envoy for North Korea said that Pyongyang’s claim of a new uranium enrichment facility is provocative and disappointing. Ironically on the other hand, we never heard one comment of disappointment from US envoys to the Middle about Israel not allowing its nuclear facilities to be inspected. That is over and above the fact that Israel has not signed the nonproliferation treaty.

    When Saddam Hussein did not abide by the United Nations resolution, Iraq, a once upon a time flourishing country, got destroyed completely physically and morally, and up to this day innocent people are paying the price. The democracy, which was promised to the Iraqis, turned into a devastating nightmare. And the most recent attacks on worshipers in their churches have become a great concern for all Christians in the Middle East. But neither Christians nor Muslims have been spared in that futile war, or the war in Afghanistan. And all that Mr. Bush could do about it now is sit and write his memoirs. History will one day reveal the whole sad truth. I am sure Mr. Obama is much wiser than to wage a war on Iran or to give the blessing to Israel to do so.

    Best wishes to all of you who are celebrating Thanksgiving over this coming week end, and I hope the day will come when all people can genuinely celebrate when justice and peace prevail. – Samia

  19. this is my problem with Amnesty: when they campaign, they like to leave out important parts of the story.
    I want the blockade lifted. Not only is collective punishment the least creative and most illegal way to deal with hamas, not only are human rights of civilians, people Ive met, being violated, but also Israel is fast loosing the support of the international community. Israel doesnt want responsibility for Gaza -we have already exited gaza, now lets help the Palestinians form their own state, so that it is no longer our responsibility.
    Here's where the problem is. Hamas's goal is to destroy Israel. Its not just a paragraph in their charter, it has been proven by an endless amount of rockets that have shot out of Gaza every time Israel has eased the blockade. With our complicated and horrific joint history, I can understand why they hate us. However, this doesnt mean I do not believe that its necessary to protect Israeli civilians. No blockade = new weapons for Hamas = rockets landing on houses, kindergartens, schools every day. Its not fair to turn a blind eye when Israel is the one under attack.
    I want the blockade to be lifted. But I understand that Israel cannot afford the consequences of such a move. I spent a year working with a peace organisation in Israel, surrounded by people who campaigned for peace and justice, and have realised that this issue is more complicated than it seems. I believe that the only way to safely lift the blockade is by doing so with the help of a peacekeeping mission that is able to protect both sides from attack.

    Please watch these for a better perspective: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im4KE3nkGA0&fehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kroyMfkoRHA

    if the blockade is lifted, the kids in these clips will be driven back into their bomb shelters. Would Australia let her cities be bombed? would the US?
    I wish Amnesty were as good at finding real solutions as they are at pointing out obvious problems.
    Please help us find real solutions to this problem.

  20. As far as Gaza dumping 50 to 80 million litres of untreated sewage into the sea each day, this is a disgusting practice and Israel should definitely do more to help them, if for no other reason than Israel shares the nearby Mediterranean coast with Gaza.

    But this is an extremely common practice around the world, practiced by most of the richest counties in the world, including for example most European countries that also border the Mediterranean.

    For just one example, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, with a population of less than 10% that of Gaza, 100,000 people, discharges 129 million liters of untreated sewage into the ocean every day, as opposed to Gaza’s 1.5 million people who only discharge a measly 50-80 million liters into the sea.

    Question :

    So if this dumping of untreated raw sewage into the sea is being done by Victoria, BC. the capital city of the richest province of the richest country in the world, what the heck do you honestly think the 1 billion poor of Africa, who live in far worse poverty that Gaza or the 1 billion poor on the Indian sub-continent are doing with all their ka-ka ?

    Answer :

    According to recent studies, more than 600 million people just in India alone do not even have any toilets of any kind, not even outhouses, and just use fields and open ditches. You can watch the movie Slumdog Millionaire which accurately and graphically shows the kind of sickening outhouses many hundreds of millions in India would consider themselves lucky to be able to use.

    Of the tiny fraction of the ka-ka that does make it into the sanitation system at all, almost all is going straight into the sea untreated, not just from Gaza but world wide. The fact is that billions of humans world wide are killing our oceans by using them as a toilet.

    This is a huge human rights issue world wide, access to decent sanitation, and the destruction of our oceans is another huge issue, and the suggestion that Gaza alone suffers from this, or that Gaza is even unusually bad off compared to most of the 3rd world in regard to sanitation is just ridiculous.

