Posts by Siun

Siun is a regular blogger for FireDogLake.

Reports: Israel Targeting Medics and Ambulances
Posted by Siun , Firedoglake on January 6, 2009 at 8:38 AM.

Multiple sources are reporting that medics and ambulances have come under repeated attack in Gaza by Israeli forces. Aid workers are also reporting that even when Red Crescent ambulance teams contact the Red Cross and the Red Cross contacts the IDF to coordinate the ambulance mission, they are often prevented from reaching the injured.

Amira Hass in Ha’aretz told of one such case yesterday in “Wounded Gaza family lay bleeding for 20 hours." Oxfam reported the death of one of their medics on Saturday. Now Ma’an reports:

Midmorning on Sunday, Israeli warplanes bombed a house in the town of Beit Hanoun, where Palestinians were mourning the death of a paramedic who was killed on Saturday. Some 40 others were wounded in this most recent attack.

Rammatan (the source of CNN's footage from Gaza) adds:

Four Palestinian medical emergency members were murdered on Sunday night when an Israeli rocket hit their ambulance in the town of Beit Lahia, north of Gaza.

The death toll of the paramedics killed by the Israeli troops has climbed to 6 and more than 20 wounded.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

War on Gaza: More Civilian Deaths; Olmert Lies: 'No Humanitarian Crisis'
Posted by Siun , Firedoglake on January 5, 2009 at 11:12 AM.

On CNN yesterday, Olmert informed us that:

Israel would not "allow a humanitarian crisis to be created in the Gaza Strip."

"We will help supply food and medicines like any enlightened and moral country must do," he said.

Yet this morning, we read in the Independent about another loss caused by the actions of the “enlightened and moral country” - the death of the father of the paper's Gaza correspondent Fares Akram:

The phone call came at around 4.20pm on Saturday. A bomb had been dropped on the house at our small farm in northern Gaza. My father was walking from the gate to the farmhouse at the time. It was our beloved place, that farm and its two-storey white house with a red roof. Nestled in a flat fertile agricultural plain north-west of Beit Lahiya, it had lemon groves, orange and apricot trees and we had recently acquired 60 dairy cows.

It was the closest farm to the northern border with Israel. Ironically, we always thought the biggest danger there was not from Israeli troops, who usually went straight past if they were mounting an incursion, but from stray Hamas rockets aimed at the Israeli towns north of us.

But shortly before sunset on Saturday, as Israeli ground troops and tanks invaded Gaza in the name of shutting down Hamas rocket sites, the peace of that place was shattered and my father's life extinguished at the age of 48. Warplanes and helicopters had swept in, bombing and firing to open up the space for the tanks and ground forces that would follow in the darkness. It was one of those F16 airstrikes that killed my father.

The house was reduced to little more than powder, and of Dad there was nothing much left either. "Just a pile of flesh," my uncle, who found him in the rubble, said later with brutal honesty…

Another story – this one from Oxfam:

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Israel's Ground Invasion of Gaza Continues
Posted by Siun , Firedoglake on January 4, 2009 at 9:00 AM.

Updates will appear on this page as more information becomes available. These updates will be clearly marked.

Update #4 -- Cluster Bombs:

There’s more evidence today of Israeli use of cluster bombs, originally noted by Laura Doty at Oxdown. The Times of London features a photo in it’s coverage (see Gaza Conflict slide show) with the following description:

An artillery round sends out bomblets above Gaza City, which continues to be attacked by Israeli forces

(h/t Brandon of VoteVets who points in email to this description of the weapons seen).

The use of cluster bombs - which have a large footprint when initially dropped and then remain a threat for decades - in a location like the Gaza Strip which is so packed with people is horrifying.

Conditions in Gaza continue to worsen:

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Gaza Update: Some Foreign Nationals Allowed to Flee, Leaving Family Behind
Posted by Siun , Firedoglake on January 3, 2009 at 11:02 AM.

On Friday, Israel allowed a few hundred Gaza residents who hold foreign passports to leave the Gaza Strip. They brought with them reports of the conditions currently faced by those left behind:

The evacuees told of crippling shortages of water, electricity and medicine, echoing a U.N. warning of a deepening humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip in the seven-day-old Israeli campaign.

The U.N. estimates at least a quarter of the 400 Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes on Hamas militants were civilians.

Jawaher Hajji, a 14-year-old U.S. citizen who was allowed to cross into Israel, said her uncle was one of them -- killed while trying to pick up some medicine for her cancer-stricken father. She said her father later died of his illness.

"They are supposed to destroy just the Hamas, but people in their homes are dying too," Hajji, who has relatives in Virginia, said at the Erez border crossing between Gaza and Israel.

