Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israel's Collective Punishment of Palestinians Continues Despite International Condemnation
NEWS OF THE DAY
Israel’s vice prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said ISRAEL is "trying to do all that is possible to ease the suffering of the Palestinians".
Other Breaking News Senior congressional staffers, policy analysts and lobbyists are all pointing to mounting evidence that "utter chaos is reigning" in Baghdad over investigations into the Iraq oil-for-food program scandal, especially in the wake of today's raid by Iraqi police and U.S. forces on the home of Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmad al-Chalabi.During the program established by the United Nations Security Council in 1995, the U.N. reportedly oversaw a flow of funds totaling $15 billion a year. Revenues were held in an escrow account run by BNP Paribas for the U.N. The oil-for-food program became a lucrative source of contracts for Russian and French oil companies, including Lukoil and Total, according to congressional testimony by Nile Gardiner of the Heritage Foundation. The U.N. itself collected a 2.2% commission on every barrel of Iraqi oil sold, generating more than $1 billion in revenue. The U.S. Congress' General Accounting Office estimates that Saddam Hussein's regime siphoned off $10 billion while the U.N oversaw the program. The raid on Chalabi's home--characterized by the White House as resulting from an Iraqi-led investigation--may frustrate the ability of private accounting firm KPMG to complete a comprehensive audit into the oil-for-food program, which generated $67 billion in revenues for Iraq between 1997 and 2002, according to the Heritage Foundation. KPMG began investigating in February 2004 on behalf of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, the Central Bank of Iraq, the Finance and the Trade Ministry and the State Oil Marketing Association. Read here for more
The Truth About Ahmed Chalabi:Why the US turned against Chalabi-Only five months ago, Chalabi was a guest of honor sitting right behind Laura Bush at the State of the Union. In dawn raids today, American troops surrounded Ahmed Chalabi's headquarters and home in Baghdad, put a gun to his head, arrested two of his aides, and seized documents. What brought about this astonishing fall from grace of the man who helped provide the faked intelligence that justified last year's war? Read here for more
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....While WESTERN LEADERS, fearing political backlash by Jewish/Israeli Lobbies in their countries, could only mouth pathetic voices of dissent to the brutality of Israel's treatment of the PALESTINIANS in this militarily one-sided conflict, with Israel's forces armed and subsidised by the taxpayers of the United States.
...CONTINUALLY UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY....
After killing 41 Palestinians and destroying more than a 100 homes,leaving thousands of Palestian homeless, in a brutal collective punishment of Palestinian civilians for 13 Israeli solders killed, Israeli tanks and troops began withdrawing from Rafah refugee camp on Friday under international pressure. Read here for more
The vicious fighting in Gaza this week between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian resistance has caused more casualties than at any time since the current intifada began three-and-a-half years ago.Palestinians are outraged, but even Israelis are asking themselves whether Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's onslaught, with its widespread loss of life and its massive demolition of Palestinian communities, is entirely motivated by security concerns. They are asking whether Mr. Sharon also has a political agenda. Read here for more
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is testing the limits of international patience, even America's.The loss of life in the Gaza Strip is tragic. But the deaths of children from tank fire in the area of a demonstration was the direct result of the Israeli leadership's decision to launch a dramatic military incursion in a heavily populated area it is supposedly abandoning.Politically, it's a rare day when any U.S. administration condemns Israel's actions. The brutality must have been the more shocking for administration officials.Read here for more
Israeli military operations kill eight more in Gaza:Defying international criticism, Israel yesterday intensified its military operation in the southern Gaza town of Rafah and its adjoining refugee camps, with eight Palestinians killed by army fire. Brian Cowen, the foreign minister of Ireland, which holds the EU presidency, called the attack on Wednesday "a reckless regard for human life". "The targeting of innocent children in a conflict of this kind must always be condemned," he said. "The killing of children does not serve any legitimate cause and degrades any purpose which it purports to advance." Read here for more
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Thursday urged Israel to respect the rules of international humanitarian law as its three-day military offensive in the Gaza Strip left a trail of death and destruction in the Rafah camp. “The ICRC has directly witnessed some of these events in Rafah and Gaza while others were reported to us by reliable sources,” the agency's communications head in Amman, Muin Kassis,said today. “We stress again that Palestinian civilians are protected under the Fourth Geneva Convention which applies to the occupied territories,” he added. Israeli human rights organisations also stood up against Israel's flouting of international humanitarian law. Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel filed a petition with the supreme court on Thursday, placing within its list of concerns and demands the “the right to evacuate the dead and wounded from Rafah and total freedom of movement for ambulances.” Read here for more
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