  21. this is my problem with Amnesty: when they campaign, they like to leave out important parts of the story.
    I want the blockade lifted. Not only is collective punishment the least creative and most illegal way to deal with hamas, not only are human rights of civilians, people Ive met, being violated, but also Israel is fast loosing the support of the international community. Israel doesnt want responsibility for Gaza -we have already exited gaza, now lets help the Palestinians form their own state, so that it is no longer our responsibility.
    Here's where the problem is. Hamas's goal is to destroy Israel. Its not just a paragraph in their charter, it has been proven by an endless amount of rockets that have shot out of Gaza every time Israel has eased the blockade. With our complicated and horrific joint history, I can understand why they hate us. However, this doesnt mean I do not believe that its necessary to protect Israeli civilians. No blockade = new weapons for Hamas = rockets landing on houses, kindergartens, schools every day. Its not fair to turn a blind eye when Israel is the one under attack.
    I want the blockade to be lifted. But I understand that Israel cannot afford the consequences of such a move. I spent a year working with a peace organisation in Israel, surrounded by people who campaigned for peace and justice, and have realised that this issue is more complicated than it seems. I believe that the only way to safely lift the blockade is by doing so with the help of a peacekeeping mission that is able to protect both sides from attack.

    Please watch these for a better perspective: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im4KE3nkGA0&fehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kroyMfkoRHA

    if the blockade is lifted, the kids in these clips will be driven back into their bomb shelters. Would Australia let her cities be bombed? would the US?
    I wish Amnesty were as good at finding real solutions as they are at pointing out obvious problems.
    Please help us find real solutions to this problem.

  22. this is my problem with Amnesty: when they campaign, they like to leave out important parts of the story.
    I want the blockade lifted. Not only is collective punishment the least creative and most illegal way to deal with hamas, not only are human rights of civilians, people Ive met, being violated, but also Israel is fast loosing the support of the international community. Israel doesnt want responsibility for Gaza -we have already exited gaza, now lets help the Palestinians form their own state, so that it is no longer our responsibility.
    Here's where the problem is. Hamas's goal is to destroy Israel. Its not just a paragraph in their charter, it has been proven by an endless amount of rockets that have shot out of Gaza every time Israel has eased the blockade. With our complicated and horrific joint history, I can understand why they hate us. However, this doesnt mean I do not believe that its necessary to protect Israeli civilians. No blockade = new weapons for Hamas = rockets landing on houses, kindergartens, schools every day. Its not fair to turn a blind eye when Israel is the one under attack.
    I want the blockade to be lifted. But I understand that Israel cannot afford the consequences of such a move. I spent a year working with a peace organisation in Israel, surrounded by people who campaigned for peace and justice, and have realised that this issue is more complicated than it seems. I believe that the only way to safely lift the blockade is by doing so with the help of a peacekeeping mission that is able to protect both sides from attack.

    Please watch these for a better perspective: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im4KE3nkGA0&fehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kroyMfkoRHA

    if the blockade is lifted, the kids in these clips will be driven back into their bomb shelters. Would Australia let her cities be bombed? would the US?
    I wish Amnesty were as good at finding real solutions as they are at pointing out obvious problems.
    Please help us find real solutions to this problem.

  23. this is my problem with Amnesty: when they campaign, they like to leave out important parts of the story.
    I want the blockade lifted. Not only is collective punishment the least creative and most illegal way to deal with hamas, not only are human rights of civilians, people Ive met, being violated, but also Israel is fast loosing the support of the international community. Israel doesnt want responsibility for Gaza -we have already exited gaza, now lets help the Palestinians form their own state, so that it is no longer our responsibility.
    Here’s where the problem is. Hamas’s goal is to destroy Israel. Its not just a paragraph in their charter, it has been proven by an endless amount of rockets that have shot out of Gaza every time Israel has eased the blockade. With our complicated and horrific joint history, I can understand why they hate us. However, this doesnt mean I do not believe that its necessary to protect Israeli civilians. No blockade = new weapons for Hamas = rockets landing on houses, kindergartens, schools every day. Its not fair to turn a blind eye when Israel is the one under attack.
    I want the blockade to be lifted. But I understand that Israel cannot afford the consequences of such a move. I spent a year working with a peace organisation in Israel, surrounded by people who campaigned for peace and justice, and have realised that this issue is more complicated than it seems. I believe that the only way to safely lift the blockade is by doing so with the help of a peacekeeping mission that is able to protect both sides from attack.

    Please watch these for a better perspective:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im4KE3nkGA0&feature=related
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kroyMfkoRHA

    if the blockade is lifted, the kids in these clips will be driven back into their bomb shelters. Would Australia let her cities be bombed? would the US?
    I wish Amnesty were as good at finding real solutions as they are at pointing out obvious problems.
    Please help us find real solutions to this problem.

  24. No improvement Amnesty ? Really ?
    What do you call this?
    http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=3

    Construction begins on Gaza wastewater treatment plant
    Published Thursday 25/11/2010

    GAZA CITY (Ma'an) — The first concrete was poured Thursday morning in the Western-funded construction of a new wastewater treatment plant in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip.

    French Consul General Frederic Desagneaux participated in the ceremony along with representatives of the other donors, which include the World Bank, the European Union, Belgium, and Sweden.

    According to the French Consulate in Jerusalem, the project was planed in two stages. The first one,!*!*!*! COMPLETED IN SUMMER 2010 *!*!*!, consisted in the construction of a pumping station to transfer the sewage to 9 infiltration basins in order to prevent human, environmental and health risks.