And:

The women, dragging confused, frightened children, had to leave behind Palestinian husbands and fathers denied permission to leave by Israel. Anastasia Gabir, 33, a pregnant mother wearing an Islamic head scarf and towing a small daughter, said: “It has been horribly hard the past week. They bombed near our house, hitting another house and a police station. The kids were very scared.” Her daughter screamed as an Israeli artillery unit fired a salvo of shells into Gaza.

Karolina Katba, 15, was leaving with her mother and sister to stay with relatives in Volgograd. She was worried about her father, a Palestinian pharmacist in Gaza City. “I didn't say goodbye to him because I was crying too much,” she said.

As of midnight PST, 425 Palestinians had been killed, and approximately 2,000 wounded.

One missile killed three Palestinian children aged between eight and 12 as they played on a street near the town of Khan Yunis. One was decapitated.

Madth Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor at Gaza's Shifa hospital who could not save a boy who had both feet blown off said: "This is a murder. This is a child."

Israel continues to block access to Gaza by international journalists. Perhaps Israel is afraid that if they actually saw and reported on conditions in Gaza, their reports might be similar to those of Amira Haas from Ha'aretz. Greg Mitchell at Editor and Publisher points to one of her recent columns:

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Shoe-Thrower's Trial Postponed
Posted by Siun , Firedoglake on January 1, 2009 at 4:02 AM.

Aswat al Iraq reports that Al Zaida's trial, scheduled to begin yesterday, was postponed:

A lawyer of Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaydi, who threw a pair of shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad two weeks ago, ruled out a trial session for his defendant tomorrow.

"The defense committee has requested the Court of Cassation to change the legal description, in accordance with which al-Zaydi will be tried under Article 223 of the penal code," a member of the committee, Ahlam al-Lami, told Aswat al-Iraq.

"We have also submitted a plea for his release on bail," Lami added. If found guilty, al-Zaydi may face an up to seven-year jail sentence.

Calls to the Iraqi Embassy at (202) 483-7500 supporting the request for bail -- and asking for the charges to be dismissed would be great. Let's make sure they know we have not forgotten.

Photo from Raed in the Middle of the petition to free Al Zeidi which Raed coordinated and delivered yesterday to the office of the Iraqi ambassador in Washington, DC. with 4,000 signatures.

Gaza Update: No Truce
Posted by Siun , Firedoglake on December 31, 2008 at 7:21 AM.

Latest reports indicate that Israel has rejected the French call for a 48 hour truce to allow humanitarian supplies to enter Gaza but may consider other cease fire options later. While there were fewer Israeli air strikes overnight- in part due to bad weather, more details of civilian casualties in Gaza are appearing:

On the fourth day of airstrikes in Gaza Tuesday, one of Israel's many targets was a Hamas military commander's home within the teeming Jabaliya refugee camp. He wasn't there, but seven civilians died as a result of that attack...

Israelis claim the high ground by arguing that even though they fight terrorists who deliberately target civilians, they try to uphold a spirit of "purity of arms" by avoiding civilian casualties as much as possible.

Critics counter that by putting Palestinian towns under blockade and going after militants in civilian areas, Israel makes noncombantants targets.

For Ziad Koraz, whose nearby home was damaged in the attack on the government compound Tuesday, that violence gratuitously puts Gazan civilians at risk, the Associated Press reported.

"More than 17 missiles were directed at an empty government compound, without regard for civilians who lived nearby," Mr. Koraz said. "If someone committed a crime, they should go after him, not after an entire nation."

Sunday, we had Time magazine’s reports of Israelis gathering to watch and cheer the air strikes on Gaza. Today we learn of more:

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Why Israel Won't Allow Journalists into Gaza
Posted by Siun , Firedoglake on December 30, 2008 at 9:11 AM.

Overnight, the Jerusalem Post carried a story, "Navy Sends Activist Boat Back to Cyprus," which said:

The navy has turned back a boat trying to carry pro-Palestinian protesters to the Gaza Strip, officials said Tuesday

Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the boat ignored an Israeli radio order to turn back early Tuesday. He said the boat tried to outmaneuver the navy ship and crashed into it, lightly damaging both vessels. The navy then escorted the boat to the territorial waters of Cyprus.

In a report from  AFP, Israeli authorities said is was all just a mistake:

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP that the naval vessel tried to contact the aid boat by radio for identification and to inform it that it could not enter Gaza.

"After the boat did not answer the radio, it sharply veered, and the two vessels collided, causing only light damage," Palmor said.

The Israeli spokesman accused the pro-Palestinian activists of "seeking provocation more than ever."

But this time, a reporter, Karl Penhaul from CNN, was actually on the boat -- and gave the report you see above as the events were happening:

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Gaza Update: The Hospitals Are Full and More
Posted by Siun , Firedoglake on December 29, 2008 at 8:12 PM.

