Juz 30 - KUR'AN-I KERİM Ezberleme - Memorize Holy Qur'an

İts a program to help you to memorize Kur'an
Actually its a free program you can download it from here
İmanStar
You can download the exe. and also all the audio files for the reciter you wish one by one and also the languge pack you wish it.
İ have found the audio files all together with the exe., so i have uploaded them at few parts so it would be easier for those who wish to download that program to have it
Juz30 Turkish lang pack

Audio files

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

İ have added the Turkish pack also so you would have Turkish translation as well , for other language pack you can find them at the site

İmaanStar

First you install the exe at folder then you instal each audio file or language pack to that same folder, when you finish, you will be having the program set and ready to use with the added translationa and audio files

İf you wish to have another reciter, also you can find it here at its original site.

Çocuklar ve Bilmiyenler İçin Namaz Nasıl Kılınır - How to Perform Namaz 'Salat' for Children

İ came cross this, and i thought to collect them and upload all of them ' 7 parts' at one link for those who wish to download it.
İts nice actually, at Turkish of course, cartoon to teach Salat ' Namaz' to children and those who dont know how to pray
You would open it using RealPlayer
here
Çocuklar ve Bilmiyenler İçin Namaz Nasıl Kılınır

Kuran-ı- Kerim..Abdulbasit Abdulsamet İndir - AbdulBasit AbdulSamad Download

He is/was one of the well known hafız (people who memorize Kuran and reads it- Recitation ) through the whole İslamic world, he had such a divin voice.
He was Egyptian, and you cant miss his voice at the radio in Ramazan, reading Kuran before ezan at İftar time.

Upon a wish from close people and friends who love his voice i have collected Kuran Kerim by İmam Abdulbasit Abdulsamet at 3 links to make it easier for downloads
May ALLAH grant us sevap of it. amin

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Part 4

İ have gathered them from
http://english.islamway.com/bindex.php?section=echapters&recitor_id=4

For those who cherish imam Abdulbasit....Enjoy !

More about Sheikh Abdul Basit 'Abd us-Samad the Egyptian Qari

More downloading sources

http://islamcokguzel.wordpress.com/2007/06/02/abdulbasit-abdulsamed-kuran-i-kerim-tum-sureler-indir/

Ps: Please, if you have any comment about the links, feel free to share, thank you

The Ottoman Palestine Pictures

While going through one of the comments here, i have found the sender posting something about that title

1898-1914 ottoman Palestine photographs and ottoman soldiers in Palestine 1915-1917

And a link to rapidshare

İ got curios and tried to download it, but unfortunately it was broken

So, i searched our good old fellow google and i came cross this
Very interesting, specially that one

İ guess that is Sultan Abdulhamid II Tuğra.. signature if I'm not mistaken...?!

Here is the link to the full Gallery

http://www.barbaros.biz/PALESTINE_HISTORY.htm

Enjoy the history :)

Sultan Abdülhamid II

"to have the scalpel cut my body is less painful than to witness Palestine being detached from the Khilafah state and this is not going to happen …let the Jews keep their millions and once the Khilafah is torn apart one day, then they can take Palestine without a price."
Said Sultan Abdülhamid II

Then he was named The Red Sultan and was accused of being a blood-thirsty dictator !
Would that ring a bell ?!!!

Well, let's read more about the unfortunate Sultan

BIOGRAPHY

Sultan Abdulhamid II was born in Istanbul on the 21st of September, 1842. His father is Sultan Abdul Medjid and his mother is Tir-i Mujgan Kadin Efendi. His mother is a Circassian originated. He lost his mother as a little child and he was grown by his step mother Pristu Kadın. He was weak child and used to fell sick often, by this reason, he was showed great interest especially during his father’s reign. He was very well educated and learnt to play piano besides his other courses.

Sultan Abdulhamid II lived a free life before he had married. After his marriage, he spent his all spare times with his family. He was inherited an empire which was about to collapse, by his political and social administrations, the empire was saved. He ruled the Ottomans for 33 years.

Abdulhamid was a religious, gracious and a generous man. He lived a life of a common person. During the Greece Campaign, it is informed him that, there was not enough money for a campaign. He spent his personnel wealth for the campaign.

He was also a brilliant carpenter, he used to make marvellous furniture and used to sell them gave that money to the poor. He was a really gracious man, he even forgave many people intended to him.

Sultan Abdul Hamid II had established universities, an Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Finance and Agriculture. Moreover, he openned a many primary schools, high schools, blind and dumb schools.

He had Sisli Etfal Hospital and Poorhouse built with his own money. He had the excellent drinking water called Hamidiye brought to Istanbul. He extended highways until the internal parts of Anatolia and had railways spread through Baghdad and Medina. He had rider trolley roads spread in capital cities.

1st CONSTITUTION PERIOD
The notables of Committee of Union and Progress (Ittihak ve Terrakki Cemiyeti) dethroned Sultan Abdulaziz under cover of the disorder in the Balkans and acssesed Sultan Murad V to the throne. After a short period, Sultan Murad V had left the throne because of his illness and Sultan Abdulhamid II was crowned.

Due to the relations with Europe, an intellectual group was emerged in the Ottoman Empire. Committee of Union and Progress was the voice of this intellectual group. They believed that the salvation of the empire is in Constitution. Abdulhamid had promised that, he will declare the Constitution before he was accessed. He kept his promise and in December, 23 1876 he declared the first constitution of the Ottoman Empire “The Main Laws” (Kanun-i Esasi).

The Period Constitution was not last so long. Because Mithat Pasha (Grand Vizier) was intending to restrict the Sultan’s authority. Abdulhamid hold Mithat Pasha responsible of the death of Sultan Abdulaziz and dismissed him. Mithat Pasha was exiled. Because of the Ottoman-Russian War, the members of the parliament had began to struggle with each other and they had not been working properly, the Sultan decided to dismiss the parliament as well and he had put an end to the Period Constitution.

1877 - 1878 The OTTOMAN - RUSSIAN WAR (93 WAR)

With the Treaty of Paris, the tension between the Ottomans and the Russians had been yielded. But Russia was not pleased with this condition. The neutralisation of the Black Sea had hindered Russia’s advantages. Moreover, Russia had been spreading the Pan-Slavist movement in the Balkans and the Black Sea. As a result of Russian propaganda, revolts had been risen in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Bulgaria. The Europeans had assembled a Conference by fear of a new war, the Ottomans declared the Constitution while the Conference was continuing. In this conference, autonomy of Bosnia-Herzegovina was decided. They wanted the Ottoman Army to leave Serbia. The Ottoman Government rejected this conference, and the Europeans assembled another conference in London but they could not have been accepted the Ottomans these articles. They could not have hinder another war in the Balkans.

The War had begun, by the Russian attack. They passed through the River Tuna and came to the Ottoman lands. They also marched through the Eastern Anatolia and captured, Kars and Ardahan, but, in Erzurum they were defeated by Ghazi Ahmed Muhtar Pasha. In the Western parts of the Ottoman territory had been defended by the Ottoman Army led by legendary commander Ghazi Osman Pasha, unfortunately the war took so long and he could not have taken the aid from Istanbul and he could not have been resist anymore. The Russians captured Plevne and Sapka. By capturing this region they opened a passage through Edirne. When the Russian Army had began to marched through Anatolia, the Ottoman Government had asked for peace.

The DISSOLUTION of the OTTOMAN EMPIRE

After the Treaty of Berlin, the Ottoman Empire has entered the duration of dissolution. With the independence of the nations in the Balkans and the treaties signed after the Russian War the Empire began to loose power. Britain invaded Cyprus to hinder Russia’s policies about spreading through the Mediterranean Coast. The Ottoman Government temporarily had left Cyprus to Britain.

France has settled on Algeria and began to make plans on Tunisia. By the Treaty of Berlin France has gained the opportunity to dominate Tunisia. The Ottomans rejected French domination in Tunisia but they could not have been successful. After, French invasion in Tunisia, Britain got into action.

With the opening of the Suez Channel in 1839, Egypt’s geopolitical importance had increased. Britain and France became rivals on Egypt. Hidivi Ismail Pasha was failed to rule Egypt and economical problems had occurred, the European merchants began to attack the shops. These economical conflicts was threatening social peace there. Britain benefited from this chaotic condition and invaded Egypt (1882).

After, Greece became an independent state, the Greeks in the island of Kyrete had revolted in order to be occupied with it. The Ottomans stopped this revolt. But, Greece sent an army to the island and the Ottoman Government had declared war against Greece. The war was made in Teselya region and the Ottoman Army commanded by Ghazi Ethem Pasha defeated the Greeks in 1897. With reconciliation of the European countries a treaty was signed. With this treaty the island was given autonomy and in 1908 Greece invaded the island again. After the wars of Balkan, the Ottomans had completely lost the island.