    The second stage of the project, scheduled for a duration of three years, aims at building a new biological treatment plant with a capacity of 35,600 cubic meters a day in order to meet the needs of the entire population of the North of Gaza, estimated at 250,000 inhabitants, and to protect groundwater.

  25. Question for Christoph Koettl.

    Why do you shame the good name of Amnesty with your easily disprovable anti-Israeli propaganda post which can so easily be shown with verified evidence to be nothing but a big pack of lies?

    You wrote above:
    "an average of only 715 truckloads per month have entered the Gaza Strip since June." ?????????

    You accidentally on purpose mixed up the word "month" instead of week ?
    You are so busted on this.
    http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=3

    "Between 7-20 November, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported, a !!!!!! WEEKLY !!!!! average of 780 truckloads of goods entered Gaza, a number reports said was "well below the weekly average entering since the Israeli announcement to ease the blockade on 20 June 2010."

  26. No improvement Amnesty ? Really ?
    What do you call this?
    http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=3

    Construction begins on Gaza wastewater treatment plant
    Published Thursday 25/11/2010

    GAZA CITY (Ma'an) — The first concrete was poured Thursday morning in the Western-funded construction of a new wastewater treatment plant in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip.

    French Consul General Frederic Desagneaux participated in the ceremony along with representatives of the other donors, which include the World Bank, the European Union, Belgium, and Sweden.

    According to the French Consulate in Jerusalem, the project was planed in two stages. The first one,!*!*!*! COMPLETED IN SUMMER 2010 *!*!*!, consisted in the construction of a pumping station to transfer the sewage to 9 infiltration basins in order to prevent human, environmental and health risks.

    The second stage of the project, scheduled for a duration of three years, aims at building a new biological treatment plant with a capacity of 35,600 cubic meters a day in order to meet the needs of the entire population of the North of Gaza, estimated at 250,000 inhabitants, and to protect groundwater.

  27. No improvement Amnesty ? Really ?
    What do you call this?
    http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=3

    Construction begins on Gaza wastewater treatment plant
    Published Thursday 25/11/2010

    GAZA CITY (Ma'an) — The first concrete was poured Thursday morning in the Western-funded construction of a new wastewater treatment plant in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip.

    French Consul General Frederic Desagneaux participated in the ceremony along with representatives of the other donors, which include the World Bank, the European Union, Belgium, and Sweden.

    According to the French Consulate in Jerusalem, the project was planed in two stages. The first one,!*!*!*! COMPLETED IN SUMMER 2010 *!*!*!, consisted in the construction of a pumping station to transfer the sewage to 9 infiltration basins in order to prevent human, environmental and health risks.

    The second stage of the project, scheduled for a duration of three years, aims at building a new biological treatment plant with a capacity of 35,600 cubic meters a day in order to meet the needs of the entire population of the North of Gaza, estimated at 250,000 inhabitants, and to protect groundwater.

  28. Question for Christoph Koettl.

    Why do you shame the good name of Amnesty with your easily disprovable anti-Israeli propaganda post which can so easily be shown with verified evidence to be nothing but a big pack of lies?

    You wrote above:
    "an average of only 715 truckloads per month have entered the Gaza Strip since June." ?????????

    You accidentally on purpose mixed up the word "month" instead of week ?
    You are so busted on this.
    http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=3

    "Between 7-20 November, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported, a !!!!!! WEEKLY !!!!! average of 780 truckloads of goods entered Gaza, a number reports said was "well below the weekly average entering since the Israeli announcement to ease the blockade on 20 June 2010."

  29. No improvement Amnesty ? Really ?
    What do you call this?

    http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336054

    Construction begins on Gaza wastewater treatment plant
    Published Thursday 25/11/2010

    GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The first concrete was poured Thursday morning in the Western-funded construction of a new wastewater treatment plant in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip.

    French Consul General Frederic Desagneaux participated in the ceremony along with representatives of the other donors, which include the World Bank, the European Union, Belgium, and Sweden.

    According to the French Consulate in Jerusalem, the project was planed in two stages. The first one,!*!*!*! COMPLETED IN SUMMER 2010 *!*!*!, consisted in the construction of a pumping station to transfer the sewage to 9 infiltration basins in order to prevent human, environmental and health risks.

    The second stage of the project, scheduled for a duration of three years, aims at building a new biological treatment plant with a capacity of 35,600 cubic meters a day in order to meet the needs of the entire population of the North of Gaza, estimated at 250,000 inhabitants, and to protect groundwater.

  30. Question for Christoph Koettl.

    Why do you shame the good name of Amnesty with your easily disprovable anti-Israeli propaganda post which can so easily be shown with verified evidence to be nothing but a big pack of lies?

    You wrote above:
    “an average of only 715 truckloads per month have entered the Gaza Strip since June.” ?????????

