Today in Palestine!

Aid agencies say Gaza needs food, medicine — and body bags
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSB81320

Medical committee appeals for Ramallah-area blood donors
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34638

Limited aid in Gaza: 80 truck loads to 1.5 million people
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4413&Itemid=1

Israel-oPt: Water, sewage system “collapsing” in Gaza, says official
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/FBUO-7MZHZH?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P

535 Palestinians killed, 107 of them are children
On the tenth day of the unprecedented Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip, the southern Gaza Strip’s Rafah is being targeted by ground forces. Israeli warplanes fired missiles into a Gaza home killing seven family members including the parents and five children.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4411&Itemid=1

OCHA release updates on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza
OCHA, The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, issued on Sunday a humanitarian update of the Gaza crisis since the Israeli military ground operation.
http://www.imemc.org/article/58340

IOF troops slaughter two Palestinian families
IOF troops have committed Monday morning two hideous massacres against two Palestinian families consisting of fathers, mothers and eight children in the Gaza Strip when they bombed their homes.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

Palestinians: Mother, 4 children killed in IDF Gaza offensive
Gaza medical personnel said a woman and four of her children were among the 35 Palestinians killed on Sunday during an Israel Defense Forces ground offensive in the coastal territory.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052299.html

Gaza: Oxfam supported health worker killed, ambulance destroyed
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 worker 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.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/220803/1385eff77cb7b152c8f0b72dc6f0ee12.htm

Israel rains fire on Gaza with phosphorus shells
Israel is believed to be using controversial white phosphorus shells to screen its assault on the heavily populated Gaza Strip yesterday. The weapon, used by British and US forces in Iraq, can cause horrific burns but is not illegal if used as a smokescreen.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5447590.ece

Depleted uranium found in Gaza victims
Medics tell Press TV they have found traces of depleted uranium in some Gaza residents wounded in Israel’s ground offensive on the strip.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=80443§ionid=351020202

Israeli forces shoot Palestinian teenager near Nablus
Nablus- Ma’an – Israeli soldiers shot a Palestinian teenager on Sunday evening during a military operation in the West Bank village of Beita, near the city of Nablus. During the incursion, Israeli forces imposed a curfew on Beita as well as Beer Quza and the nearby village of Huwara.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34605

Gaza: Hundreds leave their homes and take refuge in UN schools
Hundreds of Palestinian families has left their homes and taken a refuge in UN run schools in Gaza on Monday.
http://www.imemc.org/article/58342

Palestinian in Knesset: Zionist left most brutal, calls for war crimes tribunal
When United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Richard Falk suggested a war crimes tribunal for Israeli leaders because of the siege, they denied him entry. That was before the air and now ground campaigns that have killed 500 Palestinians in just over a week. Another call is coming from inside the Israeli Knesset.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4392&Itemid=1

The Israeli military kidnaps four civilians from Jenin and nearby village
Four Palestinian civilians were kidnapped by the Israeli military during a morning invasion, which targeted the northern West Bank city of Jenin, and nearby Qabatiya town and Al Arrafa village.
http://www.imemc.org/article/58337

Arab League Chief Astonished by Livni Remark on Gaza
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa said on Saturday it was astonishing that Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni had declared that there was no humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, after a week of an Israeli aerial offensive on the coastal strip.
“I am greatly surprised by, and I reject, the words of the Israeli foreign minister who asks: ’Is there a humanitarian crisis? There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza,’” Mussa said.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=69102&language=en

Norwegian Doctor in Gaza invites Livni to see the civilians Israel “is not” hitting
Norwegian doctor Mas Gilbert, currently in Gaza assisting the beleaguered medical staff, called Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni’s statements alleging that the Israeli army is not targeting civilians “lies” and urged her to visit the Gaza Strip and see the real victims of the attacks.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34585

End Game in the Gaza War? Part II
The evidence shows otherwise: as of January 2, according to a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), “80% of the [Gazan] population cannot support themselves and are dependent on humanitarian assistance. This figure is increasing. According to the World Food Programme, the population is facing a food crisis [with] food shortages of flour, rice, sugar, dairy products, milk, canned foods and fresh meats. The imports entering are insufficient to support the population or to service infrastructure maintenance and repair needs. The health system is overwhelmed having been weakened by an 18-month blockade [and] utilities are barely functioning: the only electric power plant has shut down [leaving] some 250,000 people in central and northern Gaza [without any] electricity at all due to the damage to fifteen electricity transformers during the air strikes. The water system provides running water once every 5-7 days and the sanitation system cannot treat the sewage and is dumping 40 million liters of raw sewage into the sea daily. Fuel for heating . . . and cooking gas are no longer available in the market.”
http://bostonuniversity.blogspot.com/2009/01/end-game-in-gaza-war-part-ii.html

