Category Archives: terrorism

Israel accused of using illegal weapons in Gaza war – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

“DIME weapons consist of a carbon-fiber casing filled with a homogenous mixture of an explosive material and small particles, basically a powder, of a heavy metal, for instance, a tungsten alloy. … The tungsten powder tears apart anything it hits. The impact of such weapons in general causes very severe wounds.”

The general director of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Medhat Abbas, concurred with Dr. Fosse’s statements, saying, “There is ample evidence of Israel’s use of internationally banned DIME weapons.”

via Israel accused of using illegal weapons in Gaza war – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

Annie Lennox Responds To Gaza Blog Comments – Look to the Stars

The singer and activist has been blogging about the situation in Gaza over the last few weeks, but her thoughts have caused a stir among those who read them, with many choosing sides.

“Over the last few weeks my blogs have been mainly focused on the plight of thousands of innocent civilians trapped in Gaza (many of whom are young children) who have been the victims of bombing raids,” she wrote. “Whichever way you look at the arguments for and against on either side, it is abominable that any human being should have to suffer on such a scale.

“I have read most of the comments posted on my blogs. The entire spectrum of viewpoints has been well represented… from hate filled bigotry to more rational viewpoints, all passionately expressed. Somewhat predictably it is so often “There is only one side… and if you’re not with us, you’re against us.”

“For me, this kind of perspective only ever leads to destruction as the inevitable end game. The possibility for long term sustainable peace should be the only goal. But it seems that after decades of abuse, the situation is further away from a positive solution than it ever was. How many more innocent people must be slaughtered? How many lives shattered?

“Latest developments across the entire Middle East seem to be rapidly turning the region into an even bigger tinder keg of madness and extremism. What’s the end game? I personally don’t see how this can turn out well. I don’t know how other people are feeling, but I find this all deeply disquieting.”

via Annie Lennox Responds To Gaza Blog Comments – Look to the Stars.

This Islamic State nightmare is not a holy war but an unholy mess | Jonathan Freedland | Commentisfree | The Guardian

“Islamic State are jihadis with MBAs,” says Dodge, speaking of a movement so modern it has its own gift shop. He notes its combination of fierce religious ideology, financial acumen and tactical nous. “It’s Darwinian,” he adds, describing IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his inner circle as those strong enough to have survived the US hammering of al-Qaida in Iraq between 2007 and 2009. But what has been crucial, Dodge says, is “not ancient hatreds but this collapse of state power”.

Which partly explains IS’s choice of targets. It attacks wherever it sees a gap, an area of weakness where the state’s writ does not run or that will be too feeble to resist. So when IS’s advance south to Baghdad was repelled, the organisation turned and looked for vacuums to fill. Christian areas were one such target; the remote Sinjar stronghold of the Yazidis is another. With a merciless appetite for territory, IS hunts down any patches of Iraq or Syria it believes can be conquered easily.

via This Islamic State nightmare is not a holy war but an unholy mess | Jonathan Freedland | Commentisfree | The Guardian.

61 Palestinians killed since midnight in the 26th day of the Israeli offensive in Gaza

At least 61 Palestinians were killed overnight in the Gaza Strip in different Israeli attacks, many of them children and elderly. 35 of them were killed in Rafah, which has been suffering ongoing attacks since yesterday at noon.

Medical sources reported this morning about the killing of three Palestinians in Israeli airstrikes that targeted their home in the Maghazi refugee camp, central Gaza Strip. They have been identified as Amr Tarek Hassan Kandil, Wael Nihad and Mohammad Tayseer Hassan Kandil. The medical source informed that the martyrs were directly hit by the rocket on their house.

This morning at dawn local sources reported the killing of 23 people in several Israeli attacks against residential buildings in the west of Rafah. There were also more than 40 people injured.

via 61 Palestinians killed since midnight in the 26th day of the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

90 Palestinians injured by live fire in Hebron clashes | Maan News Agency

More than 90 Palestinians were injured by live fire during clashes with Israeli forces in Hebron on Friday, medics said.

Wilid Zaloum, director of Hebron Governmental Hospital, told Ma’an more 90 Palestinians arrived at the hospital with bullet wounds after being shot by Israeli forces.

