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Looking for Shalit

Zachary Wales 1 July 2006


It would be too simple to sum up Israel’s recent military incursions in Gaza as a humanitarian disaster. But beneath the immediate surface, we find those who task themselves with generating meaning where actions are inexplicable. Among them are the mainstream U.S. media, who squeeze water from stones, invoking the pretense of Qassam rockets - the latest fetish symbol of Arab confusion and savagery since suicide bombs - and now the youthful face of kidnapped Corporal Gilad Shalit, whose picture has become an exploitative reminder on nearly every Internet news story related to Gaza, whether it mentions him or not. 

Jewish tribalism comes clean

Jonathan Cook 30 June 2006


Until the advent of Zionism at the turn of the twentieth century, Jews for whom their Jewishness mattered believed either that their identity was of a strictly religious nature or, if they were secular, that it was a meaningful marker of their ethnicity. In other words, Jews who wanted to identify themselves as Jews were either Jews in that they practised a religion called Judaism or they were Jews in that they believed they belonged to a distinct ethnic group. But Zionism added a third possible category of Jewish identity. The new kind of Jewish identity was a strange hybrid from the outset. 

Palestinian parliamentarian warns of severe public health and humanitarian disaster facing Gaza

Mustafa Barghouthi 30 June 2006


Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, medical doctor, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and head of the Palestinian National Initiative, today warned of the public health and humanitarian disaster facing the Gaza Strip following an Israeli military bombardment that began on Wednesday night. He was speaking from Gaza City, where he has been stranded for 12 days since Israel sealed off Gaza’s borders. Dr. Barghouthi reported that Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s only electrical power station has left 80 percent of Strip without electricity. 

Collective Punishment Will Not Work

Eugene Bird 30 June 2006


“As usual, most of the American press docily followed the official line from Israel and Washington that the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier a week ago was unprovoked. The fact is that the assassination of a Hamas government official was the proximate cause of the kidnapping. The assassinated official, Jamal Abu Samhadana, was the head of the Popular Resistance Committees, an organization on the terrorist list of the United States and Israel. He was apparently brought into the Hamas-led Interior Ministry to head the police forces in Gaza.” Eugene H. Bird served with the United States Foreign Service for 23 years and is President of the Council for the National Interest. 

Deafening silence from Ireland and the European Union on arrest of elected politicians and incursions into Gaza condemned

Michael D. Higgins 30 June 2006


The failure of Spokespersons on behalf of the European Union and member countries to respond to the recent events in Gaza and the West Bank reveals the appalling moral vacuum into which European Union policy has descended in relation to the Middle East. There is a striking contrast between the tactic of moral suasion which characterises the Europe Union’s policy in relation to Israel and, on the other hand, the sanctions it has imposed against the Palestinian people. 

Two Palestinians Killed and 22 Others Wounded: IOF Escalate Policies of Retaliation against Palestinian civilian Population in the Gaza Strip

30 June 2006


According to investigations conducted by PCHR, IOF have committed a series of crimes in the past 36 hours in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), which have killed two Palestinians and wounded 22 others, mostly civilians, including 9 children. IOF have also shelled a number of civilian facilities, severely damaging them. According to PCHR’s documentation, IOF have fired at least 36 air-to-surface missiles and dozens of artillery shells at several targets in the Gaza Strip. 

Israeli Forces Carry out Sweeping Arrests of Palestinian Officials

30 June 2006


Al-Haq is deeply concerned by the arrests carried out by Israeli forces across the occupied West Bank in the early hours of 29 June 2006. According to news reports, 64 parliamentarians, ministers and mayors who are members of the ruling Hamas party were arrested across the West Bank. The Israeli soldiers who carried out the arrests held judicial arrest warrants. It appears that the arrests were planned several weeks ago at the highest levels of the Israeli government and that more arrests will follow, including in Gaza. 

Irish MP: Israel an "abhorrent and despicable" regime

29 June 2006


Sinn Féin International Affairs and Human Rights spokesperson Aengus Snodaigh, a member of the Irish parliament, has described Israel as “one of the most abhorrent and despicable regimes on the planet.” Questioning Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern in the Dáil today he said the kidnap by Israel of some 25 democratically elected Palestinian representatives demonstrates “the true nature of Israel’s commitment to not so democratic principles.” Snodaigh added that, “The death of the Israeli settler is deeply regrettable and I would call on the Palestinians who are holding the Israeli soldier not to harm him.” 

Three Palestinians Killed, including a Woman and an Infant, and Five Injured by Weapons Stored in Civilian Areas and Mishandled Weapons

29 June 2006


Qasem Mohammad Qasem Mas’oud (20) and his 18-month-old niece, Maysam Eyad Mas’oud, were killed when a locally produced rocket exploded prematurely. Qasem was a member of the Ahmad Abu El-Riesh Brigades and had stored the rocket in his father’s house. PCHR’s preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 15:15 on Wednesday, 28 June 2006, a locally produced rocket exploded in the house belonging to Mohammad Qasem Mohammad Mas’oud (53), in Bloc E of Khan Yunis Refugee Camp. 

Gaza invasion targets civilian infrastructure

29 June 2006


Israeli tanks have invaded the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip, following the capture of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants on Sunday. This comes at the end of a month during which 34 Palestinian civilians have been killed in Gaza in Israeli military attacks or ‘targeted assassinations’ of suspected militants. This includes 10 children. Last night Israel also hit a power station which supplies 65% of Gaza’s electricity and also the water pumping station. “The message to the civilian population of Gaza could not be clearer – collective punishment is part of Israel’s military strategy.”