- 6 mrt 2011
Protest group says leader detained from home
29 oct 2012, 12:42 , Respect -
Maria 7 mrt 2011
Update: Palestinian workers injured in Jerusalem bomb blast
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian worker was injured Sunday morning in a pipe bomb blast near the Gilo settlement between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
Jerusalem municipality refuse collector Iyad Bashir, 21, was taken by ambulance to the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital with severe injuries to his hand.
Preliminary investigations indicated that Bashir picked up a rubbish bag containing an explosive device, said Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Simmari
His colleague Moath Bashir suffered shock from the incident.
Israeli border guards and police closed the area and searched for other explosives, the spokeswoman said, adding that an investigation had been opened.
Local sources suggested extremist settlers were responsible for the attack, noting that several other Palestinian laborers working in settlement areas had been targeted in similar incidents in the past.
Israeli police imposed a complete blackout on the investigation, Ma'an's reporter said.
The accusation of extremist right-wing Israeli involvement came days after Jewish settlers proclaimed a "day of rage" in reaction to the dismantling of a settler outpost in the northern West Bank.
On Thursday, right-wing Israelis and settlers blocked a road to Jerusalem with burning tires and closed down train tracks to the country's airport. Israeli forces had been deployed throughout the West Bank in anticipation of settler violence targeting Palestinians.
Some hardline settlers threatened to carry out "price tag" attacks against West Bank residents, which have in the past involved attacks on Palestinians as a direct response to "anti-settler" activity by the Israeli government.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=366075
29 oct 2012, 12:42 , Respect -
Maria 7 mrt 2011
Mofaz demands more pressure on Palestinian prisoners
IOF troops serve demolition notices, detain ten Palestinians including children
29 oct 2012, 12:42 , Respect -
Maria 8 mrt 2011
Report: Blast heard in Gaza; planes over city
Palestinian sources reported that a large explosion was heard in the western part of Gaza City, adding that planes were circling over the city.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4039576,00.html
IOF troops raid southern Gaza
KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) advanced into southern Gaza Strip areas to the east of Khan Younis city amidst heavy firing, Palestinian sources reported.
They added that four IOF armored vehicles escorted two huge bulldozers into the town of Khuza'a, noting that reconnaissance planes were hovering overhead.
IOF troops routinely raid Gaza border areas shooting at random and bulldozing land lots.
http://bit.ly/em23Qu
29 oct 2012, 12:42 , Respect -
Maria 8 mrt 2011
Troops Arrest Eight Civilians and Distribute Demolition Orders to Villagers in the West Bank
IOA extends administrative detention of Amara an hour before his release
29 oct 2012, 12:43 , Respect -
Maria 9 mrt 2011
Hamas MPs lash out at international silence toward Israeli crimes
NABLUS, (PIC)-- Hamas MPs in the West Bank on Wednesday lashed out at the international silence toward Israeli crimes committed against Palestinian citizens.
Six Hamas lawmakers, who were calling on Palestinians receiving treatment in hospital for injuries sustained in settlers attack on them in Qasra village south of Nablus, said that the international silence only encouraged more such crimes.
The deputies hailed the steadfastness of the people of Qasra and called for patience and challenge to Israeli army and settles' aggressions.
Jewish armed settlers attacked the villagers and were joined later by Israeli occupation forces a couple of days ago. Nine of the villagers suffered gunshot wounds.
