US Senate supports Israel's Gaza incursion
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- Written by Reuters Reuters
- Published: 08 January 2009 08 January 2009
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WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voiced strong support on Thursday for Israel's battle against Hamas militants in Gaza, while urging a ceasefire that would prevent Hamas from launching any more rockets into Israel.
The chamber agreed on a voice vote to the non-binding resolution co-sponsored by Democratic and Republican party leaders in the chamber.
"When we pass this resolution, the United States Senate will strengthen our historic bond with the state of Israel, by reaffirming Israel's inalienable right to defend against attacks from Gaza, as well as our support for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said before the vote.
Noting that Israel was bent on halting Hamas rocket fire into its southern towns, Reid said: "I ask any of my colleagues to imagine that happening here in the United States. Rockets and mortars coming from Toronto in Canada, into Buffalo New York. How would we as a country react?"
Co-sponsor and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican said before the vote: "The Israelis ... are responding exactly the same way we would."
The House was expected to pass a similar resolution.
The Senate resolution encourages President George W. Bush "to work actively to support a durable, enforceable and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza as soon as possible that prevents Hamas from retaining or rebuilding the capability to launch rockets or mortars against Israel," Reid said.
It also expresses an "unwavering" commitment to Israel's welfare and recognizes its right to act in self defense to protect citizens against acts of terrorism, he said. "It allows for the long-term improvement of daily living conditions of the ordinary people of Gaza," he said.
Palestinians faced even grimmer conditions in Gaza on Thursday after a U.N. aid agency halted work, saying its staff was at risk from Israeli forces after two drivers were killed.
The reported Palestinian death toll in the 13-day-old conflict topped 700. At least 11 Israelis have been killed, eight of them soldiers, including four hit by "friendly fire."
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell, editing by Philip Barbara)
Historic mobilizations & protests in Norway
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- Written by Peter Miller Peter Miller
- Published: 08 January 2009 08 January 2009
- Hits: 2520 2520
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*Demonstrations have now been held in at least 28 cities:*
**
Oslo, Stavanger, Sandnes, Fredrikstad, Trondheim, Hamar, Sortland,
Namsos, Arendal, Norheimsund, Mosj?en, Bergen, Sarpsborg, T?nsberg, Harstad,
Troms?, Kristiansand, Notodden, Vads?, Mo i Rana, Alta, Kirkenes, R?ros,
Volda, Halden, Gj?vik, Lillehammer, Selbu.
The numbers of participants have never been bigger.
*Union activities:*
**
*POLITICAL STRIKE:* Thursday ALL trains in the whole of Norway, and
all trams and subways in Oslo, will stand still for two minutes as a result
of a political strike organized by the Norwegian Locomotive Union and the
Oslo Tram Workers Union in protest of the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
A large selection of Norwegian trade unions and organizations has
endorsed a *new campaign for the withdrawal of all State investments in Israel.*
The call is endorsed by so far 6 of the largest national trade unions.
*The Union of Trade and Office Workers calls on all members to ask
their employers to remove Israeli produtcts from stores. *The union is the by
far largest union of workers in all types of private and public stores in
Norway.
The confederation of Norwegian Trade Unions (LO), with apr. 1/5 of the
whole Norwegian population as members, condemns the Israeli bombing and
invasion in Gaza and calls for demonstrations.
*The Norwegian Church* has protested Israels invasion of Gaza and was,
according to media, "called to the carpet" by the Israeli embassador.
22.000 supports the Facebook-group *demanding the embassador* to be
expelelled from Norway. The Facebook-group has got attention in all
major newspaper and was hacked by a Zionist hacker-group but is now back on
track.
*31% of Norwegians supports the boycott of Israel*, in a survey by the
pro-Israel tabloid VG today. The question was politicaly charged "Do
you support the Socialist Left's boycott of Israel?" If not mentioning the
Socialists the number would probably be much higher. The vast majority
in all groups in the survey is against the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
Israel accused by Red Cross over Gaza wounded
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- Written by BBC News BBC News
- Published: 08 January 2009 08 January 2009
- Hits: 3109 3109
The Red Cross has accused Israel of failing to fulfil its obligation to help wounded civilians in Gaza.
ICRC staff found four weak and scared children beside their mothers' bodies in houses hit by shelling in Zeitoun.
The Israeli military has not yet responded to the accusation, but said it worked closely with aid groups so that civilians could get assistance.
Meanwhile, the United Nations said it was suspending aid operations in Gaza because of the danger to its staff.
"Unwra decided to suspend all its operations in the Gaza Strip because of the increasing hostile actions against its premises and personnel," a UN spokesman was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.