Gaza phone lines expected to collapse soon
The telephone network in the Gaza Strip is on the verge of collapse after being bombarded by the Israeli military, the Palestinian Telecommunication Group said on Sunday evening.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34604

Attack on power grids exacerbates disaster, hospitals cannot run soley on generators
Power outages went from partial to full in the Gaza Strip last night. The Palestinian Energy Authority warned of humanitarian health and environmental disasters. Unprecedented power outages swept over the Strip caused not by the ban on imports of fuel for the plant, but by Israeli forces destroying the electricity grids.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4395&Itemid=1

Ahronoth: Israel started to look for a political solution to the war on Gaza
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that the Israeli government has started to look for a political solution to the war after the first moments of the ground military operation against Gaza.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

Report: Six Israeli soldiers injured in Gaza City
Six Israeli soldiers were injured in clashes with Palestinian resistance fighters at the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City at dawn. According to Radio Israel, the soldiers were moderately injured, yet an Israeli electronic website said two soldiers were evacuated to Beilinson Hospital near Tel Aviv by helicopter.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34622

Eyewitness Reports/Testimonials
B’TselemTestimony: Five girls killed when IDF bombs near-by mosque
http://www.btselem.org/English/Testimonies/20081227_Five_daughters_of_Baulusha_Family_
killed_in_Bombing.asp

B’TselemTestimony: 8-year-old girl and aunt are killed in their home by bombing
http://www.btselem.org/English/Testimonies/20081228_Woman_and_child_killed_in_a_Zaitun
_bombing_in_Gaza.asp

B’TselemTestimonies: Vegetable merchants killed in bombing of Gaza police building
http://www.btselem.org/English/Testimonies/20081227_Green_grocer_killed_in_market_al
_witness_Falit.asp

What the medics see, do, and are subjected to; uncensored
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2009/01/04/journal-what-the-medics-see-do-and-are-subjected
 to-uncensored/

Jabalia 6pm Saturday to midday Sunday
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2009/01/04/journal-jabalia-6pm-sat-til-sun-midday/

Interview: Alberto Arce in Jabaliya
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2009/01/04/interview-alberto-arce-in-jabaliya/

Voices from the frontline
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/05/israel-gaza

Israel shells damage al-Awda hospital, Jabaliya
“Two consecutive shells just landed in the busy car park 15 meters from the entrance to the emergency room of the Al Awda hospital. The entrance of the emrgency rooml was damaged. At the time of the shelling Ambulances were bringing in the wounded that keep pouring in. Medical teams and facilities are being targeted. Nowhere is safe” Alberto Arce (Spain) – International Solidarity Movement.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2009/01/05/israel-shells-damage-al-awda-hospital-jabaliya/

Where even emergency generators break down, By Amira Hass
In addition to an overwhelming influx of the wounded, Gaza’s hospitals are facing a new problem: They are rapidly running out of fuel for the generators they depend on for power. Much of the Gaza Strip, including all of Gaza City, has been without electricity since Saturday night, when the Israeli ground operation destroyed the Strip’s main power line, along with six other lines that transport electricity from Israel to various parts of Gaza. A line that carries electricity from Egypt to the Rafah area was also brought down by the Israeli attack, and Gaza’s own power station has been closed since December 30 due to a lack of fuel. The hospitals are thus entirely dependent on generators.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052607.html

Testimony: Five girls in one family killed by Israeli bombingOn Monday [29 December], around 11:50pm, I woke up and heard my husband calling to me: “Samira, Samira, they shelled the mosque, get up and see, and recite the Shahada [Prayer of the dying].” It was dark, and I couldn’t see anything. I recited the Shahada. I felt something heavy choking me and pressing on my body. Samira Balousha testifies to the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem about the deaths of her five daughters.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10112.shtml

Testimony: “They found her body in the kitchen”
I turned on the generator to turn on the light. Then we heard the sound of planes in the sky. I heard a buzz and within a few seconds, I found myself under ruins. Everything collapsed so quickly, like in an earthquake. The smoke was thick. I couldn’t see any of my family, who had been sitting with me a few moments earlier. Abdallah Kashku testifies to the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem on the Israeli bomb strike that killed his daughter and sister-in-law.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10113.shtml

Wounded Gaza family lay bleeding for 20 hours
Al A’aiedy tried to summon help on his cell phone, but Gaza’s cell phone network is collapsing. Shells have hit transponders, there is no electricity and no diesel fuel to run the generators. Every time the telephone works, it is a minor miracle. At about noon Sunday, Al A’aiedy finally managed to reach S., who called me. There was nothing else that S., who lives nearby, could do.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052606.html