    You accidentally on purpose mixed up the word “month” instead of week ?
    You are so busted on this.

    http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336138

    “Between 7-20 November, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported, a !!!!!! WEEKLY !!!!! average of 780 truckloads of goods entered Gaza, a number reports said was “well below the weekly average entering since the Israeli announcement to ease the blockade on 20 June 2010.”

  31. To the commenter above who wrote that Hamas's aim is to 'destroy Israel', citing the issue of rockets – this is false. The rockets are, well first of all they are completely ineffective so more of a symbol for self-defense than anything else. Second, Hamas has repeatedly stated that it would accept a two-state solution to the 1967 borders if a majority of the Palestinian people voted in favor of such an offer in a referendum. Let's get this straight: the Palestinians in Gaza are displaced persons whose homes and lands were stolen out from under them as they fled or were literally trucked out by the IDF from what is now called Israel. They languish in squalid refugee camps and they want to go home. Sderot – that's home. It's real name is Najd.

    Judo – there are few things more despicable than people who through verbal sorcery would do their utmost to distract people with what's up this sleeve so that they do not notice the concentration camp up the other. When it takes a whole slice of bread to feed a child it is loathsome to argue that oh! they get far more than a quarter of a slice of bread – they get a whole half! Israel the beneficent!

    And are you entirely convinced that oppressing a million and a half people on the one hand with the deliberate policy of placing them 'on a diet', and occupying and oppressing two and a half million people on the other, is really in the long-term security interests of Israel?

  32. Diane,

    please read hamas's charter before you disagree. and while youre at it take a look at som youtube videos of how hamas its treating its own people. Using kids as human shields, using civilian houses to launch rockets out of (because they know Israel will think twice before attacking them there in case the family to which the house belongs is locked in a room inside)..if they cared about their people half as much as they care about continuing bloodshead they would have stopped the rockets so that Israel will agree to lift the bockade. please dont make them out to be the innocent vicitim.

    Najd wasnt replaced by Sderot. If you look on any map it was of where Sderot is.

  33. To the commenter above who wrote that Hamas’s aim is to ‘destroy Israel’, citing the issue of rockets – this is false. The rockets are, well first of all they are completely ineffective so more of a symbol for self-defense than anything else. Second, Hamas has repeatedly stated that it would accept a two-state solution to the 1967 borders if a majority of the Palestinian people voted in favor of such an offer in a referendum. Let’s get this straight: the Palestinians in Gaza are displaced persons whose homes and lands were stolen out from under them as they fled or were literally trucked out by the IDF from what is now called Israel. They languish in squalid refugee camps and they want to go home. Sderot – that’s home. It’s real name is Najd.

    Judo – there are few things more despicable than people who through verbal sorcery would do their utmost to distract people with what’s up this sleeve so that they do not notice the concentration camp up the other. When it takes a whole slice of bread to feed a child it is loathsome to argue that oh! they get far more than a quarter of a slice of bread – they get a whole half! Israel the beneficent!

    And are you entirely convinced that oppressing a million and a half people on the one hand with the deliberate policy of placing them ‘on a diet’, and occupying and oppressing two and a half million people on the other, is really in the long-term security interests of Israel?

  34. Diane,

    please read hamas’s charter before you disagree. and while youre at it take a look at som youtube videos of how hamas its treating its own people. Using kids as human shields, using civilian houses to launch rockets out of (because they know Israel will think twice before attacking them there in case the family to which the house belongs is locked in a room inside)..if they cared about their people half as much as they care about continuing bloodshead they would have stopped the rockets so that Israel will agree to lift the bockade. please dont make them out to be the innocent vicitim.

    Najd wasnt replaced by Sderot. If you look on any map it was of where Sderot is.

  35. @peace lobbyist – the vacinity of where Sderot stands today was Palestinian land where Najd was before it was entirely ethnically cleansed by Israel. Stick with the fact of the ethnic cleansing. Hamas is the democratically elected leadership of the Palestinians. Hamas has repeatedly made proposals for peace with Israel. Israel does not want peace. Israel wants Palestinian land – without Palestinians in it. Hamas was abiding by a ceasefire when Israel attacked killing over 1,400 Palestinian civilians, half of whom were children – late 2008. Israel is the aggressor.

  36. "peace lobbyist" says israel hesitates to fire if a family is inside a house !!

    Since when ??

    Why does the IDF then come to demolish houses at night, when the sleeping families barely have time to flee with their lives ?

    Hamas using kids as human shileds ??

    Since when have kids stopped israel from bombing refugee camps or Palestinian homes ?? …….. israel, that boasts of its "Dahiyeh Doctrine", after the quarter in Beirut which its bombers levelled ??

    As for Mr Judo, who says Gaza's sewage flowing into the sea is as bad as some other places ……. the point is Gaza's untreated sewage is DUE TO the blockade… that's Gaza's difference with other coasts, none of which are under a blockade !

    But now other commentators here are becoming alert to Mr Judo's use of red herrings to divert attention from the main issue !! … Diane McLoughlin puts it so well when she addresses Mr Judo about "verbal sorcery ………. to distract people with what's up this sleeve so they do not notice the concentration camp up the other."

