The news says the Israelis have raided the Nablus mayor’s office as well as schools and mosques in the West Bank city because of links to Hamas. Here is a first-hand account from a doctor’s wife, who has a master’s in English from the University of Illinois/Champaign-Urbana. She’s writing to two friends in the States, one of them my friend Nancy Horn:
“For the past 3 days, the people in Nablus awoke in a great shock to
discover that the Israeli army has confiscated their property in a very
organised and well planned way. Here is what happened. During the
first night, at around 12, many military vehicles accompanied by huge
containers attacked a school, a clinic, and a mosque. The entrance
doors were broken,exploded and damaged. All the inside
furniture, equipments, tools, files, and other property were carried by
the soldiers into the lorries. You would never imagine that these
things would ever be taken. The computers, files, cameras, the chairs and
tables from the school, even the doors -unbelievable. These places
were left empty with a state of mess and damage. The school and
clinic were ordered closed for 3 years. The second night a huge
shopping center called Nablus mall was also attacked in the same
way. This building has over 50 stores, including a bank, many shops for
furniture–one of the shops was the one that I bought you your presents
dear Nancy and dear Laura–a restaurant, a supermarket, and many
offices. The property of 4 places was emptied into the lorries in the
middle of the night. Other shops were messed up and others were
damaged. A leaflet was left and it said that the mall will be closed
for 2 years, and that the property that has been taken—stolen,
confiscated—now belongs to the Israeli army…anyone dares to enter
will be imprisoned. At the same time, 5 mosques were entered and messed
up in different places in the city…
“Finally, last night, the building of the municipality of Nablus was attacked
in the same way…the computers that are used for water and electricity
services were all taken, in addition to files and other stuff. Some items
were damaged during the attack, and night guards in all situations got
beaten up…you would not believe this: 5 big buses that carry students
and belong to a school were driven into the lorries and taken…
“We do not know who’s next tonight. Maybe our house properties, our
furniture and kitchen equipment, could this be true? No one owns anything
anymore. We all belong to the Israeli army. Our lands, our olive trees,
our bodies, the water we drink, the air we breathe, the food we get
from the super market, our family members who are in jail,
our beds and chairs…..what is left for us? our brains? Maybe.
I do not know what to add, because there is nothing to be added. So
take care and stay in touch since I feel isolated, and somehow
vulnerable and no longer in touch. I love you both. I really do.”
Reminds me a little of firsthand accounts I’ve read from Kristallnacht. No: I don’t believe a holocaust or genocide is about to unfold in Palestine. Still, this is vandalism and thuggery, licensed as retaliatory, and deeply dispiriting. Americans must help to imagine a better future for these people, they cannot do it themselves.
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I would rather go to prison than serve alongside the thieves and murderers of the IDF, but I would happily join an international force to expel them from the West Bank.
This morning I heard an NPR report about a human rights worker named Ephriam who is searching for Nazi war criminals. Needless to say, I heard nothing about Nablus.
The Crime of "Genocide" defined in Internation Law
The international legal definition of the crime of genocide is found in Articles II and III of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.
Article II describes two elements of the crime of genocide:
1) the mental element, meaning the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such", and
2) the physical element which includes five acts described in sections a, b, c, d and e. A crime must include both elements to be called "genocide."
Article III described five punishable forms of the crime of genocide: genocide; conspiracy, incitement, attempt and complicity.
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"Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Article III: The following acts shall be punishable:
(a) Genocide;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) Complicity in genocide. "
——————————————————————————–
It is a crime to plan or incite genocide, even before killing starts, and to aid or abet genocide: Criminal acts include conspiracy, direct and public incitement, attempts to commit genocide, and complicity in genocide.
Punishable Acts The following are genocidal acts when committed as part of a policy to destroy a group’s existence:
Killing members of the group includes direct killing and actions causing death.
Causing serious bodily or mental harm includes inflicting trauma on members of the group through widespread torture, rape, sexual violence, forced or coerced use of drugs, and mutilation.
Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy a group includes the deliberate deprivation of resources needed for the group’s physical survival, such as clean water, food, clothing, shelter or medical services. Deprivation of the means to sustain life can be imposed through confiscation of harvests, blockade of foodstuffs, detention in camps, forcible relocation or expulsion into deserts.
Prevention of births includes involuntary sterilization, forced abortion, prohibition of marriage, and long-term separation of men and women intended to prevent procreation.
