Palestinian delegators push Israel to Port construction
amid extended five days ceasefire negotiations
No Cairo, Palestinos pedem também construção do porto de Gaza
A previously agreed three-day truce was set to expire less than an hour afterwards.
"We have agreed to give more time for the negotiations," Azzam al-Ahmed, head of the Palestinian delegation in Cairo said on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, the deal got off to a shaky start as rockets were fired from both sides. No casualties were reported so far. Witnesses saw Israel shelling first, but Israel blamed... Hamas. Afterwards, to intimidate the Palestinians, israelis F16s have been flying intensevely during the extended ceasefire. Despite this shaky start, the negotiations should continue as decided yesterday night.
Khalil al-Haya, the Palestinian group's negotiator, said today they were negotiating with a difficult side "versed in procrastination". ""We are keen on having an agreement concluded. It must satisfy the demands of our people". Haya said Hamas would continue to demand the end of "unjust incursions" and a permanent lifting of the siege imposed by Israel on Gaza in 2006.
The comments came hours after the truce between Hamas and Israel was extended for five days as negotiators from both sides press ahead with the talks in Cairo.
Egyptian and Palestinian sources said Israel had tentatively agreed to allow some supplies into Gaza and relax curbs on the cross-border movement of people and goods, subject to certain conditions.
"It was a war of necessity not a war of choice. We had no choice but to defend ourselves,” al-Haya said. "We are united and are unified in blood and dead bodies. We are one front, one side, one body ... We are all enaged in one battle defending our people. The war is the beginning of liberation". Haya was vague about the precise stage the talks have reached, but he said: "if we are forced to fight we will unless the enemy abandon their manipulation of words".
On the other hand, the Palestinians need all the help they can get. The situation in Gaza is critic. They lack everything.
Uma hora antes do prazo de 72h de trégua esgotar, os negociadores israelenses e palestinos concordaram em extender por cinco dias o cessar-fogo em Gaza. As discussões têm sido diretas e acirradas, mas mesmo assim ainda não conseguiram chegar a um acordo a longo prazo através dos mediadores no Cairo.
O chefe da delegação palestina Azzam al-Ahmed declarou, com a cara cansada embora não desanimada: "Concordamos em dar mais tempo às negociações".
Porém, hoje de manhã foguetes voaram dos dois lados. Testemunhas garantem que os mísseis da IDF chegaram em Gaza primeiro, mas os porta-vozes israelenses disseram o quê? "Foi o Hamas" "É culpa do Hamas" "Hamas é um grupo terroritsta", etcétera e tal. A mesma propaganda que não funciona mais. Pois o que se ouve e se vê no ar da Faixa nestas primeiras horas de cessar-fogo renovado são F16 voando de um lado pro outro para intimidar.
Apesar desta "escorregada", as negociações no Cairo deverão continuar.
Por outro lado, repito que os palestinos estão precisando de ajuda. A situação em Gaza é crítica. Está faltando tudo.
"We have agreed to give more time for the negotiations," Azzam al-Ahmed, head of the Palestinian delegation in Cairo said on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, the deal got off to a shaky start as rockets were fired from both sides. No casualties were reported so far. Witnesses saw Israel shelling first, but Israel blamed... Hamas. Afterwards, to intimidate the Palestinians, israelis F16s have been flying intensevely during the extended ceasefire. Despite this shaky start, the negotiations should continue as decided yesterday night.
Khalil al-Haya, the Palestinian group's negotiator, said today they were negotiating with a difficult side "versed in procrastination". ""We are keen on having an agreement concluded. It must satisfy the demands of our people". Haya said Hamas would continue to demand the end of "unjust incursions" and a permanent lifting of the siege imposed by Israel on Gaza in 2006.
The comments came hours after the truce between Hamas and Israel was extended for five days as negotiators from both sides press ahead with the talks in Cairo.
Egyptian and Palestinian sources said Israel had tentatively agreed to allow some supplies into Gaza and relax curbs on the cross-border movement of people and goods, subject to certain conditions.