The domination of Bosnia-Herzegovina was given temporally to Austria by the Treaty of Berlin. Austria invaded this region, after Sultan Abdulhamit declared the Second Constitution. There were internal conflicts going on and The Ottomans had to have accept the Austrian domination in Bosnia except the Yeni Pazar County 1908.

With the Treaty of Berlin, Bulgaria became a Princedom and divided into three regions. The East Roumelia and Macedonia were left to the Ottomans conditionally, and the condition was; a governmental restoration in these two regions. In the East Roumelia revolts had began in 1885 and Bulgaria declared that it has occupied the region. After the declaration of the Second Constitution, Bulgaria became independent and a Bulgarian Kingdom was established in 1908.

The SECOND CONSTITUTION

The supporters of the Constitution had been emerged a group and named themselves “The Young Turks” (Jon Turkler). The Young Turks had put pressure on Sultan Abdulhamid for the declaration of the Second Constitution. Especially, the members of the Committee of Union and Progress in Macedonia had organised revolts and the Sultan declared the Second Constitution in July, 23 1908.

The declaration of The Second Constitution brought peace and harmony to the country, the censorship was abolished, the press was freed and new political parties had been began to be emerged. The Main Laws (Kanun-i Esasi) was renovated and the Turkish people had found the opportunity to represent themselves in the parliament beside the Sultan again

31 MARCH EVENT

After the declaration of the Second Constitution some conflicts and struggles had been occurred between different groups. The opponents of the Constitution had co-operated with the hunter troops in Istanbul and revolted. The Action Army had arrived from Salonica and ended the revolt. This revolt was called as the 31 March Event, after this event Committee of Union and Progress gained power and Sultan Abdulhamid was dethroned, Sultan Mehmed Resad replaced him

ARCHITECTURAL WORKS

Sultan Abdulhamid II put great emphasis on cultural activities, fine arts, and architecture. He commissioned many foreign architects and renovated the country. Some works erected during his period are; Museum of Archaeology of Istanbul, Museum of Oriental Masterpieces, Grand Trading Centre, The Italian Embassy, Haydarpasha Medical School, The Building of the General Debts and The Ottoman Bank, Karakoy Trade Centre, The Palace of Macka, Is Bank Ankara, The Sırkeci Station, Kutahya Ulu Mosque, Istanbul Yıldız Hamidiye Mosque, Cihangir Mosque.

Tuğra...Sultan signature

Source:
http://www.osmanli700.gen.tr/english/sultans/34index.html

Actually, you can find many sources and readings about him, but most of them would describe how a blood thirst he was..not the other way around, being strong at that time make them have the loud voices !
The ironic thing, even Wiki, the English version is different than the Turkish and the Arabic version !
İsn't it İronic ?!
But that is the fact actually, some part of the world say a story and the other says another one !
The truth ?
Well, in my opinion the truth is what his sons and daughters have lived, and told about, is what his people told about and keep telling to their generations !

Pirincli Ispanak - Spinach with Rice

İ just made this, it's more like the one we make it at home, but we add more tomato sauce to it along with meat broth.

1 bunch spinach, washed and drained
2 tbsp rice, washed and drained
1 garlic clove, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 medium tomato, diced
50 ml extra virgin olive oil
1 pinch red pepper
1 cup hot water
Salt
Pepper

Sauce:
1/2 cup yogurt
1 garlic clove, smashed
Salt

First cut the spinach in large pieces. Sautee the onion with olive oil in a medium pot, then add the garlic. Cook for a few minutes until the smell comes out. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Then add the spinach, tomato, rice, red pepper, salt and black pepper in the pot. Cook for a few minutes, stir and add hot water when the spinach soften.

Cover the lid halfway and for cook about 20 minutes (until the rice is cooked) on medium-low heat.

Serve Spinach with Rice with the yogurt sauce.

If you like, you can also add some ground beef.

Source:http://www.turkishcookbook.com/archives/2006_02_01_index.php

Tuzda Balık..Fish in Salt .

İ made that recipe .
Sounds good except i didnt put the Fennel seeds,and i guess that was a big mistake !
Because its sure need to be added something to it,or else it will be smell and taste some like egg !

INGREDIENTS:

Whole fish (we used Spigola but you can use any whole round fish you like or that looks good at the market on any given da
Lemon–slices & rind
Parsley
Small handful of Fennel seeds
Sea Salt -A ton!–read below in instructions the ratio
Egg
Olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS:


Stuff the cavity with parsley & lemon slices.
In a separate bowl put 3 1/2 pounds of coarse sea salt per 1 1/2 pounds of fish, a small handful of fennel seed, rind of one lemon and one egg for each fish & mix. It should have the consistency of for making good sand castles, add a little water if needed.
Rub the fish down with olive oil and then lay a 1/2 inch bed of salt in the bottom of a roasting pan. Place down the fish and cover with the remaining salt. There should be a 1/2 inch crust of salt all around the fish. It is not necessary to cover the head & tail.
Bake at 425 20-40 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish. You can insert a fork into the center of the fish & when the tips are hot the fish is done.
Crack the salt crust table side or in the kitchen before to remove the access salt.


Source:

http://www.chow.com/recipes/11977

İ wish you'd enjoye it

You can watch it here





And here its in Turkish,but with pictures .



http://blog.milliyet.com.tr/Blog.aspx?BlogNo=111868

Now What ?!

Actually,i don't know !
Are things going to be better ?!
Again,i don't know,but i doubt it !
Not for only the Palestinians,but for the whole area !
The area is on fire as you may see,and add this too
US has a very great existance here 'military one',add to this,the EU as in UK,France and German,offered to send their ships 'frigate or something' to the region,and so is Russia which is already there !
From reading the history,our history 'which we will talk about inşallah' and the world's history ...
Thats not good...not good at ALL !

Ps: Again ...
Apology needed !
This took time than it was expected ''i thought the world really care for that humanitarian stuff!'' but i didnt find it in my heart to do otherwise
And dedicate all that past time to war on Gaza and Palestinian people!
We still will not forget of course ,as they said,its over when its over !
But at least now we can talk about different things,and not feeling bad about it !

Views On Gaza Ceasefire .

Eyal, legal worker, W Jerusalem
I am very upset because I think that we didn't achieve our goals. We should have finished Hamas and ended their attacks. I'm sure the rockets won't stop.
I'm sure Hamas is damaged, but I don't think it's as damaged as Olmert wants it to look like.
It's a political season and he has to show that he succeeded more than in Lebanon.

Rachel, W Jerusalem
It sounds pretty good. We're not withdrawing, which means the army can still react if they continue attacking Israel.
I don't think Hamas have been damaged enough. But at least our government are reacting – for eight years they haven't been reacting at all.
With Hamas I don't think it's that easy to have a deal, but Olmert tried his best.

Leon, retired, W Jerusalem
I feel elated. I am anxious to see a peaceful solution after so many years of hatred.
The ceasefire was right. There was tremendous pressure Israel to end the conflict because of all the casualties, and we want to show the world we are willing to take risks for a peaceful solution.
Only time will tell if the other side will compromise.

Erez, lawyer, W Jerusalem
I think the ceasefire came a bit early. I don't think this operation will achieve its goals.
A one-sided ceasefire will not be recognised by Hamas.
Hamas has not been damaged. They didn't fight. They just showed themselves as civilians, but most of them are terrorists. Once Israel leaves they will go out with their weapons again.

Then opinions of people whose land been taken,been into siege then finally were being killed !

Raafat, shop worker, Ramallah
I am so happy because in the end we won. Their plan was to destroy Gaza and destroy the fighters, but we won.
Hamas has not been damaged. It is not like if they destroy the regime they destroy Hamas – Hamas is part of the Palestinian people.
They damaged the schools, the mosques, the homes. If they think this is a win, then OK, they won.

Saeda, student, E Jerusalem
They had to stop the war in Gaza. They were killing boys and girls without reason.
Sure Israel is stronger, but it's our land and Hamas must defend it.
I hope there will be peace. But I think the Israelis will continue to kill children. Israeli soldiers are killers and don't like Palestinian people.
I don't know if Hamas will stop fighting.

Imad, shop owner, E Jerusalem
When I heard yesterday I was happy, because that's enough killing people.
I think the Israelis went out with a victory, they said they achieved their goals.
Hamas came out from this war less than they were before, they have a lot of work to do to recover, to rebuild the Gaza Strip, but we can't say they destroyed Hamas.

