Peace on Earth, or.......Israel strikes demolish Hamas compounds, kill 192

[kwame k]

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli warplanes retaliating for rocket fire from the Gaza Strip pounded dozens of security compounds across the Hamas-ruled territory in unprecedented waves of airstrikes Saturday, killing nearly 200 people and wounding 270 others in the single bloodiest day of fighting in years.

Most of those killed were security men, but civilians were also among the dead. Hamas said all of its security installations were hit and responded with several medium-range Grad rockets at Israel, reaching deeper than in the past. One Israeli was killed and at least four people were wounded in the rocket attacks. With so many wounded, the Palestinian death toll was likely to rise.

The air offensive followed weeks of intense Palestinian rocket and mortar fire on southern Israel, and Israeli leaders had issued increasingly tough warnings in recent days that they would not tolerate continued attacks.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel would expand the operation if necessary. "There is a time for calm and there is a time for fighting, and now is the time for fighting," he told a news conference. He would not comment when asked if a ground offensive was planned.

But asked earlier if Hamas political leaders might be targeted next, military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich said, "Any Hamas target is a target."

The strikes caused widespread panic and confusion in Gaza, as black clouds of smoke rose above the territory, ruled by Hamas for the past 18 months. Some of the Israeli missiles struck in densely populated areas as children were leaving school, and women rushed into the streets frantically looking for their children. Most of those killed were security men, but civilians were among the dead.

Said Masri sat in the middle of a Gaza City street, close to a security compound, alternately slapping his face and covering his head with dust from the bombed-out building.

"My son is gone, my son is gone," wailed Masri, 57. The shopkeeper said he sent his 9-year-old son out to purchase cigarettes minutes before the airstrikes began and now could not find him. "May I burn like the cigarettes, may Israel burn," Masri moaned.

In Gaza City's main security compound, bodies of more than a dozen uniformed security officers lay on the ground. One survivor raised his index finger in a show of Muslim faith, uttering a prayer. The Gaza police chief was among those killed. One man, his face bloodied, sat dazed on the ground as a fire raged nearby.

Later, some of the dead, rolled in blankets, were laid out on the floor of Gaza's main hospital for identification. Hamas police spokesman Ehad Ghussein said about 140 Hamas security forces were killed.

Israeli military officials said more than 100 tons of bombs were dropped on Gaza by mid-afternoon. They spoke on condition of anonymity under military guidelines.

Defiant Hamas leaders threatened revenge, including suicide attacks. Hamas "will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood," vowed spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.

Israel told its civilians near Gaza to take cover as militants began retaliating with rockets, and in the West Bank, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for restraint. Egypt summoned the Israeli ambassador to express condemnation and opened its border with Gaza to allow ambulances to drive out some of the wounded.

Israeli leaders approved military action against Gaza earlier in the week.

Past limited ground incursions and air strikes have not halted rocket barrages from Gaza. But with 200 mortars and rockets raining down on Israel since the truce expired a week ago, and 3,000 since the beginning of the year, according to the military's count, pressure had been mounting in Israel for the military to crush the gunmen.

Gaza militants fired 30 rockets and mortars Saturday after the air offensive began. A missile hit the town of Netivot, killing an Israeli man and wounding four people, rescue services said.

Dozens of stunned residents gathered around the house that took the deadly rocket hit. Many wept openly. The crowd broke up after an alert siren went off and sent the onlookers running.

Streets were nearly empty in Sderot, the Israeli border town that has been pummeled hardest by rockets. A few cars carried panicked residents leaving town. Dozens of people congregated on a hilltop to watch the Israeli aerial attacks.

Israel declared a state of emergency in Israeli communities within a 12-mile (20-kilometer) range of Gaza, putting the area on a war footing. A siren went off in Kiryat Gat, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the border, but early reports that the town was hit by a rocket for the first time were incorrect.

Barak, the Israeli defense minister, said the coming period "won't be easy" for southern Israel.

Protests against the campaign erupted in the Abbas-ruled West Bank and across the Arab world.

Several hundred angry Jordanians protested outside a U.N. complex in the capital Amman. "Hamas, go ahead. You are the cannon, we are the bullets," they cried, some waving the signature green Hamas banners.

In Ein Hilweh, a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, dozens of youths hit the streets and set fire to tires. In Syria's al-Yarmouk camp, outside Damascus, dozens of Palestinian protesters vowed to continue fighting Israel.

