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I Rather Die: We have nothing left to lose
“We have nothing left to lose. I would rather die with my family under the rubble of our house than have a humiliating truce’: Palestinian youth demand justice”
Palestinian killed under the rubble of his home after an Israel missile targeted his home. “The sleep, that never ends.” reads a post in facebook
The death toll continues to rise in the East of Gaza as Palestinians retrieve their loved ones from the rubble. July 20, 2014 at Gaza, Palestine
Palestinians in Gaza have been suffering a long blockade from the outside world, such blockade, was placed by Israel and enforced in part by Egypt by closing Rafah crossing, which it is the only other border to the outside world.
Palestinians in Gaza see the siege to the Strip worse than a direct war at them, the siege of Gaza is a slow death. A truce with Israel that does not include end of the blockade is only temporary cease of fire.
Fishermen are harassed everyday by Israel boats that illegally patrol Gaza’s waters. Fisherman are confined to a 3 nautical miles to fish.
Excerpt from 3 Miles to Fish or Die,
“Why did you break the 3 mile limit?” an Israeli soldier asked him.
“During Oslo, we were allowed to reach 20 miles so why do you prevent us from going past 3 miles? These 3 miles not enough,” Al-Hesy responded.
Gaza is not a pleasant place to be. The Israeli occupation smothers and suffocates, it makes one highly attuned to one’s surroundings in unnatural ways, or ways that were once natural but should no longer be. Notes from behind the Blockade
Fire Water
I took a much-needed shower after a day of harvesting olives near the buffer zone and my skin still burns. My eyes itch as well. I’m not quite sure what this is about. Gaza’s water contamination is well-documented — Israel damaged the sewage facilities here during “Operation Cast Lead” causing sewage to penetrate Gaza’s coastal aquifer. There is a high level nitrates in the water here (nitrates come from waste and cause “blue baby syndrome”) as well as high saline levels (tap water is undrinkable), but I haven’t heard anything about this weird itching and burning. International Activist in Gaza
Reality of the Israel Blockade in Gaza Graphic
There’s a serious Israeli blockade of Gaza. You’ll notice Israeli fences, boundaries, and supervised crossings all around Gaza. Israel heavily controls the flow of goods through these channels, including food, medicine, construction materials, and the like. The state reason it does that is to limit Hamas’ ability to resupply itself militarily; for instance, Hamas and other militant groups often home-build rockets that get fired into Israeli towns and cities. These restrictions also severely affect civilians. To deal with the military and civilian effects of the blockade, Hamas built well over a thousand tunnels out of Gaza — mostly into Egypt. Israel’s stated reason for the ground incursion into Gaza is shutting down tunnels into Israel built for attacks, but it also may want to shut down Hamas supply tunnels into Egypt. Vox.com
Jerusalem Post published on last week an Egyptian proposed cease of fire that many in Gaza believes to be Israel crafted, such cease of fire agreement was rejected by Hamas for the simple reason that they were not invited to participate in the conversations and the cease of fire does not help to end the conflict in Gaza at all, it is simply temporary cease of fire.
Historically Israel has broke every cease of fire signed when continues with the target assassinations on Palestinian leaders in Gaza and around the world, the latest target assassinations during negotiated cease fire Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, on January 19, 2010 and Ahmed Jabari who Hours before to be assassinated, he have received the draft of a permanent truce agreement with Israel, which included mechanisms for maintaining the cease-fire in the case of a flare-up between Israel and the factions in the Gaza Strip.
Gaza ask 10 very easy achievable points to end the rockets to Israel:
End completely Gaza siege including the 3-fishing-nautical-miles, release of all political prisoners including the prisoners re-arrested after Shilat deal exchange, release the 500 or so arrested in West Bank after the 3 Israeli soldiers were killed, including Hamas members of Palestinian parliament , stop the assassination of Palestinian political leaders and and international supervision of the Gazan seaport in place of the current Israeli blockade, which was suggested by Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Attiyah, on July 14, 2014
I leave you to reflect on the words of Benjamin Netayahu included in a book he co_authored in 1986, in his words he explain exactly why Israeli actions against the Palestinians are carried out. He is doing exactly what he said in 1986.
Benjamin Netayahu best known by Bibi in 1986 co-authored a book called TERRORISM How The West Can Win. In the Chapter “Defining Terrorism”, you find the following statement.