Nayef, shoe seller, Ramallah
Definitely Israel didn't mean the ceasefire as it seems, there is something behind it.
This is just Israeli propaganda, not stopping the war on Gaza.
They didn't finish the resistance or Hamas. It's still going and it will not be defeated.

Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/middle_east_views_on_gaza_ceasefire/html/5.stm

'Tungsten bombs'! ..War Crime ?

'Tungsten bombs' leave Israel's victims with mystery wounds
As it declares a unilateral ceasefire, Jerusalem faces a UN call for a war crimes investigation
By Raymond WhitakerSunday, 18 January 2009

Israel was facing demands for war crimes investigations as it declared a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza last night after a 22-day assault in which more than 1,200 Palestinians, a third of them children, were killed and 13 Israelis died.
Two children were killed yesterday when Israeli tanks shelled a UN school in which families were sheltering, leading a UN spokesman, Chris Gunness, to say: "There has to be an investigation to determine whether a war crime has been committed." The call was dismissed by an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, Yigal Palmor, who said: "These claims of war crimes are not supported by the slightest piece of evidence." But among numerous allegations of disproportionate use of force, questions are also multiplying about the use of unconventional weapons by Israel, including a new type of bomb that causes injuries that doctors have not seen before, and which they find impossible to treat.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, claimed in a televised address last night that the military operation had "fully attained" its goals, "and beyond". Israel had declared the ceasefire in response to an appeal from the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, but troops would remain for now in Gaza, and Hamas would be "surprised again" if it attacked.
But even though Mr Olmert said Hamas had been "beaten badly", rockets landed in Israel a few minutes before he spoke. Despite the desperate state of Gaza's population, Hamas leaders said they would continue to fight for an end to Israel's closure of crossing points into the territory and a withdrawal of the Israeli forces.
Mr Mubarak invited the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, and the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, to discuss Gaza in Sharm el-Sheikh today. The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said he might attend, and Gordon Brown is among other leaders due to take part.
Although Mr Olmert's announcement was only a first step towards halting the conflict in Gaza, the UN is not the only international body insisting that inquiries must be held as soon as possible into the tactics and weapons used by Israel. Erik Fosse, a Norwegian doctor who worked in Gaza's hospitals during the conflict, said that Israel was using so-called Dime (dense inert metal explosive) bombs designed to produce an intense explosion in a small space. The bombs are packed with tungsten powder, which has the effect of shrapnel but often dissolves in human tissue, making it difficult to discover the cause of injuries.
Dr Fosse said he had seen a number of patients with extensive injuries to their lower bodies. "It was as if they had stepped on a mine, but there was no shrapnel in the wounds," he said. "Some had lost their legs. It looked as though they had been sliced off. I have been to war zones for 30 years, but I have never seen such injuries before." However, the injuries matched photographs and descriptions in medical literature of the effects of Dime bombs.
"All the patients I saw had been hit by bombs fired from unmanned drones," said Dr Fosse, head of the Norwegian Aid Committee. "The bomb hit the ground near them and exploded." His colleague, Mads Gilbert, accused Israel of using the territory as a testing ground for a new, "extremely nasty" type of explosive. "This is a new generation of small explosive that detonates with extreme power and dissipates its power within a range of five to 10 metres," he said.
According to military databases, Dime bombs are intended for use where conventional weapons might kill or injure bystanders – to kill combatants in a house, for example, without harming people next door. Instead of being made from metal, which sprays shrapnel across a wide area, the casing is carbon fibre. Part of the motive for developing the bombs was to replace the use of depleted uranium, but Dr Fosse said the cancer risk from tungsten powde was well known. "These patients should be followed up to see if there are any carcinogenic effects," he said.
While the loudest controversy has been over accusations that white phosphorus was illegally used, other foreign doctors working in Gaza have reported injuries they cannot explain. Professor Mohammed Sayed Khalifa, a cardiac consultant from Sudan, said that two of his patients had had uncontrollable bleeding. "One had a chest operation, and continued bleeding even after having been given large quantities of plasma," he said. "The other had what seemed to be a minor leg injury, but collapsed with profuse bleeding. Something was interfering with the clotting process. I have never seen such a thing before."
Dr Ahmed Almi, an Egyptian cardio-thoracic consultant at al-Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, said he had seen a number of patients with inexplicable injuries. A boy of 14 had a small puncture wound in his head, but extensive damage to his brain, making it impossible to save his life. "I don't know the nature or type of these weapons that make a very small [entry wound] and go on and make massive destruction in the tissues," he said.
Israeli military representatives have refused to confirm or deny using specific weapons, but insist that all Israel's weapons comply with international law. Neither white phosphorus nor Dime bombs are illegal, but campaigners say the way they have been used, especially in Gaza's densely packed urban areas, could constitute a war crime.

Source:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/tungsten-bombs-leave-israels-victims-with-mystery-wounds-1418910.html

More Readings:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/200911916132228885.html

Ps:İ didn't publish pictures,they are awful,and you can see sample in the original article aboveMy heart just can't take anymore !

Shaky Truce İn Gaza.

Actually as long as there is an army on their land,that is what it will be

Shaky !

Shaky truce holds in Gaza Strip

Palestinians have been venturing out to survey the devastation of Israel's war on Gaza as separate ceasefires called by Israel and the Palestinian fighters appeared to be holding.Israeli troops and tanks were on the move on Monday, heading away from some key points in Gaza towards the border, but it remained unclear whether they would withdraw completely for the Palestinian territory.
Al Jazeera's Barnaby Phillips, reporting from the Israel-Gaza border, said Israeli military sources were saying that it was largely reservists who were leaving Gaza.
"Regular troops, by and large, are holding their positions and will remain alert, they will remain poised, to deal with any violation, as Israel sees it, of the Israeli ceasefire," he said.
"Given that the Israelis were always very unforthcoming about exactly how many troops were in Gaza at the height of the fighting, it is difficult for us to say how quickly they will leave." Israeli army radio quoted unnamed military officials as saying that troops would pull out of Gaza by the time Barack Obama, the US president-elect, takes office on Tuesday.

'Hamas victory'
Hamas and other Palestinian factions have claimed victory in the 23-day conflict

Israel had said the aim of its operations in Gaza was to cripple Hamas's ability to launch rockets into the south of the country.
However, in a televised news conference on Monday, Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas's armed wing, claimed their rocket-launching capacity had not been diminished, and threatened to renew fighting if Israeli forces did not withdraw.
"They [Israel] say they weakened Hamas. We assure you that what we have lost in this war is nothing compared to what we [still] have," the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades spokesman said. The Israeli military said three rockets had landed in southern Israel since the Hamas-led truce announcement on Sunday.
Abu Obeida claimed only 48 Hamas fighters were among the 1,300 Palestinians killed in Israel's more than three-week assault. The Israeli military had claimed the figure was closer to 500.
He also reasserted that two Israeli soldiers had been captured early on in the fight, a claim which Israel denies.

Counting the cost
But the full price of the "victory" was only beginning to be revealed, as thousands of Gazans made their way back to previously inaccessible areas to find their homes and neighbourhoods devastated

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, in Gaza City, reported sewage on the streets as Gazans sifted through rubble of what was previously their homes to recover bodies and salvage whatever they could.
"The WHO [World Health Organisation] has been warning people that with the bodies now several weeks old ... [and] sewage flowing over many of the areas because of the destruction that happened to the infrastructure, it is ripe for an outbreak of epidemics," he said.
Scores of bodies have been discovered in the rubble of destroyed buildings since the fighting ended."We have pulled out the bodies of 15 children and women from under their house," Abed Sharafi, an ambulance driver, said in the early hours of Monday.
"They were so badly decomposed that we couldn't distinguish boys from girls. Some had been there for 15 days."

Homes destroyed

Bulldozers cleared tonnes of rubble from the streets, while the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics estimated that more than 22,000 building have been damaged or destroyed.

"We don't have homes anymore. I don't have anything anymore," Najette Manah said as she searched the wreckage of her home in Beit Lahiya.Meanwhile, Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, was preparing to visit the Gaza Strip amid the lull in violence, Israeli officials said."Ban is planning to begin his trip in Jerusalem and from there he will visit several UN sites in Gaza," Yossi Levy, a spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry, told the AFP news agency.
Israel announced late on Saturday that it was unilaterally ending its offensive in Gaza.
Following that news, Hamas and several allied Palestinian factions announced on Sunday a conditional, one-week truce.
"We in the Palestinian resistance movements announce a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and demand that enemy forces withdraw in a week and open all the border crossings to permit the entry of humanitarian aid and basic goods," Mousa Abu Marzuk, the deputy leader of Hamas's political bureau, said.
Besides Hamas, the Palestinian factions joining the ceasefire included Islamic Jihad, al-Nidal, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and al-Saeqa.