The first round of air strikes on Gaza came just before noon.

Hospitals crowded with people, civilians rushing in wounded people in cars, vans and ambulances. "We are treating people on the floor, in the corridors. We have no more space. We don't know who is here or who to treat first," said one doctor who hung up the phone before identifying himself at Shifa Hospital, Gaza's main treatment center.

Dr. Moawiya Hassanain, a Gaza Health Ministry official, said at least 192 people were killed and 270 wounded. Frantic civilians drove wounded people to hospitals in their cars.

In the West Bank, Hamas' rival, Abbas, said in a statement that he "condemns this aggression" and called for restraint, according to an aide, Nabil Abu Rdeneh. Abbas, who has ruled only the West Bank since the Islamic Hamas seized power in Gaza in June 2007, was in contact with Arab leaders, and his West Bank Cabinet convened an emergency session.

Israel has targeted Gaza in the past, but the number of simultaneous attacks was unprecedented.

Israel left Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year occupation, but the withdrawal did not lead to better relations with Palestinians in the territory as Israeli officials had hoped.

Instead, the evacuation was followed by a sharp rise in militant attacks on Israeli border communities that on several occasions provoked harsh Israeli military reprisals.

The last, in late February and early March, spurred both sides to agree to a truce that was to have lasted six months but began unraveling in early November.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081227/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

[FORD]

Here we go..... Likud neonazis manipulating the Israeli population into "fear and terra" mode so they'll vote for that fucking batshit insane warmongering piece of shit Netanyahu in their February election.

And if that happens, better get things right with JC, cause it's Armegeddon time.

[Redballjets88]

Here we go..... Likud neonazis manipulating the Israeli population into "fear and terra" mode so they'll vote for that fucking batshit insane warmongering piece of shit Netanyahu in their February election.

And if that happens, better get things right with JC, cause it's Armegeddon time.

The Israeli leadership may be war mongers, but how dumb does hamas have to be? Its like some guy off the street continually picking fights with a prize fighter.

[FORD]

Hamas is Israel's version of Al Qaeda.

Just as the BCE created Al Qaeda to keep the Commies tied up in Afghanistan in the 80's, The Israeli Mossad created Hamas at about the same time as a tool to undermine the PLO.

Funny how now both are considered "terrorist" groups at the time when its most convenient for right wing political movements in their respective countries to keep the populations in fear mode.

[Redballjets88]

Hamas is Israel's version of Al Qaeda.

Just as the BCE created Al Qaeda to keep the Commies tied up in Afghanistan in the 80's, The Israeli Mossad created Hamas at about the same time as a tool to undermine the PLO.

Funny how now both are considered "terrorist" groups at the time when its most convenient for right wing political movements in their respective countries to keep the populations in fear mode.

If you're somehow right about all of these conspiracies we'll see when Obama takes office and how he handles it when he gets all of the top secret stuff in his hands.

Rationally Israel could be using the rocket strikes as an excuse to wipe out Hamas and the PLO ideals for good, but at the same time, what else can they do to secure the safety of their people. No matter how many peace summits or treaties they have violence will continue and the whole of the middle east will be rooting for the downfall of the Israeli state.

Maybe if these other countries/areas focused on getting good leadership and taking what they have and making it better they would stop the hatred.

[Redballjets88]

bump. Seems like this is slightly more important than gifs of a shoe being thrown.

[sadaist]

On one side I can understand Israel. If someone keeps throwing rocks at you eventually you're gonna throw some back. It's not their fault their rocks are much bigger and more precise.

I don't think peace will ever reign over there...at least not in our lifetime. Neither side seems to realize that the only fair agreement or treaty are when both sides walk away feeling like they got screwed.

[jero]

Hamas deserves this. I hope Israel will finish the job asap

[VanHalener]

Fuck them up goooooood, boys and girls!

Wipe Hamas off the earth! Pound their bones to dust!

[DEMON CUNT]

Hamas deserves this. I hope Israel will finish the job asap

Please explain your understanding of "Hamas"?

Does this also include the children of Palestine?


Fuck them up goooooood, boys and girls!

Wipe Hamas off the earth! Pound their bones to dust!

Does your call for violence include the civilian population?

[VanHalener]

I am a very well trained killer of men, but the innocent never make it in my crosshairs.

