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PHOTO: 5 children killed at Jabalia, Gaza, death toll at least 345
The bodies of five Palestinian siblings at a hospital morgue following an Israeli air strike in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. Israeli warplanes have pounded Gaza for a third day as tanks stand by to join Israel's "all-out" war on Hamas that has killed at least 345 people and prompted deadly rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave.
(AFP/Mohammed Abed)
(AFP/Mohammed Abed)
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[ 29/12/2008 - 11:00 AM ]
UM AL-FAHAM, (PIC)-- Sheikh Raed Salah, the leader of the Islamic movement in the Palestinian areas occupied in 1948, said that the American backed Israeli occupation authority was launching a carpet bombing campaign against the Gaza Strip in preparation for invading the Strip and toppling the resistance program.
Sheikh Salah on Sunday evening said in a press statement that the IOA war on Gaza was the last in a series of wars launched in the region, charging that the Arab and Islamic official silence encouraged Israel to launch this war.
He said that whether this silence was deliberate or not in the end it passed capital punishment against the entire Strip.
The Islamic leader said that Palestinians in the 1948 lands have declared general strike and mourning following the start of the military campaign against Gaza while marches and demonstrations were organized in various areas.
REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Legal center: 55 children, 9 women among victims of the IOF Gaza massacre
[ 29/12/2008 - 10:06 AM ]
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Mizan center for human rights has said that the Israeli occupation forces' ongoing raids on the Gaza Strip had inflicted hundreds of casualties including 55 children and nine women over two days.
The center in a report on Sunday said that 20 Palestinian children were killed in the Israeli air strikes while 35 others were seriously wounded. It added that nine Palestinian women were killed mostly teachers who were in schools near to targeted spots.
It underlined that the number of martyrs and wounded is expected to increase due to the fact that some of those martyrs were carried to their family homes then buried without being registered in hospitals.
The report said that preliminary reports indicate that the biggest number of victims fell in Gaza city where 118 Palestinians were killed followed by the central district where 84 were killed then northern Gaza, 25, Khan Younis, 17, and Rafah, 13, by afternoon Sunday.
REUTERS/Majed Jaber (JORDAN)
REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallh (SUDAN)
REUTERS/Majed Jaber (JORDAN)
(AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
REUTERS/Ali Hashisho (LEBANON)
(AP Photo/Mahmoud Tawil)
(AP Photo/Mahmoud Tawil)
REUTERS/Athar Hussain (PAKISTAN)
REUTERS/Athar Hussain (PAKISTAN)
(AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
(AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
REUTERS/Adnan Abidi (INDIA)
" REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah (YEMEN)
" REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah (YEMEN)
REUTERS/Nikola Solic (JERUSALEM)
REUTERS/Athar Hussain (PAKISTAN)
REUTERS/Ali Abu Shish (IRAQ)
REUTERS/Nasser Nuri (EGYPT)
REUTERS/Dadang Tri (INDONESIA)
REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen (IRAQ)
REUTERS/Adnan Abidi (INDIA)
REUTERS/Adnan Abidi (INDIA)
(AP Photo/Irwin Fedriansyah)
REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis (WEST BANK)
REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK)
REUTERS/Eric Gaillard (WEST BANK)
(AP Photo/Keystone/Martial Trezzini)
[ 29/12/2008 - 12:06 AM ]
GAZA, (PIC)-- Sources in Gaza said that the captured Israeli occupation soldier Gilad Shalit was wounded in one of the Israeli occupation air strikes on the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli occupation airforce bombed more than 300 targets in the Gaza Strip since noon Saturday killing over 300 Palestinians and wounding around 1000 others.
Hamas official sources refused to confirm or deny the news about the wounding of Gilad Shalit or the extent of his injuries if he was wounded holding the Israeli leaders responsible for anything that happens to him.
The sources added that Shalit was an important card for reaching a prisoner exchange deal, but the latest Israeli escalation could result in him becoming another Ron Arad.
Date: 29 / 12 / 2008 Time: 09:39
[Ma'anImages]
Gaza – Ma’an – Seven died when Israeli shells hit the home of Al-Qassam Brigades leader Maher Zaquot in Beit Lahiya north of Gaza City just before five o’clock Monday evening.
Witnesses reported that the house had been evacuated shortly before the shelling began, and those killed were passersby on their way home or to local grocery stores to buy food. The shelling also demolished the nearby houses.