Forcible transfer of children may be imposed by direct force or by fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression or other methods of coercion. The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines children as persons under the age of 18 years.
Genocidal acts need not kill or cause the death of members of a group. Causing serious bodily or mental harm, prevention of births and transfer of children are acts of genocide when committed as part of a policy to destroy a group’s existence.
The law protects four groups – national, ethnical, racial or religious groups.
A national group means a set of individuals whose identity is defined by a common country of nationality or national origin.
An ethnical group is a set of individuals whose identity is defined by common cultural traditions, language or heritage.
A racial group means a set of individuals whose identity is defined by physical characteristics.
A religious group is a set of individuals whose identity is defined by common religious creeds, beliefs, doctrines, practices, or rituals.
Key Terms
The crime of genocide has two elements: intent and action. “Intentional” means purposeful. Intent can be proven directly from statements or orders. But more often, it must be inferred from a systematic pattern of coordinated acts.
Intent is different from motive. Whatever may be the motive for the crime (land expropriation, national security, territorrial integrity, etc.), if the perpetrators commit acts intended to destroy a group, even part of a group, it is genocide.
The phrase "in whole or in part" is important. Perpetrators need not intend to destroy the entire group. Destruction of only part of a group (such as its educated members, or members living in one region) is also genocide. Most authorities require intent to destroy a substantial number of group members – mass murder. But an individual criminal may be guilty of genocide even if he kills only one person, so long as he knew he was participating in a larger plan to destroy the group.
#
Fourth Geneva Convention – Collective Punishment
Collective punishments
Article 4 defines who is a Protected person: Persons protected by the Convention are those who, at a given moment and in any manner whatsoever, find themselves, in case of a conflict or occupation, in the hands of a Party to the conflict or Occupying Power of which they are not nationals.
Article 33. No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.
Pillage is prohibited.
Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.
Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions collective punishments are a war crime. Article 33 states: "No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed," and "collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The only catch to the international law is that Palestine needs to be a recongized state and a signatory to the Conventions. Then Israel would be in the Hague for war crimes.
That is why if they were smart they would petition the UN for statehood instead of waiting for any agreement with the Israelis and regardless of their borders. When Israel was recongized by the UN, and although the UN outlined it's borders, Israel for it's part left it's borders deliberately vague.
Palestine can do the same.
But not as long as Isrmerica is determined to undermine any agreement between Hamas and Abbas so that some parts of Palestine could not be included.
Consistent with the destruction of the entire Palestinian governmental apparatus in Ramallah in 2002.
A key legacy of this destruction and appropriation is that the Israeli police state now has minute documentation on Palestinian individuals.
Ramallah of course has been forgotten.
Germany has made restitution for the crimes of a generation of its people. Is Israel ever going to be forced into accepting the same responsibility for its heinous crimes?
As I remember the 4th Geneva Convention, it was applicable whenever territory was taken in an armed conflict that involved at least one signatory. Syria, Jordan and Egypt were all signatories in 1967.
And Israel was also a signatory at the time.
ISRAEL IS A MONSTER
they strategically use their "victimhood" as a cover to commit the most atrocious serial war crimes and horrible acts against humanity on a daily basis.
israel is the MONSTER – the most terrible country in the world today … a nation based on murder and torture and abuse and theft and everything terrible
when will my beloved America wake up and pry this parasite from our neck (and our wallet and our media companies and our gov't, etc.)?
israel is making their play for regional power now – they will destroy America in the process – we are just a useful tool for them: an ATM (US Treasury); a soldier supplier (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, etc); a shield (UN, international stage); enabler; populace of patsys …
the oil pipeline from Mosul to Haifa is what it is about – so they can secure a land-line of territory and eventually make claims East.
israel is the greatest threat to America – 1000 times worse than the one-thousanth of onepercent of muslims.
israel uses and abuses us.
israel is a criminal state.
adelson, saban, bronfman, other mafiosis and traitorous israeli-firsters are funding the worst terrorists of all: the noxious foul settlers.
when will my country wake up to the war israel is making upon us????