No Demon, it's soldier against soldier in my book. The realities of conflict are harsh and the innocent often die along side the fighting force. Yes it sucks! The entire situation sucks, but what else can you do but fight when you are constantly pushed into it?

[DEMON CUNT]

I am a very well trained killer of men, but the innocent never make it in my crosshairs.

No Demon, it's soldier against soldier in my book. The realities of conflict are harsh and the innocent often die along side the fighting force. Yes it sucks! The entire situation sucks, but what else can you do but fight when you are constantly pushed into it?

So what is preventing Israel from invading and arresting the offending individuals? Why the air strikes in heavily populated areas?

Israels response to the rocket attacks seems to be rather excessive.

[Redballjets88]

So what is preventing Israel from invading and arresting the offending individuals? Why the air strikes in heavily populated areas?

Israels response to the rocket attacks seems to be rather excessive.

The entire area is heavily populated. Bombing is to destroy underground and reinforced areas that would be much more dangerous to put ground troops in.

If Egypt actually cared, like they claim in the UN, they would open their border to the civilians to escape the fighting.

[DEMON CUNT]

The entire area is heavily populated. Bombing is to destroy underground and reinforced areas that would be much more dangerous to put ground troops in.

If Egypt actually cared, like they claim in the UN, they would open their border to the civilians to escape the fighting.

I agree on the Egypt issue.

Aren't ground troops trained to deal with dangerous areas?

To me the rocket attacks are criminal acts that should be dealt with accordingly.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

I was there for several days in '98... I kept thinking to myself when I was there how it must be to live there, whether you're Israeli or Palestinian... It just seemed like it was a very tense atmosphere...

[knuckleboner]

bump. Seems like this is slightly more important than gifs of a shoe being thrown.

dude, fuck you!

you don't get to come here into the knuckleboner's forum and tell me which gifs are important!

;)



actually, you're right. though, unfortunately, i think the situation over there is rather like the animated gifs - continuously repeating.

there is clearly no easy solution, but i think the existing pattern of get-attacked-then-attack-back, has not exactly worked for either side. but until a decent consensus of each side's general population advocate for a new response, the results will tend to stay the same.

[VanHalener]

Here ya go....


Send wave after wave of crop dusters over both places gassing them all to sleep.

Thousands of us sneak in and have Van Halen throw it down hardcore for two nights. (I want front row)

We all sneak out, they wake up completely disarmed.

[sadaist]

Aren't ground troops trained to deal with dangerous areas?



Absolutely. However they are also trained when not to deal with them and call in air support.

[DEMON CUNT]

Absolutely. However they are also trained when not to deal with them and call in air support.

You're tellin' me! Areas with a high population of women and children can be treacherous.

Definitely time for some motherfuckin' air strikes, yo!

Eat phosphorous, bitches! America, fuck yeah!

[ODShowtime]

that would suck to get hit with white phosphorous

[Nickdfresh]

The IDF took out a school. Congratulations boys! Don't forget to obliterate the orphanages...

[DEMON CUNT]

"But... but...but... Israel has the right to defend itself against the children of Palestine!"

This is pure evil! Pure disgusting evil!

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[Andy Taylor]

Poor baby Israel with the only nuke arsenal in the middle east. Not like it would be covered in the US but the Guardian UK has reported how Israel broke the ceasefire with a raid on Hamas BEFORE they fired their rockets. This is standard in the mid-east conflicts if you would look beyond Faux news and CNeNemy.

No sane person doubts Israel's right to exist and neither does Ahmadinejad, Iranian president. This is distorted to no end in the media when what he really said was that Israel will one day meet its natural end, as in empires crumble.

[Andy Taylor]

Just another happy go lucky tale about Israel's legendary human rights awareness.


One journalist's story: from triumph to torture



2 Jul 2008

In an article for the Guardian, John Pilger describes presenting a top journalism award to a young Palestinian, Mohammed Omer, and how, on his return home to Gaza, he was seized by the Israelis, who demanded the prize money and tortured him.