On Thursday, the UN relief agency Unwra said one person had been killed and two injured when a fork-lift truck on a UN aid mission came under Israeli tank fire at Gaza's Erez crossing.
The Israeli army says it is looking into the matter.
The aid agencies' concerns come amid fears the conflict with Gaza militants may spread, with rockets fired on Israel from Lebanon.
The incident followed Israel's heaviest bombardment so far on Gaza in nearly two weeks of conflict, with 60 air strikes targeting Hamas facilities.
Israeli forces observed a three-hour pause in fighting to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The first of what was promised to be a daily ceasefire - on Wednesday - allowed aid agencies into the territory for the first time in days.
Efforts have continued to broker a full ceasefire - a senior Israeli official is in Cairo to hear details of a plan put forward by Egypt and France.
A Hamas delegation is expected in the Egyptian capital at some stage for parallel "technical" talks, Egyptian diplomats said.
'Access denied'
The International Committee of the Red Cross accused Israel of failing in its international obligations after its staff were met with "shocking" scenes.
Aid workers had been denied access to the site for days, it added.
"This is a shocking incident," Pierre Wettach, ICRC head for Israel and the Palestinian territories said in a statement.
"The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded. Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestinian Red Crescent to assist the wounded."
Correspondents say the criticism is unusually strong, coming from an agency considered to be neutral.
The Israeli army told Reuters news agency that any serious allegations would be properly investigated once a formal complaint was received.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International accused both sides of using civilians as human shields.
"Israeli soldiers have entered and taken up positions in a number of Palestinian homes, forcing families to stay in a ground floor room while they use the rest of their house as a military base and sniper position," it said in a statement.
While Palestinian families reported that in some cases Palestinian gunmen agreed to leave areas near civilian homes without firing at Israeli forces, the statement went on, "in other cases they have refused the residents' requests and only left after firing".
Nursing home
At least three Katyusha rockets were fired from southern Lebanon into the northern Israeli area of Nahariya early on Thursday.
One of the rockets hit a nursing home where some 25 elderly residents were eating breakfast in a nearby dining hall, the Jerusalem Post reports.
At least two people were slightly wounded and a number of others were suffering from shock, Israeli officials said.
Israel immediately responded with five artillery shells into Lebanon, calling it a "pinpoint response at the source of fire".
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora was swift to condemn the attack, and called for the army and UN to investigate.
The rocket attacks from Lebanon have raised concerns about a wider war in the region, says the BBC's Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen.
In Gaza, Israel continued its offensive overnight with 60 airstrikes targeting police sites, 10 Hamas tunnels, weapons storage facilities, launching pads "and a number of armed gunmen", the Israeli army said.
Naval and artillery units "continued to support the ground forces" with one soldier lightly wounded, the army added.
About 700 Palestinian and 11 Israeli lives are said to have been lost since the offensive began 12 days ago.
Casualty claims in Gaza have been difficult to independently verify.
While the BBC has had Palestinian producers reporting from Gaza, Israel only allowed Western TV crews to enter on Wednesday, embedded with its army.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7817926.stm
Published: 2009/01/08 14:55:18 GMT
© BBC MMIX
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- Written by Israeli quoted by the Guardian Israeli quoted by the Guardian
- Published: 07 January 2009 07 January 2009
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"[The] Israeli news media refuses to even refer to this as a tragedy,
they only talk about how difficult it would be to justify this
in the face of international press. We have ceased to be human."
12th day under attack: death toll in Gaza reaches 700
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- Written by Gaza office - IMEMC News Gaza office - IMEMC News
- Published: 07 January 2009 07 January 2009
- Hits: 3182 3182
Palestinian local sources in Gaza reported that the Israeli army has killed five Palestinian civilians on Wednesday evening.
The five, from the same family which include a father and his three
children, were killed when Israeli tanks invading the Gaza strip
shelled homes located in Beit Lahyia town in the northern part of the
Gaza strip.
With those five killed this evening medical sources in Gaza said that
the death toll now has reached 700, at least half of them were children
and women, and more than 2900 injured among them 200 in critical
conditions.
The Israeli army embarked on its military offensive on Saturday
December 27th 2008. Israeli warplanes started by shelling all the
Palestinian security posts there. In the following days the shelling
was expanded.
Hospitals, homes, blacksmith workshops, schools, and mosques where
targeted. Day and night all the Palestinian coastal region were under
attack. On Saturday January 3rd, 2009 Israeli ground forces entered the
Gaza strip and divided it into two sections.
The latest civilian target was hit on Tuesday Jan. 3rd 2009, the
Israeli troops launched an attack on a school run by the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency UNRWA in the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya.
The attack left 43 Palestinians dead and around 100 wounded.
Doctors said all the dead were either people sheltering in the school or residents of the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp.