Perhaps suggesting a larger-scale planned offensive, recent violent Israeli outbreaks struck Gaza, the West Bank, and Israeli/Lebanon border, the first there since the summer 2006 war.
Like Cast Lead, it was Israeli aggression ~ violent, lawless and unrelenting, a scorched-earth blitzkrieg, inflicting vast destruction, causing billions in damage, killing over 1,000 Lebanese, injuring thousands more, and displacing around a million others (about one-fourth of the country's four million population), including over 300,000 children fleeing north for their lives. In the end, Hezbollah handed Israel a humiliating defeat. Perhaps revenge is planned.
On August 4, Ma'an News reported that Israeli and Lebanese troops clashed ~ exchanging fire, killing four Lebanese citizens, including three soldiers. One Israeli soldier was killed. Reports said violence erupted after Israeli soldiers crossed the border, then tried uprooting a tree to install a surveillance camera and equipment, a chain of events leaving five dead. An IDF spokesman said soldiers hadn't entered Lebanon, but were between the UN-administered Blue Line and Israel's border fence.
"On Tuesday morning, Israel requested "coordination" with UNIFIL to carry out another "exposing" operation on the border fence. UNIFIL asked the IDF to postpone the operation, because its commander is abroad. The IDF didn't care. UNIFIL won't stop us.
At noon the tree-cutters set out. The Lebanese and UNIFIL soldiers shouted at them to stop. In Lebanon they say their soldiers also fired warning shots in the air. If they did, it didn't stop the IDF.
The tree branches were cut and blood was shed on both sides of the border. Shed in vain." ~ Gideon Levy, Ha'aretz, Aug 5
Lebanese accounts had Israeli soldiers in the area, removing trees to install surveillance equipment. Israel called it "routine maintenance." Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned what he called Israeli violation of Lebanese sovereignty.
Lebanon's parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, wants a complaint against Israel filed with the UN Security Council.
Israel may file its own in response, its Foreign Ministry saying "Israel sees the firing on an IDF force which acted in coordination with UNIFEL (Blue Helmets) in the border region in the last hours a blunt violation of Security Resolution 1701."
Photo above was just the start of provocation movements by the Israelis.
Hariri wants the UN to demand Israel implement Resolution 1701, calling for demilitarization of the area within the Blue Line where UNIFEL troops are stationed. Throughout its history, Israel has spurned all UN resolutions criticizing its policies and actions.
On August 3, Haaretz writer Jack Khoury headlined, "(Hassan) Nasrallah: Hezbollah will respond if Israel attacks Lebanon's army."
In a speech marking four years since the end of the 2006 war, Hezbollah's leader said:
"I say honestly, that in any place where the Lebanese army will be assaulted and there's a presence for the resistance, and it is capable, the resistance will not stand silent, or quiet or restrained....Israel's aggression against Lebanon has not stopped, and what happened today only proves that.Since the ceasefire and until today,
Israel has blatantly violated
(the UN Security Council resolution)
more than 7,000 times,
and no one has lifted a finger,
not even the Security Council."
He also praised Lebanon's army and said Hezbollah was on highest alert during the incident.
"I was personally in contact with (Hezbollah) commanders in the area, and I asked them not to act before receiving a direct order. We announced that we would not initiate any activity as long as we did not receive authorization from the highest command of the Lebanese army."
On August 5, Haaretz writer Gideon Levy headlined, "Only we're allowed," saying:
"After Tuesday's border clash, Israel will continue to ignore UNIFEL and the Lebanese army....Those bastards, the Lebanese, changed the rules. Scandalous. Word is, they have a brigade commander who's determined to protect his country's sovereignty. Scandalous.
The explanation here was that he's "indoctrinating his troops" ~ only Israel is allowed to do that, of course ~ and that this was "the spirit of the commander" and that he's "close to Hezbollah. The nerve. "
(The outspoken brave Levy's sarcasm is a source of delight)
Levy explained that in Gaza a "fence is a fence." Getting near it is enough to get shot and killed. In the West Bank, nearly the entire Separation Wall ignores the Green Line. Palestinians are forbidden to cross.
In Lebanon, it's different. Israel makes its own rules, ignoring "fences," crossing the border illegally, invading Lebanese air space, at times aggressively. Until 2000, Israeli forces occupied South Lebanon for 18 years, its so-called "security zone." Today, all Palestine is occupied since 1967.
"We're allowed" to be there.
Palestinians "aren't allowed" to resist. "
We're allowed" to enter Lebanon.
"They're forbidden" from reacting.
Try it, and "Lebanon must learn a lesson,
and we will teach it."
And what about us?
We don't have any lessons to learn.
We'll continue to ignore UNIFEL,
UN resolutions,
the rule of law.
Israeli Provocations in Gaza
Six days of Israeli air strikes left several dead and dozens wounded. In addition, IDF shellfire killed one Palestinian and wounded two or more others. The attacks are the latest provocations occurring regularly without warning.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported the air strikes, one against Hamas member 'Isa al-Batran from the al-Boreij refugee camp, another against Gaza City's runway, targeting security vehicles near the presidential compound. Neighboring homes and buildings were damaged. Residents were terrified. At the same time, tunnels on the Gaza-Egypt border were attacked, ones providing essential supplies prohibited under siege. No casualties were reported.
The next day, a missile killed Izziddin al-Qassam Brigade member 'Isa Abdul Hadi al-Batran in Central Gaza, the attack destroying area residential structures. Earlier assassination attempts failed, the latest taking his life, his wife and five children.
Near Erez crossing with no provocation, Israeli snipers shot three workers, collecting materials from rubble stockpiles. Israel maintains a 67 square km Gazan agricultural area "no-go zone," regularly shooting Palestinians who enter, including farmers on their own land.
PCHR called the attacks "part of a series of the Israeli war crimes committed which reflect (its) disregard for the lives of Palestinians."
On August 2, a massive explosion rocked Gaza's Deir al-Balah refugee camp injuring 58, including 13 children and nine women, one suffering a miscarriage as a result. It also destroyed seven houses and damaged 30 others.
The Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas' armed wing) issued an August 3 press release saying:
"We confirm that what happened
resulted from a Zionist security operation
intended to assassinate field leaders in the" Brigades.
Eyewitnesses said bombs placed in a house belonging to senior Hamas official Alaa al-Danaf exploded, initial reports saying Israeli missile strikes caused it. Al-Danaf wasn't killed.
On August 4, in a series of daily attacks, an Israeli air strike killed one Palestinian and wounded another east of Khan Younis in Gaza. Nearby residents are reminded of last winter's Cast Lead, again seeing dead, wounded, destruction, and scattered debris, part of Israel's campaign to traumatize them.
PCHR launched a
"serious and comprehensive investigation" to determine what happened in Deir al-Balah ~ whether stored bombs exploded, sabotage occurred, or other factors were involved. Israeli involvement is always suspected, especially since days of air strikes preceded it, regular attacks against Gazan civilians, leaving dead and wounded behind.
Preceding the latest attacks,
Ha'aretz reported rockets fired
at Israel's southern port city of Eilat.
No casualties were reported.
Another struck Aqaba, Jordan,
killing one civilian and wounding four others.
Israel blamed Hamas,
but Jordanian security forces said
they came from Egypt's Sinai
or southern Jordan, not Gaza,
Hamas strongly denying involvement.
More false flags from Mossad? It certainly would not be the first time since Zionists have never balked at shooting even their own to make a point.
Since Cast Lead ended in January 2009,
Hamas maintained a unilateral ceasefire,
Israel violating theirs repeatedly.
The recent air and ground attacks the latest provocations, were countered by Palestinian resistance factions (unaffiliated with Hamas), firing one or more Grad-type rockets, hitting an area in Ashkelon, Israehttp://snippits-and-slappits.blogspot.com/l. No deaths or injuries were reported.
On August 1, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights condemned the Israeli attacks, warned of new escalation, and asked the international community to intervene "to ensure that civilians and their property are protected in the occupied Palestinian territory."