Source:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/200911915726719317.html

Jewish Voice For Peace !

İ just came through this today,and it actually cooled my heart a bit in those flammable events we have and watch everyday
Then,there is hope
Other people,specially fresh,and young generation fighting for the rights of others to live in peace
Refusing to be part of a killing machine aiming to civilians,women,children!
At their young age,they said NO !

Hats Off for them !

FREE THE SHMINISTIM – ISRAEL'S YOUNG CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS. The Shministim are Israeli high school students who have been imprisoned for refusing to serve in an army that occupies the Palestinian Territories. December 18 marks the launch date of a global campaign to release them from jail. Join over 20,000 people including American conscientious objectors,Ronnie Gilbert, Adrienne Rich, Robert Meeropol, Adam Hochschild, Rabbi Lynn Gottleib, Howard Zinn, Rela Mazali, Debra Chasnoff, Ed Asner and Aurora Levins-Morales and show your support by contacting the Israeli Minister of Defense using the form below. 40,000 LETTERS AND COUNTING!


http://december18th.org/

March. 27 2005 250 Israeli high school students declare refusal to serve


A new declaration of refusal by "shministim" - students of the 11th and 12th grades of Israeli high schools - addressed to prime minister Ariel Sharon, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, IDF chief of staff Moshe Yaalon and Education Minister Limor Livnat, has already collected 250 signatures of youngsters facing their term of compulsory military service.

The first members of the group are due to report at the IDF induction in the coming days, and the refusenik community is awaiting to see how the army treats them.

The text runs:

"We, boys and girls, citizens of Israel, who believe in the values of democracy, humanism and pluralism, hereby declare that we will refuse to take part in the policy of occupation and repression for which the Israeli government has opted. We come from a variety of backgrounds, but all are agreed that the following values are the basis of a just society. Every person is entitled to basic rights: the right to life, equality, dignity and freedom. It is our conscientious and civic duty to act in defence of these rights by refusing to take part in the policy of occupation and repression.

The occupation entails forfeiting human dignity and massive loss of human life. It affects the basic rights of millions of persons and causes daily killing and suffering. It leads to land confiscation, mass demolition of homes, arrests and extra-legal executions, ill- treatment and the murder of innocents, hunger, deprivation of medical care, collective punishment, construction and expansion of Jewish settlements and prevents any possibility of a normal life in the occupied territories and in Israel. This flagrant deprival of human rights runs counter to our entire philosophy, as well as international conventions which Israel has signed and confirmed.

The occupation does not contribute to the security of the state and its citizens, it merely harms them. It exacerbates despair and hatred among the Palestinian people, sustains terrorism and expands the cycle of violence. True security will be achieved only by ending the occupation, dismantling the Apartheid wall and working for a just peace agreement between the state of the Israel and the leadership of the Palestinian people and the Arab world overall. The present policy does not stem from defence needs, rather, from a nationalist and messianic world view.

The occupation corrupts Israeli society, rendering it militarist, racist, chauvinist and violent. Israel is wasting its resources on perpetuating the occupation and repression in the occupied territories, at a time when hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens live in shameful poverty. The state's citizens have experienced a decline of all public systems in recent years. Education, health care, infrastructure, pensions, social benefits and everything to do with the welfare of Israel's citizens - are neglected in favour of supporting settlements that a majority wants to see dismantled. We cannot stand by in view of this situation, which constitutes the "focussed liquidation" of the principle of equality.

We want to see the society in which we live pursuing justice, upholding equality for every person and citizen. The policy of occupation and repression is an obstacle to realisation of that vision, and we shall refuse to take part therein. We wish to contribute to society in an alternative way, which does not involve harm to human beings.

We call upon all young people awaiting induction, and all the soldiers of the Israeli army, to reconsider whether to risk their lives in taking part in the policy of repression and destruction.

We believe there is a different way."

Peretz Kidron

Yesh Gvul

Shministim Highschool Seniors Refuseniks


Shministim - Israeli Youth Refusal Movement

12-th Graders' Letter ('michtav shministim'
http://www.shministim.org/



In:http://www.btinternet.com/~musicweaver/shministim_links.htm


New Shministim Letter - February 12, 2005
http://www.nimn.org/Perspectives/israeli_voices/000442.php



Yesh Gvul ("There is a limit !") is an Israeli peace group that has shouldered the task of supporting soldiers who refuse assignments of an immoral or illegal nature. http://www.yeshgvul.org/



Source:
http://www.jerusalemites.org/articles/english/march2005/27.htm





Hats Off !
Seems there is hope after all !





More:
http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/

Filistin ! Palestine !

Gazza ! Gaza!
Filistin ! Palestine!
The Dignity Boat
Filistin 'Palestine' - Turkish history
Gazza Under Fire !
Not Fireworks!
Ar ! Shame !
Where To Go?!
How Can You Be İn Silence?!
War Against Civilan Palestinians - Dr. Mads Gilbert, Gaza
UNRWA - Red Cross !

Şimdi, Dur Ve Düşün ! Stop And Think About İt.

Now try to stop for a while and think about it!

We here have tried to give some of the historical background of that tragedy.

İt's actually plain history,and recent one too,so none can deny it,but they can represent it differently,or let's say,in a way that makes the victim become the butcher in the eyes of people who don't know the truth,or the history!

Now I'm afraid you can't say you didn't know!



OK,imagine yourself sitting peacefully in your own home,a regular peaceful person,so you don't have any sort of weapons in your home,except maybe for some knives you use them in your own kitchen!

Your home is nice,has a very rich soil,and also in a very good district,but as you are a peaceful person,and also a poor one,so you don't use the source that you have well

You just live your day!

One day,a far away neighbour came to your home,first he said he would help you to become in better position,to use your sources well

But of course he was using them for his own benefits.

You didn't like it,you started to demand him to leave your home,he said he will,but he didn't

You started to use force...you have tried to push him out,but he had a gun !

You still kept fighting ,sometimes pushing him and you get wounded

Sometimes you just yell and shout,sometimes your kids go and disturb him and run away!

Suddenly,you have found him brought some men back home...armed men

One today,then another the second day,third...!

You didn't understand...You went to him and asked who are they?!

He said they are some relative staying with me

You said,but it is my house,and i don't want anyone here including you !

He said,but they want a house,they don't have one !

You said...But İT İS MY HOUSE !

They can go and find themselves another house...buy one,anything...just not mine !

While you are arguing,your wife came screaming...come..come they took over our bedroom !

You went there,angry,wanted to kick them off,but they shot you on the arm,and they said,we will take this room !

You said with weak voice,but it is ours !

They said not anymore !

You said,how about our things,our clothes,they are there,it is ours ?!

They said,we will take them too,it will belong to one of us and his wife !

Wife ! You said .

You went that neighbour of yours,asked him what is going on,what wife

Who are those people,and what are they doing in my house?!!

He said,i told you,they want a house,and they don't have one,so they will live here with you,that's why they are bringing their families too !

FAMİLİES ?!!!

İt is MY HOUSE !

What are you talking about ?!!!

On that time,your kids,young ones and old ones were trying to kick those people out

Keeping their mother and sisters in one room so no one would harm them,and took the knives,sticks,or anything they can get,and try to fight those people back,kick them and their families out.

But what would knives and sticks do in front of guns and machine guns ?!!

Some of your boys got wounded,some got killed,some run away from the house scared,some got kicked out,but they stayed on the terrace,and some run back to their mother and sisters to protect them,and defending the rest of the house!

Your far neighbour said...ok..ok that's enough !

Now you two will share the house

Half is yours,and half belong to that man and his family.

You didn't like it of course...you said...but it is MY HOUSE !

By what right,by what law you give what it doesn't belong to you to other people?!

İt belongs to ME..not to you !

The other man ,the armed one,of course accepted it,and said i agree we both live together!

And they brought more of them to your home

You are going NUTS of course

Your neighbour go out,and say loudly so other neighbours hear,look here people,this house belong to those two,they will share it,and will live together

You close neighbours who know you,said it is not fair,it belong to this man,not to the armed one

Other neighbors,and also the police who has good relation with your far neighbour and the armed men said OK..and i also agree,and let's sign papers say this !

Arghhhhhhhhhh!

You are losing your mind !

They are stealing me !

You said NO!

İ will fight you back....

And you do,again with knives and sticks,and this time you had some help from your poor neighbours out there

The well armed one of them had gun where men in your house have machine guns

You kept fighting for a while,but it ended up that you lost,and armed men almost took over the whole house,and kicked you all in one room,and some of your boys still on that terrace !