"It was a war of necessity not a war of choice. We had no choice but to defend ourselves,” al-Haya said. "We are united and are unified in blood and dead bodies. We are one front, one side, one body ... We are all enaged in one battle defending our people. The war is the beginning of liberation". Haya was vague about the precise stage the talks have reached, but he said: "if we are forced to fight we will unless the enemy abandon their manipulation of words".
On the other hand, the Palestinians need all the help they can get. The situation in Gaza is critic. They lack everything.
Gaza's medics struggle after israeli attacks
Uma hora antes do prazo de 72h de trégua esgotar, os negociadores israelenses e palestinos concordaram em extender por cinco dias o cessar-fogo em Gaza. As discussões têm sido diretas e acirradas, mas mesmo assim ainda não conseguiram chegar a um acordo a longo prazo através dos mediadores no Cairo.O chefe da delegação palestina Azzam al-Ahmed declarou, com a cara cansada embora não desanimada: "Concordamos em dar mais tempo às negociações".
Porém, hoje de manhã foguetes voaram dos dois lados. Testemunhas garantem que os mísseis da IDF chegaram em Gaza primeiro, mas os porta-vozes israelenses disseram o quê? "Foi o Hamas" "É culpa do Hamas" "Hamas é um grupo terroritsta", etcétera e tal. A mesma propaganda que não funciona mais. Pois o que se ouve e se vê no ar da Faixa nestas primeiras horas de cessar-fogo renovado são F16 voando de um lado pro outro para intimidar.
Apesar desta "escorregada", as negociações no Cairo deverão continuar.
Por outro lado, repito que os palestinos estão precisando de ajuda. A situação em Gaza é crítica. Está faltando tudo.
Glen Greenwald: US Inter Agencies Provide "Key Ingredient"
in Enabling Israeli Aggression in Gaza
As israeli Operation Protective Edge in Gaza enters its second month, quelled for the moment by an extended five days ceasefire, the question arises: Will the International Criminal Court initiate a formal inquiry into the carnage?
Maybe not. Because neither Israel nor the United States wants an ICC Probe.
Officially - or in deception - both nations have long argued that ICC involvement in a war crimes probe would compromise peace negotiations, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just last week appealed to the U.S. to block any effort to bring the current Gaza conflict before the ICC.
Officially - or in deception - both nations have long argued that ICC involvement in a war crimes probe would compromise peace negotiations, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just last week appealed to the U.S. to block any effort to bring the current Gaza conflict before the ICC.
Unofficially - or in reality - both the U.S. and the Israeli leadership fear that an ICC proceeding will expose Israeli war crimes as well as highlight the U.S. role in aiding and abetting such crimes.
U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs lists the Palestinian death toll from Israel’s Operation Protective Edge as 1,951, including at least 1,500 civilians, of whom 469 are children and 243 are women. The report also asserts that 36,700 homes in Gaza have sustained light or serious damage, and that 225,000 residents have sought refuge in U.N. and government shelters.
U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs lists the Palestinian death toll from Israel’s Operation Protective Edge as 1,951, including at least 1,500 civilians, of whom 469 are children and 243 are women. The report also asserts that 36,700 homes in Gaza have sustained light or serious damage, and that 225,000 residents have sought refuge in U.N. and government shelters.
Marjorie Cohn, a professor at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law and a former president of the US National Lawyers Guild, has prepared a thorough summary detailing the potential legal charges that could be brought against the two countries before the ICC. The charge sheet includes allegations of war crimes, disproportionate use of force via the IDF’s Dahiya Doctrine, genocide, apartheid practices stemming from the Gaza blockade and the indefinite detention of Palestinian militants in Israeli custody.
In 2012, the U.S. used its clout in the U.N. Security Council to head off a vote on a resolution passed by the U.N. General Assembly urging the council to refer Operation Pillar of Defense to the ICC. If it becomes necessary, the Obama administration will surely block any similar request regarding Operation Defensive Edge. Neither the U.S. nor Israel accepts ICC jurisdiction.
The ICC was founded after a 1998 conference attended by 160 nations in Rome. The court sits at The Hague, Netherlands.
