Friday, January 16, 2009

THIS MUST STOP -- NOW!


If these reports are even close to being true, the Israelis have overstepped all bounds of civilized warfare. (If that, in itself, is not an oxymoron.)

Reuters
“A warehouse in a U.N. compound in Gaza that came under Israeli fire on Thursday was apparently hit by white-phosphorus shells, U.N. humanitarian affairs chief John Holmes said. "The main warehouse was badly damaged by what appeared to be white-phosphorus shells," Holmes told reporters at a news briefing in New York. "Those on the ground don't have any doubt that's what they were. If you were looking for confirmation, that looks like it to me."

BBC:
“Human Rights Watch says it has observed "dozens and dozens" of white phosphorus shells being fired by Israel at the Gaza Strip - a heavily populated civilian area where its use is prohibited.
Palestinian medical officials said they had treated large numbers of casualties with unusual burns that were extremely painful to treat and could be consistent with exposure to white phosphorus
.”

The Times of London
“The Israeli military has denied using white phosphorus shells in the Gaza offensive, although an investigation by The Times has revealed that dozens of Palestinians in Gaza have sustained serious injuries from the substance, which burns at extremely high temperatures. The Geneva Convention of 1980 proscribes the use of white phosphorus as a weapon of war in civilian areas, although it can be used to create a smokescreen. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said today that all weapons used in Gaza were "within the scope of international law."

The New York Times
“Luay Suboh, 10, from Beit Lahiya, lost his eyesight and some skin on his face Saturday when, his mother said, a fiery substance clung to him as he darted home from a shelter where his family was staying to pick up clothes. The substance smelled like burned trash, said Ms. Jaawanah, the mother who fled her home in Zeitoun, who had experienced it too. She had no affection for Hamas, but her sufferings were changing that. 'Do you think I'm against them firing rockets now?' she asked, referring to Hamas. 'No. I was against it before. Not anymore.'”

AFP
“Medics in Gaza say they have treated more than 50 people suffering burns caused by controversial white phosphorus shells, a claim backed up by a report of the New York-based Human Rights Watch. And two Norwegian doctors, recently returned from working in the Gaza Strip, accused Israel of using the territory as a testing ground for a new "extremely nasty" type of explosive.”

6 comments:

Your driver said...

I know it's considered uncool to compare your enemies to the Nazis. It's also usually counterproductive. In this case the comparisons are too damn easy to make. I mean, there's your Spanish Civil War comparisons, where a belligerent superpower uses it's ally to test all the latest weapons. Then there's your Warsaw Ghetto comparisons. Look, I know I'm belaboring the obvious, but that's my point. How fuckin' obvious does it have to get?

Gerin said...

Like Warsow gheto under nazi.
Moderne Torah says: million eyes for an eye.

WV is zogie.

A Strange Lad said...

Pure, unbridled evil at work. They're out-doing those guys from wwII in the nasty department. While the world, basically, does nothing. And sadly, this sort of thing isn't a new deal over there... I am disgusted by it all... so disgusted.

Anonymous said...

doctors & surgeons are appalled at the number of children who have been shot in the head from the front from close range.these bastards are targeting kids.

ib said...

That Israel might even countenance the use of phosphorus under any circumstances in Gaza completely undermines any argument they might have had for offensive as reprisal. I am at a complete loss now as to what they hoped to achieve by stooping so low.

ib said...

Gerin:

The Warsaw ghetto is inappropriate. What is happening now in Gaza is more analogous with the blanket bombing of Dresden at the end of the war as a means of subjugation.

It reeks of an insane attempt to close this chapter in the final days before the changing of the guard in the Whitehouse.