More over,they took the yards too,back and front yards

They try to use even rocks to come back home,but armed men reply with gun shootings.

Time pass,and your boys on the terrace manage to get some weapons...some guns!

Guns yes, at least it's better than knives and sticks!

But armed men also have better machine guns,rockets and many other weapons,they got them from some far neighbours,but strong,rich ones who still have their eyes on that area!

Your boys lived out there,even it's cold,no good food,but still,it's their home !

They got married there,have children also there...and they kept trying to get their home back !

You went to the armed men,told them OK,let's have peace

İ accept that we share the house,and allow my boys back home

Armed men said no,your boys won't come back,we need more area,so half of the house is not enough

But we agree that we have peace

You keep living in that room ,you and your family there,and you don't demand that the rest of your family to come back

And your boys out there and their families stop throwing rocks at us,and keep living there

And we promise we won't attack them..

OK?

We have peace ?!

Of course you refused,and your kids out there also refused,they have home,and want to be back home,raise their children there

So they kept fighting.

Sometimes by throwing some rocks and other times by trying to fire at the armed men .

The armed men got annoyed from your boys shooting at them and throwing rocks

So they decided to go and wipe them off

They don't want them out there...they can go to other neighbours,do anything...just leave

Sounds of rocks on the glasses annoying them

Of course window's glass is bullet proof,but the sound is annoying and maybe sometimes it got scratched!

So,it's deal,the decision is taken,they will attack the boys,and kick them no matter how many of them they kill or injured,no matter if they kill them,their kids,their wives!

They just don't want them out!

They kept fighting them,killing kids,women,and when neighbours cry..STOP!

The armed men say, we defend ourselves..

When you cry STOP...!

Asking your old neighbour to do something...to anyone to do anything

The rich,strong powerful neighbour says....İt is the armed men right to defend themselves,and their house !

Their House ?!

GOD,have mercy...you cry with tears.



You...is the Palestinians

Your boys,are Hamas and the rest of the resistance

Your far away neighbour is Great Britain

Your powerful strong neighbour is US

Armed men are israel

Your poor neighbours are rest of ME



Now their numbers are 1000 died,and almost 4800 injured

İsn't about time to have peace in that house ?

Just a small question...

Would you and your boys considered to be terrorists ?

More Than 1,000...Not Enough?!

'More than 1,000 killed in Gaza'

Palestinian deaths in the Gaza Strip have passed 1,000, medical sources in Gaza say, as Egypt continues efforts to broker a ceasefire.
Nearly a third of the dead are reported to be children and nearly 5,000 people have been injured.
After talks in Cairo, Hamas officials said they were happy with the broad outlines of an Egyptian initiative but that details remained to be worked out.
Israeli negotiators are to visit Cairo to hear to discuss Egypt's proposal.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said 1,013 people have died in the conflict which started 19 days ago.
More than 300 of the dead are said to be children, 76 are women and more than 4,500 people have been injured, of whom 1,600 are children and 678 are women.
Thirteen Israelis have been killed, including three civilians and one soldier from rockets fired from Gaza and nine soldiers killed in fighting in Gaza.

It is impossible to independently confirm casualty figures as Israel has refused to allow international journalists to enter Gaza.
Diplomatic push
Egypt has been leading efforts to broker a ceasefire, that could include a new force of peacekeepers to prevent smuggling on its border with Gaza.
After talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he hoped the Egyptian initiative would show results as soon as possible.
The UN secretary general is in Jordan on the next leg of a Middle East tour before visiting Israel, the West Bank and Syria.

Hamas officials have also been in Cairo for talks with Egyptian negotiators.
"The movement has presented a detailed vision to the Egyptian leadership so that it (Egypt) can continue its pursuit to end the aggression and lift the injustice on our people in the Gaza Strip," Hamas official Salah al-Bardawil said.
These details concerned how to ensure that border crossings into Gaza could be re-opened under international supervision, he said, and would be presented to Israeli envoys visiting Cairo on Thursday.
A senior Israeli defence official, Amos Gilad, is to travel to Cairo on Thursday, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said.
Earlier on Wednesday, other Hamas officials had said the Egyptian initiative had been positively received but that more time was needed to discuss it.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, has said any ceasefire agreement would have to entail a halt to Israeli attacks, a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and the opening of border crossings to end the blockade of Gaza.
BBC Arab affairs analyst Magdi Abdelhadi says Israel will not agree to a deal that does not guarantee an end to Hamas's smuggling of weapons across the Egyptian border and the cessation of rocket attacks into southern Israel.
For its part, Hamas refuses to accept an agreement that could in effect spell the beginning of the end for its military wing.
Egypt and other key Arab states can put pressure on Hamas but the US remains unwilling to press Israel to make any concessions, our correspondent says.
'Seeds of extremism'
Israel launched its campaign against Gaza on 27 December, saying it wanted to end Palestinian rocket fire into Israel

Both Hamas and Israel rejected last week's UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.
The Israeli offensive has provoked widespread international condemnation at the cost in civilian casualties.
Bolivian President Evo Morales said he was cutting relations with Israel over what he called the "genocide" in Gaza.
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria warned that Israel's campaign would fuel extremism and terrorism in the Arab and Muslim world.
"The effect of war is more dangerous than war. It is sowing seeds of extremism around the region," Mr Assad said in an exclusive BBC interview.
Israeli divisions?
On Wednesday, Israel continued to bombard the Gaza Strip and residents spoke of heavy machine-gun fire as Israeli troops fought Hamas gunmen near Gaza City.

Meanwhile, three rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, landing on open ground.
No casualties or damage were reported.
In another development, a newly-released audiotape said to feature the voice of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has called for a holy war to stop the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
The authenticity of the tape, posted on a number of Islamic militant websites, could not be independently verified.
Humanitarian concerns have increased amid the fighting, although some aid is getting through to Gaza during daily three-hour lulls Israel has allowed to let in supplies.

Source:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7828884.stm

Human Rights!

Too much for human rights,eh?!

´´All European Union countries abstained and Canada voted against the resolution.´´
Then those same countries/people,walk around crying over human rights in other countries!
People in Palestine don't have rights ?

Or they are not human ?!!!

UN watchdog condemns war on Gaza

A resolution condemning Israel's military offensive in Gaza has been adopted by the UN Human Rights Council.
The non-binding resolution, approved in Geneva on Monday, said Israel's operation had "resulted in massive violations of human rights of the Palestinian people".
More than 935 Palestinians have died during the fighting, many of them women and children, and a further 4,300 have been wounded.
At least 25,000 have been displaced due to the ongoing bombardment, but are unable to flee the overcrowded territory as crossing points remain closed.
The resolution, drafted by Arab, Asian and African countries, called for an international mission to be sent immediately to the Gaza Strip to investigate Israel's actions.
It also called for an immediate end to the "launching of the crude rockets against Israeli civilians" by the Palestinian factions.

Israel launched its operation on December 27 after a ceasefire with Hamas ended a week earlier, stating its objective was to target the Palestinian faction's infrastructure and bring an end to the firing of homemade rockets into southern Israel.
'Fairytale world'Fewer states than expected supported the resolution, which passed by 33 votes to one, with 13 abstentions. The US, not a member of the council, took no part in the debate.
Israel dismissed it as one-sided and reflecting the "fairytale world" of the 47-member council.
The text of the document said the council "strongly condemns the ongoing Israeli military operations ... which have resulted in massive violations of human rights of the Palestinian people and systematic destruction of the Palestinian infrastructure".The resolution was opposed by Canada while European countries, Japan and South Korea abstained.The resolution was backed by, among others, Russia, China, Argentina and Brazil.During a debate on the resolution, Pakistan, speaking for the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), denounced what it called Israel's "unrestrained use of force, killing of innocent civilians" and violation of UN havens.
At least 40 people died last Tuesday when the UN-run school they were sheltering in was hit by Israeli fire.

'Massive violations'
All European Union countries abstained and Canada voted against the resolution.Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told Al Jazeera: "In the end they [the UN] passed the resolution, it was not unanimous. I would not say it was that heated, at the end of the day there were still differences of opinion.

Many states praised the Palestinian delegation for the flexibility they had shown in the negotiations, but they could not quite reach a consensus."
Speaking in the Gaza Strip, John Ging, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) operations in Gaza, repeated his call for an immediate end to the fighting.
"I say now, to all politicians, here in Israel and internationally, you have an obligation to the ordinary people in the name of humanity and all that is civilised, we need to stop this now. Those who help will never be forgotten.
"Israel is responsible for its own actions and it is very clear to us that there are a lot of actions in this conflict that will need to be fully investigated independently and internationally."Those who have been killed and injured, those who are innocent, deserve accountability."Peter Splinter, Amnesty International's representative at the United Nations in Geneva, backed the call for an investigation, saying "there must be a full accountability for war crimes".
"Evidence of war crimes is presenting itself each day," he told Al Jazeera.
Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a former UN secretary-general, added his perspective on the situation, saying the assault on Gaza "is a present the Israelis gave to the fundamentalists".
"It will reinforce extremists, fundamentalists, all over Arab countries and even inside Israel," he said.