“For in addition to random killing, terrorist often engage in assassinations of society’s leaders. Assassinations, in fact is important to the genesis of modern terrorism, emerging from an older tradition that maintains that a society can be reshaped, or a creed cleansed, by eliminating its leaders or ruling class. For the TERRORIST, assassination is the precursor of mass murder, and both constitute the principal weapons in his arsenal.” Benjamin Netayahu, 1986 in his book TERRORISM
Cease of fire crafted by Israel
Graphic published at ABC World News with Diana Sawyer facebook page
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This graphic was published by ABC World News showing the number of Palestinians killed vs Israeli killed in this unmistakeably unequal war. claimed that the number of casualties are because the “Collapse on a proposal cease of fire” that had broadly been blamed on Hamas. ABCWN failed to mentions that #Hamas was not invited to the cease of fire meetings. Pretty much like Oslo accord where Egypt, US, and Israel decided the luck of the Palestinian people without inviting the Palestinian leaders to the secret meetings.
It can not be “The collapse of….” because a proposal is not a cease of fire, and the proposal not implemented is not the cause to more casualties, but the irresponsibility of Israel that is engage in a genocidal mission in Gaza. |
This Is What the Growing Death Toll in Gaza Looks Like: The fatality count in the ongoing attacks between Israel and Gaza has risen throughout the day after the proposed cease-fire agreement failed, said ABCWN Diana sawyer in her facebook page.
CNN continues twisting the facts reporting that, “Israel destroys Hamas facilities” counting residential buildings, schools, mosques, and hospitals as Hamas facilities.
None of the big media outlets had reported accurate, and unbiased news. They old failed their role as communicators, as News outlets, all had failed the people.
Israel ‘Pinpoint’ Strikes Kill Mostly Gaza Innocents — Entire Families Wiped Out
Few Hamas Militants Among 121 Victims
By Noah Browning
Source: Forward.com
Gaza — The Israeli military’s “pinpoint strikes” on houses in Gaza have killed whole families and children but few of the wanted men they are meant to target because they have long made themselves scarce, Palestinian residents say.
After five days of cross-border barrages between Gaza militants and Israel’s air force, at least 81 of the 121 Palestinians killed have been civilians, including 25 children, according to Palestinian medical officials.
While relatively few militants and even fewer of their commanders have been killed, according to Hamas sources and media reports, Israel appears more determined than in previous wars to bring the fight to their homes in the densely populated enclave hugging the Mediterranean coast.
Kin, neighbors and others who deny any ties to militants have been most often in the firing line of Israel’s assaults.
“I still can’t believe this happened, it’s like a bad dream,” said Shadi Hamad, standing in the demolished courtyard of a family home with tearful relatives.
“It was 11 at night and the family had just sat down in a circle for coffee in the front porch after breaking the Ramadan fast. The missile landed in the middle. Everyone was killed.”
The air strike was targeting Hafez Hamad, a local commander in the Islamic Jihad militant group, and killed him, as well as his parents, two brothers and niece.
“Where were their human rights, which Israel and its backers say they defend?” said Bassam Qassem, a neighbor. “Even if he (Hamad) was a resistance fighter, does that allow them to kill his whole family? This is murder.”
For their part, nervous Israeli civilians have for days had to heed warning sirens to seek shelter from Palestinian rockets, around 700 of which have lobbed from Gaza since Tuesday. They have so far caused no Israeli fatalities, but some injuries and damage.
Israel disavows any responsibility for the Gaza deaths, saying Hamas stows its people and weapons among civilians and hopes to score a cheap sympathy boost from their deaths.
“We are using all our attacking capabilities, not without brains, reason – not without taking into consideration that there are also civilians in Gaza. We remember that there are civilians. Hamas has turned them into hostages,” Israeli military chief Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz said on Friday.
“We continue to attack as best we can, rockets, command centers, tunnels, munitions and defense infrastructure and Gaza is sinking into a tragedy,” Gantz said.
Early on Saturday two disabled women were killed and four other people seriously wounded when an Israeli tank shell struck a rehabilitation center in the eastern part of Gaza City, Palestinian medics said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was checking for details on why the center was targeted.
Residents also said a mosque in the central Gaza Strip was bombed to rubble. The military said it had housed a weapons cache.
Israel says it has attacked more than a thousand targets in the coastal territory since the recent fighting began.
MANY HOMES OF MILITANTS, POLICE TARGETED
The Gaza interior ministry told Reuters that over 200 family homes have been targeted since the Israeli campaign began, many belonging to police officers and militants but only around 15 housing high-ranking commanders.
According to the Gaza based Al-Mezan Association for Human Rights, 537 houses – 122 of them targeted directly – were either completely or partially damaged by Israeli air strikes since Tuesday.
