Israel Continues Bombing Gaza In Spite of Ceasefire, Sacramentans Report

Dear all-
We have been traveling in Jordan for the past few days and plan to be back in the West Bank next week (when we will resume our regular updates).
Despite the ceasefire, Israel bombed Gaza again yesterday. Reports from Gaza are terrible. Tonight we spoke with a young Gaza man now living in Amman; he told us that seven of his cousins there were killed by the Israeli attacks. We are also getting reports of increased repression against Palestinians in the West Bank as well as Palestinian-Israelis; including killing and arresting demonstrators.
It is imperative that world pressure on Israel continue and increase. Not only to stop the atrocities against Gaza, but to end the occupation and apartheid policies and practices of Israel that have led to these atrocities. Israel must immediately stop the attacks on Gaza and open all borders; it must remove all of its military, apartheid wall, and settlements from the West Bank; it must stop its harassment and unequal treatment of Palestinian-Israelis; and it must adhere to UN resolutions regarding the Palestinian refugees.
Israel must also be held accountable for the war crimes it has committed and continues to commit in Gaza. Contact the United Nations and ask that a Special Tribunal to try Israeli war criminals. There is a petition you can sign at: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/EAFORD09/petition.html For more information, see the letter below sent out by a Jewish activist, who is a friend of ours here. This is followed by links compiled by another activist, Mazin Qumsiyeh.
We must demand that our government end aid to Israel and stop supplying Israel with weapons. In Sacramento, we need to respond strongly to Matsui's defense of Israel's actions.
Many of you may have seen the Obama question about whether it is time to re-evaluate aid to Israel. We don't know that it is still active, but you can send comments to Obama through his website: http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov
Thank all of you for your efforts.
Maggie & Patricia

Dear friends,
We have all seen and heard about the atrocities committed by the Israel government in Gaza over the past few weeks: the killing of over 1300 people, including hundreds of children, the use of white phosphorous, the bombing of residential areas, the Islamic University, UN schools, hospitals, mosques, and so on. All this as Gaza was already suffering from collective punishment in the form of a crippling siege, in which basic necessities such as fuel, water, and medicines were denied to the population.
Throughout the Israeli offensive, millions of people took to the streets all over the world to protest. Yet most of our governments have failed to take any meaningful action and demand that Israeli leaders be brought to justice.
We MUST act now to bring Israeli leaders to justice.
Please consider signing the petition below and forwarding it far and wide.
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/EAFORD09/petition.html

For more information please see the links below:

UN High commissioner for Human Rights report on Gaza
http://gazasiege.org/docs/gaza_crisis_08/GazaCrisis_UN_Falk_Pressrelease_12_27_08.pdf

Red Cross: Israel breaking Int'l law, letting children starve in Gaza
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1053877.html

Israeli Human Rights groups: Clear and present danger to the lives and well-being of tens of thousands of civilians: An Israeli Call For Urgent Humanitarian Action In Gaza
http://www.btselem.org/English/Press_Releases/20090114.asp

Human Rights Watch demands Israel stop using White Phosphorus incendiary shells on civilian populations
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/01/10/israel-stop-unlawful-use-white-phosphorus-gaza

Robert Fisk: So I asked the UN Secratary General, isn't it time for a war crimes tribunal?
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-so-i-asked-the-un-secretary-general-isnt-it-time-for-a-war-crimes-tribunal-1419289.html

Nobel Peace Laureate, Mairead Maguire Supports Calls for International Criminal Tribunal for Israeli War Crimes
http://www.freegaza.org/fr/home/654-a-tribunal-for-israeli-war-crimes

Pictures and videos of reality

-Video on day 9 of shelling, whole families obliterated
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpKhxocn_EE
-Norwegian doctor report from Gaza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev6ojm62qwA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYKmA_o4lAE

-Israel shelled UN school compound killing 40 people
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=NvOZ301vbEs

-Father loses his parents, four children and other members of his family after the Israelis gather neighbors in one house and then shell it
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=mLEEEKCpSJ0