Affidavit from Gaza
I, the undersigned, Maher Najjar, having been put on notice that I must tell the truth and nothing but the truth and that if I do not do so, I will be subject to criminal penalties under the law, hereby declare as follows...
http://www.imemc.org/article/58341

Our spirit will not die
Here in Gaza, we citizens are starving and battling for survival. How can this possibly advance peace?, * Sami Abdel-Shafi, * The Guardian, Monday 5 January 2009, * Article history, Yesterday morning, I hurried up to the rooftop of my home to catch a glimpse of the sun rising. Columns of black smoke stretched sideways over Gaza’s horizon, eerily symbolising how Israel’s ground assault has already inflicted more indiscriminate suffering on ordinary people.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/05/israel-palestine-gaza

Scared but steadfast in Gaza
My family is from Karatiya village a few kilometers away from the Gaza Strip in what is now called Israel. Karatiya is one of the 450 towns in historical Palestine that were cleansed by Zionist militias in 1948, displacing my family along with hundreds of thousands of other Palestinians. I now live in Maghazi refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, which is currently being bombarded by Israel from tanks along the border, American-manufactured F-16s in the sky, and from the sea. The Electronic Intifada correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from the besieged Gaza Strip.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10116.shtml

Tanks, rockets, death and terror: a civilian catastrophe unfolding
It has never been like this before. The assault is coming from the sky, the sea and the ground. The explosion of shells, the gunfire from the tanks and the missiles from planes and helicopters are incessant. The sky is laced with smoke, grey here, black there, as the array of weaponry leaves its distinctive trail.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/05/civilian-catasrophe-gaza

The death and life of my father
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.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-death-and-life-of-my-father
 1225793.html

Reactions from Nablus: Gazans are not treated as human
Messages from the West Bank on Gaza include deep sadness and reproach to conspicuously absent Arab leaders. Dr. Ghassan Hamdan of Medical Relief in the northern West Bank’s Nablus says, “What is happening in Gaza to the Palestinians is not an assault on them only. It affects the dignity of the entire nation. How can we live when our brothers and sisters are dying by the hundreds in the Gaza Strip.”
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4409&Itemid=1

Thousands flee guns and shells as Israel tightens grip on Gaza
Israeli tanks and troops seized control of large parts of the Gaza Strip yesterday, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes as relentless artillery and gunfire killed at least 40 more civilians, including children. Some were killed when an Israeli shell hit Gaza City’s central market.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/05/israel-palestine-gaza-attacks

Gaza’s worsening nightmare
AFP - The shelling is incessant, hospitals are overwhelmed, children are shell-shocked, the Gaza nights are miserably cold in the windowless homes. And residents fear their nightmare could worsen.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090105/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictgazapalestinian

For a child, war means mum reads you stories
If you are under 13 years old and protected by a loving family, anything can be fun, even taking refuge from Israeli bombardment in the hell that is the Gaza Strip.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/for-a-child-war-means-mum-reads
 you-stories-1225799.html

Gaza family torn apart by war
Shifa hospital is Gaza’s main hospital - it’s at breaking point with the amount of casualties being brought in. Nick Walshe has the story of one family torn apart by this war. The report contains very graphic images - viewers may find the contents disturbing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsFQ_ZJ5s44

Gazans lose last lifeline as warplanes blast tunnels
Abu Ali vows that once the war in Gaza ends he will quickly repair his tunnel under the frontier with Egypt, one of the many underground links used by Palestinian smugglers that have been blasted by Israeli warplanes. “Life cannot go on in Gaza if the tunnels are destroyed - they’re our only opening to the outside world,” he said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=98831

Profiles of victims
Christine, another child martyr in Gaza

In a phone conversation today, from Gaza the Latin Patriarchate Church priest, Father Manaweil Musallam, clearly shaken, said, “her name is Christine, a tenth grade student. Her father is a doctor and she lived near the YMCA in Al-Remal area. She died of fear. Since the war started she felt apprehensive of the danger. She suffered from neurotic disorder and a hysteric situation just as many children are suffering. On Friday, during the shooting of F-16 missiles, she fell on the ground due to the dreadful sound. Her father tried to help, but he couldn’t. Then he held her in his arms hoping to rescue her in the hospital, but she died before reaching there.”
http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/01/04/sam-bahour-christine-another-child-martyr-of-gaza/

Pictures of the devastation
http://palestinianpundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/photos-of-israeli-military-casualties.html
http://umkahlil.blogspot.com/2009/01/images-from-palestine-january-4.html
http://debunkthemyths.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-is-what-zionism-is-doing-to-people.html
http://palestinianpundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/valiant-iof-put-end-to-these-hamas.html
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/01/direct-hit.html