Latest reports are that Israeli air attacks on Gaza have started up again, with another 10 already killed this evening according to CNN. These new casualties will further impact the already overwhelmed medical resources of the strip. Earlier today Allegra Pacheco, deputy head of the UN humanitarian office in the occupied Palestinian territory, reported to UN radio:

ALLEGRA: What we see on the ground is that more and more of the attacks are killing and injuring civilians. It's very hard for civilians not be injured or even killed when the buildings they are living (in) or their residencies are right next to a target. We're talking about some very powerful type of weaponry that, again, may hit its target but there are the after effects in the surrounding areas. For example, our offices today were quite badly damaged from an air strike that targeted another building, but it also damaged our cars, our offices, and now we won't be able to use our offices.

SAMIR: Will you update us on the humanitarian situation in Gaza Strip?

ALLEGRA: This is a situation that is compounded by an already difficult situation that has been going on since the blockade was imposed more than a year ago. There are shortages of electricity-most people are only getting electricity for about five, six hours a day. Running water is available for 60 per cent of the population once every five to seven days. There are long lines for bread, and the medical situation, the Israelis have opened the crossings in the last few days to get medical supplies in but there were shortages of several pharmaceuticals and some emergency kits in the hospitals as well as one of the key humanitarian concerns is the shortage of different kinds of fuel that are needed in the Gaza Strip. One is an industrial fuel to power the Gaza electric plant. There's also fuel for cooking gas; there's a shortage of that so people cannot cook at home. And then fuel for diesel to operate all the back-up generators that are used when the power outages occur, especially the hospitals. Many of the hospitals are running on back-up generators.

I have also just received the following update via email from Sameh Habeeb, a Gazan journalist and peace activist whose blog Gaza Today is a very good resource.

Sameh begins by noting that the “Humanitarian situation is still suffocating and no longer people are getting bread nor gas nor power.”

He then reports that as of this afternoon:

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Gaza Update: 'Closed Military Zone'
Posted by Siun , Firedoglake on December 29, 2008 at 10:31 AM.

Overnight, the BBC is reporting that Israel has declared the region around Gaza "a closed military zone," which is seen as sign that a ground invasion is about to begin (no link available yet). The Gaza death toll (at 1:25 p.m. PST) is 307, there are unconfirmed reports that captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was among those wounded by the Israeli attack on Gaza, and the Israeli navy has now joined the attack.

The Israeli air force is apparently very happy with the performance of a "new bunker-buster missile that it received recently from the United States" (Israel ordered 1,000  GBU-39 in September) and while "Col. Moshe Levy was interviewed by several Arab news outlets during which he stressed that Israel was not against the Palestinian public in Gaza but was operating against Hamas":

Defense officials said Sunday that Israel would, however, not hesitate to target the homes of civilians who protected Hamas terrorists throughout the operation.

While sorting through Gaza news last night, I ran across three essays worth reading. Two were published today in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, the last one, by Nir Rosen, appeared in the Guardian.

In the first, Amira Hass explains that the Gaza strike is not against Hamas, it's against all Palestinians:

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Israeli Attack on Gaza: Bombs Fall as Children Go to School
Posted by Siun , Firedoglake on December 27, 2008 at 2:04 PM.

Israel's attack today came at the time of day when, as Fikr Shallpoot, a health worker and resident in Gaza told the BBC, children leave the morning school session and the afternoon students arrive. (Please listen to this report, it is very informative but sadly the BBC does not allow embedding) At least 200 Gazans were with more than 700 wounded. One target was the Gaza City police station where a graduation ceremony was taking place (this is raw footage from the aftermath of the attack and is graphic):

And Israel has announced this is just the beginning:

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Saturday that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) will deepen and widen its offensive in the Gaza Strip as much as needed. Barak also vowed during an afternoon in a press conference that it's "time to fight," adding that "tough times lay ahead." The Israeli minister explained "there is a time for cease-fires and a time to fight, and now is the time to fight."

Israel is also launching a PR campaign to gain international support for its actions, claiming they are simply protecting themselves. Viewing the videos of Gazan reactions to the air strikes, it is clear that rather than diminishing attacks on Israel, these air strikes will simply further inflame the situation and harden Hamas' resolve. As Hamas spokesman Al-Nunu said:

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Signs of Abuse? Iraqi Shoe-Throwing Journalist Kept from Court
Posted by Siun , Firedoglake on December 17, 2008 at 11:56 AM.

Al Zaida was scheduled to appear in court today for the first hearings of charges against him for this weekend's shoe toss. But Iraqi officials did not let him appear and his family is very worried about what this means:

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at United States President George W. Bush has appeared before a judge in his jail cell because he is too injured to appear in a courtroom, his brother says.

The al-Zaidi family went to Baghdad's Central Criminal Court expecting to attend a hearing, his brother, Dhargham, said.