Two weeks ago, I presented a young Palestinian, Mohammed Omer, with the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism. Awarded in memory of the great American war correspondent, the prize goes to journalists who expose establishment propaganda, or “official drivel”, as Martha called it. Mohammed shares the prize of £5,000 with the fine war reporter Dahr Jamail. At 24, Mohammed is the youngest ever winner. His citation reads: “Every day, he reports from a war zone, where he is also a prisoner. His homeland, Gaza, is surrounded, starved, attacked, forgotten. He is a profoundly humane witness to one of the great injustices of our time. He is the voice of the voiceless.” The eldest of eight children, Mohammed has seen most of his siblings killed or wounded or maimed. An Israeli bulldozer crushed his home while the family were inside, seriously injuring his mother. And yet, says a former Dutch ambassador, Jan Wijenberg, “he is a moderating voice, urging Palestinian youth not to court hatred but seek peace with Israel.”

Getting Mohammed to London to receive his prize was a major diplomatic operation. Israel has perfidious control over Gaza’s borders, and only with a Dutch embassy escort was he allowed out. Last Thursday, on his return journey, he was met at the Allenby Bridge crossing from Jordan by a Dutch official, who waited outside the Israeli building, unaware that Mohammed had been seized by Shin Bet, Israel’s infamous security organisation. Mohammed was told to turn off his cell phone and remove the battery. He asked if he could call his Dutch embassy escort and was told forcefully he could not. A man referred to as Avi stood over his luggage, picking through his documents. “Where’s the money?” he demanded. Mohammed produced some US dollars.

“Where’s is the English pound you have?”

“I realised,” said Mohammed, “he was after the award stipend for the Martha Gellhorn Prize. I told him I didn’t have it with me. ‘You are lying’, he said. I was now surrounded by eight Shin Bet officers, all armed. The man called Avi ordered me to take off my clothes. I had already been through an x-ray machine. I stripped down to my underwear and was told to take off everything. When I refused, Avi put his hand on his gun. I began to cry: ‘Why are you treating me this way? I am human being’. He said, ‘This is nothing compared with what you will see now’. He took his gun out, pressing it to my head and with his full body weight pinning me on my side, he forcibly removed my underwear. He then made me do a concocted sort of dance. Another man, who was laughing, said, ‘Why are you bringing perfumes?’ I replied, ‘They are gifts for the people I love’. He said, ‘Oh, do you have love in your culture?’

“As they ridiculed me, they took delight most in mocking letters I had received from readers in England. I had now been without food and water and the toilet for twelve hours, and having been made to stand, my legs buckled. I vomited and passed out. All I remember is one of them gouging, scraping and clawing with his nails at the tender flesh beneath my eyes. He scooped my head and dug his fingers in near the auditory nerves between my head and eardrum. The pain became sharper as he dug in two fingers at a time. Another man had his combat boot on my neck, pressing into the hard floor. I lay there for over an hour. The room became a menagerie of pain, sound and terror.”

An ambulance was called and told to take Mohammed to a hospital, but only after he had signed a statement indemnifying the Israelis from his suffering in their custody. The Palestinian medic refused, courageously, and said he would contact the Dutch embassy escort. Alarmed, the Israelis let the ambulance go. The Israeli line, as reported by Reuters, is familiar; it is that Mohammed was “suspected” of smuggling and “lost his balance” during a “fair” interrogation.

Israeli human rights groups have documented the routine torture of Palestinians by Shin Bet agents with “beatings, painful binding, back bending, body stretching and prolonged sleep deprivation”. Amnesty has long reported the widespread use of torture by Israel, whose victims emerge as mere shadows of their former selves. Some never return. Israel is high in an international league table for its intimidation and murder of journalists, especially Palestinian journalists who receive barely a fraction of the kind of coverage given to the hostage-taking of the BBC’s Alan Johnston.

The Dutch government says it is shocked by Mohammed Omer’s treatment. Former ambassador Jan Wijenberg said, “This is by no means an isolated incident, but part of a long term strategy to demolish Palestinian social, economic and cultural life... I am aware of the possibility that Mohammed Omer might be murdered by Israeli snipers or bomb attack in the near future.”

While Mohammed was receiving his prize in London, the new Israeli ambassador to Britain, Ron Proser, was publicly complaining that many Britons no longer appreciated the uniqueness of Israel’s democracy. Perhaps they do now.

[Nickdfresh]

Poor baby Israel with the only nuke arsenal in the middle east. Not like it would be covered in the US but the Guardian UK has reported how Israel broke the ceasefire with a raid on Hamas BEFORE they fired their rockets. This is standard in the mid-east conflicts if you would look beyond Faux news and CNeNemy.