Videos
http://palestinianpundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/al-jazeera-video-inside-story-what-is.html
http://palestinianpundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/guardian-video-civilian-casualties.html

Truce
Israel seeking ceasefire arrangement that excludes Hamas
Israel is seeking a diplomatic agreement to end the war in Gaza, as long as the deal excludes one of the parties to the conflict: Hamas. According to a decision made on Sunday by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Israel will press for this arrangement with European leaders who are in the region on Monday in an effort to bring about a ceasefire.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34617

Egypt to demand Hamas accept immediate truce in Gaza
Egyptian officials said Monday that Cairo was set to demand an immediate cease-fire from Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as Israeli forces moved into their 10th day of a military offensive on the coastal territory.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052808.html

Hamas to send delegation to Egypt: Al-Jazeera
AFP - Hamas will send a delegation to Egypt on Monday for talks on the war in Gaza, Al-Jazeera television reported.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090105/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictgazaegypthamas

Arab government reactions to the violence in Gaza
PA keeping lid on Hamas protests in West Bank
The Palestinian Authority Police has proven capable of quelling violent protests and maintaining law and order in the West Bank during Israel’s military offensive against Hamas in Gaza, Israeli security officials said Sunday. “The Palestinian police have succeeded in dealing with the demonstrations in the West Bank over the last week,” Judea and Samaria Police spokesman Ch.-Supt. Danny Poleg said.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230733174742&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Analysis: Abbas tries to regain foothold in Gaza
AP - With Hamas weakened by Israel’s Gaza offensive, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is trying to regain a foothold in the territory he lost to the Islamic militants in 2007.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090105/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_palestinians_abbas__foothold_analysis

Egypt denies Kadhafi’s son permission to land at airport
AFP - Egyptian authorities denied permission for Seif al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, to fly into El-Arish airport to reach the Rafah crossing to Gaza, the Kadhafi Foundation said late Sunday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090104/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictgazalibya

Gaza: Arab Complicity, Israel’s Duplicity
At 11:30am on December 27th the Israeli air force bombed Palestinian government headquarters and civilian buildings all across the Gaza Strip. Six consecutive days of attacks resulted in over 400 dead and thousands injured. In the densely populated Gaza Strip the attacks caused the death of scores of civilians. The UN reported seven school children attending UN schools dead when Israeli rockets hit a school, over a dozen traffic police officers in training were killed while Israel’s onslaught hit a prison burying inmates beneath the rubble. The hospitals are overcrowded with the dead and injured. Behind the images filling media outlets is a deeper story that needs to be realized.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14599

Egyptian Complicity Exposes Deep Fear of Iran
The death toll in the Gaza massacre has surpassed 500. Israel has rejected an EU cease-fire and is showing no sign of halting its operations, despite growing global opposition. But for the Arab world, the strongest repercussions to this conflict will be felt in Egypt.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14602

Jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi urges unity among Palestinians
The popular Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi issued a statement from his cell in an Israeli prison calling on Palestinians and the broader Arab and Muslim communities to engage in a “solidarity campaign” to halt the Israeli offensive on Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34601

US ex-envoy says Mideast two-state solution unworkable
AFP - Former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said Monday settling the Arab-Israeli conflict on the basis of a two-state solution was no longer workable and suggested giving the Palestinian territories to Egypt and Jordan.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090105/pl_afp/mideastconflictgazausmedia

PLO Executive Committee meets in Ramallah: national unity, no negotiations with Israelis
The Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee called during its meeting in the central West Bank’s Ramallah today to close ranks among parties. “There is no room for internal division while confronting the slaughter and destruction,” said President Abbas. The PLO says it is trying to bring together all of the national forces under the umbrella group.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4397&Itemid=1

International silence on Gaza draws local rage
Palestinian refugees and Lebanese angered by Arab and international silence over Israel’s military assault in Gaza continued to voice their discontent over the weekend. At the entrance of Bourj al-Barajneh camp in Beirut, young men in keffiyehs waved Palestinian flags near a collection box into which almost every passing car dropped money.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=98834

International Solidarity with Gaza
US academic group decries the targeting of schools in Gaza
California Scholars for Academic Freedom, a group of 100 scholars at 20 California institutions of higher learning, condemns in the strongest possible terms the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip that have targeted the Islamic University and other educational sites.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10111.shtml

Suspend EU-Israel Association Agreement
There’s an ugly plan afoot in the EU to reward Israel for its abominable and criminal conduct by enhancing the already handsome benefits enjoyed by the neighbourhood bully under the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14598

South African Ties to Israel under Strain
Has the internal rumpus within the ruling ANC had an impact on South Africa’s foreign policy? Or is it that an Israel gone mad has led SA to re-assess its ties with the former apartheid sanction-busting state?
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14597

