British Scottish MP’s condemn Israeli operations in Gaza

[Ibtisam]

Israel's continuing massive military strikes on Gaza are an outrage that the international community must not allow to continue (Reports, 30 December). Palestinian rocket attacks that traumatise the lives of communities in southern Israel are also utterly unacceptable. Both sides must cease fire. Israel's actions are disproportionate and counterproductive to achieving either security for the people of Israel or peace in the Middle East. Physicians for Human Rights (Israel) have warned that "targeting of civilians and of medical facilities is a breach of international humanitarian law. The targets chosen by the Israeli military include also clearly civilian installations."

 

Gaza is one of the poorest and most densely populated places on Earth. For the past two years, the blockade and previous Israeli strikes had already disrupted electricity supplies and access to clean water. Even before the current attack, Gaza's health system was near collapse. Hospitals are short of medicines, blood and essential equipment. Only half of Gaza's 58 ambulances are functioning.

 

We call on the international community, and especially the high contracting parties to the Fourth Geneva convention, to intervene to stop the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. We call for an immediate ceasefire by all parties and for an embargo on the supply of military equipment to both sides. The international community must also assert unambiguously that there is no military route to peace in the Middle East and redouble its efforts to create a secure and independent state of Palestine alongside a secure and independent Israel.

 

Richard Burden MP, Lyn Brown MP, Peter Bottomley MP, Sir Gerard Kaufman MP, John Hemming MP, Martin Linton MP, Karen Buck MP, Nia Griffith MP, Natascha Engel MP, Martin Salter MP, Paul Flynn MP, Rob Marris MP, Andy Love MP, David Drew MP, Neil Gerrard MP, Hywel Francis MP, Clive Efford MP, Ian Taylor MP, Phyllis Starkey MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Andy Slaughter MP, Jim Devine MP, John McDonnell MP, Frank Cook MP, Tom Levitt MP, Michael Connarty MP, Chris McCafferty MP, Roberta Blackman-Woods MP, Simon Hughes MP, Danny Alexander MP, Sarah Teather MP, Madeleine Moon MP

 

--------------------

We write to express our disgust, condemnation and concern at the attacks by Israel on the Gaza Strip killing over 350 people - including women and children. There is little doubt civilian deaths will continue to rise as Israel shows no signs of stopping its offensive on the people of Gaza. The situation is bleak, with hospitals running out of medical supplies as the Israeli blockade continues to suffocate the people of Gaza. The region's power and infrastructure networks are on the verge of collapse with more than 85% of Gazans depending on UN food aid - which is at critically low levels.

 

We call on the Scottish and UK governments to do all they can to pressure the Israeli government to halt attacks on the Gazan people who are being collectively punished for the actions of a minority. While we believe that Israel has the right to defend itself and its civilians from rocket attacks, it cannot be allowed to collectively punish, maim and kill innocent Palestinian civilians in the process. When the assault first began, Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak said the action would not be short and would become increasingly intense. We believe that a strong statement of condemnation of Israel's actions must be forthcoming from world leaders and political institutions before the air attacks escalate and ground troops sent into Gaza.

 

We urge our leaders to do all they can to halt the killing of innocent lives and send a strong message of condemnation to the Israelis for their current attacks.

 

Mohammad Sarwar MP, Katy Clark MP, Angus Robertson MP (Westminster SNP Leader), Jim McGovern MP, Jim Sheridan MP, Russell Brown MP, Mike Weir MP, Angus MacNeil MP, Anne Moffat MP, Tom Clarke MP, Mark Lazarowicz MP, Baroness Jenny Tonge, Alyn Smith MEP, Pauline McNeill MSP, Sandra White MSP, Jamie Hepburn MSP and 23 others

Source: Open letters to The Guardian

 

Has your MP voiced outrage over the infuriating Israeli bombardment of the innocent people of GAZA? If not, then you really should get cracking and call them up, demanding that they condemn the Israeli aggression and call for the government and the international community to stop this outrage immediately.

[Haneefah]

That's good news. Much better than the indifferent Canadian knuckleheads.

[Ibtisam]

Europe is Israel's largest market for exports, with total trade with the EU amounting to more than €25.7 billion in 2007. The European Parliament has the power to take action to put real pressure on Israel!

 

URGENT: Please Take Action NOW!

 

1) Contact your MEP and ask them to take action to support Gaza. Here is a sample letter:

 

Dear (Name of MEP),

 

I am outraged at the current events in Gaza, where Palestinians are being killed in large numbers due to Israeli attacks.