IDF SHOOT AND INJURE
PALESTINIAN REPORTERS AT PEACEFUL PROTEST
Regular West Bank Incursions and Repression
In late July, PCHR reported the following:
~ Israel continued to impose free movement restrictions throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including access to the city; currently 630 permanent manned and unmanned checkpoints are maintained as well as 60 ~ 80 "flying" (temporary) ones erected every week;
~ Separation Wall construction continues, nearly all on confiscated Palestinian land, around 12% of the West Bank when completed;
~ at least 65% of the main roads leading to 18 Palestinian communities are closed or fully controlled by Israeli forces;
~ around 500 km of restricted roads cross the West Bank; one-third or more of the Territory, including East Jerusalem, is inaccessible to Palestinians without very hard to get permits;
~ peaceful demonstrators are regularly assaulted, injured, arrested, and at times killed;
BIL'IN PEACE WALK, JULY 16, 2010
~ in one week, Israeli forces conducted 25 incursions into West Bank communities, and five others in Gaza; WB ones included al-Mazra'a al-Gharbiya village near Ramallah; 'Anata village near Jerusalem; Jayous village near Qaqlilya; the al-Fawar refugee camp near Hebron; 'Allar and Baqa al-Sharqiya villages near Tulkarm; Dura, Ethna, Bani Na'im, Sa'ir, Nouba, and Beit Oula villages near Hebron; the town of Salfit; al-Shawawra village near Bethlehem; al-Zawia village near Salfit; 'Anabta and Kufor al-Labad villages near Tulkarm; the city of Tulkarm; the city of Qalqilya; Shwaika suburb near Tulkarm; Jalbourn and Deir Abu Da'if villages near Jenin; and on August 5 the Al-Frahen area near Khan Younis in central Gaza with bulldozers and tanks, firing on farmers and other civilians; no injuries were reported;
IDF SHOOTING FARMERS FOR SPORT
~ in all of them, excessive force was used;
streets were patrolled;
homes invaded and searched;
contents damaged or destroyed;
arrests made;
and civilians shot;
one death was reported, others wounded.
What happens regularly throughout the Territories is in violation of international law, which Israel hasn't recognized, respected, or obeyed for over six decades, targeting protected persons and citizens they're supposed to safeguard.
Why PCHR and other human rights organizations want Fourth Geneva's High Contracting Parties (HCPs) to fulfill "their legal and moral responsibility (to) ensure Israel's respect for Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, (and) take effective steps" to demand compliance, what must and will happen with or without HCP help, pressure building to assure it, but not soon or easily.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
BONUS INSIGHT ~ A MUST READ FOR ALL
This is an old piece but there is definitely information that makes it worth a few moments to read. ANYTHING that helps us understand the insanity of the Israeli military is worth the time.
By Linda S. Heard
Online Journal Contributing Writer
Nov 30, 2005
The other day I was handed the translation of a paper written by Israeli journalist Oded Yinon as far back as 1982. Ah! Old news, I thought. I'll get around to browsing through it one of these days. When later, the person who proffered the document, asked me about my conclusions, I grabbed my spectacles and sat down for what I thought would be a dull read. How wrong I was! Yinon, who was attached to Israel's Foreign Ministry, published his paper, titled "A Strategy for Israel in the 1980s," in Kivunim (Directions) a "journal for Judaism and Zionism," and if the Association of Arab-American University graduates hadn't widely distributed the article, it might have disappeared down the memory hole. Unfortunately, as the document is 11 pages long, I can only give you the gist but it can be found in its entirety on the Internet. The basic premises of the plan are these:
In order to survive, Israel
must become an imperial regional power
and must also ensure the break-up
of all Arab countries
so that the region may be carved up
into small ineffectual states.Yinon described the Arab-Muslim world as
"a temporary house of cards put together by foreigners and arbitrarily divided into states, all made up of combinations of minorities and ethnic groups which are hostile to one another."