Iranian military commander: Cut oil exports to Israel`s supporters
An Iranian military commander called on Islamic countries to cut oil exports to Israel’s supporters, the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052570.html

Israel collaborator recruiter punked
In addition to bombs and missiles that have killed an ever increasing number of Palestinian civilians, Israel has dropped millions of flyers on the occupied, besieged Gaza Strip. The Electronic Intifada decided to call the number provided on one such flyer. What follows is a translation of the Arabic conversation between an EI editor and an Israeli officer who identifed himself using the Arabic name “Abu Ibrahim.”
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10114.shtml

West Bank Protests
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-gaza2-2009jan04-002-
kcyjvknc,0,4367706.photo
Times Square Rally Protests Fighting in Gaza
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/nyregion/04march.html
Thousands in Montreal call for end to Gaza offensive
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090104/wl_canada_afp/mideastconflictgazacanadademo
Demo in front of UN building in Geneva screaming “we are all Palestinians”
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1965219&Language=en
Protests Against Israel Grow As Many World Leaders Condemn Invasion
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/04/protests-against-israel-g_n_155133.html
Thousands in Lebanon, Turkey protest Israel attack
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hEnNcEIZkLYEx0wEoVQcI0Dw9uLQD95GHLT81
London Solidarity
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/01/hundreds-of-shoes-in-london-yesterday-after
 demonstrators-tried-to-throw-them-into-downing-street-photo-by-fiona-hansonp.html
Greek demonstrators set banks on fire to protest IDF operation in Gaza
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052588.html
Report on Sunday’s Free Gaza protest in Portland, one of hundreds held worldwide
http://www.imemc.org/article/58339
Outraged at Gaza, Arabs vent anger at governments
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L4656276.htm
50,000 Protested in Berlin Against The Massacre of Palestinians in Gaza
http://palestinianpundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/50000-protested-in-berlin-against.html
Demonstrators walk 14 miles in Valley to protest Gaza attacks
http://www.vindy.com/news/2009/jan/04/demonstrators-walk-14-miles-in-valley-to-protest/
Demonstrations continue worldwide over Gaza violence
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090105/wl_afp/mideastconflictgazaworlddemos
Protesters in Beirut Demand Action from Arab Leaders on Gaza, Focusing on Egypt as Demonstrations Rise (VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ahmed-shihabeldin/protesters-in-beirut-dema_b_155031.html
Protesters in Jordan
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/2009154531941584.html
Thousands demonstrate in Rabat against Israeli offensive on Gaza
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/05/content_10603408.htm
Solidarity in Oaxaca
http://www.kabobfest.com/2009/01/oaxaca-struggle-is-same.html
Silicon Valley Palestinian-Americans call for end to Gaza war
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11369216?nclick_check=1
Rally in Bloomington targets Gaza incursion
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-in-bloomington-gazap,0,1431692.story
Gaza: Asian cities stage protests against Israeli strikes
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/jan/05/asia-protests-israel-gaza
Thai Muslims protest Israel’s attack on Gaza at Israeli embassy
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/05/content_10608675.htm
Demonstartions in Tubas for solidarity with Gaza
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34631

London clashes: Protesters tell of fear and panic
Demonstrators yesterday told how they feared they were going to die after riot police charged hundreds of people in an underground tunnel in London, which led to stampedes and panic. The clashes came after protesters from Saturday’s march against Israel’s attack on Gaza tried to cross London to continue their demonstration. Scotland Yard was criticised for the level of violence used by its officers and its tactics against hundreds of people ordered into an underpass as they tried to walk from Trafalgar Square to Israel’s embassy in west London.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/05/israel-palestine-protests-police

Dem leaders out of step with voters on Israel’s attack on Gaza
A new Rasmussen Reports poll — the first to survey American public opinion specifically regarding the Israeli attack on Gaza — strongly bolsters the severe disconnect between American public opinion on U.S. policy toward Israel and the consensus views expressed by America’s political leadership.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/1360270,CST-EDT-open03b.article

American Public Opinion: it is not what you think
"This Rasmussen Reports poll — the first to survey American public opinion specifically regarding the Israeli attack on Gaza — strongly bolsters the severe disconnect I documented the other day between (a) American public opinion on U.S. policy towards Israel and (b) the consensus views expressed by America’s political leadership. Not only does Rasmussen find that Americans generally “are closely divided over whether the Jewish state should be taking military action against militants in the Gaza Strip” (44-41%, with 15% undecided), but Democratic voters overwhelmingly oppose the Israeli offensive — by a 24-point margin (31-55%). By stark constrast, Republicans, as one would expect (in light of their history of supporting virtually any proposed attack on Arabs and Muslims), overwhelmingly support the Israeli bombing campaign (62-27%)."
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/01/american-public-opinion-it-is-not-what.html

