Jerry Slater, author of an important analysis of New York Times vs. Haaretz in coverage of Israel/Palestine, writes:
Another in the chronicle of New York Times whitewashes of Israel. In today's Times, Ethan Bronner reviews Waltz With Bashir, an Israeli documentary about the 1982 Lebanon War and the Sabra and Shatilla massacre. Bronner says the massacre of hundreds or thousands of Palestinian civilians by Israel's primary Lebanese ally, the Phalangists, was "inadvertently" facilitated by the Israeli Army. He later quotes Israeli soldiers saying "they had no idea the killing was taking place, although many have argued that they should have suspected as much."
That's like quoting Milosevic saying that "he had no idea that Serbians were massacring Muslims in Bosnia," while adding, lamely, that "many have argued he should have suspected as much."
A great deal has been written--in Israel--about the central role of the Israeli Army in the massacres, particularly but by no means exclusively, the 1982 Defense Minister, none other than Ariel Sharon. There is abundant evidence that Sharon and his top commanders knew what would happen if they let the Phalange into the camps, but not only did they not stop them--which they easily could have done--but facilitated their entry into the camps. Moreover, they knew what was happening once the Phalange began their murderous rampage, and they did not stop it.
How could this have happened? Uzi Benziman, one of Sharon's leading biographers and most respected--and non-leftist--journalists provides some cautious speculation in his book, "Sharon: An Israeli Caesar," published a few years after the massacre. In the book, Benziman gives a highly detailed description of the various war crimes (my language) committed by Sharon throughout his military career. On Sabra and Shatila, he writes:
Similarly, the Kahan Commission, an official high level Israeli investigation of the massacre, concluded that the Phalange units entered the camps with the knowledge, agreement and cooperation of the IDF, and that Israeli soldiers were in proximity to the camps âwhile the slaughter was being carried out,â and did nothing to stop it. While carefully stopping just short of holding Sharon directly responsible for the massacre, it concluded that Sharon had failed to exercise "personal responsibility" to prevent it. And any reader of the full Kahan report, together with extensive contemporary reporting on the massacre, will be left with little doubt of the extent of Israeli collaboration.
In all the wars, the slanders, the grand thefts, the war crimes: Where is Israel? And as above so below: they can make a life unbearable for an individual in the west. And they do. It is a reign of terror everywhere. Outside of Sabra and Shatilla: everyone is terrorised. Life is rapidly looking atrocious for many many people. Atrocities are a modus operandis, individually or collectively. It is hard to imagine people living the enactment of them on a daily basis, but a nation of people can have such a dedication. Oh yes and there are also plenty of good Israelis and good Jews. Just imagine the orders being given now to starve Gaza out. And that is just one front of a world wide effort.
Not only are they starving Gaza out, but they are making sure Egypt keeps its border closed. Doesn't it sound vindictive? Sabra and Shatilla required vindictevness. Any moslem anywhere is fair game, and definitely a Palestinian.
*********************************
"AND SO IT GOES…" -
From The Sunday Times (U.K.)
Gaza families eat grass as Israel locks border
by Marie Colvin – - December 14, 2008
AS a convoy of blue-and-white United Nations trucks loaded with food waited last night for Israeli permission to enter Gaza, Jindiya Abu Amra and her 12-year-old daughter went scrounging for the wild grass their family now lives on.
âWe had one meal today – khobbeizeh,â said Abu Amra, 43, showing the leaves of a plant that grows along the streets of Gaza. âEvery day, I wake up and start looking for wood and plastic to burn for fuel and I beg. When I find nothing, we eat this grass.â
Abu Amra and her unemployed husband have seven daughters and a son. Their tiny breeze-block house has had no furniture since they burnt the last cupboard for heat………..