http://bit.ly/gwj2qV
29 oct 2012, 12:43 , Respect -
Maria 9 mrt 2011
Man loses vision after tortured in Israel custody
IOF troops storm Jenin villages, detain 8 West Bankers
29 oct 2012, 12:43 , Respect -
Maria 10 mrt 2011
IOF troops round up 17 West Bankers
Israeli Soldiers Raid Bethlehem District, Arrest Five
IOA holds MP Salhab in administrative detention
Wife says prisoner in solitary for over 1 year
29 oct 2012, 12:43 , Respect -
Maria 29 oct 2012, 12:43 , Respect -
Maria 12 mrt 2011
IOF troops launch large-scale arrest campaign in Orta, settlers attack Burin
Interior ministry: Kidnapping Abu Seesi "Zionist piracy"
29 oct 2012, 12:43 , Respect -
Maria 13 mrt 2011
Israeli troops attack Palestinian worshipers at Aqsa Mosque
IOA refuses visits to detainees in Hawara
29 oct 2012, 12:43 , Respect -
Maria
- 14 mrt 2011
Israel’s Weapons a Crime on Humanity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi6nnLy2Qu4
In an article of March 4, Richard Lightbown argues that Israel’s use of depleted uranium, white phosphorus and other toxic metals in its war on the people of the Gaza Strip has put the whole of the Strip’s population and its environment – air, soil, groundwater and possibly seawater – at risk of serious long-term injury and contamination.
Press TV on 4 March 2011 reported that cancer cases in Gaza had increased by 30 per cent, and that there was a link between the occurrence of the disease and residence in areas that had been badly hit by Israeli bombing. Zekra Ajour from the Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights told the channel that Gaza had been a testing ground for illegal weapons.
Birth defects
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KVbvl5xgNk
On 20 December 2009 Al-Dameer had published another paper in Arabic on the increase in the number of babies born in Gaza with birth defects, thought to be the result of radioactive and toxic materials from Operation Cast Lead. [1] The birth defects included incomplete hearts and malformations of the brain.
During August, September and October 2008 the number of cases had been 27. In the comparable months in 2009 the numbers had risen to 47. There was a similar rise in aborted foetuses. Al-Dameer had called for scientific monitoring throughout the Gaza Strip to obtain statistics on deformed foetus cases relating to the intentional use of internationally banned weapons.
Similar dramatic increases in birth defects over a longer period have been recorded in Iraq and have been linked to widespread use of depleted uranium (DU) weapons. (It is reported that local midwives no longer look forward to births as they don’t know what is going to come out.)
Depleted uranium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iGsSYEB0bA
“Depleted uranium burns at almost 1200 degrees Celsius. (TNT by comparison burns at 576 degrees Celsius.) At this temperature the fire vaporizes any metals in the target which in combination with uranium are released into the air in aerosol form. After deposition the aerosols have the potential to contaminate groundwater.”
Although the epidemiologist Professor Alastair Hay told the BBC in March 2010 that it was difficult to suggest any particular cause for the trend,[2] scientific data has been published which contradicts his opinion. A review in Environmental Health in 2005 [3] concluded by saying:
Regarding the teratogenicity of parental prenatal exposure to DU aerosols, the evidence, albeit imperfect, indicates a high probability of substantial risk. Good science indicates that depleted uranium weapons should not be manufactured or exploded.
When later asked in the same interview about white phosphorus, Prof. Hay had replied;
…phosphorus is an essential element in our bodies and so you would I think have to ingest a huge amount to cause any particular problem. But there has been no investigation anywhere that I am aware of to link phosphorus with health problems…
Apparently the professor has not read the Goldstone Report of the previous year which states in paragraph 896:
Medical staff reported to the mission how even working in the areas where the phosphorus had been used made them feel sick, their lips would swell and they would become extremely thirsty and nauseous.
The toxicity of phosphorus is also recorded in a report by New York medical staff: [4]
Oral ingestion of white phosphorus in humans has been demonstrated to result in pathologic changes to the liver and kidneys. The ingestion of a small quantity of white phosphorus can cause gastrointestinal complaints such as nausea, abdominal cramps, and vomiting. Individuals with a history of oral ingestion have been noted to pass phosphorus-laden stool (“smoking stool syndrome”). The accepted lethal dose is 1 mg/kg, although the ingestion of as little as 15 mg has resulted in death.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reported that breathing white phosphorus for long periods causes “phossy jaw”, a condition in which there is poor wound healing of the mouth and breakdown of the jawbone. [5]
Depleted uranium in US-supplied bunker-buster bombs
(8:37) Rense on Depleted Uranium - Our Calamity REMOVED
Evidence of the use of depleted uranium against Gaza is tenuous and Goldstone merely recorded in paragraph 907 that it had received allegations which it had not further investigated. Much of this evidence came from Action des citoyens pour le désarmement nucléaire (ACDN: Citizens Action for Nuclear Disarmament).
