Save Israel

[Nagishkaw 510]

http://www.newstatesman.com/media/2007/01/pilger-genocide-gaza-palestine

A genocide is engulfing the people of Gaza while a silence engulfs its bystanders. "Some 1.4 million people, mostly children, are piled up in one of the most densely populated regions of the world, with no freedom of movement, no place to run and no space to hide," wrote the former senior UN relief official Jan Egeland and Jan Eliasson, then foreign minister of Sweden, in Le Figaro. They described a people "living in a cage", cut off by land, sea and air, with no reliable power and little water, and tortured by hunger and disease and incessant attacks by Israeli troops and planes.

Egeland and Eliasson wrote this four months ago in an attempt to break the silence in Europe, whose obedient alliance with the United States and Israel has sought to reverse the democratic result that brought Hamas to power in last year's Palestinian elections. The horror in Gaza has since been compounded: a family of 18 has died beneath a 500lb US/Israeli bomb; unarmed women have been mown down at point-blank range. Dr David Halpin, one of the few Britons to break what he calls "this medieval siege", reported the killing of 57 children by artillery, rockets and small arms and was shown evidence that civilians are Israel's true targets, as in Leba non last summer. A friend in Gaza, Dr Mona el-Farra, emailed: "I see the effects of the relentless sonic booms [a collective punishment by the Israeli air force] and artillery on my 13-year-old daughter. At night, she shivers with fear. Then both of us end up crouching on the floor. I try to make her feel safe, but when the bombs sound I flinch and scream . . ."

When I was last in Gaza, Dr Khalid Dahlan, a psychiatrist, showed me the results of a remarkable survey. "The statistic I personally find unbearable," he said, "is that 99.4 per cent of the children we studied suffer trauma. Once you look at the rates of exposure to trauma you see why: 99.2 per cent of their homes were bombarded; 97.5 per cent were exposed to tear gas; 96.6 per cent witnessed shootings; 95.8 per cent witnessed bombardment and funerals; almost a quarter saw family members injured or killed." Dahlan invited me to sit in on one of his clinics. There were 30 children, all of them traumatised. He gave each a pencil and paper and asked them to draw. They drew pictures of grotesque acts of terror and of women streaming tears... http://www.newstatesman.com/media/2007/01/pilger-genocide-gaza-palestine

Terrorist Activity Up in May

A National Security Agency (Shin Bet) report released Sunday shows an increase in the frequency of terrorist attacks in the month of May, when 63 took place, compared with from 56 in April.

The biggest jumps in terrorist activity were noted in Gaza and Jerusalem. Gaza terrorists perpetrated 32 attacks in May, up from 25 in April. In the Jerusalem area, there were 14 incidents in May, up from six in April.

In Judea and Samaria, the number of terrorist incidents reported in May was the lowest since January.

The number of Israelis wounded in terrorist attacks rose along with the overall number of attacks. Six Israelis were wounded in terrorist attacks in May, three in shooting attacks and three in firebombings. One person was wounded by terrorists in April.

Seventeen of the May attacks were rocket or mortar shell attacks launched from Gaza. Over the course of the month, terrorists fired 13 rockets and four mortar shells, aiming primarily for Jewish towns in the western Negev.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/137913

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Remember those high-tech greenhouses Israeli settlers built in Gaza, that provided employment for Palestinians and produced an amazing assortment of fruits and vegetables in the midst of barren desert? The ones that rich Westerners (like Bill Gates) bought and presented to the Palestinian Authority when Israel withdrew from Gaza?

You means the ones the Israelis prevented from being built? In the name of security, the IDF has prevented, or destroyed any industry being established in Gaza.

ETA: Fixed the grammar, I think.

Edited June 7, 2010 by ##########

[mawilson 2,133]

"High-tech" is only of use if you have a base of educated people (or the means to obtain higher education) and the storage and transport infrastructure to make proper use of it. Seeing as Gaza doesn't have that and it's infrastructure is in an appalling state - in part because of bombing and also because building materials are considered contraband under the Israeli blockade - these things are not much more than PR initiatives.

Gaza is supposedly full of educated people.

The literacy rate is 93.8% (96.7% for males and 88% for females) - well above many 3rd world countries.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Gaza is supposedly full of educated people.

The literacy rate is 93.8% (96.7% for males and 88% for females) - well above many 3rd world countries.

So much for them being a bunch of illiterate ignorant ragheads that couldn't possibly be worth saving from extinction, eh?

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Often I think people look too much at how Hamas has treated Jews and Israel has treated Arabs. You will gain much more incite if you look at how each government treats their own.

[mawilson 2,133]

So much for them being a bunch of illiterate ignorant ragheads that couldn't possibly be worth saving from extinction, eh?

Hamas is a bunch of illiterate ignorant ragheads. Gaza ≠ Hamas.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Gaza is supposedly full of educated people.

The literacy rate is 93.8% (96.7% for males and 88% for females) - well above many 3rd world countries.

Being literate is one thing. Having a base of highly educated people in specialised fields is another. So is the level of access that high school leavers have to higher education when the movements of Palestinians into and out of the Palestinian territories is tightly controlled.

[mawilson 2,133]

Being literate is one thing. Having a base of highly educated people in specialised fields is another. So is the level of access that high school leavers have to higher education when the movements of Palestinians into and out of the Palestinian territories is tightly controlled.

Gaza has four universities - al-Azhar, al-Quds, al-Aqsa and the Islamic University of Gaza.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Gaza has four universities - al-Azhar, al-Quds, al-Aqsa and the Islamic University of Gaza.

So what?

[mawilson 2,133]

So what?

So high school leavers do have access to higher education even if they can't leave Gaza.

Edited June 7, 2010 by mawilson

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

So high school leavers do have access to higher education even if they can't leave Gaza.

Several of those universities have been bombed by the idf, and UNICEF has released reports on the negative impacts that the blockade is having on the education system.

[mawilson 2,133]

Several of those universities have been bombed by the idf, and UNICEF has released reports on the negative impacts that the blockade is having on the education system.

Only the Islamic University, which Israel called "a greenhouse for Hamas terrorists".

It was founded in 1978 by since-assassinated Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and has been

described as "one of the prime means for Hamas to convert Palestinians to its Islamist cause."

[BishopM 114]

I'm curious as to what Bible doesn't have the chapter Revelations or Jesus claiming that through Him is the only way to salvation. Enlighten me, please.

This is more of a Protestant view of salvation vs. a Catholic view of salvation. Catholics view Islam as a religion created by God through Abraham and by God's promise to Ishmael of a 'great nation'...

The Quran does teach that there is more than one path, and that there will be Christians and Jews who will enter heaven through the grace and mercy of God, and that Jesus will return on the Day of Judgement. I love that about Islam.

Agreed. This is quite beautiful.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

This is more of a Protestant view of salvation vs. a Catholic view of salvation. Catholics view Islam as a religion created by God through Abraham and by God's promise to Ishmael of a 'great nation'...

Interesting. I would give you a +1, but I am out!

[BishopM 114]

"The mess" you refer to was created by colonial Europe and its history of exploitation and oppression in Africa and the ME. It's karma that has them paying and paying. It's also karma that they're too weak now to do much more damage around the globe.

I'm curious Sofiyaa. I only know a bit about Islam, but do they believe in Karma? Or were you just rambling?