ISRAEL IS A MONSTER
they strategically use their "victimhood" as a cover to commit the most atrocious serial war crimes and horrible acts against humanity on a daily basis.
israel is the MONSTER – the most terrible country in the world today … a nation based on murder and torture and abuse and theft and everything terrible
when will my beloved America wake up and pry this parasite from our neck (and our wallet and our media companies and our gov't, etc.)?
israel is making their play for regional power now – they will destroy America in the process – we are just a useful tool for them: an ATM (US Treasury); a soldier supplier (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, etc); a shield (UN, international stage); enabler; populace of patsys …
the oil pipeline from Mosul to Haifa is what it is about – so they can secure a land-line of territory and eventually make claims East.
israel is the greatest threat to America – 1000 times worse than the one-thousanth of onepercent of muslims.
israel uses and abuses us.
israel is a criminal state.
adelson, saban, bronfman, other mafiosis and traitorous israeli-firsters are funding the worst terrorists of all: the noxious foul settlers.
when will my country wake up to the war israel is making upon us????
As I remember, Lemkin considered the treatment of the Ostdeutsch populations after WWII to be genocide under the physical destruction clause, which was meant include the pre-Operation Barbarossa Treatment (1941) treatment of Jews within German controlled territories when the German Nazis contented themselves with simply driving Jews out of German controlled territory.
Novick argued in his book The Holocaust in American Life that Lemkin would have eventually termed the treatment of Palestinians as genocide if he had lived longer.
It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Zionism is inherently a murderous genocidal racist ideology and that the Zionist population of Stolen and Occupied Palestine must be considered collectively a criminal population while the organized Jewish community, the Israel Lobby and Zionism-supporters in the USA (Judonia, fellow travelers and useful idiors) are all criminals under the International Convention against Genocide.
The case of Germany is particularly tragic because in a mistaken effort to make atonement for German Nazi cimes Germany compounds whatever culpability Germans bear by supporting the ethnic Ashkenazi Nazi State in Stolen and Occupied Palestine.
Nevertheless, the refusal of Jews to exhibit remorse or repentence for crimes of terrorism, assassination, mass murder, ethnic cleansing and genocide in which far too many Jews have been involved in Germany, Austria, E. Europe, the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and Palestine since 1848 is particularly striking.
Many Jews try to use the Holocaust, Pogroms and anti-Semitic incidents as rationalization for Jewish crimes during the time period in question, but ethnic Poles (especially Polish peasants) generally suffer at least as much during the time period in question, and there is no comparable collective criminality among Poles (as bad as the behavior of some members of the ND and AK may have been during WW2).
The Holocaust is a bit more complicated than the simple kill Jews story that is endlessly told, but that is forbidden teritory. Complicated only applies to Isreali and zionist crimes.
If the U.S. just has to make war in the ME, Israel should be the target.
The victim theory is echoed in Jim Lobe's post on the possible reason the neo-conservatives are the way they are. "Speaking of Humiliation"
http://www.ips.org/blog/jimlobe/?p=164
Haaretz' editorial yesterday (I don't have the link), was that to their estimation Hamas had mostly kept its promise in the cease fire.
Israel has partially, opening the crossings for a significant enough part of the day to allow exchange.
It would be great if they decided to not stick it to them, to actually proceed on confidence building.
The whole conflict is confused by the three party nature of it. (Israel, Hamas, Fatah) Each of which are in conflict with each of the other.
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This is absolutely heart-breaking. I hope
this post gets wide distribution.
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al Jazeera carried a news item on these raids–
http://youtube.com/watch?v=18O5dtQYMM0
No American media coverage at all.
This is in line with the "Greater Israel" Zionist Expansionism plans to keep the Palestinians "living like dogs" so that when Iraq is cleared and offered to Jordanians, Jordan can be offered to the Palestinians, who are hopefully so miserable by then will jump at the chance. Surprise surprise, this leaves Israel with… everything!
This is about fulfilling mistaken "biblical prophecy," no more no less, and whatever it takes to do it.
Record number of Americans join the IDF:
http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=13681
Unfortunately, while Jews in the United States are over-represented in virtually every profession from law to medicine to science, they are few and far between in the armed forces of our country. Truth be told, nice Jewish boys and girls aren't raised to grow up and be soldiers, except of course in Israel. Throughout my career in the Air Force, I can't recall a single time that I didn't have trouble finding a minyan at any base I have been to. http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/17121/edition_id/337/format/html/displaystory.html
The whole conflict is confused by the three party nature of it. (Israel, Hamas, Fatah) Each of which are in conflict with each of the other.