    Diane , you have unmasked a Zionist's staple tactic here !

    As for Mr Judo's attempt to show israel as the compassionate thug easing his own blockade, i'd ask him who does israel think it is, first putting its thumbs on a people's throat, then shifting the pressure as it fancies ?? As Diane satirizes so scathingly, "israel the beneficent !" Indeed ! israel the hypocrite, today's PARIAH NATION !

  37. I do not understand how it is a "red herring" or a "distraction" to simply post a links to a well known pro-Palestinian newspaper quoting the United Nations Office of Humanitarian Affairs which directly proves that the original Christoph Koettl post above is full of anti Israeli lies and outright fabrications.

    Look, Amnesty portrays itself as a human rights investigative body, producing what it calls "reports" on human rights abuses around the world. These so-called “reports” on countries around the world contain what Amnesty calls "evidence". Correct ?

    So is it really to much to ask that Amnesty bloggers like Christoph Koettl stop publishing easily disprovable lies? Because when they do this, it calls into question the truth of not only what Amnesty says about Israel, but what Amnesty says about anywhere.

    One really has to stop and ask one's self if anything Amnesty says about anywhere in the world is to be believed given that Amnesty is clearly willing to publish such amazingly obvious distortions about Israel, lies that can be disproved with a a simple 1 minute Google search that turns up directly contrary evidence from Pro Palestinian Arab newspapers and the United Nations.

  38. Oops that last sentence in my last comment was meant to be:
    Najd wasnt replaced by Sderot. If you look on any map it was SOUTH of where Sderot is.

    Diane,

    a. you must understand, that i am as critical as an Israeli could be of her government. Im not saying that mistakes werent made or ignoring the fact that efforts to insure that Israel would be of jewish majority so as to promise that at least in 1 little place in the world jews would be protected from pogroms, final solutions and anti-semitism can be interpreted as ethnic cleansing. Its true, Israel is faced with terrible moral dilemmas – one of these is the dilemma of a jewsih majority, anther is that which arises every time Hammas uses civilians as human shields. you tell me what a government is meant to do when it is being attacked out of a heavily populated civilian area – not defend itself? not fight back?
    i wish i could say yes, avoid casualties at any cost. the truth is that neither I nor the Israeli govt know what to do in the face of such dilemmas and innocent people die because the one thing the israeli govt does know is that it must protect its citizens.
    b. Hammas was not abiding by a ceasefire in 08, whatever makes you think that?? Since the start of the truce, about 38 rockets and mortar shells were fired into israel -is this what you mean by ceasefire? i dont know where youre from but id like to see you support your government when it doesnt respond to hundreds of rockets fired at you. Not to mention the patience of the govt when it came to bringing home the kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit (he's still in Gaza being tortured by the way, because Israel doesnt want to risk killing more civilians in an operation to bring him home).
    c. Please dont tell me what Israel wants. i am the first to call the Israeli govt on all its many mistakes, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that peace is first on israel's wishlist. We have gone to extraordinary lengths to bring peace. Rabin, the peacemaker continued to fight for peace despite assasination threats, and eventually lost his life standing up to those few Israelis who rejeted the idea of peace. The economy, education, international relations – everything will blossom when the army can finally afford to stop spending the country's budget on defense.
    please understand, Israel wants peace more than anything, but is afraid to make sarifices that will leave it vulnerable to the arab world. Its also fair t say that while Abbas is a wonderfu partner, one whom I personally trust, its almost impossible to negotiate with a group like Hammas. Please, please read their charter.
    d. You may say that Israel is the aggressor, and I can say that Israel has spent the past 52 years defending itself from its many Arab aggressive neighbors, who have all cooperated, at some point or another, in a plot to erase Israel. And we can agree to disagree, because you see the current situation and i see the big picture that involves bigger powers than Hammas and Netanyahu.

    I am depressed arguing with you, this is not a matter of who is right or wrong, this is a matter of understanding the full story, and then coming up with solutions. Let me know if you have a solution – i will pass it on to my friends in the Israeli knesset.

  39. @peace lobbyist

    Where do I get my information about the cessation of rocketfire from Hamas when it abided by the ceasefire that Israel betrayed? Start with pgs. 5 and 6, here: http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia

    You sound like essentially a good person, whose head unfortunately has been stuffed with propagandistic lies. The hard work for you is finding out if what I am telling you is true.

    Israel doesn't want peace. You say Israel is afraid of the sacrifices it will need to make because they will 'leave it vulnerable'? Peace is never made by cowards. I will grant you that. Peace is made with enemies. Hamas has repeatedly offered to deal on the '67 borders – an extremely generous offer. Settlements make such an offer moot unless they are dismantled. Apartheid or democracy for all – those are the options.