Despite ruling, Israel prevents foreign journalists from entering Gaza
The Ministry of Defense refused to allow foreign correspondents to cross over from Israel into the Gaza Strip on Monday, despite a court ruling, a representative of the foreign media in Israel said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052852.html

Foreign journalists vie for the few slots to get into Gaza
Since the Israel Defense Forces operation began in the Gaza Strip late last month, Sderot has become a communications hub, mainly for journalists from around the world. Earlier this week the IDF agreed to allow eight journalists into Gaza itself, but the army is still not coming through on its promise despite the increasing pressure.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052604.html

UPDATED: Media Commentary Muted as Israel Invades
NEW YORK (Commentary) Israel launched its much-anticipated invasion of Gaza on Saturday. For over a week, U.S. media had provided largely one-sided coverage of the conflict, with little editorializing or commentary arguing against broader Israeli actions.
Most notably, after more than eight days of Israeli bombing and Hamas rocket launching in Gaza, The New York Times had produced exactly one editorial, not a single commentary by any of its columnists, and only two op-eds (one already published elsewhere). The editorial, several days ago, did argue against the wisdom of a ground invasion - - but even though that invasion had become ever more likely all week the paper did not return to this subject.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003926518

Robert Fisk: Keeping out the cameras and reporters simply doesn’t work
What is Israel afraid of? Using the old “enclosed military area” excuse to prevent coverage of its occupation of Palestinian land has been going on for years. But the last time Israel played this game – in Jenin in 2000 – it was a disaster. Prevented from seeing the truth with their own eyes, reporters quoted Palestinians who claimed there had been a massacre by Israeli soldiers – and Israel spent years denying it. In fact, there was a massacre, but not on the scale that it was originally reported.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-keeping-out-the-cameras
 and-reporters-simply-doesnt-work-1225800.html

Taghreed and her standards
Notice that when there is a claim by a Palestinian group or hospital, the New York Times always adds: “But Palestinian hospital officials said that only about six Hamas fighters had been killed since the start of the ground invasion, a figure that could not be confirmed.” They never add the qualification “could not be confirmed” when it comes to Israeli claims.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/01/taghreed-and-her-standards.html

Ethan Bronner’s new labels for Dahlan gangs
“It has consolidated its rule in the past 18 months since pushing out its rivals loyal to the more Western-oriented and moderate Fatah party of President Mahmoud Abbas, who sits in Ramallah in the West Bank.” So let me ask you, Ethan: when did Fath Movement become “moderate” and “pro-Western”? Because your own newspaper used to call it “terrorist”? Do groups become “pro-Western” and “moderate” when they start collaborating with Israel? So if Hamas members collaborate with Israel, do you then also describe those members as “pro-Western” and “modrate”? Are you kidding me here? Do you think that you are employing some fair or objective or analytical standards?
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/01/ethan-bronners-new-labels-for-dahlan.html

Rationalizing Gaza, How they do it
We all know the rationalization for Israel’s brutal invasion of the Gaza Strip. After all, it’s been reiterated endlessly over the airwaves by official and unofficial spokesmen for the Israeli government, on all channels, and with no rebuttal or skeptical perspective from Palestinians or, indeed, from anyone vaguely sympathetic to their plight. Their argument goes like this: if rockets were coming from Mexican territory and landing in San Diego, posing a threat to the life and safety of American citizens, we all know what would happen.
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=14001

Livni: PR key in winning public opinion war against Hamas
Israel’s foreign minister addressed the government’s cabinet in Jerusalem on Sunday about the ongoing assault on Gaza, presenting her plan to counter negative media coverage around the world. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni spoke about diplomatic operations, saying, “the intensive diplomatic activity of the last few days aims to alleviate the pressure for a ceasefire and to allow time for continuing the military operation in order to achieve its goals.”
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34610

Israel’s right wing tries to block Arab Movement party application for elections eligibility
A right wing Israeli political party applied to the central elections committee to prevent an Arab party from running in the coming elections.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34632

Cartoons
http://palestinianpundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/us-thwarts-un-gaza-ceasefire-by-carlos.html

Commentary
Trapped, traumatized and terrorized
My father and I made simultaneous back to back appearances on domestic CNN and CNN International last night. My father spoke calmly, eloquently, in the pitch dark of besieged Gaza, with only the the fire of Israeli bombs illuminating his world. “They are destroying everything that is beautiful and living,” he told the anchor. His hands were trembling, he confessed, as my mother and he lay on the floor of their home, where they moved their mattress far away from the windows. Laila El-Haddad writes from the US.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10115.shtml