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to timesonline.co.uk
/>
******************************
FROM YNET IN ISRAEL -
Gov't to rethink cash transfers to Gaza
Foreign affairs minister to convene officials from defense establishment, treasury, Bank of Israel to reexamine humanitarian considerations obligating Israel to shuttle shekels from Palestinian banks in West Bank to ones in Gaza
by Roni Sofer @ ynetnews.com
Published: 12.14.08, 00:48 / Israel News
Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni is scheduled to hold a meeting on Sunday afternoon on the subject of transferring Israeli currency to the Gaza Strip. This in response to the harsh public criticism that arose in the wake of Israel's to transfer of NIS 100 million to the cash-strapped Strip, still under Hamas rule……
Oslo-Era Repercussions
The cash dilemma stems from Israel's interest in ensuring the shekel remain the official currency in Gaza, as in the West Bank. The agreement on the matter is anchored in the international accords.
Ynet has learned that Israel had made a commitment following the Oslo Accords to provide the Strip with Israeli shekels. Israel was unwilling to allow a foreign entity to print the currency and therefore promised to deliver it on dates determined by the PA…….
ENTIRE ARTICLE -
Khobbeizeh is a wild mallow, most resembling a cross between asparagus and collard greens. It is an actual food crop, unlike grass, although generally not cultivated–it is generally found in the wild in any needed quantity.
The legal non-event of Ta'if and after, the amnesty of amnesia that holds all Lebanese forever beyond the reach of Lebanese and international law for their actions in 1975 and after, while Israel is blamed for something Lebanese Christians did to Palestinians in revenge for what Palestinian militants did to Lebanese Christians at Damour in the 70s, and a corrupt Belgian court brings charges against Ariel Sharon.
Not to speak of the Syrian role, but I'm nauseated enough already.
The legal non-event of Ta'if and after, the amnesty of amnesia that holds all Lebanese forever beyond the reach of Lebanese and international law for their actions in 1975 and after, while Israel is blamed for something Lebanese Christians did to Palestinians in revenge for what Palestinian militants did to Lebanese Christians at Damour in the 70s, and a corrupt Belgian court brings charges against Ariel Sharon.
Not to speak of the Syrian role, but I'm nauseated enough already.
*************************************
EUROSABA POSTED ABOVE: "Khobbeizeh is a wild mallow, most resembling a cross between asparagus and collard greens. It is an actual food crop, unlike grass, although generally not cultivated–it is generally found in the wild in any needed quantity."
ME: Well, I guess the "Lord" works in not so mysterious ways! (sarcasm intended)
"Let them eat Khobbeizeh" – Eurosaba
I hope your nausea accumulates to the point at which it becomes impossible for you to do anything except go to the doctor, Euro. I think you need a thorough checkup, physical and mental, before your psychotic imagination carries you any further away from reality.
It's a vegetable, not grass, and Israelis were eating it during the siege of Jerusalem in '48. It won't keep you alive if you have absolutely nothing else, but while the poorest of the poor are hungry in Gaza, that is largely a problem of food distribution within the strip and not a result of any supposed cessation of supply from outside. PASTRIES were on sale for Eid.
So many Lebanese never have to answer for anything they did.
Israel gets blamed for what Lebanese did.
Truly the Jew Among Nations.
"PASTRIES"? How dare they!
*******************************************
EUROSABA: "So many Lebanese never have to answer for anything they did."
ME: Eurosaba is clearly in some kind of dissociative state! (double entendre intended)
I don't want to see anyone starve, but if ever there were a people who deserved a consequence for their actions . . .
Incidentally, as the only person here who has been on the receiving end of a massacre and seen Falk's and Mallat's documentation on the Belgian court case first-hand, as well as being familiar with the standard documentation on Sabra and Chatila, I invite you to ooskoot. Stmoo ta peh.
Hypocrites. Can't indict Hobeika and Sieur Pierre Jamal now either–the Syrians wanted them gone for knowing too much. Antoine Lahad? SLA, not Kata'eb. One of the big questions is whether SLA or Amal were there, as well as the Brit journalist claim that the Kata'eb took 1100 men from Cité Sportive and disappeared them AFTER they (the captives, not the Kata'eb) had been processed for release by Israel. So there will be no justice for them or their relatives because the torturers and the triggermen were Lebanese…