The overall death toll of the strikes, which began at 11:30am Saturday morning is 345, while about 1,000 Palestinians are estimated to be injured and more than 200 critically so.
A timeline of the day’s airstrikes is:
4:00pm An UNRWA employee and a Police officer were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Al-Qarara village east of Khan Younis.
2:30pm An air raid targeted a car parked near Al-Khizindar gas station in the northern Gaza Strip. Several bystanders
2:25pm Israeli airstrikes hit two targets killing four activists from Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades and one child, the son of an activist. were injured and evacuated to Kamal Udwan Hospital.
Several others were injured in the attack that took place near Khalil Ar-Rahman Mosque in the village of Abasan Al-Kabira east of Khan Younis. The dead child was identified by medical soruces as Ziad Abu Teir, he was eight-years-old.
The military wing threatened to retaliate.
1:00pm Israeli air forces bombarded a security headquarters in southern Gaza City near Al-Quds Open University.
1:40pm Two were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Tal Az-Za'atar and Izbat Abid Rabbo neighborhoods of the northern Gaza Strip.
12:30pm An activist affiliated to Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades was killed in an Israeli raid east of Gaza City.
12:00pm Israeli airstrikes targeted a training field for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Qassam Brigades near Al-Bureij Refugee Camp in the central Gaza Strip. Parts of the camp were destroyed but no casualties were immediately reported.
12:00pm A house at the Ar-Rimal neighborhood in the center of Gaza City was also bombarded by missiles; it stood near the de facto government's Culture Ministry building.
9:30am Israeli warships bombarded the headquarters of the Palestinian presidency on Monday morning in Gaza City.
The compound is known as Al-Muntada. No casualties were immediately reported in that attack.
According to Muawiya Hassanein, the director of Ambulance and Emergency Services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, the death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 316.
Several dead and injured are reportedly still under the debris of collapsed buildings.
Sunday overnight
Israeli air forces launched on Sunday night and Monday morning several sorties against targets in the Gaza Strip, killing and injuring several people including women and children.
In Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli warplanes destroyed a mosque, killing at least seven people. In another sortie on a house in Jabalia, five people from the Ba’lousha family were killed, including children.
Israeli forces also fired after midnight several missiles at the girls' dormitory in the Islamic University in Tal Al-Hawa in southern Gaza City. Eyewitnesses said they heard five missiles fired from what they believed was an F16 warplane.
Two people were killed in a strike on a car in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip and a terminal used for fishermen in the north.
A mosque in Jabalia called Abu Bakr As-Siddiq was destroyed and initial news reports indicated that there are casualties.
***Updated 17:55 Bethlehem time
Date: 29 / 12 / 2008 Time: 13:11
Bethlehem - Ma’an - The SS Dignity will depart Cyprus at 5pm local time for the Gaza City Port, which was bombed by the Israeli navy overnight Sunday. This will be the sixth trip to Gaza organized by the Free Gaza Movement.
The ship will carry three tons of medical supplies donated by the people of Cyprus and three volunteer doctors who will begin work in Gaza hospitals and clinics immediately and stay for several weeks. Also on board are Human Rights workers and US politicians.
In their statement to the press the Free Gaza movement made a point of mentioning that they are not asking Israeli for “permission” to land in Gaza, as the Qatar ship had done earlier. The group insisted that “we will not stop until the Dignity lands in Gaza.”
The group named the voyage “Stop This Madness” and says it is challenging the world to take action against the Israeli massacre.
Ewa Jasiewicz, a Free Gaza organizer living in Gaza, asked "Where is the United Nations? Where is the Arab League? Where is the outrage against Israeli cruelty and Egyptian complicity? Every hospital in Gaza is already overwhelmed. Israel is committing war crimes here in Gaza, and words of condemnation are no longer enough. The world must act now to stop this madness."
The Free Gaza Movement is the only group that has successfully broken the siege on Gaza, bringing in some basic supplies but focusing on highlighting the crisis in Gaza and bringing it to the attention of the world.
When the voyages began in August the movement sought to challenge Israeli control of Gaza’s sea border, saying that Israel’s unilateral withdrawal in 2005 and its claims that it no longer occupies the area should allow Gazans free use of their port and territorial waters.
The ships from the movement got into Gaza but subsequent attempts by Qatar, Israeli activists and Libya have not been successful.
