http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2008/dec/28/gaza-attacks-video
This footage shown on Al-Jazeera gives a raw portrayal of the casualties of the Israeli bombings. The 2:32 minute video includes footage broadcast across the world of several killed uniformed and injured police officers. Lying amid the corpses and body parts of his colleagues, one officer is shown praying and, according to the commentator, "preparing for his end".
MSNBC has a similar interpretation, claiming the desperate man's words are "a prayer of a Muslim preparing to die". Its report also shows how, with "no time for ambulances", the wounded are carried on "corrugated iron" stretchers, driven in private cars, carried on backs and - the commentator says as footage shows two infants carried along a road - "in arms".
The video, one of the most widely used images of victims of the airstrikes so far, is from Gaza City's main police station where, the LA Times notes, a "host of VIPs had turned out Saturday to honor the latest class of Palestinian cadets amid the usual pomp and circumstance." The paper points out the footage has been broadcast across the world "in all of its chaotic intensity".
The Israeli Air Force has released its own footage, taken from a drone aircraft during yesterday's attacks. Shown on the BBC's site, amongst others, the video purportedly shows an attack on an underground missile launching pad used by Hamas. "It also notes with a yellow circle what it says is a Palestinian missile misfiring after the attack," the BBC says.
Just as quickly as images of the carnage appeared, however, so too did contributions into the battle for public hearts and minds. CBS carries footage from protests across the Middle East.
"Hamas has deliberately been targeting our civilians, in towns, in cities, in rural communities - all across the south," the Israeli PM's spokesman tells Sky News in this interview, adding: "250,000 people - of them, 100,000 children, living in bomb shelters. We couldn't continue - no society would continue to see its civilian population targeted this way.
These days the debate over the morality of military conflicts is not restricted to politicians and their spokespeople. This man is one of many to upload his views from a bedroom somewhere in the US. He warns that the media will sensationalise the conflict, says he does not know whether Hamas should be overthrown of Israel was heavy handed in its response.
However he calls on all citizens to pressure their governments to restore the ceasefire, "no matter how temporary it may be".
By Khalid Hasan http://www.dailytimes.com.pk
WASHINGTON: President–elect Barack Obama blew the first opportunity that had come his way to show that unlike his predecessors, he was going to adopt a more even-handed approach to the Palestine question by choosing to keep quiet after savage Israeli airstrikes across Gaza.
Obama who was expected by people in Arab and Muslim countries to turn his back on earlier American administrations that have supported Israel, right or wrong, could only have caused widespread disappointment among those who were hopeful that he would be different. If his first reaction to the Israeli outrage is any indication, it is clear that he is going to be as enthusiastic in his support of Israel as his predecessors.
http://www.linktv.org/mosaic Mosaic Intelligence Report
While, as could have been predicted, the Bush White House held Hamas responsible for having forced Israel’s hand, Obama, who spoke for eight minutes on Saturday to Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, could not bring himself to say even one word about the savage Israeli attacks which continued on the second day, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian civilians. All an Obama spokesman was prepared to say was, “He (Obama) will continue to closely monitor these and other global events.” Bracketing the Israeli assaults with “other global events” is intended to suggest that the Israeli airstrikes were yet another of “global events’ that called for no more notice than the president-elect had already taken of them.
The White House said it holds Hamas responsible for the renewal of deadly violence in Gaza after the Islamist group broke its ceasefire with Israel. Rice said on Saturday, “The United States strongly condemns the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and holds Hamas responsible for breaking the ceasefire and for the renewal of violence in Gaza.” Meanwhile, Howard L Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement, “Israel has a right, indeed a duty, to defend itself in response to the hundreds of rockets and mortars fired from Gaza over the past week. No government in the world would sit by and allow its citizens to be subjected to this kind of indiscriminate bombardment. The loss of innocent life is a terrible tragedy, and the blame for that tragedy lies with Hamas.”
Israeli Attacks Kill Over 310 in Gaza in One of Israel's Bloodiest Attacks on Palestinians Since 1948
Amidst worldwide protests, Israel is continuing its bombing campaign against Gaza for the third consecutive day and preparing to launch a possible ground invasion. Following months of a crippling blockade, this has been described as one of Israels bloodiest attacks on Palestinians since 1948. Latest reports indicate that 310 people have been killed and 1,400 injured in the aerial strikes across the Gaza Strip since Saturday morning. The latest targets of the air strikes include the Hamas Interior Ministry building and the Islamic University. Israels Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced today that Israel is in an all-out war with Hamas and its proxies in Gaza. Fears of a ground invasion are growing after Israel declared a military buffer zone around Gaza, closing off the strip and its 1.5 million residents to journalists and civilians.
We speak to Dr. Moussa El-Haddad and Fida Qishta in Gaza, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti in Ramallah, Gideon Levy in Tel Aviv and Ali Abunimah in the US.
Over 310 Palestinians Killed in Israeli Attack on Gaza
Israeli warplanes and helicopters have attacked the Gaza Strip for a third day in a row. More than 310 Palestinians have been killed since Saturday, and 1,400 have been wounded. Saturday was the deadliest day in Gaza since Israel’s occupation of the territory in 1967. Israel’s defense minister Ehud Barak said today that Israel was in an all-out war against Hamas.” Israel has bombed every major town in Gaza, including Gaza City, Khan Younis and Rafah, and is now threatening to launch a ground invasion as Israeli troops and tanks move to the border. On Sunday, the Israeli cabinet called up 6,500 reserve forces. Overnight, Israeli warplanes bombed Gaza’s Interior Ministry and the Islamic University in Gaza City. A separate Israeli bombing killed four young Palestinian girls from the same family. Palestinian officials say at least twenty-two children have been killed and more than 235 children have been wounded since Saturday.