 

I am also shocked to learn that the Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has said that "it will continue as long as necessary".

 

As my MEP I urge you to take urgent action to oppose these attacks.

 

I look forward to your response.

 

Thank you,

(your name)

 

Contact Your MEP Now!

 

Follow This LINK for contact details of your UK region's MEPs

 

(Or for all European MEP's offices at the eurpoean parliament follow THIS LINK )

 

P.s. Following the campaign against the Israel-EU agreement, MEPs voted to to suspend approval for the proposed support for Israel. Jazak'Allah khair to all those who contacted them.

 

Now your brothers and sisters need you to give a few more minutes of your time - please contact your MEP now!

[Ibtisam]

Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Foreign Office Minister for the Middle East Bill Rammell commented on the situation in Gaza during interviews with the BBC and Sky News on Saturday 3 January.

 

Speaking on the Radio 4 Today programme David Miliband said:

 

'Everyone wants both sides to stop and everyone wants those with influence to use that influence to put a stop to this. I think that the dangers for Palestinians are very, very large and the dangers for Israel are very, very large as well and I spent a good part of last year arguing that the only way to get a sensible set of security arrangements for Israel and justice for the Palestinians was a comprehensive peace.

 

That means sorting out the relations of all the Arab world with Israel, not just the Palestinians, and I think the significance therefore of the Arab League letter to President-elect Obama, reiterating their commitment to normalise relations with Israel in return for a secure and viable Palestinian state, is very significant. I think that is the only way in which were going to be able to achieve the two goals that are so important to everyone: a secure Israel and justice for the Palestinians.'

 

Read the transcript of the interview

 

During an interview on Sky News Bill Rammell said:

 

'This is a dark and dangerous moment in the Middle East. We've been unequivocal in arguing for an urgent and immediate ceasefire. We've argued very strongly for effective humanitarian aid access, the medical supplies, the food, the equipment that is desperately needed. But we've also argued for a reinvigorated political process because a military solution is not going to be a sustainable one. We desperately need to see that ceasefire and diplomatic activity take place. That's what we've been arguing for.

 

There is immense international diplomatic activity taking place at the United Nations, in the European Union, at the Quartet and bilaterally the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have been talking on a daily basis to their counterparts in Israel, the Palestinian territories and the wider Arab world to try and move us towards that ceasefire.'

 

Read the transcript of Bill Rammell's interviews with the BBC and Sky

 

Foreign Secretary David Miliband commented on the escalation of the conflict in Gaza on Saturday 3 January. He said:

 

'Unfolding events show the urgent need for the immediate ceasefire that we have called for. The escalation of the conflict will cause alarm and dismay. Intensive diplomatic efforts to find a solution continue. The EU troika will visit the region tomorrow, as will President Sarkozy. The Prime Minister and I remain in very close contact with our EU, US and Middle Eastern colleagues.

We are determined to work as quickly as possible for a durable ceasefire which must include an end to the smuggling of arms into Gaza and the opening of the Gaza crossings. The UK believes that the crisis in the Middle East matters to the whole world. The only sustainable basis for delivering security and justice for Israelis and Palestinians, is the vision of two states living in peace side by side, supported by the rest of the region.'

[Ibtisam]

Oxfam supported health worker killed and ambulance destroyed in Israeli shelling in Gaza

Israeli offensive puts families’ and aid workers’ lives at risk, Oxfam warns

 

A paramedic working for an Oxfam funded organisation was killed when an Israeli shell struck a civilian ambulance in Gaza today according to international agency Oxfam. The tragedy illustrates the deadly dangers faced by Palestinian civilians and aid workers, said the agency.

 

Another paramedic lost his foot and a driver was injured in the same incident, which occurred when an ambulance belonging to Oxfam’s partner organisation, Union of Health Work Committees, was hit while trying to evacuate an injured person in the Beit Lahiya area, Oxfam said. The UN estimates over 100 civilians have been killed in Gaza over the past week although some other organisations believe the civilian death toll is significantly higher.

 

“The incident shows yet again that trying to fight a military campaign in the densely populated streets and alleys of the Gaza Strip will inevitably lead to civilian casualties. There are no safe areas and Gazans who want to flee the fighting have been prevented from leaving the Strip,” said Oxfam GB Country Director John Prideaux-Brune in Jerusalem.