It is not clear whether Israel does indeed have a policy regarding Gaza waters, since Qatari requests to dock in Gaza were refused, Israelis were arrested as they attempted to launch a vessel from a port near Tel Aviv, and Libyans were blocked by Israeli warships as they entered Gaza waters.
Gazans, frustrated with the ongoing scilence from the world, say the Free Gaza initiatives give them hope, and show them that there are indeed people who care and are paying attention to Gaza’s dire situation.
One young woman commented, “It is scary for us, and we are used to things here. It gives us some hope that others, those who are not accustomed to life here, are willing to come and see what it is like, even though it is dangerous right now to leave the house.”
Some of those travelling on the Free Gaza Monday are:
Dr. Elena Theoharous, surgeon and Member of Parliament from Cyprus
Al-Jazeera reporter Sami Al-Haj, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay
The Hon. Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. Congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34369
(AP Photo/ Bassem Tellawi)
------------------------------------------------
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A senior exiled Hamas official is rejecting any talk of a new truce with Israel unless all attacks on Gaza cease and the border crossings are reopened. Moussa Abu Marzouk has told The Associated Press in an interview in Damascus that Palestinian militants have a right to strike everywhere in Israel in response to its deadly assault on Gaza.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g8-DEMtAE9q4i4ySQ0eV_qZefmRQD95CFVJ81
REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch (GERMANY)
REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed (BAHRAIN)
---------------------------------------
'Turkey no longer mediating for Israel'
Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:41:05 GMT
Turkey says it will no longer mediate between Tel Aviv and Damascus, stating that the Israeli attacks on Gaza has made peace 'impossible'.
"The continuation of the talks under these conditions is naturally impossible," Turkey's Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told reporters after a meeting with visiting Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit.
"Waging war against Palestinians while negotiating peace with Syria - these two cannot go together," he added, pointing out that Ankara was greatly 'disappointed' with Israel's actions.
Babacan's remarks came just days after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert visited the country to discuss regional security issues.
On Sunday, a senior Syrian official also said that Israel had 'closed the door on all activity in the political process' of reaching a peace deal by massacring over 300 people in Gaza and wounding around 1,500 others.
During the weekend, Israeli fighter jets bombarded at least 30 different locations across Gaza, which included schools, a television station, a mosque, and a prison.
The deadly attacks that have sparked worldwide protests were also condemned by Ankara, the key mediator in four rounds of talks held between Damascus and Tel Aviv over the faith of the Israeli occupied Golan Heights.
"To go and bomb these defenseless people, and to openly say that this operation will be a long-lasting one, that it will be this or that, to me, is a serious crime against humanity," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday.
Meanwhile on Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak claimed that the regime's massive operation was in 'self-defense' and in response to the rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
"This operation will expand and deepen as much as needed… We went to war to deal a heavy blow to Hamas, to change the situation in the south," he said.
"We do not want to hit children and women and we will not prevent humanitarian aid" from reaching Gaza, he added.
This is while truck loads of humanitarian aid wait on outside Gaza border crossings as Israel continues to prevent the passage of vital supplies into the costal strip.
Just hours after a six-month Egypt-mediated ceasefire with Hamas ended on December 19, Israeli warplanes flew over Gaza to kick start anew round of hostilities. During the December 20 operation, a Palestinian was killed and two others were seriously wounded.
In retaliation to the attack, Hamas launched several homemade rockets into Israel, none of which led Israeli casualty. However, Israeli officials used the rocket attacks as an excuse to launch an all-out attack on the Gaza Strip on December 27.
MJ/MMN
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=79854§ionid=351020204
---------------------------------------------
Al-Sistani slams Arab inaction on Gaza
Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:51:40 GMT
Top Iraqi cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has called for decisive action by Arab and Muslim states for an end to Israeli attacks on Gaza.
"Condemning what is going on in Gaza and supporting our brothers only with words is meaningless, considering the big tragedy they are facing,'' Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani said, in a statement released by his office in Najaf.
"Arab and Islamic nations need to take a decisive stance, now more than ever, to end these ongoing aggressions and to break the unjust siege imposed on the brave people of Gaza,'' the Ayatollah said .
Israeli air forces staged massive airstrikes against the Gaza strip on Saturday and Sunday, killing more than 300 people and injuring 1550 others.
Following the attacks, most Arab governments condemned the Israeli air raids and called for an immediate end to hostilities.
Their reaction, however, was similar to the stance they took after Israel attacked Lebanon in the summer of 2006.
Despite their condemnations, Israeli officials later revealed that some influential Arabs states had supported their attack on Lebanon as it was launched with the aim of destroying the country's resistance movement of Hezbollah.
Ayatollah Sistani's remarks came as the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei called on the Muslim world to defend the people of Gaza.
All Muslims are obliged to defend the defenseless people of Gaza in any way they can; those killed on such a sacred path are indeed martyrs.”
Ayatollah Khamenei slammed the collaboration of Washington and Tel Aviv, the silence of international bodies, and the indifference shown by some Arab countries which have paved the ground for such atrocities.
"Surely the Egyptian and Jordanian nations and other Muslims feel furious over these killings that follow the long-time blockade which banned food and medicine deliveries (to the Strip)," said the Leader.
This is while media reports have given rise to speculations that Cairo helped Tel Aviv mislead Hamas officials about Israel's intention to attack the impoverished region.
Citing diplomatic sources, the London-based daily al-Quds al-Arabi reported Sunday that Egyptian Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman had deceived Hamas into believing that Israel would not launch an attack on the Gaza Strip in the near future.
According to the report, the misinformation prevented Hamas from evacuating its security compounds and headquarters.
Meanwhile on Sunday, the UN Security Council failed to pass a resolution demanding an end to the Israeli attacks, as the United States vetoed the motion, which was requested by members of the United Nations.
Since 1972, Tel Aviv's staunch ally the United States, has vetoed over 40 resolutions the council has tried to pass against the Israeli regime.
MSH/MJ/DT
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=79826§ionid=351020201
(Morteza Nikoubazl/Reuters)
----------------------------------------------
Leader upbraids Arabs for deafening silence on Gaza tragedy
Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN -- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has strongly condemned the recent Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, which have killed at least 285 Palestinians.
Israel on Saturday launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip, which was already struggling with a humanitarian disaster due to a prolonged Israeli siege. The attacks continued through Sunday, with Israel saying there is no end in sight for the operation.
In a message issued on Sunday, the Supreme Leader declared that Monday will be a day of “national mourning”. He called on “all Palestinian warriors, Muslim and freedom-seeking nations, scholars, intellectuals, and the Islamic world’s media to fulfill their heavy duty to counter the crimes of the Zionist regime.”
“The Zionist regime’s violent crimes in Gaza and the massacre of hundreds of innocent men, women, and children, once again showed the bloody image of Zionist wolves and revealed the negligence about the presence of this hostile disbeliever in the heart of the lands of Islamic ummah,” he stated.
This is a grave disaster for all Muslims and all conscientious people in every corner of the world, but the gravest disaster is the encouraging of silence of some Arab governments which clime to be Muslim, the Leader remarked. What disaster could be worse than the silence of the Arab world, which is duty-bound to support the oppressed people of Gaza in the face of the usurper and criminal Zionist regime, he said.
The Arab world’s nonchalance in regard to this tragedy has convinced the Zionist regime that those countries approve of its crimes, the Leader lamented.
How will the leaders of these countries respond to the holy prophet? What answer will they give to their own nations who are certainly mourning this tragedy? Indeed, today the hearts of the Egyptian, Jordanian and other Muslims are overwhelmed with sorrow about the bloodshed, he noted.
“By his complicity in this crime, the criminal administration of Bush in the last days of his shameful rule, darkened the image of the U.S. regime more than ever and added to its dossier of war crimes. The European governments, through their indifference and maybe their complicity in this huge tragedy, once again proved that their claims of supporting human rights are false. They showed that they are involved in the fight against Islam and Muslims,” Ayatollah Khamenei stated.
“Now, I ask the scholars of the Arab world and the chiefs of the Egyptian al-Azhar center: isn’t it the time to feel the threat facing Islam and Muslims? “Isn’t it the time to fulfill the mandatory act of standing against any bullying ruler? Is an additional, more divulging scene of complicity between the hostile disbelievers and the hypocrites of ummah in creating what is going on in Gaza is required to make you feel responsibility?”
“I have also a question from the media and Muslim intellectuals, especially the Arab world. For how long have you decided to remain indifferent regarding your media and intellectual responsibility?”
“All the Palestinian warriors and all faithful of the Islamic world are duty-bound to defend the defenseless people of Gaza. Anyone who is killed in this legitimate and holy defense is a martyr and is hoped to be among the ranks of the martyrs of Badr and Ohud battles” who fought along with the holy prophet, the Leader explained.