The "legalities" of Israel's war on Gaza
The Rome Statute produced by the conference took effect in July 2002, establishing the ICC as the first treaty-based international criminal court for the purpose of investigating and trying individuals—both governmental and non-state actors—accused of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression, as defined by the Geneva Conventions, the Rome Statute and other sources of international law. The Rome Statute authorizes the court to impose heavy jail sentences, up to life imprisonment, on those convicted. Currently, 122 nations are parties to the Rome Statute, acceding to the court’s jurisdiction.
Membership in the tribunal and cooperation with the enforcement of its judgments are voluntary as the court has no police or arrest powers of its own. Lacking compulsory jurisdiction throughout the globe, the court has acted slowly since its inception. To date, it has issued a total of 32 arrest warrants or summonses for people to appear before it. Only six of those for whom warrants have been issued have actually been apprehended, while a seventh person has voluntarily surrendered to court authorities.
Cases come before the court through three possible avenues: U.N. Security Council referrals, referrals by states that are parties to the Rome Statute, and by way of requests or complaints filed by or on behalf of non-member states that have agreed in writing to accept the court’s jurisdiction concerning a particular dispute on an ad hoc basis.
Once a referral or complaint is received, it is transmitted to the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor, which after screening the submitted material, may initiate a preliminary examination of the purported crimes. There is no time limit governing the duration of a preliminary examination, which in addition to the review of documentary evidence may also involve the taking of sworn testimony before judges of the ICC.
If the ICC prosecutor concludes after completion of a preliminary examination that further court intervention is warranted, a formal investigation leading to a possible trial may be initiated. The court is currently conducting eight investigations, all involving African countries. In its history, it has held a total of four trials.
The court’s current chief prosecutor is Fatou Bensouda, a former attorney general of Gambia, a nation that is itself beset by a recent history of human rights abuses. Bensouda nonetheless is highly regarded in the human rights community. Among other announced goals, she has promised to toughen the ICC’s investigation of gender- and sex-based war crimes.
Bensouda met with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki on Aug. 5 to discuss the Gaza war. After the meeting, her office released a statement reiterating a position the court had previously announced—namely that the ICC would have no jurisdiction over allegations of Gaza war crimes unless Palestine either formally acceded to the Rome Statute by filing appropriate ratification documents with the General Assembly or it accepted the court’s authority over the present conflict by filing a new ad hoc declaration directly with the court - a 2009 Palestinian ad hoc declaration was rejected because Palestine was not yet recognized as a state. A U.N. resolution adopted Nov. 29, 2012, however, conferred non-member observer state status on Palestine.
An ICC spokesperson confirmed that the onus of moving forward with an ICC probe remains squarely with the Palestinian side. And it would have to examine both sides.
The "precision" of IDF's targets - Shujayiea
The Palestinians have not taken what should be an easy step to accept ICC jurisdiction, fisrt, because of US pressure and the consequent fear of losing American aid should they apply for ICC membership. So far, Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas lacks the official backing of both Hamas and Islamic Jihad for such an undertaking as acceptance of ICC jurisdiction would render leaders of both militants groups open to war crime prosecutions of their own for such actions as "Launching thousands of missiles aimed at the civilian population of Israel since the outbreak of open warfare". Even if the Hamas arsenal is far less deadly and technically sophisticated than the missiles fired by Israel, the definition of war crimes under the Rome Statute applies equally to attempts to harm civilian populations as to strikes that hit their targets.
As both the Israelis and the Palestinians understand, an ICC war crimes probe would concern not only the physical acts of war, but the intent behind the acts.
For the Israelis, this entails a risk of having the hyper-nationalistic ideology of its dominant right-wing leadership - and the dehumanization of the Palestinian people that goes along with it - exposed to the world. Under the brunt of that ideology, Israel’s once vibrant antiwar movement has been intimidated and driven to virtual silence, despite one only wildly inaccurate and inflammatory advert anti-Hamas published in a couple of newspapers (many refused to run the ad), paid by wealthy foreign supporters of Operation Protective Edge.
For the Israelis, this entails a risk of having the hyper-nationalistic ideology of its dominant right-wing leadership - and the dehumanization of the Palestinian people that goes along with it - exposed to the world. Under the brunt of that ideology, Israel’s once vibrant antiwar movement has been intimidated and driven to virtual silence, despite one only wildly inaccurate and inflammatory advert anti-Hamas published in a couple of newspapers (many refused to run the ad), paid by wealthy foreign supporters of Operation Protective Edge.