He said the family was told that the investigative judge went to see al-Zaidi in jail, and to return in eight days, Associated Press has reported.

"That means my brother was severely beaten and they fear that his appearance could trigger anger at the court,'' Dhargham said.

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Israel Bulldozes Gaza Lands, Reinstates Blockade
Posted by Siun , Firedoglake on November 19, 2008 at 4:09 AM.

On Monday, Israel allowed the UN to bring 33 trucks of food and medicine into Gaza, momentarily lifting the complete blockade which has been in force since November 6. With 750,000 people reliant on that aid, this was clearly a drop in the bucket.

On Tuesday, Israel reinstated the full blockade leaving the people of Gaza without essential humanitarian aid.

And then they upped the ante, as Israeli:

tanks, backed by a bulldozer and military jeep, rumbled about a quarter-mile deep into the tiny seaside strip…

Residents said they levelled lands along the border east of the city of Rafah. It was the first ground action in a week… The Israeli military described the activity as "a routine operation to uncover explosive devices near the border fence in the southern Gaza Strip." (h/t Cernig)

When the U.N. human rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay called on Israel to "immediately to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip," saying:

"By function of this blockade, 1.5 million Palestinian men, women and children have been forcibly deprived of their most basic human rights for months ...This is in direct contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law. It must end now."

Israel responded – ignoring their own first breach of the cease fire – that they were shocked “to read the High Commissioner’s shortsighted press release.”

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RNC UPDATE: Tear Gas and Pepper Spray Used on Protesters and Journalists in Minnesota
Posted by Siun , Firedoglake on September 1, 2008 at 11:32 AM.

Update at 11:04 pacific -Reports coming in via indymedia twitter:

COPS ARE INDISCRIMINATELY USING TEAR GAS AND PEPPER SPRAY AT 7TH AND MINNESOTA STREETS. HELP NEEDED ASAP: WATER, MEDICS. JOURNALISTS GASSED 

Also reports of police horses being used against marchers. 

Update at 10:41 (pacific) Lindsay just saw 12 bicycle cops ride past in gas masks - and there are reports that "Justice Department officers directing riot police on 6th St to "get ready" are popping up on the Indy tweets.

Lindsay, Glenn and Jane are out in St. Paul getting the story from the ground as the RNC starts up – and we’ll be bringing you continuing news throughout the day.

A large march to the Excel Center is beginning in about an hour and folks are rallying now – undeterred by the police raids you’ve already seen reported here. As Matt Stoller notes, the RNC is meeting in their very own Green Zone while the pepper spray and arrests have already started in the streets of St. Paul today.

So just who are these people and why are they gathering in the streets to march on the RNC?

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News Giving Me the Jitters About an Attack on Iran
Posted by Siun , Firedoglake on July 14, 2008 at 5:24 AM.

While poking around Iraqi news I ran across an odd little piece in the Arab Times reporting that Israel was denying reports that Israeli fighter jets were using US bases in Iraq to practice for an attack on Iran. My perennial worry about an attack on Iran kicked in - and was not eased by the report in the Sunday Times of London that Bush has "amber lighted" an Israeli attack on Iran:

President George W Bush has told the Israeli government that he may be prepared to approve a future military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations with Tehran break down, according to a senior Pentagon official.

and that Israel may well want to act before a potential Obama presidency:

Senator Barack Obama's previous opposition to the war in Iraq, and his apparent doubts about the urgency of the Iranian threat, have intensified pressure on the Israeli hawks to act before November's US presidential election. "If I were an Israeli I wouldn't wait," the Pentagon official added.

The Israeli news site Ynet makes that last bit even more worrying in their video account which includes a mention of Obama's plan to visit Israel this summer and notes that:

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When "Unembedded" Means "You're Fired"
Posted by Siun , Firedoglake on July 7, 2008 at 8:15 AM.

This week US forces censored an award winning photojournalist – continuing the efforts to make certain we do not see the real results of our actions in Iraq. Zoriah was embedded with a Marine unit and by sheer chance was a block away with one unit when another was caught up in a suicide bombing in Anbar:

My hands still shake and my heart pounds despite my fatigue. A combination of depression, fear, and adrenaline makes my thoughts race with the realization that a simple decision was the only thing that seperated me from a body count that grows daily. I look at the images I took on the 26th of June, and realize they do nothing to capture the emotion of being an eyewitness to the aftermath of the Al-Qaeda suicide attack in Karmah/Garma... the smell... the sound of screams and crying.

I want you to observe and comprehend what others live through on a daily basis -- to see what the Iraqi civilians and foreign soldiers see. I want people who follow my photography to understand that although I am able to bring images of war to the world in a form of art, what actually goes on here is horror. My message is not that war yields great photography. My message is: War yields human misery and suffering.

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