He called on “the Organization of the Islamic Conference to fulfill its responsibility in this sensitive situation and team up against the Zionist regime.”
Israel must be punished by Muslim governments. The heads of the usurper regime must be tried in person for this crime and for the prolonged blockade of Gaza, he asserted.
“I declare Monday a day of national mourning to mark the Gaza tragedy and call on Iranian officials to fulfill their responsibilities regarding this tragic incident.
http://tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=185781
REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN)
Mohamad Shmaysani Readers Number : 788
29/12/2008 Tens of thousands of Lebanese, Palestinians and Arabs responded Monday to Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah and gathered in Beirut’s southern suburb in solidarity with Gaza and to pay tribute to the 318 martyrs who fell so far in the Israeli barbaric attack on the Strip. One protester said that Arab leaders must unite and revolt against Israeli tyrants. "Arab leaders are invited to immediately break off ties with Israel and pressure Egypt to open the Rafah crossing," he told Al-Manar.
Despite the cold weather and rain, the Raya field and surrounding areas in Dahiye were full with protesters hours before the rally began.
The waved Palestinian, Lebanese and Hezbollah flags and shouted anti US and Israeli slogans and calls for Egypt to take a historic stance in support of Gaza amid a suspicious official Arab silence. "Some Arab regimes have no dignity," one of the protesters said, calling on Egypt to open the crossings for food, medication and also weapons. She noted that the "urgent Arab summit which is scheduled on Friday means nothing since the Arab decision is already taken. “How do they define urgent? The Israeli aggression started Saturday and so far more than 300 Palestinians have been killed, by Friday they will become 1000 martyrs. What are they waiting for? I’m really ashamed to have such weak leaders in this nation,” she said.
Sayyed Nasrallah addressed the protesters through a wide screen and praised their resolution and determination to support their brothers in Gaza.
“I thank you and appreciate your response to the call to support Gaza. Today you are expressing your constant commitment to respond to this yearly call (Ashura) and today is one of Imam Hussein’s days and one of the days of Jihad and martyrdom. Today you are responding to the call of this great Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei for this nation to express solidarity and pride in the martyrs. To Gazans I say: your pain is our pain and your wounds are our wounds.”
His eminence stressed the whole world should understand that Gaza is not alone and that some media outlets, the retreat of some Arab political elites and time can never take Palestine from the hearts and minds of the nation. “Palestine will remain right and Israel will always be wrong,” the Hezbollah leader said.
“Today we meet again to express pride in the martyrs of Gaza, because we are the nation of martyrs and we bear the culture of martyrdom that is the culture of life with dignity. Those martyrs have fallen in the greatest most sanctified battle. Those are the martyrs for the sake of Allah, on His path where there is no room for abandoning a grain of sand from our sacred land,” Sayyed Nasrallah added.
His eminence reiterated that everyone should act responsibly with regards to the situation in Gaza. “I don not want to repeat what I said yesterday but I would like to add something. On your behalf, I call on Lebanese President Michel Sleiman as a consensus president to spare no effort to push for holding the Arab summit because some sides are already trying to frustrate it. Today, Lebanon’s position should support Gaza and should not take the same side as this or that Arab regime. The president is cognizant of Lebanon’s triumphant experience in 2006 and based on this he is requested to play a central role and hear his brave voice in support of the oppressed Palestinian people in any summit just as we heard him in the conference for the dialogue of religions.”
Sayyed Nasrallah urged the Palestinians everywhere to unite and cooperate. “It is wrong to believe that this war is waged against Hamas. It is in fact waged against all the Palestinians and their will, right and determination. The US administration’s scheme is to establish the Zionist entity over the heads of all Arabs in the region. It does not care who governs Arab states. In principle, the US administration has no objection if an Islamist, extremist or fundamentalist rules any Arab country. What’s important for the US is the ruler’s political program and his stance regarding Israel and the US; will he sell his oil and yield to Washington and Tel Aviv’s political and economic terms or not? Will he abandon his rights and the rights of his people or not? That’s what governs the US position concerning any political regime in the Arab and Islamic worlds. The US administration regards any Islamist party according to its position from Israel but not according to its religion, religious rites or ideology.