Their report of July 2009 hypothesizes that the GBU-39 bunker-buster bomb is packed with 75 kilogram of depleted uranium. (A UNEP report also ambiguously refers to bunker-buster bombs containing depleted uranium.)
The US delivery of 1,000 of these bombs to Israel arrived in early December 2008 shortly before the start of the war. The GBU-39 is considered one of the world’s most precise bombs and Boeing, the manufacturer, claims that the bomb will penetrate three feet of steel-reinforced concrete.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fJLBUE7QrA
(UNEP suggests that it can penetrate reinforced concrete to depths ranging from 1.8 to over 6 metres.) Boeing’s patent on the weapon mentions depleted uranium. [6]
It is not known how many bunker-buster bombs were used against Gaza but it seems reasonable to assume that the number could run into hundreds. It is thought that they were used mostly in the Philadelphia corridor against the tunnels.
Desmond Travers, the former Irish army officer who was a member of the Goldstone Commission, would only say that depleted uranium may have been used during the war, although he did agree that it would have been well suited for attacking the tunnels where maximum penetration would have been desired. [7] He was also in agreement with ACDN that the use of below-ground targets would have considerably reduced the levels of aerosol uranium that was dispersed into the air.
Col Raymond Lane, who is chief instructor of ordnance with the Irish armed forces, gave testimony to the Goldstone Commission on weapons used in the Gaza conflict. He told the commission that he had no expertise of depleted uranium and so had not investigated it. He gave no reason for his failure to bring in specialist expertise to investigate the subject. [8]
In April 2009 Jean-François Fechino from ACDN was part of a four-person team which went to Gaza for the Arab Commission for Human Rights. Samples that the team brought back were analysed by a specialist laboratory which identified carcinogens: depleted uranium, caesium, asbestos dust, tungsten and aluminium oxide.
Thorium oxide was also found, which is radioactive, as are depleted uranium and caesium. The analysis also identified phosphates and copper, along with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which are a health hazard, especially to children, asthmatics and elders. [9]
Depleted uranium burns at almost 1200 degrees Celsius. (TNT by comparison burns at 576 degrees Celsius.) [10]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgQ79-oDX2o
At this temperature the fire vaporizes any metals in the target which in combination with uranium are released into the air in aerosol form. After deposition the aerosols have the potential to contaminate groundwater. (The Gaza aquifer, which is the Strip’s only water source, is also connected to ground water supplies in Egypt, although water only flows into Gaza from Israel. [11])
There is empirical documentation that the aerosols can travel up to 42 Km and theoretical documentation that they can travel further. Sderot is about 43 kilometres from the Philadelphia corridor and less than five kilometres from Beit Hanoun. In consequence, it may be that the activities of Israel’s air force have created a greater threat to the Israeli city than all of the 8,000 well-publicized rockets from Gaza ever have.
Depleted uranium accumulation has been recorded in the bone, kidney, reproductive system, brain and lung. It is carcinogenic, toxic to the kidneys, damaging to cellular DNA and causes malformations to an embryo or foetus.
White phosphorus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKgph9PV3SA
“Doctors found that when they removed bandages applied to a wound that still contained fragments of white phosphorous, smoke would come from the wound since the chemical continues to burn as long as it is in contact with oxygen.”