  40. @peace lobbyist

    Where do I get my information about the cessation of rocketfire from Hamas when it abided by the ceasefire that Israel betrayed? Start with pgs. 5 and 6, here: http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia

    You sound like essentially a good person, whose head unfortunately has been stuffed with propagandistic lies. The hard work for you is finding out if what I am telling you is true.

    Israel doesn't want peace. You say Israel is afraid of the sacrifices it will need to make because they will 'leave it vulnerable'? Peace is never made by cowards. I will grant you that. Peace is made with enemies. Hamas has repeatedly offered to deal on the '67 borders – an extremely generous offer. Settlements make such an offer moot unless they are dismantled. Apartheid or democracy for all – those are the options.

  41. @peace lobbyist

    Where do I get my information about the cessation of rocketfire from Hamas when it abided by the ceasefire that Israel betrayed? Start with pgs. 5 and 6, here: http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia

    You sound like essentially a good person, whose head unfortunately has been stuffed with propagandistic lies. The hard work for you is finding out if what I am telling you is true.

    Israel doesn't want peace. You say Israel is afraid of the sacrifices it will need to make because they will 'leave it vulnerable'? Peace is never made by cowards. I will grant you that. Peace is made with enemies. Hamas has repeatedly offered to deal on the '67 borders – an extremely generous offer. Settlements make such an offer moot unless they are dismantled. Apartheid or democracy for all – those are the options.

  42. @peace lobbyist – the vacinity of where Sderot stands today was Palestinian land where Najd was before it was entirely ethnically cleansed by Israel. Stick with the fact of the ethnic cleansing. Hamas is the democratically elected leadership of the Palestinians. Hamas has repeatedly made proposals for peace with Israel. Israel does not want peace. Israel wants Palestinian land – without Palestinians in it. Hamas was abiding by a ceasefire when Israel attacked killing over 1,400 Palestinian civilians, half of whom were children – late 2008. Israel is the aggressor.

  43. “peace lobbyist” says israel hesitates to fire if a family is inside a house !!

    Since when ??

    Why does the IDF then come to demolish houses at night, when the sleeping families barely have time to flee with their lives ?

    Hamas using kids as human shileds ??

    Since when have kids stopped israel from bombing refugee camps or Palestinian homes ?? …….. israel, that boasts of its “Dahiyeh Doctrine”, after the quarter in Beirut which its bombers levelled ??

    As for Mr Judo, who says Gaza’s sewage flowing into the sea is as bad as some other places ……. the point is Gaza’s untreated sewage is DUE TO the blockade… that’s Gaza’s difference with other coasts, none of which are under a blockade !

    But now other commentators here are becoming alert to Mr Judo’s use of red herrings to divert attention from the main issue !! … Diane McLoughlin puts it so well when she addresses Mr Judo about “verbal sorcery ………. to distract people with what’s up this sleeve so they do not notice the concentration camp up the other.”

    Diane , you have unmasked a Zionist’s staple tactic here !

    As for Mr Judo’s attempt to show israel as the compassionate thug easing his own blockade, i’d ask him who does israel think it is, first putting its thumbs on a people’s throat, then shifting the pressure as it fancies ?? As Diane satirizes so scathingly, “israel the beneficent !” Indeed ! israel the hypocrite, today’s PARIAH NATION !

  44. I do not understand how it is a “red herring” or a “distraction” to simply post a links to a well known pro-Palestinian newspaper quoting the United Nations Office of Humanitarian Affairs which directly proves that the original Christoph Koettl post above is full of anti Israeli lies and outright fabrications.

    Look, Amnesty portrays itself as a human rights investigative body, producing what it calls “reports” on human rights abuses around the world. These so-called “reports” on countries around the world contain what Amnesty calls “evidence”. Correct ?

    So is it really to much to ask that Amnesty bloggers like Christoph Koettl stop publishing easily disprovable lies? Because when they do this, it calls into question the truth of not only what Amnesty says about Israel, but what Amnesty says about anywhere.

    One really has to stop and ask one’s self if anything Amnesty says about anywhere in the world is to be believed given that Amnesty is clearly willing to publish such amazingly obvious distortions about Israel, lies that can be disproved with a a simple 1 minute Google search that turns up directly contrary evidence from Pro Palestinian Arab newspapers and the United Nations.

  45. Oops that last sentence in my last comment was meant to be:
    Najd wasnt replaced by Sderot. If you look on any map it was SOUTH of where Sderot is.