The war is waged today on the program of the resistance. If our brother Khaled Meshal calls any of the mediators and says that he is ready for negotiations with Israel, the bombardment of Gaza would, the bombardment of Gaza would stop in no time and Hamas would govern Gaza and the West Bank as well.
Israel and the US problem with Hezbollah is not based on the party’s religious nature. If one Hezbollah leader calls Washington, and they really wish we’d do this, and told the American that we are ready to discuss our weapons, our resistance and our sovereignty, the American will help us govern Lebanon. Their real problem is with our political program that refuses to abandon prisoners, land and sovereignty.”
The Hezbollah chief also stressed the target in Gaza was the remainder of the resistance and the will of the Palestinians. “This is why I support all call for a third Intifada in Palestine and similar uprisings in the Arab and Islamic worlds. We call on all Palestinian factions to unite and work on stopping this aggression without allowing the Israelis to achieve their goals. We also call on Arabs and Muslims to continue action because the aggression continues.
The Qana massacre in the Israeli war of 1996 changed the formula and the second Qana massacre changed the formula of the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon, however the difference between these wars and the war on Gaza is that Israel began its aggression on the Strip with a massacre which means they are determined to exploit every second to achieve their goals and this is why Arab rulers are requested to exert real efforts to stop this.
People have begun taking to the streets of Arab capitals and this is a good sign that we did not witness during the 2006 war. This also means a real improvement in the position of the peoples.”
Sayyed Nasrallah said he had expected he would be assailed after his Sunday speech, yet he firmly said that defending Gaza is worth offering blood and being blasphemed or insulted in much less that offering blood. “We are all engaged in the battle of the nation and the battle to awaken awareness against delusive campaigns. Yesterday I hears one of the Arab blasphemers and liars saying that Hezbollah has bombarded the Egyptian embassy in Beirut. What kind of lies are these. We avoided going to the Egyptian embassy because of the sensitivity of the situation. All we are doing is peacefully asking the Egyptians to change their position. I also read prominent Arab journals accusing Hamas and the resistance of selling their people for the sake of regional powers and regime and they named Syria! What is Syria’s interest in killing civilians in Gaza? Syria took the initiative and stopped its indirect talks with Israel. And is Hamas really defending Iran in Gaza? These are trivial and hateful accusations regardless of their source. Resistance factions are defending their people in Gaza. They accuse the victim of being faithful to their people. The people of Gaza are the purest and most honorable people, and those who abandon them are participating in the crime, killings and treason. We have been calling to open the Rafah crossing; today if you hear all speeches you will see that the calls for Egypt to open the Rafah crossing are unanimous. We are talking about steadfastness in Gaza and the first condition to consolidate steadfastness there is to open the gates for it.”
Sayyed Nasrallah underlined “what would settle the course is the battlefield and the steadfastness of the people and the political and military leaderships.”
“Persistence in firing rockets is an indication to power in the battlefield. What is happening in Gaza today is similar to what had happened in Lebanon in 2006. Settlers living 40km from Gaza will stay either in shelters or outside their settlements. The war in Gaza is a matter of time, and the Israelis can’t endure a long war. Questions about the feasibility of the war will emerge soon. In Lebanon, Israel’s strategic stockpile of missiles was depleted and the Israeli air force failed to achieve its goals although there were many martyrs, many injured and many destroyed houses, however we did not lay down arms and our will was not taken from us. Israel is involved in a psychological war campaign against the Palestinians through news about masses of soldiers and tanks preparing to storm into Gaza. But when they begin their ground offensive, they will begin to lose as they will be faced by brave resistance fighters.”
The leader of the resistance addressed Egypt and renewed his call to open the Rafah crossing. “We are asking Egypt and the Arab leaders to secure the requirements of steadfastness for the Gazan population if they were not able to stop the aggression.”
His eminence concluded his speech by urging Arabs and Muslims to keep working on all levels to back the Palestinians in Gaza, “and I hope that you would remain alert to respond for future calls, positions and decisions.”
http://www.almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=68550&language=en
29.12.08 - 02:08
Gaza / PNN - Just before midnight the death toll in the Gaza Strip reached 295 Palestinians; by day break it was 307. The number of injured now exceeds 1,000 with 200 people in critical condition.
The emergency department at Al Shifa Hospital said that most of the injuries at Gaza’s largest hospital were caused by gunboat and helicopter fire and that 80 percent were not expected to survive.