For Hamas, an ICC investigation would place the group’s 1988 charter front and center. For all its small advances in the mastery of modern public relations, Hamas has never repudiated the charter, which has anti-semitic reamarks that will eventually be changed. Yasser Arafat changed the Fatah charter in the 90s.
Israel comete crimes de guerra na Faixa de Gaza, e também na Cisjordânia
War crimes in Gaza, and also in the West Bank
On August 9th in Hebron, Israeli soldiers celebrated shooting an 18-year-old Palestinian youth in the leg with live ammunition. This kind of IDF mean-coward shooting is very commum in the West Bank.
No dia 9 de agosto em Hebron, soldados israelenses se parabenizam e curtem com o tiro de um deles na perna de um rapaz palestino de 18 anos com bala real. É uma prática constante e covarde da IDF na Cisjordânia para deixar meninos e jovens aleijados.
The Canadian volunteer of the International Solidarity Movement, Vern, who witnessed the soldier firing, stated, “After the soldiers left the roof, I went to confront them about why they had fired. One of them said to me that he was the one who fired and that he was proud of his actions. He then asked me to take his picture.”
The hospital released a document to the ISM stating that the injury of the young man was a gunshot wound to the right calf, and that the injury required surgery under general anaesthetic.
O voluntário do ISM, Vern, testemunha do "tiro ao alvo", disse que "Depois que os soldados saíram de cima do telhado fui confrontá-los. Um deles disse que era ele que tinha atirado e que estava orgulhoso de seu ato. Depois pediu para eu tirar uma foto dele.
O hospital entregou um documento ao ISM confirmando que o rapaz sofrera ferimento a bala na perna direita, que tinha precisado de cirurgia com anestesia geral para extrair a bala.
Mais arbitrariedade da IDF na Cisjordânia
"150.000 protesters march in London for Gaza under attack by Israel.
The hundreds of thousands who have taken to the streets of Britain over the past month in support of and solidarity with the people of Gaza have seen their protests denounced by neocons and rightwingers because they aren’t about some other group of people, somewhere else...
The hundreds of thousands who have taken to the streets of Britain over the past month in support of and solidarity with the people of Gaza have seen their protests denounced by neocons and rightwingers because they aren’t about some other group of people, somewhere else...
Our argument is that our government and the US’s past intervention have not helped the people of the Middle East, but made things worse.
Last Saturday’s demonstration was the biggest ever pro-Palestine protest at 150,000. There have been thousands of smaller actions around the country. There is widespread outrage at Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza and a determination to end the siege which is causing such misery to Gazans.
Why do people feel strongly enough to take to the streets over Gaza but not over other issues? Partly because there is a deep and longstanding movement in solidarity with the Palestinians that encompasses trade unions, community groups, faith groups and activists. But it is also partly because our government is seen as complicit in Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. We provide arms, we trade with Israel and we defend the actions of the government there, just as we did in 2008-09 and 2012 when Gaza was bombed.
Our former prime minister and absurdly named envoy for peace in the Middle East, Tony Blair, supports Israel’s foreign policy. David Cameron, according to Sayeeda Warsi, instructed his ministers not to say Israel’s bombing might be disproportionate, and blames the conflict on Hamas although it long predates Hamas’s existence. While sanctions are applied to Russia over the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 disaster, no sanctions are imposed on Israel.
Contrast this with Cameron’s support for intervention elsewhere and look at the consequences of those interventions. Libya, hailed as a huge success by Cameron three years ago, is now so riven by war that embassies have closed and British nationals evacuated by the Royal Navy. The arming of the Syrian rebels by western and Middle East powers, especially Turkey and Saudi Arabia, has produced blowback on a spectacular scale as Islamic State (Isis) sets up its bloody caliphate across hundreds of miles of Iraq and Syria, with disastrous consequences".
Lindsey German, British activist and writter. In the Guardian, 11/08/2014
"Pink Floyd "Roger Waters endorses BDS, 2011
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