Wasn't that the DESIGN when in the early 70s the Golda Meir government began supporting Shiekh Yassin's fledgling Gaza wing of the Muslim Brotherhood organization that, Israel thought, could provide a counterweight to the secular Arab nationalism of Fatah.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Brotherhood#Palestinian_territories
Re: "We All Belong to the Israeli Army"
American taxpayers and especially proud zionists like Witty really ought to feel somewhat responsible for the actions of Israel/the United States' military.
(The brutality in Palestine is surely matched by the sociopathic conduct of some American marines in places in Afghanistan and Iraq.)
Everything Israel/the United States has done in the region since 1967 should fall under the heading of war crimes justified by little more than the outdated and problematic ideology of zionism, practically the state religion of 21st century Israel/the United States.
I started getting some flack from zionists for some reason whenever I used the country name "Israel/the United States."
Zionists are much less offended though by the notion of a bi-national interest in Israel/the United States than they are by the possibility of a bi-national future in Israel/Palestine.
For the sake of simplicity, when referring to the zionist apparatus of the American federal government, the acronym I.U.S. might be considered for Israel/the United States.
To use Springsteen's template, one would have:
Born in the I.U.S.
Born in the I.U.S.
Born in the I.U.S.
Born in the I.U.S.
I got in a little hometown jam
And so they put an A-K in my hands
Sent me off to Babylon
To go and kill the enemies of Zion
Born in the I.U.S.
Born in the I.U.S.
Born in the I.U.S.
Born in the I.U.S.
That is very good use for Springsteen's template. Let-me try Elton's template on Lieberman:
"So goodbye yellow-star Joe
Take the dogs to your israeli haunt
You've got the senate and the house
I'll take those back with my pals"
This so called first hand report where are the names links to this report? fascinating that ppl gobble up this pallywood propaganda without knowing its authenticity. You beloved friend Nancy boasts that she has never set foot in ME, so she bases her views on this type of propaganda?
Haaretz in ISrael did not mention anything about destruction, massacre or anything that is mentioned in this "letter". All the pictures I have seen, show the places raided and all the belongs stacked and piled nicely so I dunno where this "doctor's wife" comes with stealing and the extra added Shmultz for effect only.
Not to mention it looks like Nancy was writing a poem about the "massacre" in Jenin which was proven to be a pallywood invention. Next you gonna post more ramblings about AL Dura?
I find it funny that the IDF is labeled as horrible monsters when History shows that the only Army to liberate the palestinians after the Jordanians and Egyptians stole the land for the State of Palestine was the IDF.
Does anyone understand the gravity of the scenario if Hamas had to take over the West Bank? The PA does nothing to halt the smuggling of weapons and money that somehow avoids governmental procedure and arrives in the hands of Hamas.
If Hamas was such a peaceful org, then why did they violently take over parts of the territory, and take a whole population captive in order to create false humanitarian crises? if they wanted peace why then do they send missiles in to kill innocent ppl?
If Hamas really cared about the lay palestinians then why are they doing such bad unforgivable things and make the living of the lay palestinians so hard? Why do they get away with destroying a border crossing that is a life line to the strip? why do they get away with stealing resources from hospitals? why do they get away with taking a cut of humanitarian aid for themselves before it is distributed to the rest of the population?
I actually wonder how many posters here have been to palestinian territory? How many ppl have been to ISrael?
How you call the IDF monsters when they are fighting for the security the PA can not give to the lay palestinians, looking out that a terrorist org does not cause the same damage it has in the Gaza strip.
Yo philip have you bothered putting any first hand accounts of the ppl of sderot on your blog? or do you just thrive on passing on all this gossip about ISrael?
Make Israel the villain, while it is the only country that during the gaza civil war to carry on giving aid to the palestinians, or build infrastructure at the ISrael tax payers expense? Or build hospitals and schools and universities.
It is funny how things are spun to make ISrael look bad, but the bottomline is that if it was not for Israel the palestinians would be still living in fear of the Egyptian and Jordanian armies, almost no electricity, almost no water, no schools, no hospitals, no universities, just a bunch of nomads and yes sirs.
Makes a different argument when the facts are put into the equation.
But I very well know that everyone on this comment page will dismiss what I have to say, how many ppl still think that the AL dura affair was the IDF fault even after it has been proven not, how many ppl still think that there was a massacre in Jenin even after it was proven to be lies?
All these ppl have made their minds and no matter if tomorrow a Hamas politician had to rise and say, "We are the instigators and ISrael are the liberators" no one would believe him, they would just say it is all a joke. possibly just like the letter you published on your blog
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