    Diane,

    a. you must understand, that i am as critical as an Israeli could be of her government. Im not saying that mistakes werent made or ignoring the fact that efforts to insure that Israel would be of jewish majority so as to promise that at least in 1 little place in the world jews would be protected from pogroms, final solutions and anti-semitism can be interpreted as ethnic cleansing. Its true, Israel is faced with terrible moral dilemmas – one of these is the dilemma of a jewsih majority, anther is that which arises every time Hammas uses civilians as human shields. you tell me what a government is meant to do when it is being attacked out of a heavily populated civilian area – not defend itself? not fight back?
    i wish i could say yes, avoid casualties at any cost. the truth is that neither I nor the Israeli govt know what to do in the face of such dilemmas and innocent people die because the one thing the israeli govt does know is that it must protect its citizens.
    b. Hammas was not abiding by a ceasefire in 08, whatever makes you think that?? Since the start of the truce, about 38 rockets and mortar shells were fired into israel -is this what you mean by ceasefire? i dont know where youre from but id like to see you support your government when it doesnt respond to hundreds of rockets fired at you. Not to mention the patience of the govt when it came to bringing home the kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit (he’s still in Gaza being tortured by the way, because Israel doesnt want to risk killing more civilians in an operation to bring him home).
    c. Please dont tell me what Israel wants. i am the first to call the Israeli govt on all its many mistakes, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that peace is first on israel’s wishlist. We have gone to extraordinary lengths to bring peace. Rabin, the peacemaker continued to fight for peace despite assasination threats, and eventually lost his life standing up to those few Israelis who rejeted the idea of peace. The economy, education, international relations – everything will blossom when the army can finally afford to stop spending the country’s budget on defense.
    please understand, Israel wants peace more than anything, but is afraid to make sarifices that will leave it vulnerable to the arab world. Its also fair t say that while Abbas is a wonderfu partner, one whom I personally trust, its almost impossible to negotiate with a group like Hammas. Please, please read their charter.
    d. You may say that Israel is the aggressor, and I can say that Israel has spent the past 52 years defending itself from its many Arab aggressive neighbors, who have all cooperated, at some point or another, in a plot to erase Israel. And we can agree to disagree, because you see the current situation and i see the big picture that involves bigger powers than Hammas and Netanyahu.

    I am depressed arguing with you, this is not a matter of who is right or wrong, this is a matter of understanding the full story, and then coming up with solutions. Let me know if you have a solution – i will pass it on to my friends in the Israeli knesset.

  46. @peace lobbyist

    Where do I get my information about the cessation of rocketfire from Hamas when it abided by the ceasefire that Israel betrayed? Start with pgs. 5 and 6, here:
    http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/ipc_e007.pdf

    You sound like essentially a good person, whose head unfortunately has been stuffed with propagandistic lies. The hard work for you is finding out if what I am telling you is true.

    Israel doesn’t want peace. You say Israel is afraid of the sacrifices it will need to make because they will ‘leave it vulnerable’? Peace is never made by cowards. I will grant you that. Peace is made with enemies. Hamas has repeatedly offered to deal on the ’67 borders – an extremely generous offer. Settlements make such an offer moot unless they are dismantled. Apartheid or democracy for all – those are the options.

  47. Mr Judo's red herring , in this particular case, is his apparently "innocent" comparison of Gaza's sewage with that of every other polluted coast on earth ……. when we know the issue here, where sewage is concerned, is the issue of the untreated sewage as a result of the blockade.

    Mr Judo's tactic is always the same …….. divert attention away from the issue at hand, broaden the single target into multiple issues so people lose their focus…. & are then unable to act.

    He weighs oh so very scrupulously every little bit of stuff allowed into Gaza …… whereas, for me, for Amnesty International, & for the global movement for Gaza, the question is the very imprisonment of a million & a half souls into a narrow bone of land, & not the varying amounts of barest necessities the jailer allows in as proof of his own magnanimity.

    "peace lobbyiist" is less subtle .

    She openly wants Palestine to be a Jewish state.

    She shows HER magnanimity by finding Abbas the puppet to be her "trustworthy" Palestinian…

    …when we know Hamas is the only elected Palestinian party, the only party Palestinians find trustworthy, & the only disciplined & uncorrupted force that is willing & able to talk to israel & negotiate peace & to deliver, on their part, their end of a mutually accceptable peace settlement.

    But Zionism makes peace impossible ……for peace is the very thing Zionism doesn't want( though many israelis want it ) ……hence the refusal by israel to draw its own borders ….hence the state of apatheid under which Palestinians live …. hence the blockade …… hence the multiplying cancer of the settlements ……… hence the continuous theft of the land ……….

    Zionism is its & its own people's worst enemy, delivering itself & them unto a state of Permanent War.

    Zionism doesn't want normalization.

    Normalization would mean the Return of the Native.

    The only way to keep the Native away is blockade & war & endless & SWIFT colonisation of the land .

    "Quickly, settle as much as you can , so that hill & the next & the next one become part of an Occupation impossible to remove!"

    This exactly how the israeli planners talk, & think.

    Zionism digs its own grave.

    It depends for its life on a dying American Empire.

    It will die with it as well.

  48. & one more thing.

    "peace lobbyist" keeps begging us to please, please read the Hamas charter, to show us what horrible people they are.

    Please .

    Do you think we don't know how Hamas was nourished & fostered by israel from its birth as a force to pit against Fatah ?

    Do you think israel didn't read Hamas' messages or motivations when it lovingly encouraged & backed it ?