He then goes on to predict that some of these states face ethnic social destruction from within "and in some a civil war is already raging." The writer goes on to bemoan Israel's relinquishment of the Sinai to Egypt under the Camp David Peace Treaty due to that area's "oil, gas and other natural resources." Yinon then predicts that if Egypt is divided and torn apart some other Arab countries will cease to exist in their present form and a Christian Coptic state would be founded in Upper Egypt. (I always wondered why Egypt was referred to as 'the prize' in a 2002 Rand presentation to the Pentagon at the behest of chief neo-conservative and friend of Israel Richard Perle) Reader, the following is going to seriously set you thinking. Dear Lord these people are seriously evil and methodical to boot. Truly the world would be so much happier had they never existed, but perhaps that is what makes heaven heaven ~ an absence of Jews. NOW HOW ABOUT THIS? "The dissolution of Syria and Iraq later on into ethnically or religiously unique areas such as in Lebanon is Israel's primary target in the long run, while the dissolution of the military power of those states serves as the primary short term target," he writes. "Iraq, rich in oil on the one hand and internally torn on the other, is guaranteed as a candidate for Israel's targets," says Yinon. Its dissolution is even more important for us than that of Syria. In the short run it is Iraqi power which constitutes the greatest threat to Israel." "Every kind of inter-Arab confrontation will assist us in the short run and will shorten the way to the more important aim of breaking up Iraq into denominations as in Syria and Lebanon. In Iraq, three or more states will exist around the three major cities: Basra, Baghdad and Mosul." Remember that Yinon's paper was penned in 1982. But the writer also makes grave mistakes of judgment. For instance, he felt certain that both Jordan and Egypt would revert to Nasser-style Pan-Arab philosophies and break their treaties with Israel, which was what Yinon hoped they would do. But it didn't happen. Yinon further predicted This was because Yinon wanted to see the transfer of Palestinian Arabs from the West Bank into Jordan. Was Yinon's paper the precursor of the 1996 "Clean Break: A new strategy for securing the realm" document authored by current and former Bush administration leading lights, such as Richard Perle, Douglas Feith as well as David and Meyrav Wurmser on behalf of Benjamin Netanyahu? "Clean Break" advised the Israeli government to "publicly question Syria's legitimacy," contain Syria and strike selected targets, and "reject" the land for peace concept related to the Golan Heights. It was also proposed that Syria should be isolated and surrounded by a friendly regime in Iraq, while Arab states should be challenged as "police states" lacking legitimacy. Isn't this exactly what is happening today as part of Bush's democratization policy? Richard Perle ~ who journalist and film-maker John Pilger describes as one of George W. Bush's thinkers ~ later pops up again in the 2000 Project for the New American Century document, which lays out the neocon vision for US domination of the land, seas, skies and space. Pilger writes in December 2002: "Regaining the Sinai Peninsula is therefore a political priority which is obstructed by Camp David . . . , he writes . . ."and we will have to act in order to return the situation to the status quo which existed in Sinai prior to Sadat's visit and the mistaken peace agreement signed with him in March 1979."
"there is no chance that Jordan will continue to exist in its present structure for a long time and Israel's policy both in war and in peace, ought to be directed at the liquidation of Jordan."
"It is not possible to go on living in this country in the present situation without separating the two nations, the Arabs to Jordan and the Jews to the areas west of the river," he says.
"I interviewed Perle when he was advising Reagan; and when he spoke about 'total war', I mistakenly dismissed him as mad. He recently used the term again in describing America's 'war on terror'. 'No stages,' he said. 'This is total war. We are fighting a variety of enemies. There are lots of them out there.
"'All this talk we are going to do Afghanistan, then we will do Iraq . . . this is entirely the wrong way to go about it. If we just let our vision of the world go forth, and we embrace it entirely and we don't try to piece together clever diplomacy, but just wage a total war . . . our children will sing great songs about us years from now'."
Those children that survive, maybe,
but I'll bet that Perle and gang
are far more likelyto go down in the annals of history
alongside mankind's
most brutal, ruthless and self-serving.
Linda S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.
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