Jamal Dajani: Day 10: Gaza Burning
Israel-Gaza Border- Day 10 and only the numbers have changed; more than 530 dead and 2,500 injured. Heavy fighting is still raging in the Gaza Strip between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters after Israel launched its ground offensive on the territory. Al Shifa’ Hospital has run out of beds to accommodate the injured as a result of the intense Israeli shelling. Many of them with less severe wounds lie on stretchers in hallways and near stairwells. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, a large number of the victims are civilians, women and children included. An entire family was wiped out by Israeli shelling from the sea; a father, a mother and their five children. Another woman who lost 7 members of her family was shown on a live feed provided by Ramattan News Agency, frantically searching for her only surviving daughter.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamal-dajani/day-10-gaza-burning_b_155177.html

What about Hamas?
Yesterday, an American asked me: But what about Hamas As`ad? I told her: it is not about Hamas anymore. As soon as Israel starts butchering Palestinians, it is no more about Hamas, and it really never was. When Israel kills, it kills Palestinians: all Palestinians, young and old, males and females, civilians and combatants but with special preference for civilians. Zionists want to fool us by invoking the ideology of Hamas as a factor, but let us not take lessons about enlightenment and secularism from an Zionist entity which since its founding has comprised obscurantist religious kooks. I have been critical of Hamas in Arabic and English but will not criticize Hamas when the entire Palestinain population is under attack from Israeli terrorist attackers. And when those bring up Hamas now, do they realize they are opting for Dahglan gangs as an alternative.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-about-hamas.html

Hamas confident of Gaza victory
A senior Hamas official says that “victory is coming” for Palestinian fighters as they battle an Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2009/01/200915132615532555.html

Gaza: Another generation of Palestinians driven from homes by Israeli invaders
Frantic families in Gaza fled advancing Israeli troops by car and on foot on Sunday to the sound of booming explosions as infantry supported by tanks thrust farther into the Hamas-run enclave. Streets remained deserted in Gaza City, capital of the battered and densely populated Palestinian territory.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=98830

Gaza, Tribal Politics and Collective Guilt
Israel’s current assault on Gaza has sparked controversy in the mainstream press. But for all their differences, critics and supporters share a fundamental assumption: that Israel, as a Western industrial democracy, accepts the Enlightenment idea of the absolute value of individual human lives, and recognizes the inalienable rights that stem from it. Against this background, Israeli officials are seen as facing a tragic dilemma: how to confront threatening forces who do not share these values – “Islamic extremists” — without sacrificing their own moral standards.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14600

Max Blumenthal: Why Aren’t More Americans Dancing To Israel’s Tune?, by Max Blumenthal
Almost as soon as the first Israeli missile struck the Gaza Strip, a veteran cheering squad suited up to support the home team. “Israel is so scrupulous about civilian life,” Charles Krauthammer claimed in the Washington Post. Echoing Krauthammer, Alan Dershowitz called the Israeli attack on Gaza, “Perfectly ’Proportionate.’” And in the New York Times, Israeli historian Benny Morris described his country’s airstrikes as “highly efficient.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/why-arent-more-americans_b_155194.html

A Hamas Coup d’État in 2007?
“Eighteen months ago, Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in a coup…” droned President Bush in his weekend radio address. “Hamas has held the people of Gaza hostage ever since their illegal coup against the forces of (Palestinian Authority) President Mahmoud Abbas,” Condoleezza Rice told reporters outside the White House January 2.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2009/01/a-hamas-coup-d%e2%80%99etat-in-2007/

Hamas looks to Hezbollah’s inspiration
The similarities between the Israeli attack on Hamas in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon in 2006 against Hezbollah are striking. And just as Israel was unable to destroy Hezbollah, despite a massive military operation, it won’t be that easy to eliminate Hamas, given its grassroots popularity. - Sami Moubayed (Jan 5,’09)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KA06Ak01.html

Hamas to Israel: You began killing your children the day you started killing ours
Addressing the public for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar spoke out against Israel, and encouraged fighters to continue their resistance.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34629

America’s Hidden Role in Hamas’s Rise to Power
No one in the mainstream media or government is willing to acknowledge America’s sordid role interfering in Palestinian politics.
http://www.alternet.org/audits/116855/?page=3

Simon Tisdall: Obama is losing a battle he doesn’t know he’s in
Barack Obama’s chances of making a fresh start in US relations with the Muslim world, and the Middle East in particular, appear to diminish with each new wave of Israeli attacks on Palestinian targets in Gaza. That seems hardly fair, given the president-elect does not take office until January 20. But foreign wars don’t wait for Washington inaugurations.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/04/obama-gaza-israel

