School Massacre in Gaza: finally the world react?
source: www.palestinalibre.org
Hernán Zin, Diario 20 Minutos - Spain A spokesman for the Israeli army appears to say that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas. "We can not have bombed our schools, to play Russian roulette with our children. But we are not Hamas, not bomb schools, we do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties, "he says flatly.
said than done: Israel has bombed three times in UN schools in less than 24 hours. Although he is missing, while the UN happened GPS coordinates, has given them full. This latest attack on the refugee camp of Jabalia, just take the lives of 40 innocents.
remember that, unlike other conflict in Gaza is particularly perverse because civilians have nowhere to flee. Israel has them locked in tight for years under a brutal blockade of essential food and medicine. These schools are sheltering some 30 thousand people have fled their homes when the offensive ground invasion began on Sunday.
is also important to remember that these internally displaced refugees are themselves once again been forced to abandon everything and flee. In school there are a thousand people Jabalia.
UN Attacks
The third attack of Israel against a UN school, which were mainly women, elderly and children because, unlike Sderot and Ashkelon, Gaza has no air raid shelters.
If we place in perspective this brutal fact, this terrible violation of humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention, we find that no more than a repetition of the same logic as always, arguing that it defends Israel launches offensive as disproportionate and violent death of civilians is assured.
As the days pass, and to the silence of the so-called developed countries, violence and frustration of Tsahal increase - that army which for decades was no longer "the most moral in the world" For obvious reasons, until they gets out of the hands, and produce a great slaughter. So yes, the leaders of democratic nations, makes the head, showing his fake indignation and say enough is enough, we must declare a ceasefire. Consider the history:
1. first Qana massacre
In 1996, Ariel Sharon launched Operation Grapes of Wrath against Hizbullah in Lebanon. For 16 days, Israeli forces conducted more than 1,100 sorties and bombed intensively with some 25,132 missiles Lebanon. The name of the operation was not a tribute to Steinbeck's book, but an inspiration of the Bible: "The sword without, the terror within, we must destroy the young men and virgins ..."
On April 18, 1996, an attack against UN headquarters in the village of Qana, ended the lives of 118 people who had taken refuge there. The government apologized saying he had been an error, and argued that he had news of the presence of Hezbollah militants.
The video of a UN blue helmet, a native of Fiji, shows an unmanned aircraft flying through the area before the attack, so the Israeli military commanders had a clear vision of what was happening. This revelation, obtained by Robert Fisk, and the subsequent report by the UN, made it very bad place the government of Israel, which claimed that it had no aircraft at the time in the area.
Such was the world wonder Israel ended Operation Grapes of Wrath after signing an agreement with Hezbollah, in which both parties pledged to respect civilians (for Hezbollah, always call a terrorist organization by the administration of Jerusalem, represented an important recognition since it was signed a treaty on equal terms with a state). Also
Operation Peace for Galilee, 1982, which put Sharon's troops in the same Beirut, led to a brutal massacre: Sabra and Shatila, which killed 1,200 people.
2. Second Qana massacre
On July 25, 2006, four United Nations observers were killed by Israeli bombs in Lebanon. Up to ten occasions contacted the commanders of Israel to warn them of their position, because the fire is gradually approaching the place where they were.
The UN secretary general at the time, Kofi Annan, said the attack on UNIFIL was deliberate, despite having accepted the apologies of the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
The killing came following July 30. Again in Qana, only a decade later. At first they spoke of 56 dead. Then the number dropped to 28, of which 14 were children. The rescue, in the midst of the war were extremely complex and were interrupted on several occasions. Olmert's government had argued that Hezbollah used civilians as human shields. "
As usual, no shortage of bigots and demagogues, who always have the word "Semitic" on the tip of the tongue, which came to mean the network that the photos of my good friend Lefteris Pitarakis, played the to portray life babies out of the rubble, were staged, were false.
But the world said enough. And Security Council adopted Resolution 1701, asking also for Israel, which had been mired in land development at the staunch defense of Hezbollah.
Today, the graves of the dead, they occupy a place in Qana, located a few blocks from the memorial to honor victims of the previous slaughter, which took place in the quarter of the UN.
3. Slaughter in Beit Hanoun
Operation Autumn Clouds, happened in late 2006, in Gaza, Operation Summer Rains. It focused on the town of Beit Hanoun. Ended the lives of 63 Palestinians, mostly civilians.
Hebrew Tanks hit a school bus, killing Ramzi Al Ashrafi, 16, and causing irreparable brain damage Najwa Khleif, a teacher of 20 years. They killed two ambulance drivers.
But the turning point was the death of 18 members of the same family, during the night. Once again, the horror of the world did you come down Israel arms.
React the world?
we expect that the death of 40 innocent today at a UN school in Gaza cause the wrath of the world, and ultimately our leaders out of their cowardly and complicit silence so that Israel has to pull back on offense. Israel has
a factor in their favor: unlike other times, the blackout - censorship pure and simple - it has imposed prevents the presence of foreign journalists, as Lefteris Pitarakis that morning in August 2006, can move to the area to have what happens.
As I write these words, another Israeli spokesman, Mark Regev, appears on the screens of Al Jazeera. Command states that Hamas was firing from the school and was using civilians as human shields. " What gives me a sense of deja vu, having heard this again and again in the past. In a grim story that will not be repeated.
announcer asked why not allow access to the press, or of international organizations like Human Rights Watch, which is what the UN has requested. "It's not a serious proposal. Hamas has created a semi-totalitarian regime like the Taliban ... The women wear veils. People are not free to speak. Is like sending an independent commission to North Korea. "