Three of the Palestinians were critically injured, Zaloum told Ma’an. Many others were in moderate condition after being shot in the lower extremities.

via 90 Palestinians injured by live fire in Hebron clashes | Maan News Agency.

JUST STOP! RETURN SOLDIER! HONOR CEASE FIRE EVERYONE! Israeli army threatens to call up 80,000 reservists, re-occupy Rafah | Maan News Agency

The Israeli response to the capture of a soldier in Rafah will be “crushing,” Israeli media quoted the army as saying on Friday.

Israeli news website Walla said on Friday that the Israeli army threatened to call up to 80,000 reservists and to “re-occupy” Rafah.

Earlier on Friday, Hamas captured an Israeli soldier in an attack on a post east of Rafah inside the Gaza Strip.

Hamas said that Israeli forces had used the announcement of the ceasefire earlier in the evening to expand operations into the area, and the group carried out the attack before a planned ceasefire came into effect at 8 a.m.

Israel, however, said that the attack began after the ceasefire began at 9:30 a.m.

Israel has killed more than 1,500 Palestinians in its assault on Gaza over the last 25 days.

The Gaza Strip was directly occupied by Israel for nearly 40 years beginning in 1967, but in 2005 Israeli forces pulled out and a year later imposed an economic blockade after Hamas was elected in democratic elections.

Israel maintains effective control over Gaza’s airspace, borders, and sea, meaning that under international law it is still considered to be occupied.

via Israeli army threatens to call up 80,000 reservists, re-occupy Rafah | Maan News Agency.

Israel Creates Free Fire Zone of Death – warns displaced Gazans not to return home on threat of death | Maan News Agency

The Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a statement that those who stayed on in the neighborhood past the end of the ceasefire would be “putting their lives in danger,” as the army is expected to resume a heavy assault that has taken nearly 1,000 Palestinian lives so far.

via Israel warns displaced Gazans not to return home on threat of death | Maan News Agency.

empty shoes | Palestine Rose

Oh what will you wear for Eid,

My darling young one,

Oh what will you wear for Eid,

My darling young one?

I’ll wear my burial shroud

In my Grave.

I Miss You

Mother, please don’t be afraid

For me, my journey cut short

By Israeli Demons’ so Loud,—

Their rockets went past clouds

In the sky, a Space

Satellite Saw Gaza Ablaze.

I Miss You

Mother, please don’t be afraid

For me, my journey cut short

By Israeli Demons’ so Loud,—

I’m Praying for Gaza, my head bowed.

In Paradise, with Allah, who Hears

Every Prayer, He wiped away all of my Tears.

via empty shoes | Palestine Rose.

Noa: Open letter to the wind

If we refuse to recognize each other’s rights and embrace our obligations, if we continue to each cling to his own narrative with contempt and disregard for that of the other, if we again and again choose swords over words, if we sanctify land and not the lives of our children, we shall soon be forced to truly seek a colony on the moon, for our land will be so drenched in blood and so cluttered with tomb stones there will be nothing left for the living.

I wrote these words, and sang them together with my friend Mira Awad. They stand truer than ever today:

“when I cry I cry for both of us,

My pain has no name.

When I cry, I cry to the merciless sky and say:

There must be another way”

Noa, july 22, 2014

via Noa: Open letter to the wind.

Gaza girls flee shells in Shujaiyeh, killed in place deemed safer | Maan News Agency

A Palestinian couple from Shajaiyeh decided to leave their home several days ago and bring their family to central Gaza City, thinking it would be a safer place.

However, four sisters from the family were killed when their grandparents’ home where they were taking refuge was hit by Israeli artillery shells.

“They fled the shelling in Shujaiyeh neighborhood, to their grandfather’s house in Thalathini, but shells followed them there,” the bereaved father said.

“My daughters were playing on the roof of their grandfather’s house when I was telling my wife on the phone that we should go back home,” father Yasser al-Qassas said.

The call ended all of a sudden, he said. “When I redialed there was no answer.”

“I telephoned one of my wife’s brothers and he didn’t answer either. A cousin of mine then answered my call to say that my daughters had been killed.”

via Gaza girls flee shells in Shujaiyeh, killed in place deemed safer | Maan News Agency.