President-Elect Obama, please put the golf club down and answer these questions from Americans
The vast majority — vast majority — of questions being submitted to Obama’s Change.gov web site right now are by thinking people. They want to know what he’s going to do about Israel’s current slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.
http://www.kabobfest.com/2009/01/please-answer-these-questions-president.html

Bringing the Arab-Israeli War Home, by Michael Scheuer
There should be no mistake among Americans about what is going on in Gaza. Although Israel has billed its invasion as an attempt to destroy Hamas and thereby protect Israelis, its main goal is to ensure that Obama is tied as tight as Gulliver to the status quo of U.S. foreign policy in the Muslim world. In addition to hurting Hamas, Israel’s invasion of Gaza was designed to and has successfully underscored the salience of Osama bin Laden’s now 12-plus-year-old message to the Muslim world.
http://www.antiwar.com/scheuer/?articleid=14000

Church of Nativity priest: 2,000 years after Christ Palestinians crucified everyday
Demonstrations took place throughout East Jerusalem and the West Bank today, with the Bethlehem governorate hosting mass marches after morning church services. In the city some 300 people took to the streets upon completion of prayers in the Church of Nativity. Father Samuel Fahim delivered a sermon focusing on justice in the holy land before hundreds of people descended on Manger Square.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4396&Itemid=1

Shalit’s bizarre predicament
Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza on December 27, the Palestinians, the Israelis and much of the world have been fixated on the situation there. For the Palestinians, the Israeli aggression has been indescribably devastating, with the death toll as of January 5 at more than 520 people, more than a third of them civilians. There is one person currently in Gaza, however, that I can’t help think is between one of the most bizarre rock and hard places ever witnessed. Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit must be thinking – between bouts of fear – that this has got to be the strangest situation he has ever found himself in.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/JBRN-7MZGVS?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P

Struggle for self-defence and the struggle for Palestinian primacy
As Israeli troops marched into Gaza alongside tanks and under cover of heavy artillery fire on Saturday night, Hamas seemed to goad them on. A spokesman appeared in a video, apparently shot in a room somewhere in Gaza, and promised the strip would become a “graveyard” for Israeli soldiers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/05/hamas-israel-palestine-gaza

Guernica Revisited
Human beings have alas short memories. Buchenwald, Auschwitz, Dachau aren’t ancient history and yet they seemed already completely forgotten. When the most iconic victims suddenly gain power and become surprisingly the oppressors, moral amnesia sets in and erases all memories. They then slowly lose any sense of history and unconsciously give in to the illusion of eternal power and racial superiority. Irrational blindness becomes the norm governing their mindset and arrogance their behavioral attitude par excellence.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14601

Our Factbook online
The 2009 Factbook is a Reference Guide for Negotiators, Researchers and Civil Society Leaders Concerned with the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article760

’This is the Destruction of Civilization’
There are no words, unless they are the words ofa poet, to adequately depict Israel’s continuing savage assault on Palestinian civilization that has been ongoing for sixty plus years. Consider that Zionist forces depopulated 675 Palestinian villages and towns sixty years ago and razed over four hundred villages. The most recent barbarity is strictly in character for the usurpers of Palestine; finally, the information age is shattering the self-righteous myths that saturated the west about this criminal state for most of the past sixty years. The cruelty and indifference manifested by the Zionists to the indigenous inhabitants of the land astonishes...
http://umkahlil.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-is-destruction-of-civilization.html

Gaza Home for Ethnically Cleansed Palestinians From Bir Saba (Beersheeba)
Photo of Bir Saba (pre-1948) scanned from Walid Khalid’s All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948 From “The Darker it is, the Closer We are to the Break of Dawn,” Rafat Abu Ghali - Al-Shabora refugee camp, Gaza Strip,Occupied Palestinian Territory. My family’s name is Abu Ghali and my family comes from Bir Saba. We used to own 48,000sq meters of cultivatable land.
http://umkahlil.blogspot.com/2009/01/gaza-home-for-ethnically-cleansed.html

Iraq
The New Iraqi Sovereignty
Excerpt: There’s got to be some irony in the U.S. transference of control to Iraqi security forces while the Israelis pound Gaza.
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/jacobs.php?articleid=13999

Gary Younge: Israel has yet to learn the US lesson, that the war on terror was a failure
On New Year’s Day Atif Irfan boarded an AirTran flight at Reagan National Airport in Washington with seven members of his family. Edging his way down the aisle, he wondered out loud to his wife whether the back of the plane was the best place to be. As they took their seats, his sister-in-law said she thought it was the safest part, rather than being close to the engine or wings “in case something happened”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/05/terrorism-israel-obama

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