Palestinians think the attacks are meant to sow panic and drive a wedge between them and the militants.
“They can’t find any targets this war because they’re hidden, so they’ve just decided to punish innocent people… Do you see any resistance fighters here? Of course not. They’ve gone underground days ago, disappeared,” said Aziz Abu Awdeh in the northern border town of Beit Hanoun.
“This is terrorism in every meaning of the word. Killing family members and ordinary people just brings us closer together as a people. Resistance is our right, any people in the world would defend themselves from this.”
Israel’s military has published grainy aerial footage it says shows arms caches nestled among homes, which, they say, when struck by a missile, detonate “secondary explosions.”
Outgoing rockets often appear to scream forth from near residential districts, though Hamas denies Israeli claims that it uses people as “human shields.”
In Beit Hanoun’s main hospital on Wednesday, crumps of nearby rocket fire and air strikes brought casualties pouring in. One father, comforting his bruised young son, said an outgoing rocket launch had sent the boy flying across a room.
“STAY AWAY”
Israel says it regularly gives warnings to residents by phone calls, text messages and dud missiles launched on their roofs to warn them in advance of attacks, but Gazans say there is not enough time to evacuate or warnings simply don’t come.
The Israeli military described a strike on the home of the Kaware family in which eight people died as a “tragic mistake”, saying residents had not heeded their warning. The army did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment on their targeting policies.
A rushed voice crackled over the Gaza police radio frequency on Friday, reporting an air strike on a family house in Beit Hanoun.
The bombing’s sole victim was Saher Abu Namous, 4, who lay, pale and with his head blown open, on a steel gurney in the local morgue. The medic wrapped his plump limbs in a shroud and prepared to enclose him in a refrigerator.
Nearby, hundreds of neighbors gathered spontaneously around a household which had received a phone call from the Israeli military warning that a strike was imminent.
Hamas’s official radio station cautioned residents to stay away: “Dear listeners, please be warned that surveillance drones and an Apache helicopter are still in the area, stay well away.”
Israel’s military says it has aborted planned attacks when neighbors gather in numbers to defend homes.
The air strike has yet to come.
American Calls for Global Intifada in Solidarity with Gaza Palestine Israel
By Eileen Fleming with Mohammad Asad
Re-post from: The Arab Daily News
In Arabic intifada translates to rise up and shake off .
Palestine has always lived in the belly of Israel.
Yesterday, President Barack Obama spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and reiterated Israel’s right to defend itself against rocket attacks and that “The United States remains prepared to facilitate a cessation of hostilities, including a return to the November 2012 cease-fire agreement.”
U.S. Media has been showing Israelis heading for bomb shelters but the residents of Gaza have nowhere to hide because their homes and towns have no bomb shelters!
Dr. Mona’s VIEW from her window in Gaza City on July 9, 2014.
Today from Gaza, Dr. Mona El-Farra wrote:
Gaza – Friday, July 11, Day 4 of the attack
Where shall I start? How shall I start?
Shall I start with the numbers which keep increasing and changing? 90 killed, mainly civilians. 600 injured. 140 demolished homes.
Or should I start by mentioning all the different areas of the Gaza Strip that have been constantly hit, day and night. Nonstop.
If it is only about numbers, then let me tell you all about thousands of Palestinian children who are terrified night after night, day after day by the sounds of the Israeli shelling.
The children have deep feelings of insecurity when it is dark.
And no shelters.
The Israeli army has restarted their punitive home demolition policy, illegal under international law. Yesterday a six-story building where my relatives live in Khan Younis was hit and levelled to the ground. 106 relatives were made homeless.
Even if the Israeli army’s goal was to punish one of Hamas activists, there is no justification for this cruel, brutal and collective punishment. Eight members of the Kawarea family were killed in Khan Younis when the jetfighters destroyed their home.
The Israeli army spokesman said sorry it was a mistake. What a gentle, well-behaved, and civilized army.
Walking through the streets of Gaza City where I live can be a real nightmare.
The drones and jetfighters are in the sky and you cannot anticipate what will happen in next minute.
Are they going to target a car behind you or in front of you? Will you be caught in the blast?
Will others will be dying right that minute somewhere else?
Will others will be forced to leave their home in 5 minutes only to be bombed 2 minutes later?
Yet despite the fear, I had to go to the Red Crescent Society of the Gaza Strip to be with the medical emergency team and help as much as I could.
This morning we received an injured deaf young man from Jabalia. He was working in a farm that was hit. Tens of cows and sheep were killed too.