 

The Israeli ground offensive into Gaza, which began on Saturday following a week of heavy bombardment by land, sea and air, is preventing urgently needed supplies of medicine, food, water, and fuel from reaching one and a half million Palestinian women, men and children, Oxfam said.

 

“Hospitals in Gaza are overflowing with dead and wounded while facing severe shortages of essential medical supplies and spare parts. Oxfam and local partners have had to suspend all our work, apart from emergency medical aid. Many of our colleagues in Gaza are trapped in their homes, and in fear of their and their families’ lives. Others, such as the paramedic Arafa, have lost their lives trying to save others.

 

“The trickle of humanitarian aid that Israel has sometimes allowed in through one border crossing at Kerem Shalom has been completely inadequate to meet the needs of 1.5 million people – 80% of whom are reliant on this aid. Since the start of the Israeli ground offensive, even that trickle has dried up. An immediate ceasefire is urgently needed to allow essential aid to reach those families who need it,” added Prideaux-Brune.

 

Oxfam is calling for a binding UN Security Council resolution to demand:

 

an immediate halt to violence in Gaza and Israel by all parties,

all parties to commit to an immediate, comprehensive and permanent truce,

Israel, Hamas and other parties to permit immediate and unhindered access to and from Gaza for humanitarian and commercial goods, and for people, thereby ending the blockade.

 

Oxfam is also calling on the European Union to suspend the EU-Israel upgrade process until there is a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza, and Israel provides unimpeded humanitarian access.

[nuune]

Any UN Resolution would be blocked by US, so no hope there!

[Ibtisam]

Shuttle diplomacy

 

Diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting in the Gaza Strip are moving into high gear.

 

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be shuttling across the Middle East, taking in Egypt - which mediated a recent six-month truce between Hamas and Israel - as well as Jerusalem, the Palestinian West Bank town of Ramallah and Syria.

 

Mr Sarkozy's Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, is part of an EU delegation, which has met Egyptian President Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm al Sheikh.

 

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said that Egypt could play a vital role in easing the conflict in Gaza.

 

"We would like very much to obtain a ceasefire - the sooner the better... The co-operation with Egypt is going to be fundamental."

 

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said it was vital to get food and medical supplies into Gaza to ensure hospitals were able to function.

 

She said: "We know fuel, food, water, wheat - all that is missing. We want the hospitals to work, and indeed, for that we know that politically to get a ceasefire as quickly as possible."

 

Israel has said it will allow more aid into Gaza later, and that 80 trucks would cross from Israel carrying food and medicines.

 

 

BBc News

[Ibtisam]

Propaganda war: trusting what we see?

 

 

Israel has tried to take the initiative in the propaganda war over Gaza but, in one important instance, its version has been seriously challenged.

 

The incident raises the question of how to interpret video taken from the air.

 

Israel released video of an air attack on 28 December, which appeared to show rockets being loaded onto a lorry. The truck and those close to it were then destroyed by a missile.

 

This was clear evidence, the Israelis said, of how accurate their strikes were and how well justified. A special unit it has set up to coordinate its informational plan put the video onto YouTube as part of its effort to use modern means of communications to get Israel's case across.

 

The YouTube video has a large caption on it saying "Grad missiles being loaded onto the Hamas vehicle." As of Saturday morning UK time, more than 260,000 people had watched it.

 

It turned out, however, that a 55-year-old Gaza resident named Ahmed Sanur, or Samur, claimed that the truck was his and that he and members of his family and his workers were moving oxygen cylinders from his workshop.

 

 

Ahmed Sanur is challenging Israel's claim that rockets were targeted

 

This workshop had been damaged when a building next door was bombed by the Israelis and he was afraid of looters, he said.

 

The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem put Mr Sanur's account on its website, together with a photograph of burned out oxygen cylinders.

 

Mr Sanur said that eight people, one of them his son, had been killed. He subsequently told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz: "These were not Hamas, they were our children... They were not Grad missiles.".

 

The Israeli response was that the "materiel" was being taken from a site that had stored weapons. The video remains on You Tube.

 

But the incident shows how an apparently definitive piece of video can turn into something much more doubtful.

 

 

B'Tselem said these cannisters were near the destroyed truck

 

It is reminiscent of an event in the Nato war against Serbia over Kosovo in 1999. In that case, a video taken from the air seemed to show a military convoy which was then attacked.

 

On the ground however it was discovered that the "trucks" were in fact tractors towing cartloads of civilian refugees, many of whom were killed.