Source:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/2009112152635783968.html

And here

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1054843.html

Just Rice?!

Israel's Olmert: Rice embarrassed over UN vote

JERUSALEM – Israel's prime minister said Monday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was embarrassed by orders to abstain from voting last week on a U.N. truce resolution for Gaza that she helped arrange.
Israel had argued that the Security Council measure calling for a halt to the Gaza fighting — which passed Thursday in a 14-0 vote with the U.S. abstaining — was unworkable because it did not guarantee Israel's security.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he called President George W. Bush to seek an abstention from the U.S., a key Israeli ally at the United Nations.
"I said: 'Get me President Bush on the phone,'" Olmert said in a speech in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. "They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn't care: 'I need to talk to him now.' He got off the podium and spoke to me."
Olmert said he argued that the United States should not vote in favor, and the president then called Rice and told her not to do so.
"She was left pretty embarrassed," Olmert said.
A senior U.S. official in Washington disputed the account.
"The plan had been all along, as agreed by the secretary and the president, that if all of the pieces fell into place, we would abstain," the official said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
"The government of Israel does not make policy for the United States," the official added.
The approved resolution called for "an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza."
Rice said later that the United States "fully supports" the resolution but abstained because it "thought it important to see the outcomes of the Egyptian mediation," referring to an Egyptian-French initiative aimed at achieving a cease-fire.
Still, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said he was surprised by the U.S. abstention.
"We were told that the Americans were going to vote in favor," he said Friday, a day after the vote.
But when Rice came in to the Security Council chamber, she informed the Saudi foreign minister with an apology that she would abstain and would clarify later that the U.S. supported the resolution nonetheless, according to Malki.
"What happened in the last 10 or 15 minutes, what kind of pressure she received, from whom, this is really something that maybe we will know about later," he said.

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090112/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_us_rice

İf some countries do as they have been told 'even if they don't like and consider it not in their benefits ! ',and try to find themselves some excuses
What is the USA government excuse ?!
Not powerful enough ?
Not strong enough ?

Just a question coming into my mind to our Americas friends out there...
Guys,Who is making the decisions for you ?!

Denial as usual ! Phosphorus Shells !

Denial as usual !
İsreal deny,what we already see with our eyes,what we hear with our ears,what is everyone screaming about..''it's happening ..it's happening..help those people !''
Maybe they can convince the world it is just fireworks?!
But would we/you believe it with comfortable conscious?!
İ know many politicians will....!
But how about you ?!




Gazans fear Israel using phosphorus



Doctors in Gaza City have told Al Jazeera that people have been admitted suffering burns consistent with the use of the controversial chemical white phosphorus.Human rights campaigners say that Israeli forces have used the munition, which can burn away human flesh to the bone, over Gaza City and Jabaliya in recent days.
Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, said: "Doctors here say they are seeing unprecedented levels of deep burns."They cannot categorically say that white phosphorus is being used, they are saying that the munitions being dropped are unprecendented."
Residents in densely-packed Jabaliya have described Israeli forces exploding shells that drop scores of burning fragments and spread suffocating smoke
"Its the first time we see this type of weapon, it must be new and its seems like its phosphorous," one resident told Al Jazeera.
"Its suffocating and has a deadly poisonous smell that I am sure will cause a lot of sickness and disease on all of the civilians here," he said.Another witness said she saw "... a bright flash and then all of these sparks fell on our area ... landing all around us and in our homes. Our mattresses caught on fire".
Law 'violated'
The use of the munition in densely-populated areas violates the requirement under international humanitarian law for all feasible precautions to be taken to avoid civilian injury and loss of life, Human Rights Watch said.
International law permits the use of white phosphorus in order to cover troop movements and prevent enemies from using certain guided weapons.Marc Garlasco, a senior military analyst at the human rights group told Al Jazeera on Saturday that he had watched Israeli ground forces using white phosphorus.
"Clearly it is [white phosphorus], we can tell by the explosions and the tendrils that go down [and] the fires that were burning," he said."Today there were massive attacks in Jabaliya when we were there. We saw that there were numerous fires once the white phosphorus had gone in."We went by Israeli artillery units that had white phosphorus rounds with the fuses in them."
Major Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman, told Al Jazeera that the Israeli army was "using munitions with accordance to international law".
"The policy of the IDF [Israeli Defence Force] is to not specify the types of munition, we have not done it before and we will not do it now."
Mark Regev, the Israeli government spokesman, said he was unable to confirm or deny whether the military was using the chemical, but that Israel did not use munitions that were banned under international law."I don't have the knowledge of the detail of what ammunition we are using. I can only know for a fact that Israel uses no ammunition that is outlawed under conventions and that Nato forces would not use in a similar combat situation," he told Al Jazeera.Israel used white phosphorus during its 34-day war against Lebanon's Hezbollah movement in 2006, while the United States used it during the controversial siege of the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2004.

Source:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/20091111392884765.html

İsrael.....UN !

No Comment !

Powerful UN !

Israel, Hamas brush off U.N. cease-fire resolution

Children walk past rubble left by an Israeli airstrike Friday in the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza (CNN) -- Israel continued its offensive in Gaza on Friday, hitting more than 70 targets, despite the U.N. Security Council's call for an immediate cease-fire.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel was disregarding the U.N. vote because the resolution will not be heeded by "murderous" Palestinian groups. The firing of rockets from Gaza into southern Israel on Friday, he said, "proves the U.N. resolution is not practical."
"The state of Israel has never agreed that any outside body would determine its right to defend the security of its citizens. The [Israel Defense Forces] will continue operations in order to defend Israeli citizens and will carry out the missions with which it has been assigned in the operation," Olmert said.
The Cabinet also decided to continue humanitarian activity in Gaza and keep up efforts "to prevent the smuggling of war materiel into the Gaza Strip."
The Cabinet was briefed on meetings that Israeli Maj. Gen. Amos Gilad had with Egyptian officials over a proposed Egyptian-French truce plan.
Hamas also rejected the resolution, the Paris, France, daily newspaper Le Figaro reported.
The resolution "does not serve our interests nor that of the people of Palestine," said Hamas official Raafat Morra, speaking from Lebanon. "It does not take into account the aspirations and the principal objectives of the Palestinian people."
At least 792 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began its air and ground assault, a U.N. official said, citing numbers from the Palestinian Health Ministry. See images from the offensive »
The official said the Health Ministry is reporting that about 3,200 Palestinians have been wounded in the past two weeks.
Thirteen Israelis, including 10 soldiers, have also have so far been killed, IDF said. One soldier was moderately wounded and two others were lightly wounded during the day, but no deaths were reported Friday.
Israel has repeatedly defended its offensive, which it says is meant to stop Hamas militants from continuing to use the territory to lob rockets into southern Israel.

The Security Council called overwhelmingly for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza late Thursday, expressing "grave concern" at a mounting humanitarian crisis and heavy civilian casualties in the Palestinian territory.
Fourteen of the council's 15 members voted in favor of Resolution 1860, with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice abstaining from the vote on behalf of the United States. Rice said the United States prefers to wait on the results of ongoing Egyptian-brokered talks in Cairo between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

The resolution "stresses the urgency of, and calls for, an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire which will lead to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza."
Although the resolution does not mention Hamas by name, it does condemn "all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism."
A resolution from the council, particularly one that passes with such large support, can put international pressure on parties involved in a conflict. But they are in no way binding, and many in the past have been ignored by warring factions.
The IDF said aircraft attacked more than 70 targets in Gaza identified as terrorist sites as Israel's offensive against Hamas stretched into its 14th day.