Israel: International Community Should Condemn Hamas
Israel says the attacks are necessary in order to stop Hamas from firing rockets into southern Israel. Earlier today, one Israeli died after a Palestinian missile hit the town of Ashkelon. Fourteen Israelis were wounded in the missile strike. The Israeli fatality is the second since the air strikes began Saturday. On Sunday, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Hamas should be condemned by the international community for firing rockets into Israel.
Tzipi Livni:Excuse me, I cannot accept something like we call both sides to halt the violence or to stop the military actions. There is no ‘both sides’ in this. There is one designated terrorist organization which controls Gaza Strip, which spreads its agenda of hatred, that cannot accept our right to live.
Hamas Accuses Israel of Causing a Holocaust
Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum accused the Israeli government of carrying out a holocaust of the Palestinian people.
Fawzi Barhoum: Today is a holocaust and a massacre day that Livni had internationally and regionally campaigned for so she can commit to this holocaust and this massacre. This is a public massacre for our Palestinian people in Gaza. All the casualties and dead are policemen, women, children, elderly and civilians.”
On Saturday, the exiled political leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, called for a Third Intifada, or uprising, against Israeli forces. Hospital officials in Gaza say they are overwhelmed with the number of casualties. Hospitals have been unable to get needed medical supplies into Gaza for more than a year because of the Israeli blockade.
UN Calls for “Immediate Halt to All Violence
Protests against the Israeli attacks have been held throughout the Arab world, Europe and the United States. The United Nations Security Council Sunday issued a non-binding statement calling for an immediate halt to all violence in the Gaza Strip and for Israel to open the border crossings for aid supplies.
Neven Jurica, UN Security Council president: The members of the Council called for all parties to address the serious humanitarian and economic needs in Gaza and to take necessary measures, including opening all border crossings to ensure the continuous provision of humanitarian supplies, including supplies for food, fuel and provision of medical treatment.
US Officials Back Israeli Attack
Here in the United States, Republican and Democratic leaders voiced support for Israels actions. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “When Israel is attacked, the United States must continue to stand strongly with its friend and democratic ally. A White House spokesperson said, These people are nothing but thugs. Israel is going to defend its people against terrorists like Hamas. The Jerusalem Post reports the Israeli Air Force has been using a new US-made bunker buster missile in its attack on Gaza. Earlier this year, Congress allowed the Bush administration to sell 1,000 of the GBU-39 bunker buster bombs to Israel.
Obama courts Israel lobby http://therealnews.com/t/
Democrats Risk War with Iran to Serve Israel's Agenda
http://representativepress.blogspot.com/2007/03/democrats-risk-war-with-iran-to-serve.html
President-elect Barack Obama’s new “green dream team” is committed to battling climate change and ready to push for big policy reforms, in stark contrast with the Bush administration, environmental advocates said.
“If this team can’t advance strong national policy on global warming, then no one can,” said Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, referring to Obama’s picks for the top energy and environment jobs in his administration, which takes office on Jan. 20.
“This caliber of scientists in any administration would be a major headline,” Knobloch said by telephone on Monday. “But in contrast to the eight years of the Bush administration, where political appointees ran roughshod over science at a terrible cost to the truth, they stand out even more.”
Last week, Obama picked a Nobel physics laureate, Stephen Chu, to head the Energy Department; former environmental lawyer and US Senator Ken Salazar as Interior secretary; former New Jersey environment chief Lisa Jackson to head the US Environmental Protection Agency; Nancy Sutley, deputy mayor of Los Angeles, to run the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
The president-elect tapped Carol Browner, who headed the Clinton administration’s EPA, to take a new White House position coordinating policy on energy, environment and climate change. For White House science adviser, Obama chose John Holdren, a Harvard University expert on climate change.
For the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which deals with weather and climate among other matters, Obama named Jane Lubchenco, a marine biologist who has been sharply critical of that agency for allowing overfishing.
5 million green jobs: Obama has pledged to create 5 million green jobs and break US dependence on foreign oil, investing $150 billion in the next decade to build an energy economy that relies on renewable sources such as wind, solar and geothermal energy.
“None of this will be easy, because some of the powerful special interests and their allies still have their heads in the sand,” said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters.
However, Karpinski said that with Obama’s “great new green dream team” and more members in the US Congress who support action to curb climate change, a law to limit greenhouse gas emissions is more likely, as is a global agreement to succeed the current phase of the carbon-capping Kyoto Protocol.
Even most of those who disagree with Obama on climate change accept the qualifications of his appointees, but Myron Ebell of the pro-business Competitive Enterprise Institute criticised Holdren and Lubchenco as being “on the scientific fringe of global warming alarmism.”
Environmental groups have clashed repeatedly with the Bush White House on science policy, especially when that was at odds with energy policy.
President George W Bush vowed to regulate carbon emissions when he campaigned for the White House in 2000, but changed course soon after taking office in 2001, and for most of his tenure voiced scepticism that cutting back on human-generated carbon dioxide emissions would solve the problem.
Under his stewardship, the United States has been alone among major industrialised nations in rejecting the carbon-capping Kyoto Protocol. Bush has refused to impose economy-wide limits on carbon emissions, maintaining that this would hamper US competition with fast-growing, big-emitting economies like China.
Bush’s Environmental Protection Agency chief has balked at limiting climate-warming carbon emissions, even after the US Supreme Court ruled that the agency has the power to do this. reuters
Children are the greatest victims of war and now the children of Palestine Afghanistan Iraq and Somalia suffering from the disease of deprivation and hunger of millions of children became orphans and homeless
http://www.heritage.org/Research/MiddleEast/arab-israeli.cfm
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