Tutu 'devastated' by Palestinian survivor stories
Zionist Extremism Key Impediment to Peace | 30.05.2008 16:15 | Anti-racism | World
This was a continuation of the shelling which started under Operation First Rain, which provoked another round of violence. The sheer volume of Israel's alleged 'mistakes' suggests they must only recruit the mentally ill, or simply not train their soldiers ...
Human Rights organizations say that pursuing such policies, fully aware of the civilian toll, is no different than deliberately targeting civilians (which these operations prove Israel does).
Human Rights organizations say that pursuing such policies, fully aware of the civilian toll, is no different than deliberately targeting civilians (which these operations prove Israel does).
"The guideline of our policy has always been the idea that a permanent situation of no peace and a latent war is the best situation for us, and that it must be maintained at all costs. ... we are becoming stronger year by year in a situation of impending conflict where it is possible that actual fighting may break out from time to time. Such wars will usually be short and the results guaranteed in advance, since the gap between us and the Arabs is increasing. In this way we shall move on from occupation to further occupation. ... this criminally mischievous policy has led us into the crisis we are living through today"
(Yeshayahu Leibowitz, 30 November 1973)
"We have not been seeking peace for twenty-five years -- all declarations to that effect have been no more than coloured statements or deliberate lies. There is of course no assurance that we could have made peace with the Arabs if we had wanted to. However, it has to be heavily emphasized that we have not only made no attempts to seek peace, but have deliberately and with premeditation, sabotaged every possibility of doing so."
(Yeshayahu Leibowitz, 30 November 1973)
Tutu 'devastated' by Palestinian survivor stories
UN team meets survivors of 2006 Israeli bombing that killed 19 Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
GAZA - UN human rights observers led by Desmond Tutu on Wednesday met survivors of a 2006 Israeli bombing that killed 19 Palestinian civilians in Gaza, leading the South African cleric to say the group was "devastated" by what they learned.
The UN team travelled to the town of Beit Hanun in northern Gaza where residents told of the Israeli shelling on the night of November 8, 2006, that killed the civilians, including five women and eight children, in their homes.
"I was here with my son. I was holding his hand when he died. Can you imagine a mother holding the intestines of her own son," said Tahini al-Assamna through her tears, describing the attack.
She took Tutu and his UN team on a tour of her three storey house where a hole still remains in the roof from the artillery fire. She also lost three of her brothers-in-law in the attack.
Tutu commented that the purpose of the visit was to gather information to write a report for the UN Human Rights Council, "but we wanted to say that we are quite devastated."
"This is not something you want to wish on your worst enemy," added the retired Anglican archbishop of Cape Town.
In February, the Israeli army announced that no charges would be brought against Israeli soldiers over the attack.
After conducting an internal investigation, Israel concluded that the shelling of the civilians' homes was "a rare and grave technical error of the artillery radar system."
The UN Human Rights Council had decided to send a team to Gaza to investigate the killings in 2006 but Israel refused to grant visas.
Tutu and his team on Tuesday circumvented Israeli restrictions by entering the Palestinian territory through the crossing with Egypt, which was opened especially for them.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=26149
Thousands mourn Beit Hanoun dead
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6131860.stm
GAZA DEAD SINCE END OF JUNE (06)
Total: 247 fatalities
155 civilian deaths
57 deaths of children
996 wounded, including 337 children (34%)
Source: Physicians for Human Rights (28 June to 27 Oct)
(Yeshayahu Leibowitz, 30 November 1973)
"We have not been seeking peace for twenty-five years -- all declarations to that effect have been no more than coloured statements or deliberate lies. There is of course no assurance that we could have made peace with the Arabs if we had wanted to. However, it has to be heavily emphasized that we have not only made no attempts to seek peace, but have deliberately and with premeditation, sabotaged every possibility of doing so."
(Yeshayahu Leibowitz, 30 November 1973)
Tutu 'devastated' by Palestinian survivor stories
UN team meets survivors of 2006 Israeli bombing that killed 19 Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
GAZA - UN human rights observers led by Desmond Tutu on Wednesday met survivors of a 2006 Israeli bombing that killed 19 Palestinian civilians in Gaza, leading the South African cleric to say the group was "devastated" by what they learned.
The UN team travelled to the town of Beit Hanun in northern Gaza where residents told of the Israeli shelling on the night of November 8, 2006, that killed the civilians, including five women and eight children, in their homes.
"I was here with my son. I was holding his hand when he died. Can you imagine a mother holding the intestines of her own son," said Tahini al-Assamna through her tears, describing the attack.
She took Tutu and his UN team on a tour of her three storey house where a hole still remains in the roof from the artillery fire. She also lost three of her brothers-in-law in the attack.
Tutu commented that the purpose of the visit was to gather information to write a report for the UN Human Rights Council, "but we wanted to say that we are quite devastated."
"This is not something you want to wish on your worst enemy," added the retired Anglican archbishop of Cape Town.
In February, the Israeli army announced that no charges would be brought against Israeli soldiers over the attack.
After conducting an internal investigation, Israel concluded that the shelling of the civilians' homes was "a rare and grave technical error of the artillery radar system."
The UN Human Rights Council had decided to send a team to Gaza to investigate the killings in 2006 but Israel refused to grant visas.
Tutu and his team on Tuesday circumvented Israeli restrictions by entering the Palestinian territory through the crossing with Egypt, which was opened especially for them.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=26149 Thousands mourn Beit Hanoun dead
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6131860.stm GAZA DEAD SINCE END OF JUNE (06)
Total: 247 fatalities
155 civilian deaths
57 deaths of children
996 wounded, including 337 children (34%)
Source: Physicians for Human Rights (28 June to 27 Oct)
Zionist Extremism Key Impediment to Peace