The Electronic Intifada

Ceasefire moves fading away

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani 13 January 2009


CAIRO (IPS) - A week after the unveiling of a Franco-Egyptian ceasefire proposal aimed at stopping the bloodshed in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian resistance faction Hamas and on the face of it Israel, are still discussing the fine print of an agreement. “Details of the proposal remain unclear,” Abdelaziz Shadi, coordinator of Cairo University’s Israeli studies program told IPS. “Both sides are still in the process of studying its terms to determine whose interests it serves.” 

Gaza sewage lagoons could collapse

13 January 2009


JERUSALEM (IRIN) - The Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) is concerned that waste water lagoons in the northern Gaza Strip could collapse due to the current fighting between Israel and Hamas. “With Israel’s latest bombardment, there is a real risk that earth retention walls of a number of wastewater lagoons will break, releasing an estimated three million cubic meters of wastewater into the surrounding communities,” said Shaddad Attili, head of the PWA, in a statement on 12 January. 

Is Gaza a testing ground for experimental weapons?

Jonathan Cook 13 January 2009


Concerns about Israel’s use of non-conventional and experimental weapons in the Gaza Strip are growing, with evasive comments from spokesmen and reluctance to allow independent journalists inside the tiny enclave only fueling speculation. The most prominent controversy is over the use of shells containing white phosphorus, which causes horrific burns when it comes into contact with skin. Jonathan Cook reports. 

Israelis rain phosphorous bombs over Gaza

Mel Frykberg 12 January 2009


RAMALLAH (IPS) - “There is no doubt that Israel is using phosphorous bombs over Gaza. Israel is flagrantly violating the Fourth Geneva Convention,” says Raji Sourani, head of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) in Gaza. “This is not the first time we have documented Israel using this kind of prohibited weapon against Gaza’s civilian population,” Sourani told IPS on phone from Gaza. 

Blueprint for Gaza attack was long planned

Jonathan Cook 12 January 2009


As Israel rejected the terms of the proposed United Nations ceasefire at the weekend, Israeli military analysts were speculating on the nature of the next stage of the attack on Gaza, or the “third phase” of the fighting as it is being referred to. Having struck thousands of targets from the air in the first phase, followed by a ground invasion that saw troops push into much of Gaza, a third phase would involve a significant expansion of these operations. Jonathan Cook analyzes. 

Tensions running high on the Egypt-Gaza border

11 January 2009


RAFAH, EGYPT (IRIN) - With Israel’s two-week military offensive in Gaza showing no signs of abating, patience is running thin among those waiting to get into the Strip from the Egyptian border town of Rafah, the Palestinians’ only access to the outside world that is not controlled by Israel. Every day, local and foreign doctors, nurses, truck drivers and journalists, among others, wait on the Egyptian side of the border for the opportunity to enter Gaza during the daily three-hour ceasefire. 

Will Hizballah intervene in the Gaza conflict?

Amal Saad-Ghorayeb 11 January 2009


While Israel fervently attempts to terrorize the Palestinians into submission in Gaza, many observers have started to wonder why Hizballah has refrained from stepping in militarily to assist its brothers-in-arms, Hamas. Such musings fail to take account of the constraints on Hizballah’s room for action, as well as the circumstances under which Hizballah would ignore such constraints. The question that should be posed is not so much if Hizballah will act, but when. Amal Saad-Ghorayeb analyzes for The Electronic Intifada. 

Abettors of war crimes will be held accountable

Adri Nieuwhof and Daniel Machover 10 January 2009


Two weeks into the Israeli offensive, many international lawyers are raising their voices to condemn Israeli actions from every perspective, challenging Israeli claims to be acting in lawful self-defense. That is, even before examining the unlawful way Israel has deployed its military might, lawyers assessing the self-defense arguments of Israel have found as many holes as in the Gazan ground: Israeli actions were not taken as a last resort, as a necessary response to attacks. Adri Nieuwhof and Daniel Machover comment for The Electronic Intifada. 

In Washington, all roads lead to Tehran

Daniel Luban 10 January 2009


WASHINGTON (IPS) - As the war in Gaza approaches its third week, a chorus of influential voices in the United States media has cast the conflict as a proxy war in which the real enemy is not Hamas but Iran. The result has been a growing tendency in the US to view Gaza as simply one battleground in a larger war between Iran and the West, and to dismiss the stated concerns of the Palestinians as a mere smokescreen for Iranian influence.