No sane person doubts Israel's right to exist and neither does Ahmadinejad, Iranian president. This is distorted to no end in the media when what he really said was that Israel will one day meet its natural end, as in empires crumble.


Very true. The Israelis pushed and hurried this "operation" in order to obliterate Hamas (and any nearby civilians) before Obama takes office...

[Andy Taylor]

Yep. I was actually thinking they would be after Iran at this point. Who knows maybe they're trying to get Hamas out of the way so that they won't face violence at home when the Iran attack gets underway.

[Sgt Schultz]

The IDF took out a school. Congratulations boys! Don't forget to obliterate the orphanages...

Would this be the UN school that Hamas has been firing mortars from since 2007?

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[Sgt Schultz]

Bloomberg schools CNN ditz about "proportionality".

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[Andy Taylor]

Bullshit.

It's ok to be disproportional? Well then, the U.S funds terror groups in South America. Random S.American group detonates nuclear bombs in every major American city. Why not! They attack, they get a response.

This human shield business is really stupid. If Americans who love their gun rights were faced against an foreign army advancing on their streets, where would they meet them? From the neighbourhood where they live or would they fire their guns against tanks in open ground where they can be sure of their destruction? And can anyone explain where these civillians can run to living in a walled ghetto? What do resistance groups everywhere do? When a city is under occupation ... like Gaza and Palestine is, they are surrounded on all sides... they are indeed going to fight from within the city. Israel and their supporters want to make excuses for killing innocent people. But the truth is they don't even see those people as innocent. They routinely kill innocent people, including people like Rachel Corrie who was bulldozed to death and a British guy who was killed by a sniper. It's people like this who are sick for implying Palestinians are willing to boost their death count.

And once again, Israel broke the ceasefire, launching a raid at Hamas before they launched rockets. Stupid zionist media.

[Andy Taylor]

Here's a man who can say it better than anyone



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[DEMON CUNT]

Bloomberg schools CNN ditz about "proportionality".



Bloomberg schooled no one. His "one cop" scenario is ridiculous. He babbles on and on then can offer nothing by way of a real solution. And he's speaking with the Prime Minister later today? What the fuck for? Absolutely stupid.

Schlutz and his ilk are programmed to desire victory at any cost and to always, alway be of the opinion that Israel can do no wrong. Theirs is a simple world where everything is just a matter of good verses evil.

[Andy Taylor]

And he looks like your typical, straight, Euro-centric world, conservative.

[DEMON CUNT]

Would this be the UN school that Hamas has been firing mortars from since 2007?



What the fuck are you asking us for, powderpuff? You brought it, source it! Save your silly rhetorical questions for your next call into the Sean Hannity radio show.

[Baby's On Fire]

Here we go..... Likud neonazis manipulating the Israeli population into "fear and terra" mode so they'll vote for that fucking batshit insane warmongering piece of shit Netanyahu in their February election.

And if that happens, better get things right with JC, cause it's Armegeddon time.

I hope everyone of those lunatic religious assholes on both sides wipe each other off the face of the Earth. Once and for all. They're all guilty....they're all assholes....and they all have religion in common.

Fuck all of 'em.

[Nickdfresh]

Would this be the UN school that Hamas has been firing mortars from since 2007?

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Wow. A mortar round over two years ago justifies the slaughter of women and children? Firstly, I'd like any evidence on the type of "mortar" it was? Small mortars are infantry support weapons with typically short ranges. I doubt there are many that even could reach Israeli territory from that school - not too mention that the video was wholly inconclusive...

Secondly, even if there was a mortar, its a lovely exemplar of Israel's "disproportionate response." Israel is using heavy artillery, bombs, Hellfire missiles, and direct fire infantry weapons and AFVs in largely civil areas...

[Nickdfresh]

Bloomberg schools CNN ditz about "proportionality".

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When Bloomberg says "proportionality," does he mean a vigilante homeowner going into the house of a neighbor he thinks broke into his house, and summarily executing his family?

That's sort of what Israel is doing now...

[DEMON CUNT]

When Bloomberg says "proportionality," does he mean a vigilante homeowner going into the house of a neighbor he thinks broke into his house, and summarily executing his family?

That's sort of what Israel is doing now...

The Nick nails it again!