 

The Israeli propaganda effort is being directed to achieve two main aims.

 

The first is to justify the air attacks. The second is to show that there is no humanitarian calamity in Gaza.

 

Both these aims are intended to place Israel in a strong position internationally and to enable its diplomacy to act as an umbrella to fend off calls for a ceasefire while the military operation unfolds.

 

Israel has pursued the first aim by being very active in getting its story across that Hamas is to blame. The sight of Hamas rockets streaking into Israel has been helpful in this respect.

 

It has also allowed trucks in with food aid and has stressed that it will not let people starve, even if they go short.

 

Israel appears to think its efforts are working.

 

One of its spokespeople, who has regularly appeared on the international media, Major Avital Leibovich, said: "Quite a few outlets are very favourable to Israel."

 

Ban on foreign media

 

Israel has bolstered its approach by banning foreign correspondents from Gaza, despite a ruling from the Israeli Supreme Court.

 

The Arab television news channel Al Jazeera is operating there and its reports have been graphic and have affected opinion across the Arab world. The BBC also has its local bureau hard at work.

 

But the absence of reporters from major organisations has meant, for example, that Mr Samur's story has not been as widely told as it probably would have been, or his account subject to an on-the-spot examination.

 

Meanwhile Israel has received good coverage of the threats and damage to its own towns and communities.

 

Whether Israel retains any propaganda initiative is not all certain. Pictures of dead and wounded children have undermined its claim to pinpoint accuracy and the longer this goes on, the greater the potential for world public opinion to swing against it, with diplomatic pressure building for a cessation.

 

Its presentational problems would be hugely increased if it engaged in a ground operation, which would bring with it more pictures of death and destruction.

 

Update: several readers have e-mailed to ask whether I believe Hamas. One said I had "bought into" Hamas propaganda. Another that I should have dealt with Hamas' claims: "What's missing speaks volumes about your one-sidedness."

 

I do not believe anyone's "propaganda." We seek to verify all claims, from whatever source. One of the main claims in Gaza at the moment is the serious situation for the population. Having reported from Gaza many times over the years, I know how crowded parts of it are and how dependent the people are on food aid from the UN. This means they have no other source of supply but equally, if the system is working, they should be getting enough to get by on. The problem is that foreign correspondents cannot get in to establish the exact situation for themselves.

 

Paul.Reynolds-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

[Oz]

Bullsh!t British or other countries, such as America or Europe, are condemning actions of Israeli. If anything they are helping Israeli buy more time to kill Palestinian's :mad: .

[Abtigiis]

I am amazed by the naivity of some here. Do they realise Sarkozy is working on the schedule of the IDF?

 

Conspiracy theory aside, I can understand why some fail to see the glaring fact that Israrel is above any law because of the support it gets from EU and US!!

 

Stop posting nonesense, please. Dacaayada reer galbeedka yaan la wadwadin, waan og nahay in ay wada socdaane.

[Ibtisam]

Israels ground invasion of the Gaza strip has started. As Israel continues its' brutality, let us continue our support for the Palestinian people and pressure on our government ad media.

 

1. Call for Sanctions on Israel:

Sing the petition online: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http...l-Sanctions %2F

 

2. Galloway taken off air!

George Galloway's popular radio show which goes out every Friday and Saturday from 10pm has been cancelled without warning tonight - and without a full explanation to his vast army of listeners.

 

The only conclusion drawn so far, is that this is an unprecedented attack on freedom of speech and the sort of censorship we have come to expect from dictatorships, certainly not democracies.

SGS - Stop Gaza Slaughter, founded by peace activists Ghada Razuki and Yvonne Ridley believe this is just part of the Zionist onslaught on anyone who disagrees with the brutal actions of the Israeli military.

Yvonne Ridley said: "I called Talksport tonight and asked them why George Galloway's show had been cancelled. I was told that they were introducing replacement host Ian Collins so he could bring some 'independent coverage' to the situation in Gaza.

 

"This is an outrage and direct interference with a popular host's show simply because he does not tow the line as far as the Zionists are concerned and he gives voice to those who would not ordinarily have their pro-Palestinian views heard or even tolerated.

 

"This is not a victory for anyone, even the enemies of Galloway who often phone in to challenge his opinions, but it is a disaster for free speech and a free media. Sadly it is another blow for freedom of expression in Gordon Brown's Britain."

 

If you want to challenge Talksport about the decision to axe Galloway's show last night call 0871 722 3344 and make your views heard.