I am so tired and sleepless. I don’t feel settled outside my home despite of the generosity of my friends who are hosting me. But my building, my neighbourhood, is too unsafe. Nowhere is safe but with intense shelling nearby and broken windows, I had to leave.
Dr. Mona El-Farra, Director of Gaza Projects, is a physician by training and a human rights and women’s rights activist by practice in the occupied Gaza Strip.
The shelling is continuous, crazy and everywhere. Warships fire missiles against the beach in Gaza City. Rafah town is under severe missile shelling, 10 people in Rafah were killed when their home was levelled to the ground by an American-made F16.
The UN agency that runs schools and clinics for Palestinian refugees opened its schools to receive homeless people from different areas.
Now larger numbers of people will drink from MECA water purification units.
Nobody is asleep in Gaza.
No place is safe.
The Israeli military attacks are coming from every direction.
From Gaza with love,
Dr. Mona El-Farra
MECA Director of Gaza Projects
Photos (C) 2014 Mohammed Asad. All Rights Reserved. Permission to republish given with full credit to Mohammed Asad and The Arab Daily News.
Today from Gaza, photojournalist Mohammed Asad reported:
Photos (C) 2014 Mohammed Asad. All Rights Reserved. Permission to republish given with full credit to Mohammed Asad and The Arab Daily News.
Israeli shelling targeted the yard at Salam Mosque in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City immediately after prayers.
Medical personnel at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said dozens of injuries with cases of extreme danger resulted.
The reception room was converted into operating rooms to treat the children.
Photos (C) 2014 Mohammed Asad. All Rights Reserved. Permission to republish given with full credit to Mohammed Asad and The Arab Daily News
Also today, Amnesty International called for a UN-mandated international investigation into violations committed on ALL sides amidst ongoing Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip and continuing volleys of indiscriminate rocket fire from Palestinian armed groups into Israel.
Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International stated:
As the violence intensifies there is an urgent need for the UN to mandate an international independent fact-finding mission to Gaza and Israel to investigate violations of international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict. This is the first crucial step towards ensuring that those who have committed war crimes or other serious violations can be held accountable.
The international community must not repeat previous mistakes, standing by and watching the devastating consequences for civilians of both sides failing to abide by and enforce the laws of war. Swift UN action is needed as lives hang in the balance.
Unless the Israeli authorities can provide specific information to show how a home is being used to make an effective contribution to military actions, deliberately attacking civilian homes constitutes a war crime and also amounts to collective punishment against the families.
Some civilian homes in Gaza have been hit using the “knock on the roof” procedure, in which Israeli forces fire a small missile at the home as a “warning”, before firing another missile which destroys the home.
Sometimes Israel will even phone the families that bombs are on the way!
Philip Luther explained, “There is no way that firing a missile at a civilian home can constitute an effective ‘warning’. Amnesty International has documented cases of civilians killed or injured by such missiles in previous Israeli military operations on the Gaza Strip. Firing indiscriminate rockets, which cannot be aimed accurately at military targets, is a war crime, as is deliberately targeting civilians. There can be no excuse for either side failing to protect civilians, including journalists, medics and humanitarian workers, or civilian facilities.”
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!
- Photos (C) 2014 Mohammed Asad. All Rights Reserved. Permission to republish given with full credit to Mohammed Asad and The Arab Daily News.
Please Join the Global Intifada for the sake of the Children in Gaza Palestine Israel by donating to MECA generously HERE
https://www.mecaforpeace.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=42
Hamas Successful test of the Fajr-5 Missiles
Posted on November 26, 2012 by Akashma Online News
Source Israel Defense
UPDATED
Interceptor Missile Used by David Sling System
Iron Dome was the news yesterday, the 1 billion dollars “Defense System” was being portrayed as the winner of this one sided war with Gaza. Israel was bragging that their Iron Dome success was 90 % when in reality was only 28 %. The inconsistency on the numbers are astonishing. Knowing that this Iron Dome was completely financed by the Department of defense of the US with a 1 billion 275 millions of American tax payer money, we wonder why now they are putting aside the Iron Dome News and they started another PR campaign.
The New David’s Sling Missile System has been awarded to Rafael since 2006, why now the buzz?
According to Lieutenant General Henry Obering, former director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, “We wanted a truly co-managed program because the United States will be very interested in this for our own purposes.”
Israel has successfully test fired the David’s Sling missile defense system on November 25 2012, bringing the country’s air interception capabilities one step closer to the potential to intercept all enemy fire, the country’s military has announced. This is 4 days after the truce of cease of fire was agreed with Gaza. Did they wait after the rockets from Hamas stop to test their system?