A number of children were pulled from destroyed homes in both Gaza City and Khan Younis in the south early Monday. They were killed by Apache missile fire.
Late night Israeli forces again bombed Jabaliya Refugee Camp, known as the most densely populated place on earth. Four sisters were killed, inluding a 4 year old. A 14 month old baby was also killed in the last shelling of the camp to the northeast of Gaza City. Warplanes also fired at an official intelligence building in the central Strip, remaining in the airspace long past the destruction. The Olympics Committee Building is leveled as well. When Israeli forces fired on the tunnels in the southern Strip's Rafah, two people were killed and 22 injured.
In other overnight attacks Israeli forces killed at least two more Palestinians and another Hamas leader while targeting his home in Al Qarrrara, a small town just to the north of Khan Younis. Two additional people are reported killed in a late night bombing of Gaza City's Al Zeitoun neighborhood. Israeli forces also destroyed several buildings at the Islamic University.
The Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, who says the killings are in an effort to destroy Hamas, announced late Sunday that the ban would be lifted on 100 truck loads of humanitarian aid Monday. Palestinian Legislative Council member and Chairman of the Popular Committee against the Siege, Jamal Al Khudari, noted during the month and a half of closure that at least 160 truck loads of imports were needed per day during times of normal siege and occupation. He said that after days of closure much more was required, and now after two days of explosive attacks the need has increased exponentially.
The Hamas party continues to take the public blame in the western and Israeli press and dialogue for the death and destruction in Gaza. However, projectile launches are widely considered to be a front used by the Israeli administration to cover for the attacks. Meanwhile, the actual projectile launches that the elected government is being held responsible for are coming from all factions.
The leftist Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine declared on Sunday that there would be “no cease-fire with the occupation.” The PFLP asserted the right under international law of an occupied population to defend itself saying “the resistance is the chosen path of the Palestinian people and it is our legitimate right.” The leftist party's Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades claimed responsibility late Sunday for firing at the Israeli military installation of Sofa in the southeastern Strip. The Fateh-linked armed resistance wing, Al Aqsa Brigades, launched two projectiles at Sderot and announced that the idea of renewing the “period of calm” with the Israelis was not an option. The Israeli administration did not honor the period of calm by continuing random incursions, siege, closure and control of services. Hamas is among the parties that have pointed this out.
The projectile launches that are being used in the public debate as the reason for the Israeli attacks are known to do little damage, regardless of their actual frequency. With the United States and Britain being the most vocal in blaming Hamas for the Israeli attacks, it is notable that the Vice President of European Parliament said late Sunday that Israel and the international community bear responsibility for the aggression and siege on the Gaza Strip.
A sit-in that took place in Abu Dhabi yesterday invited international sanctions against the Israelis. The Arab League, scheduled to meet again Wednesday, said the United Nations Security Council position was not enough. Jordanian parliamentarians who burned an Israeli flag during an emergency session in Amman on Sunday issued a demand that the Israeli ambassador be removed.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4317&Itemid=49
Over 313 killed in Gaza and 1400 have been wounded in a series of massacres and crimes committed by the Zionist occupier against the Palestinian people in Gaza on December 27, 2008. The occupier shot dozens of missiles from Apache helicopters and F-16 planes at dozens of Gaza government buildings, directly in the middle of heavily populated residential neighborhoods and simultaneously with teachers and students returning to school.
Demonstrations have broken out throughout the West Bank and the Arab world in protest and outrage at the brutality and the nature of these massive crimes.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine issued a statement calling for the broadest resistance to meet and confront this aggression against the Palestinian people and to respond to these massacres, and for the unity of the resistance, and the unity of the Palestinian people, to greet the occupier with resistance, strength and steadfastness despite his brutal crimes. The statement stressed the urgent need for national unity immediately to confront the crimes against our people and to greet the occupier and its brutality with tremendous and unified resistance that is capable of shaking its foundations.
The PFLP statement further called upon all resistance forces to come together now and establish unified resistance front to coordinate and take up the challenge of these attacks against our people. It pointed to the responsibility of the United States for these attacks, as a strategic partner of the occupier, working hand in hand with its massacres and crimes against the Palestinian people, and as the source of the arms used by the occupier against our people. It also pointed to the complicity of the Arab regimes in these crimes, particularly the Egyptian regime, for its ongoing and active participation in the blockade and siege of the Palestinian people in Gaza and its meetings and discussions with the occupier about its plans for Gaza. These massacres are taking place because of Arab and international silence and active complicity.