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Axy1cMWUxkg

-Another father who lost three children speaks in Hebrew to Ehud Barak
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2009/01/06/to-israel-with-love/

-Video: the world lost its conscience?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHYjpOhcB2k

-Israel experimenting on civilians with new types of weapons:
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=oyFnE2Z5bpk

-Norwegian Dr. Mads Gilbert testimony in Gaza
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/dime.htm

-Use of white phosphorus over Gaza http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVY4NUKowzg

-Direct reports from Gaza by an International in Gaza: http://ingaza.wordpress.com/

-A haunting photo montage http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2009/01/16/war-on-gaza-surat-al-rahman/

-UK Telegraph Newspaper: "They said that after the Israeli army first took the town on Saturday night soldiers had ordered about 100 members of the clan to gather in a single house owned by Wael Samouni around dawn on Sunday. At 6.35am on Monday the house was repeatedly shelled with appalling loss of civilian life [killing 70]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/4162193/Gaza-medics-describe-horror-of-strike-which-killed-70.html

Facts on Gaza not well known

-Factsheet on Gaza
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/downloads/gaza_us_weapons.pdf

-Israel spokesperson admits Israel broke the cease fire agreement
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=SILJxPTqjAM

CNN confirmed this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAhfDa0smsc

-Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions "reframing" Gaza
http://icahd.org/eng/news.asp?menu=5&submenu=1&item=655

-Gaza Website http://gazasiege.org

-Vanity Fair reported in April last year: "After failing to anticipate Hamas's victory over Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House cooked up yet another scandalously covert and self-defeating Middle East debacle: part Iran-contra, part Bay of Pigs. With confidential documents, corroborated by outraged former and current U.S. officials, the author reveals how President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy National-Security Adviser Elliott Abrams [Zionist] backed an armed force under Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan, touching off a bloody civil war in Gaza and leaving Hamas stronger than ever."
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804

-An inside story of how the US magnified Palestinian suffering. The covert push to empower Fatah failed. And isolating Hamas just made things worse. But it's not too late to change course.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0112/p09s01-coop.html

- Gaza invasion: Powered by the U.S.: Taxpayers are spending over $1 billion to send refined fuel to the Israeli military -- at a time when Israel doesn't need it and America does.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/01/16/gaza_invasion/index.html

- Still breathing, a report from Gaza by Caoimhe Butterly
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=35030

- Sderot Residents Contradict Israeli Government Propaganda
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2009/01/15/500-citizens-of-sderot-contradict-the-is

DECLARATIONS

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said that the situation in Gaza was "completely and utterly unacceptable based on every known standard of international law and universal humanitarian principles and values.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gjiqWO2pxDjmb0u29sn4O5e8LC0w

World Health Organization condemns Israeli attacks on hospitals
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2009/Gaza-health-20090115/en/index.html

Journalists group condemns strike on Gaza media
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090115/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_gaza_media_1

The Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) and the International Covenant for the Protection of Journalists (ICPJ) condemn shelling of building hosting media offices. http://www.mediacovenant.org/

British Academics Call for Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanctions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/16/gaza-israel-petitions

Gush Shalom, Israel Peace Block, January 7, 2009: "The government dooms a whole generation of young Israelis to become, quite literally, war criminals"

Analysis

- Video:Israeli speaks to the BBC and asks Obama to change (instead of being a "slave" of the lobby) http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=rfnPjzOGB5s

- A 14 year old in Gaza asks on question: why?
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/01/11/a_14_year_old_in_gaza_has_one_question_why/

- Bob Simon, a life-long Zionist interviewed by Charlie Rose lets out the facts
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/9900

- The Israeli Human Shield
http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General/Story12098.html

- Zionist FAQs
http://www.palestineremembered.com/ZionistFAQ.html#Relevant

- Rethinking Zionism
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-weiss/rethinking-zionism_b_156955.htm

- Norman Finkelstein on Gaza
http://www.counterpunch.org/finkelstein01132009.html

- The Gaza Ghetto Uprising January 20 The Star Newspaper
http://star.com.jo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14276&Itemid=57

- The humiliation of America
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21755.htm