The IDF said its ground forces found a "rigged house containing a number of land mines" and struck "terror operatives who fired anti-tank rockets at them."
"In addition, the house used by terrorists that shot and killed Sgt. Amit Robinson yesterday was shot at by IDF forces today," the military said. The 70 targets included 20 "terror operatives," rocket launching areas, three houses of Hamas operatives that had been used to store weapons, two weapons smuggling tunnels and "a vehicle with armed terror operatives."
Israel said that its naval forces hit "at least ten armed terror operatives" Thursday night and "they continued assisting the ground forces throughout the night."
One location hit by Israeli missiles was a house in northern Gaza where six people were killed early Friday, the Ramattan News Agency in Gaza City reported.
In another attack, Israeli helicopters obliterated the house of a Hamas military commander in northern Gaza City on Friday, sources in the Hamas movement said.
Aqsa TV identified the man as Abu Farouk Dababesh. The Hamas sources said Dababesh's house was among 15 houses targeted by Israel on Friday.
Palestinian medical sources said 22 Palestinians were killed Friday.
The IDF said its missiles hit five Gaza sites where Hamas was launching rockets into Israel Friday morning, including one that was adjacent to a mosque.
The Israeli military said more than 30 rockets from Gaza landed in southern Israel on Friday, including two Grad missiles that fell on Beer Sheva. Two rockets hit Ashkelon and one landed at Ashdod. No damage or injuries were reported, the IDF said.
Israel took steps before Friday prayers to head off any possible violence in Jerusalem. West Bank entries into Israel have been halted through Saturday night and men younger than 50 were banned from entering Jerusalem mosques.
Also Friday, the U.N. said it would resume its suspended aid operations in Gaza.

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees suspended food delivery operations Thursday to 750,000 Palestinian refugees after strikes by Israel killed one of its drivers and wounded another. The U.N. said the aid workers "had received Israeli clearance."
U.N. officials attended a high-level meeting at the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on Friday. There, "the U.N. received credible assurances that the security of U.N. personnel, installations and humanitarian operations would be fully respected," a U.N. statement said



Source:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/09/israel.gaza/index.html?eref=onion

War Crime...And ? !

Israeli strike on civilian house may be 'war crime' says UN
The United Nations has called for Israel to be investigated for war crimes over the shelling of a house full of Palestinian civilians which left dozens dead.



Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the attack, first revealed in The Telegraph, on members of the extended Samouni family in the Gazan town of Zeitoun "appears to have all the elements of war crimes."
Her remarks came after the International Committee of the Red Cross accused Israel of breaking the rules of war by failing to help the wounded in the incident.
According to the ICRC, four infant children were found too weak to stand after clinging for 48 hours to what ambulance crew believed to be the corpses of their mothers while Israeli soldiers were less than 100 yards away.
Under the rules of war, soldiers have an obligation to treat properly the survivors of combat.
Speaking to an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council Miss Pillay said Palestinian militants firing rockets into Israel was "unacceptable'' but that it did not justify alleged abuses committed by the Israeli army.
She said conditions currently being endured by the 1.5 million strong population of Gaza "constitute egregious violations of human rights".
"Accountability must be ensured for violations of international law,'' she said.
"As a first step credible, independent and transparent investigations must be carried out to identify violations and establish responsibilities.
"I remind this Council that violations of international humanitarian law may constitute war crimes for which individual criminal responsibility may be invoked.''
Israel has denied there is any humanitarian crisis in Gaza and said it is working in concert with international agencies and doing everything possible to reduce civilian casualties.
More than a hundred Palestinian children have been killed since Israel launched operation Cast Lead two weeks ago.
The ICRC has demanded more access to Zeitoun to try to establish the exact death toll in an incident that could be the bloodiest of the conflict so far.
With Israeli forces still in the area and unwilling to let ambulance crews in, apart from a short time on Wednesday, it is not possible to say how many members of the Samouni clan died.
Some survivors said thirty, others suggest the toll might be as high as seventy.
The bloodshed happened after Israel launched its ground offensive last Saturday night.
Israeli troops supported by tanks took Zeitoun quickly and at dawn on Sunday they went house to house detaining men of fighting age and corralling the remaining people, mostly women and children, in a few large houses.
Up to 110 members of the extended Samouni clan were put into one building without water, heating or food.
At dawn on Monday it was shelled repeatedly by Israeli forces. Survivors described seeing bodies with brains oozing out.
Surviving members of the Samouni family described how the Israeli soldiers went from house to house detaining younger men and then crowding a large number, mostly women and children, into a single building.
Meysa Samouni, 19, said up to 110 members of the Samouni family were forced inside without running water or food.
She said: "When the missile stuck, I lay down with my daughter under me. Everything filled up with smoke and dust, and I heard screams and crying.
"After the smoke and dust cleared a bit, I looked around and saw twenty to thirty people who were dead, and about twenty who were wounded.
She said the survivors and walking wounded eventually emerged and found some Israeli soldiers who took two of the male survivors and let the rest pass.

Source:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/4209242/Israeli-strike-on-civilian-house-may-be-war-crime-says-UN-gaza.html

Wondering...Why The Palestinians complain !

As if saying....even its destroyed....its still ours...our place,our land ! A Palestinian man places a green Hamas flag on the rubble of a destroyed mosque after an Israeli air strike in Gaza

Mark Steel: So what have the Palestinians got to complain about?

To portray this as a conflict between equals requires some imagination
Wednesday, 31 December 2008

When you read the statements from Israeli and US politicians, and try to match them with the pictures of devastation, there seems to be only one explanation. They must have one of those conditions, called something like "Visual Carnage Responsibility Back To Front Upside Down Massacre Disorder".
For example, Condoleezza Rice, having observed that more than 300 Gazans were dead, said: "We are deeply concerned about the escalating violence. We strongly condemn the attacks on Israel and hold Hamas responsible."
Someone should ask her to comment on teenage knife-crime, to see if she'd say: "I strongly condemn the people who've been stabbed, and until they abandon their practice of wandering around clutching their sides and bleeding, there is no hope for peace."
The Israeli government suffers terribly from this confusion. They probably have adverts on Israeli television in which a man falls off a ladder and screams, "Eeeeugh", then a voice says, "Have you caused an accident at work in the last 12 months?" and the bloke who pushed him gets £3,000.
The gap between the might of Israel's F-16 bombers and Apache helicopters, and the Palestinians' catapulty thing is so ridiculous that to try and portray the situation as between two equal sides requires the imagination of a children's story writer.
The reporter on News at Ten said the rockets "may be ineffective, but they ARE symbolic." So they might not have weapons but they have got symbolism, the canny brutes.
It's no wonder the Israeli Air Force had to demolish a few housing estates, otherwise Hamas might have tried to mock Israel through a performance of expressive dance.
The rockets may be unable to to kill on the scale of the Israeli Air Force, said one spokesman, but they are "intended to kill".
Maybe he went on: "And we have evidence that Hamas supporters have dreams, and that in these dreams bad things happen to Israeli citizens, they burst, or turn into cactus, or run through Woolworths naked, so it's not important whether it can happen, what matters is that they WANT it to happen, so we blew up their university."
Or there's the outrage that Hamas has been supported by Iran. Well that's just breaking the rules. Because say what you will about the Israelis, they get no arms supplies or funding or political support from a country that's more powerful than them, they just go their own way and make all their weapons in an arts and crafts workshop in Jerusalem.
But mostly the Israelis justify themselves with a disappointing lack of imagination, such as the line that they had to destroy an ambulance because Hamas cynically put their weapons inside ambulances.
They should be more creative, and say Hamas were planning to aim the flashing blue light at Israeli epileptics in an attempt to make them go into a fit, get dizzy and wander off into Syria where they would be captured.
But they prefer a direct approach, such as the statement from Ofer Schmerling, an Israeli Civil Defence official who said on al-Jazeera, "I shall play music and celebrate what the Israeli Air Force is doing."
Maybe they could turn it into a huge nationalfestival, with decorations and mince pies and shops playing "I Wish We Could Bomb Gaza Every Day".
In a similar tone Dov Weisglas, Ariel Sharon's chief of staff, referred to the siege of Gaza that preceded this bombing, a siege in which the Israelis prevented the population from receiving essential supplies of food, medicine, electricity and water, by saying, "We put them on a diet."
It's the arrogance of the East End gangster, so it wouldn't be out of character if the Israeli Prime Minister's press conference began: "Oh dear or dear. It looks like those Palestinians have had a little, er, accident. All their buildings have been knocked down – they want to be more careful, hee hee."
And almost certainly one of the reasons this is happening now is because the government wants to appear hard as it wants to win an election. Maybe with typical Israeli frankness they'll show a party political broadcast in which Ehud Olmert says, "This is why I think you should vote for me", then shows film of Gaza and yells: "Wa-hey, that bloke in the corner is on FIRE."
And Condoleezza Rice and her colleagues, and the specially appointed Middle East Peace Envoy, could then all shake their heads and say: "Disgraceful. The way he's flapping around like that could cause someone to have a nasty accident."

Source:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mark-steel/mark-steel-so-what-have-the-palestinians-got-to-complain-about-1218135.html

We Ask !