Although an Israeli army spokesman told CNN on 7 January 2009, “I can tell you with certainty that white phosphorus is absolutely not being used.” the chemical had been used by Israeli forces since the beginning of the war. [12]
The Goldstone Report stated that Israeli sources later claimed their forces had stopped using white phosphorous on 7 January 2009 because of international concerns. This was also untrue as there is evidence that it had been used after that date. Goldstone declared the Israeli armed forces to have been “systematically reckless” in using white phosphorous in built-up areas (paragraphs 884, 886 and 890).
Difficulty in detecting the extent of damage to tissue and organs gave serious problems to medical staff trying to treat white phosphorus injuries. Several patients died as a result. Doctors found that when they removed bandages applied to a wound that still contained fragments of white phosphorous, smoke would come from the wound since the chemical continues to burn as long as it is in contact with oxygen.
White phosphorous sticks to tissue so that all flesh and sometimes muscle around the burn would have to be cut out. The substance is also highly toxic (Goldstone paragraphs 892/4/5/6).
An article published in The Lancet included photographs of a young man who was admitted to hospital in Gaza with white phosphorous burns on 30 per cent of his body.
The day after admission smoke was noticed coming from the wounds and the patient was rapidly transferred to the operating room for removal of dead tissue and removal of white phosphorus particles. During the operation a particle of the chemical was dislodged and caused a superficial burn on a nurse’s neck. The patient survived. [13]
Col Lane testified that although white phosphorus gave the best quality of smoke for military purposes it was “horrible stuff” and the Irish army had stopped using it 20 years previously. He recounted how the British army had sea-dumped quantities of the material off the coast of southwest. Scotland in the 1950s, some of which had been washed up on the coast of Ireland by a storm in 2007. It had ignited on drying (the colonel had witnessed this himself) and in one instance a child had suffered burns as a result.
Other toxic materials
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEbm0dTu7AE
Mass spectrometry analysis conducted by the New Weapons Research Group (NWRG) found aluminium, titanium, strontium, barium, cobalt and mercury in biopsies taken from white phosphorus wounds at Shifaa Hospital, Gaza.
(Aluminium, barium and mercury have potential for lethal and intoxicating effects; aluminium and mercury can cause chronic pathologies over time; mercury is carcinogenic for humans; cobalt can cause mutations; and aluminium is fetotoxic, i.e. injurious to foetuses.) [14]
White phosphorus bombs are built with alternating sectors of white phosphorus and aluminium. Analysis by NWRC of the powder from a shell near Al-Wafa Hospital in Gaza also found high levels of molybdenum, tungsten and mercury. Tungsten and mercury are carcinogenic, while molybdenum is toxic to sperms.
In a report appropriately entitled “Gaza Strip, soil has been contaminated due to bombings: population in danger”, NWRG also conducted analyses of two craters caused by bombs in 2006 and two others by bombs in 2009. In the 2006 craters they identified tungsten, mercury and molybdenum, while in the 2009 craters at Tufah they discovered molybdenum, cadmium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, copper and zinc. Cadmium and some nickel and manganese compounds are carcinogenic. [15]
NWRG has further conducted research of hair samples from 95 children resident in heavily bombed areas of Gaza. Again using mass spectrometry the study identified the carcinogenic or toxic metals chromium, cadmium, cobalt, tungsten and uranium. One wounded individual also had unusually high levels of lead. The study found the results alarming and considered the levels could be pathogenic in situations of chronic exposure. Thirty-nine of the examinees were recommended for further checks. [16]
DIME weapons, soil contamination and cancer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aXP7bWIZ_M
“DIME bombs cause a high proportion of amputations particularly of legs, while patients often suffered internal burns as well.”
It has been reported that soil in the area of a DIME (dense inert metal explosive) bomb blast may remain barren for an indefinite period of time because of contamination from heavy metal tungsten alloy. [17] The same material in trial rapidly caused tumours in 100 per cent of rats when used at both low and high doses, with the tumours spreading to the lungs, necessitating euthanasia. [url=http://fwd4.me/0iMR][18] (3 parts)
DIME weapons were first used against Gaza by Israeli drones in the summer of 2006, when Palestinian medical personnel reported that it significantly increased the fatality rate among victims. [19] Shortly after the DIME weapons were also trialled during the first week of the war in Lebanon in July 2006.