    The fact is, israeli intelligence is anything but intelligent.

    They used the religious Hamas to oppose the secular & left – leaning Fatah.

    They did their job well ……. all too well.

    Just like the US it despises as being so feeble minded & stupid, "over clever"israel empowers its own worst enemies.

    Today she think Abbas is "trustworthy"……. & sends consignments of guns to Fatah to battle Hamas.

    Tomorrow …… when Fatah turns its guns against israel …….. will we be asked to please, please read Fatah's charter as well ?

  49. Mr Judo’s red herring , in this particular case, is his apparently “innocent” comparison of Gaza’s sewage with that of every other polluted coast on earth ……. when we know the issue here, where sewage is concerned, is the issue of the untreated sewage as a result of the blockade.

    Mr Judo’s tactic is always the same …….. divert attention away from the issue at hand, broaden the single target into multiple issues so people lose their focus…. & are then unable to act.

    He weighs oh so very scrupulously every little bit of stuff allowed into Gaza …… whereas, for me, for Amnesty International, & for the global movement for Gaza, the question is the very imprisonment of a million & a half souls into a narrow bone of land, & not the varying amounts of barest necessities the jailer allows in as proof of his own magnanimity.

    “peace lobbyiist” is less subtle .

    She openly wants Palestine to be a Jewish state.

    She shows HER magnanimity by finding Abbas the puppet to be her “trustworthy” Palestinian…

    …when we know Hamas is the only elected Palestinian party, the only party Palestinians find trustworthy, & the only disciplined & uncorrupted force that is willing & able to talk to israel & negotiate peace & to deliver, on their part, their end of a mutually accceptable peace settlement.

    But Zionism makes peace impossible ……for peace is the very thing Zionism doesn’t want( though many israelis want it ) ……hence the refusal by israel to draw its own borders ….hence the state of apatheid under which Palestinians live …. hence the blockade …… hence the multiplying cancer of the settlements ……… hence the continuous theft of the land ……….

    Zionism is its & its own people’s worst enemy, delivering itself & them unto a state of Permanent War.

    Zionism doesn’t want normalization.

    Normalization would mean the Return of the Native.

    The only way to keep the Native away is blockade & war & endless & SWIFT colonisation of the land .

    “Quickly, settle as much as you can , so that hill & the next & the next one become part of an Occupation impossible to remove!”

    This exactly how the israeli planners talk, & think.

    Zionism digs its own grave.

    It depends for its life on a dying American Empire.

    It will die with it as well.

  50. & one more thing.

    “peace lobbyist” keeps begging us to please, please read the Hamas charter, to show us what horrible people they are.

    Please .

    Do you think we don’t know how Hamas was nourished & fostered by israel from its birth as a force to pit against Fatah ?

    Do you think israel didn’t read Hamas’ messages or motivations when it lovingly encouraged & backed it ?

    The fact is, israeli intelligence is anything but intelligent.

    They used the religious Hamas to oppose the secular & left – leaning Fatah.

    They did their job well ……. all too well.

    Just like the US it despises as being so feeble minded & stupid, “over clever”israel empowers its own worst enemies.

    Today she think Abbas is “trustworthy”……. & sends consignments of guns to Fatah to battle Hamas.

    Tomorrow …… when Fatah turns its guns against israel …….. will we be asked to please, please read Fatah’s charter as well ?

  51. Israel does wants peace, but a true and lasting peace, based on a now and forever end to the conflict between the two peoples, so that everyone's children and grandchildren will never fight wars against one another ever again. Two independent nations, Israel the Jewish nation's one and only homeland with full democracy and equal rights for all, and Palestine, which will become the 22nd state of the Arab Muslim nation, side by side, each country allowed to live its life in peace and quiet, no more blood, no more killing ever.

    That is Israel's and all other sane human beings on earth's shared vision of peace between Jews and Arabs.

    Hamas, on the other hand, is only willing to "reluctantly not object" to a Palestinian state on the ‘67 border with Jerusalem as its capital, only so long as this is not the basis for a final peace but is instead only a temporary first step towards Hamas's unchanged ultimate goal, to destroy all of Israel including Israel **inside** the 67 borders.

  52. Israel does wants peace, but a true and lasting peace, based on a now and forever end to the conflict between the two peoples, so that everyone’s children and grandchildren will never fight wars against one another ever again. Two independent nations, Israel the Jewish nation’s one and only homeland with full democracy and equal rights for all, and Palestine, which will become the 22nd state of the Arab Muslim nation, side by side, each country allowed to live its life in peace and quiet, no more blood, no more killing ever.

    That is Israel’s and all other sane human beings on earth’s shared vision of peace between Jews and Arabs.

    Hamas, on the other hand, is only willing to “reluctantly not object” to a Palestinian state on the ‘67 border with Jerusalem as its capital, only so long as this is not the basis for a final peace but is instead only a temporary first step towards Hamas’s unchanged ultimate goal, to destroy all of Israel including Israel **inside** the 67 borders.

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