Robert Fisk: Why do they hate the West so much, we will ask
Wednesday, 7 January 2009

A child injured in the Israeli bombardment of a UN school yesterday is taken to Shifa hospital in Gaza City

So once again, Israel has opened the gates of hell to the Palestinians. Forty civilian refugees dead in a United Nations school, three more in another. Not bad for a night's work in Gaza by the army that believes in "purity of arms". But why should we be surprised?
Have we forgotten the 17,500 dead – almost all civilians, most of them children and women – in Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon; the 1,700 Palestinian civilian dead in the Sabra-Chatila massacre; the 1996 Qana massacre of 106 Lebanese civilian refugees, more than half of them children, at a UN base; the massacre of the Marwahin refugees who were ordered from their homes by the Israelis in 2006 then slaughtered by an Israeli helicopter crew; the 1,000 dead of that same 2006 bombardment and Lebanese invasion, almost all of them civilians?
What is amazing is that so many Western leaders, so many presidents and prime ministers and, I fear, so many editors and journalists, bought the old lie; that Israelis take such great care to avoid civilian casualties. "Israel makes every possible effort to avoid civilian casualties," yet another Israeli ambassador said only hours before the Gaza massacre. And every president and prime minister who repeated this mendacity as an excuse to avoid a ceasefire has the blood of last night's butchery on their hands. Had George Bush had the courage to demand an immediate ceasefire 48 hours earlier, those 40 civilians, the old and the women and children, would be alive.
What happened was not just shameful. It was a disgrace. Would war crime be too strong a description? For that is what we would call this atrocity if it had been committed by Hamas. So a war crime, I'm afraid, it was. After covering so many mass murders by the armies of the Middle East – by Syrian troops, by Iraqi troops, by Iranian troops, by Israeli troops – I suppose cynicism should be my reaction. But Israel claims it is fighting our war against "international terror". The Israelis claim they are fighting in Gaza for us, for our Western ideals, for our security, for our safety, by our standards. And so we are also complicit in the savagery now being visited upon Gaza.
I've reported the excuses the Israeli army has served up in the past for these outrages. Since they may well be reheated in the coming hours, here are some of them: that the Palestinians killed their own refugees, that the Palestinians dug up bodies from cemeteries and planted them in the ruins, that ultimately the Palestinians are to blame because they supported an armed faction, or because armed Palestinians deliberately used the innocent refugees as cover.
The Sabra and Chatila massacre was committed by Israel's right-wing Lebanese Phalangist allies while Israeli troops, as Israel's own commission of inquiry revealed, watched for 48 hours and did nothing. When Israel was blamed, Menachem Begin's government accused the world of a blood libel. After Israeli artillery had fired shells into the UN base at Qana in 1996, the Israelis claimed that Hizbollah gunmen were also sheltering in the base. It was a lie. The more than 1,000 dead of 2006 – a war started when Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers on the border – were simply dismissed as the responsibility of the Hizbollah. Israel claimed the bodies of children killed in a second Qana massacre may have been taken from a graveyard. It was another lie. The Marwahin massacre was never excused. The people of the village were ordered to flee, obeyed Israeli orders and were then attacked by an Israeli gunship. The refugees took their children and stood them around the truck in which they were travelling so that Israeli pilots would see they were innocents. Then the Israeli helicopter mowed them down at close range. Only two survived, by playing dead. Israel didn't even apologise.
Twelve years earlier, another Israeli helicopter attacked an ambulance carrying civilians from a neighbouring village – again after they were ordered to leave by Israel – and killed three children and two women. The Israelis claimed that a Hizbollah fighter was in the ambulance. It was untrue. I covered all these atrocities, I investigated them all, talked to the survivors. So did a number of my colleagues. Our fate, of course, was that most slanderous of libels: we were accused of being anti-Semitic.
And I write the following without the slightest doubt: we'll hear all these scandalous fabrications again. We'll have the Hamas-to-blame lie – heaven knows, there is enough to blame them for without adding this crime – and we may well have the bodies-from-the-cemetery lie and we'll almost certainly have the Hamas-was-in-the-UN-school lie and we will very definitely have the anti-Semitism lie. And our leaders will huff and puff and remind the world that Hamas originally broke the ceasefire. It didn't. Israel broke it, first on 4 November when its bombardment killed six Palestinians in Gaza and again on 17 November when another bombardment killed four more Palestinians.
Yes, Israelis deserve security. Twenty Israelis dead in 10 years around Gaza is a grim figure indeed. But 600 Palestinians dead in just over a week, thousands over the years since 1948 – when the Israeli massacre at Deir Yassin helped to kick-start the flight of Palestinians from that part of Palestine that was to become Israel – is on a quite different scale. This recalls not a normal Middle East bloodletting but an atrocity on the level of the Balkan wars of the 1990s. And of course, when an Arab bestirs himself with unrestrained fury and takes out his incendiary, blind anger on the West, we will say it has nothing to do with us. Why do they hate us, we will ask? But let us not say we do not know the answer.

Source:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-why-do-they-hate-the-west-so-much-we-will-ask-1230046.html

UNRWA,Red Cross

By what law they have been targeted ?!!!

Israel accused over Gaza wounded

The Red Cross has accused Israel of failing to fulfil its obligation to help wounded civilians in Gaza.
ICRC staff found four weak and scared children beside their mothers' bodies in houses hit by shelling in Zeitoun.
The Israeli military has not yet responded to the accusation, but said it worked closely with aid groups so that civilians could get assistance.
Meanwhile the UN said it was suspending aid operations in Gaza because of the danger to staff from Israeli attacks.
"We have suspended our operations in Gaza until the Israeli authorities can guarantee our safety and security," said Chris Gunness, spokesman for the United Nations relief agency Unrwa.
"Our installations have been hit, our workers have been killed in spite of the fact that the Israeli authorities have the co-ordinates of our facilities and that all our movements are co-ordinated with the Israeli army.
"It is with great regret that Unrwa has been forced to make this difficult decision."
Earlier, Unrwa said one person had been killed and two injured when a fork-lift truck on a UN aid mission came under Israeli tank fire at Gaza's Erez crossing.

The UN says the delivery had been co-ordinated with Israel.
The Israeli army has not commented on that claim but has said it is looking into the matter.
The aid agencies' concerns come amid fears the conflict with Gaza militants may spread, with at least three rockets fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, prompting Israel to reply with artillery.
The incident followed Israel's heaviest bombardment so far of Gaza in nearly two weeks of conflict, with 60 air strikes targeting Hamas facilities.
Palestinian medical officials said at least 10 Gaza residents had been killed on Thursday.
More than 700 Palestinian and 11 Israeli lives are said to have been lost since the offensive began 13 days ago.
For a second day, Israeli forces observed a three-hour pause in fighting to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The first of what Israel said would be a daily ceasefire, on Wednesday, allowed aid agencies into the territory for the first time in days.
Efforts have continued to broker a full ceasefire - a senior Israeli official is in Cairo to hear details of a plan put forward by Egypt and France.
A Hamas delegation is expected in the Egyptian capital at some stage for parallel "technical" talks, Egyptian diplomats said.
'Access denied'
The International Committee of the Red Cross accused Israel of failing in its international obligations after its staff were met with "shocking" scenes.

One medical team found 12 bodies in a shelled house, and alongside them four very young children, too weak to stand, waiting by their dead mothers, the ICRC said.
Aid workers had been denied access to the site for days, it added.
"This is a shocking incident," Pierre Wettach, ICRC head for Israel and the Palestinian territories said in a statement.
"The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded. Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestinian Red Crescent to assist the wounded."
Correspondents say the criticism is unusually strong, coming from an agency considered to be neutral.
The Israeli army told Reuters news agency that any serious allegations would be properly investigated once a formal complaint was received.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International accused both sides of using civilians as human shields.

At least three Katyusha rockets were fired from southern Lebanon into the northern Israeli area of Nahariya early on Thursday.
One hit a nursing home, leaving at least two people slightly wounded and a number of others suffering from shock, Israeli officials said.

Israel immediately responded with five artillery shells into Lebanon, calling it a "pinpoint response at the source of fire".
The rocket fire was condemned by Lebanon's prime minister.
The rocket attacks from Lebanon have raised concerns about a wider war in the region, says the BBC's Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen.
In Gaza, Israel continued its offensive overnight with 60 air strikes targeting police sites, 10 Hamas tunnels, weapons storage facilities, launching pads "and a number of armed gunmen", the Israeli army said.
Casualty claims in Gaza have been difficult to verify independently.
While the BBC has had Palestinian producers reporting from Gaza, Israel only allowed Western TV crews to enter on Wednesday, embedded with its army.

Source:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7817926.stm