The Goldstone Commission was unable to confirm that DIME munitions were used by Israeli forces during Operation Cast Lead. Col Lane had told the commission in testimony that there was no actual proof. He then went on to testify that he had been given samples in Gaza which analysis in Dublin had shown to contain DIME materials consisting mostly of tungsten with traces of iron and sulphur.
He was of the opinion that ordnance had been used that had some sort of DIME component. He also mentioned that he had read of unusual amputations, and that tungsten and cobalt would have this effect. Weaponry had been found with DIME components which was capable of amputation and there are Palestinian amputees, yet neither Col Lane nor the commission was prepared to say that DIME weapons had been used by Israeli forces.
DIME bombs cause a high proportion of amputations particularly of legs, while patients often suffered internal burns as well. The bombs consist of powdered tungsten alloy mixed with an explosive material inside a casing which disintegrates on explosion.
The tungsten powder tears apart anything it hits including soft tissue and bone, causing very severe injuries. Tungsten alloy particles, described as “finely powdered micro-shrapnel”, are too small to be extracted from the victim’s body and are highly carcinogenic. (Goldstone, paragraphs 902-4)
No weapons fragments can be found from DIME bombs with standard diagnostic resources, despite the indication of heavy metals from this type of injuries.
Mass spectrometry analyses by NWRG of biopsies from amputation injuries revealed aluminium, titanium, copper, strontium, barium, cobalt, mercury, vanadium, caesium, tin, arsenic, manganese, rubidium, cadmium, chromium, zinc and nickel. Doctors reported that it was difficult to determine the extent of dead tissue (which it is vital to remove).
This resulted in higher rates of deep infection, subsequent amputation and higher mortality. [20]
The wide range of heavy metals discovered by analysis in casualties, residents and soil in Gaza suggests that other unidentified weapons may have also been trialled. (The Sensor Fuzed Weapon has been suggested as one such technological perversion that the Israeli forces may have used.
The whole Gaza population and their environment, including generations yet to be conceived, have been put at risk of serious long-term injury from heavy metal pollution of the air, soil and groundwater (and possibly the seawater too), while the causal pollution is likely to cross state borders into Egypt and even into Israel.
Reassurances of the legitimate and responsible use and the reduced lethality of weapons (an opinion in part shared by Col Lane) are callous and inadequate in the context of the dangerous reality that has resulted. Meanwhile, the impacts of Israel’s illegal assaults on Gaza remain ignored and its deeds uncensored by the wider international community.
[5] UNEP, 2007; Lebanon Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment, p 149.
More sources
http://www.redress.cc/palestine/rlightbown20110314
Killing weapons with the music of the A-Team
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYwyOMASShc
29 oct 2012, 12:43 , Respect -
Maria 14 mrt 2011
Israeli forces detain over 300 in Awarta
29 oct 2012, 12:43 , Respect -
Maria 15 mrt 2011
Israeli navy commandeers commercial vessel to its ports
NAZARETH, (PIC)-- Israeli navy gunboats forced a commercial ship flying the Liberian flag to sail to one of its ports after taking control of it 200 nautical miles west of the Israeli coast.
An Israeli army spokesman claimed on Tuesday that the ship was carrying weapons and combat means to the Gaza Strip.
He added that the ship named "Victoria" was taken without much ado and that it was being towed to an Israeli harbor.
Yediot Ahronot said that the ship set sail from the Turkish port of Mersin and was heading to Alexandria port in Egypt.
http://bit.ly/esFJGa
29 oct 2012, 12:43 , Respect -
Maria 15 mrt 2011
IOA bans Sheikh Bakirat from entering his office at Aqsa Mosque
Solitary confinement of Hamas leader Barghouthi renewed for 17th time
8 overnight detentions target Beit Ummar residents