The PFLP further called for the immediate end to any and all negotiations with this brutal occupier who plans massacres against our people and stated that if he will not end the negotiations immediately, Abu Mazen must resign now. The nature of the Zionist enemy and its dedication to the eradication of the Palestinian people is laid bare and clear by this series of attacks, calculated to cause maximum damage and human cost. For the past sixty years, there is an unbroken history of massacres and crimes against our people and this massacre today is yet one more expression of the nature of the illegitimate colonial state that has implanted itself on Palestinian land and continues to live on U.S. support through massacres and crimes against the Palestinian people.
The statement concluded by calling upon all of its fighters and military branches to take the strongest actions and to resist the occupation and its massacres by all methods and forms of action and resistance, and by calling for the broadest solidarity on Arab and international levels, for people to come into the streets, demonstrate, march, and take action to declare that these massacres and crimes are unacceptable, that the Arab people and the world are with Palestine and the Palestinian people, and that they will not allow these crimes to continue nor for the Arab regimes and international regimes to be silently complicity or actively involved in the occupation's crimes.
The Palestinian people will greet these massacres with steadfastness, strength, unity and resistance and all of the crimes, massacres, targeting of civilians, residential neighborhoods, and schoolchildren and teachers will do nothing to crush the resistance of our people, the statement said, it will only ensure Palestinian unity in the face of this brutality which makes clear the true face of the occupier to the world.
http://www.pflp.ps/english/?q=massacres-gaza-kill-over-313-people-now-time-unity
(AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
(AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
(AP Photo/Carlos Hernandez)
(AP Photo/Carlos Hernandez)
(AFP/Ben Stansall)
(AFP/Behrouz Mehri)
(AP photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)
Date: 29 / 12 / 2008 Time: 21:39
[Ma'anImages]
Gaza - Ma'an – Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the An-Nasser Brigades refused to participate in the all-factions meeting called by President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday.
Hamas leader Muhammad Nazzal made the announcement for his party during an interview with Al-Arabiya television Monday evening. Hamas will not try to make any political gains on the backs of the Gaza massacre, he said.
Islamic Jihad sent a statement to Ma’an saying “what is required now is resistance,” and further stated that it was the party’s duty to defend “our land and our people and respond to the massacres committed against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
They called for unity in resistance activities, but spurned Abbas’ call for national unity.
Abu Abeer with the An-Nasser Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, said that all factions should refuse Abbas’ invitation and rally all Gazans, encouraging patience in such harsh times.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34386
Date: 29 / 12 / 2008 Time: 09:39
[Ma'anImages]
Gaza – Ma’an – Seven died when Israeli shells hit the home of Al-Qassam Brigades leader Maher Zaquot in Beit Lahiya north of Gaza City just before five o’clock Monday evening.
Witnesses reported that the house had been evacuated shortly before the shelling began, and those killed were passersby on their way home or to local grocery stores to buy food. The shelling also demolished the nearby houses.
Shortly after the home of an Al-Aqsa Brigades leader was targeted in Jabaliya and the home of Hamas leader Ayman Balksam in the same neighborhood. Several resistance activists were killed in the two attacks.
The overall death toll of the strikes, which began at 11:30am Saturday morning is 345, while about 1,000 Palestinians are estimated to be injured and more than 200 critically so.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34347
REUTERS/Yiorgos Karahalis (GREECE)
REUTERS/Yiorgos Karahalis (GREECE)
(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
(Luke MacGregor/Reuters)
(AFP/Ben Stansall)
http://www.chinaview.cn 2008-12-30 06:07:18 Print
PARIS, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- European Union's foreign ministers will meet here on Tuesday to discuss the crisis in the Gaza Strip, French officials said.
France, which holds the EU's rotating presidency until Thursday, called for an emergency meeting of EU's ministers in Paris on Tuesday. In a statement, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said ministers would make "the EU's contribution to solve the current crisis." He is in contact with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Kouchner is also seeking a negotiated humanitarian truce and medical aid to the Gaza Strip. France has said it is ready to send more aid to Gaza.
More than 325 Palestinians were killed by Israel's air strikes on the Gaza Strip since Saturday. At least 57 of the dead are civilians, said the UN Relief and Work Agency.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/30/content_10577991.htm
REUTERS/Gustau Nacarino(SPAIN)