According to Israel sources they knew of the existence of Fir 5, Iran missiles technology in Hamas hands.
“The Fajr missiles revived Arab and Islamic community’s prestige and dignity, an Iraqi lawmaker said after Iran taught Palestinian Resistance groups how to make Fajr missiles which, military analysts say, made Israel drop its war plans and demand a ceasefire with Palestinian groups.
“The Iranian Fajr-3 and 5 (the technology of) which had been given to the Palestinian Resistance restored the (shattered) awe of Palestine, Arab and Islamic Ummah against Israel,” Borzoni stated, adding that these missiles proved that “there is no Iron Dome contrary to what was claimed by the Zionist enemy”. ” FARS Agency
The David’s Sling battery, stationed at an undisclosed desert location in Southern Israel, fired and destroyed the incoming missile with a two-stage interceptor.
“The Israel Missile Defense Organization and the US Missile Defense Agency completed the first phase of the development of the David’s Sling Weapon System, by conducting a successful interception,” the statement said.
Fajr-5 Iranian Technology helped in the cease of fire
The complex, also known as the Magic Wand, is a military system developed jointly by the Israeli military contractor Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the American contractor Raytheon. It is designed to intercept medium- to long-range missiles fired from 40 km to 300 km away. The Fajr-5 Iranian Missiles capabilities is 80 kilometers. If Iron Dome was a failure why Israel did not use the David Sling Defense System? Real simple, they were selling the Iron Dome to the world. Now they are looking for more money from the US to complete their defense system. Lucky for United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012 is about to expire and new money will be coming in for the 2013 give away
Political and military experts believe that Israel was shocked and later pushed to reassess its calculations after Palestinian groups responded to the Israeli army’s Wednesday aggression on Gaza with a stunning retaliation, hitting Tel Aviv, a move which eventually made Israel start an overture and change its war rhetoric about an impending ground incursion into Gaza to a tone of compromise in pursuit of truce.
The system is also designed to fill the gap between the other two functioning pillars of Israeli air defense: the Iron Dome short-range protection and the Arrow 2, a ballistic long-range defense system. The next generation of the Arrow is also being developed, and is set to be deployed in 2016. The military states that David’s Sling will “provide an additional layer of defense against ballistic missiles.”
The new technology utilizes Stunner interceptors installed in 16-missile launcher. It works jointly with the Israel Aerospace Industries multi-mission radar (MMR) and could also be formatted to be used against enemy aircraft.
Projected to be fully operational by 2014, the new arsenal would be used to defend Israel’s border against oncoming missiles such as the Fajr and Fateh 100, M 600 and the Zelzal, which are often used by Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which Tel Aviv calls a threat to its national security.
The David’s Sling system is intended to provide Israel with an additional layer of defense against short and medium-ranged missiles, thus strengthening the country’s air-defense layout which protects against the threat of missiles and rockets. Rafael is the chief contractor for the development of the David’s sling system, working in cooperation with Raytheon.
The radar used by the system is developed by Elta Systems, and its command and control system is developed by Elbit Systems.
Hamas rocket teams carried out an experiment against Israel’s wonder weapon: They fired a 16-rocket Grad salvo at Beersheba. Iron Dome blew up 8 in mid-air, 4 landed outside built-up areas but 4 made it into the heart of the town. A few minutes later Hamas started shooting 14 Grades in volley after volley just a few minutes apart – altogether 30 rockets at the same target in the space of two hours.
The score was 8 to 22 in favor of the Hamas tactic. The experiment was designed to assess the Iron Dome teams’ post-operation reloading speed – information which is a close IDF secret.
What the Palestinians learned from the Beersheba experiment was that their strength against the Israeli defense system lies in numbers: the bigger the multiple missile barrage, the greater its chances of penetrating Iron Dome cover and reaching urban targets. They accordingly put together large batteries of 6 to 8 rockets each side by side and fired them all at the same time from underground silos.
The launchers were then folded back underground for concealment.
DEBKAfile’s military sources confirm that, like the Palestinians and Iranian missile engineers, the team which developed Iron Dome likewise used the Gaza operation as a testing ground. Certain improvements were introduced on the spot in the course of the hostilities. This process continues apace.
What happens if the interceptor missile misses it target? Do they do the same destruction that the missile itself ? If the interceptor misses the target and touch ground, what happens to it?
Israel is contracting enemies by the dozen, with all their Iron Domes, David’s Sling and Arrow defense system Israel will need to built
thousands of these Batteries if Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Palestine will decide that enough and enough of this arrogant bully.
Akashma Online News 