Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, is seeking to punish Israel for alleged war crimes. He has called for an international investigation panel.
Al Jazeera has been out with Amnesty International investigators conducting house-to-house searches in Gaza and collecting all of the evidence, such as shrapnel fragments, that will aid in the investigation.
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Awad reports.
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Turkish PM clashes with Israel
African Union leaders have been the latest to join the growing condemnation of Israel’s war on Gaza. Washington’s new envoy to the UN and its secretary general are also demanding that Israel investigates allegations of war crimes. Meanwhile, Turkey’s prime minister has had a public row with Israel’s president.
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Gaza crisis stirs heated debate in Davos – 30 January 09
A debate on the Middle East crisis focusing on the aftermath of Israel’s war on Gaza has dominated the second day of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
Al Jazeera’s Matthew Moore has more from Davos.
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Jewish Peace News: Cooperative resistance and criminal repression
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Thank you, Ed.
Hamas is not a terrorist organization. They are a bona fide political party in Palestine, supported by a large segment of the population. The terrorist designation is a political ploy invented by the US and Israel as a means by which they can legally impose economic and other sanctions against a political opponent.
Hamas should be included in any negotiations but I have little faith at this point that any negotiations would bear fruit. The Zionists must first be made accountable for the atrocities they have committed not only in this last so-called war against Gaza, but going back as far as 1947. Of course, this won’t happen either.
Israel has never been particularly careful about any civilian casualties it inflicts; in fact, there is plenty of evidence showing it is deliberate. So who is the terrorist here? 1,300 dead Gazans in this last disaster, a majority of whom were children; or 13 dead Israelis, most of whom were soldiers?
This attack on Gaza serves no purpose other than killing and injuring people. It won’t reduce the attacks on Israel – Israel talks and many of its supporter talk in “macho” terms such as “We hit them hard!”, “If someone hits Israel it responds with full force”– Look! Gaza is like a big jail. Israel controls what goes in and out Gaza is under Israel’s thumb. Israel has 100x the military power of Gaza. So what is it trying to prove??
The answer: Internal politics of Israel – simple as that!
They know it won’t make Israel safer – they know it won’t bring peace BUT it WILL win votes
This attack won’t reduce support for Hamas in Gaza
James and many others need to expand their understanding of terrorism. Hamas firing rockets at Israeli civilians is committing terrorism by using violence against civilians for political purposes. Israel bombing and shelling Gazan civilians is committing state terrorism by using violence against civilians for political purposes. Killing civilians, especially children, is terrorism and is NEVER justified and must never be condoned. Excuses such as ideology, religious hatred, or “self-defense” are just that, excuses.
Thank you, Ed, very well stated.
Negotiate with who?
It is amazing to me, that there is so much confusion over who the terrorists are. Hamas is a terrorist organization that condones and facilitates suicide bombings and will kill every Jew on the planet if they have the chance.
Israel is an energetic democracy with a vibrant press. Israel is a free country that abides by the rule of law. By contrast, if a writer were to go to Gaza or Iran, for instance, and start writing bad words, he might wind up on the news, dead.
Israel allows Christians and Arab Muslims to worship freely, while Hamas wants to see us all at the bottom of the sea. Hamas, supported by Iran, is clear about their goals: they want to wipe out Israel completely, utterly, with finality. But it’s not just Israel that Hamas wants to kill; they want to kill all Jews everywhere. Complete genocide
James, no one is saying that they support Hamas. The outrage is toward Israel’s over and above use of violence to the Palestinian civilians. This entire war was unnecessary; it could have been negotiated.
Two wrongs never make a right. Violence is always wrong no matter who the perpetrator.