BS: Israel Moves in.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Teribus
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 04:33 PM

Perhaps you can correct the figures then CarolC.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 04:17 PM

There's Jews in both the West Bank and Gaza who are not there as settlers. But they don't get counted because the government of Israel finds them to be an embarrassment.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Teribus
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 09:13 AM

I asked CarolC to look at the demographics - of course she didn't. But none-the-less here they are:

Take a look at the demographics by ethnic group of:

- Israel (Arab 19.4%; Jewish 76.0%; Other 4.6%)

- West Bank (Arab 83% - Includes 8% Christian Arabs; Jewish 17% - all of whom are Israeli citizens)

- Gaza (Arab 99.4%; Jewish 0%; Christian 0.6%)

Then tell me which is the most tolerant, multi-cultural society.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:37 AM

And stop saying I've said things that I've never said. Either get my words right, or don't try to repeat them.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:31 AM

LOL!!!!!!!


I never said Israel chased anyone out because they were Muslims, either. They have chased out a hell of a lot of Arabs, though.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:30 AM

I never said that Israel had chased out all of the Muslims from Palestine. Although that is it's goal.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: beardedbruce
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:30 AM

However, if anyone is making any assertions that Israel has chased out any individuals of the groups in question (Moslims) since taking power, just because the individuals in question were Moslims, I would like to see the evidence.

Please.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:29 AM

However, if anyone is making any assertions that Hamas has chased out any individuals of the groups in question (Christians and Jews) since taking power, just because the individuals in question were Christians and Jews, I would like to see the evidence.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: beardedbruce
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:29 AM

And Israel has not chased ANY groups of Moslims out, since there is still a Moslim population in Israel- far greater than the Jewish population of Gaza.

So no more comments about Israel driving the Moslims out, ok?

Or do you still apply different rules to Jews than Moslims????

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:27 AM

They haven't chased any groups out.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:26 AM

I should correct this one -

Hampshire College was the first US school to divest from apartheid South Africa...

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: beardedbruce
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:24 AM

So you claim there are as many "other" religion's people in Gaza now as before Hamas took over???

I doubt that.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:21 AM

We were talking about religious groups (which can be verified by looking at the relevant posts), not political groups. Hamas hasn't chased out any religious groups.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: beardedbruce
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 06:44 AM

CarolC,

You state: "There are still Christians in Gaza, and even Jews. Hamas hasn't chased anyone out."

This ius a false statement. Thay did chase out many Fatah supporters.

You can reasonably say ONLY "There are still Christians in Gaza, and even Jews. Hamas hasn't chased EVERYONE out."

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 05:08 AM

There are still Christians in Gaza, and even Jews. Hamas hasn't chased anyone out.


On the subject of genocide, the Israeli government knows that it can't get rid of them all at once without experiencing a huge backlash and losing all of their support in Western countries, including the US. It knows that it has to do things more gradually so it can have plausible deniability. As it is, because of its recent actions in Gaza, it has lost a lot of support, and the movement to free the Palestinians has gained an enormous amount of momentum that is continuing to build, as we can see by the numerous universities that are divesting from the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Israel really shot itself in the foot with this last one, and it is losing support fast.

Hampshire College was the first school to divest from apartheid South Africa, and it has just divested from the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The situation is very close to reaching the tipping point if it hasn't already. I read somewhere that it took many years for the situation in South Africa to reach the tipping point, but that when it did, the change happened very quickly. People are paying a lot more attention now, and they aren't buying the hasbara propaganda anywhere near as much as they used to.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Teribus
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 02:04 AM

"There are over a billion Muslims in the world. If they all felt that all other religions should be eliminated, they would have killed a hell of a lot more people than they have by now. However, that has nothing whatever to do with the situation in occupied Palestine, which has Christians as well as Muslims (and also Jews) living there."

Let's take the first bit:

"There are over a billion Muslims in the world. If they all felt that all other religions should be eliminated, they would have killed a hell of a lot more people than they have by now."

Now I remember somebody saying something similar to that regarding the charge that the Israeli's were guilty of "Genocide" - If the Israeli forces were following a deliberate policy of genocide then they would have killed a far larger number of citizens in Gaza than the 0,04% that they have. Now for some reason that cut no-ice with CarolC.

The second bit:

"However, that has nothing whatever to do with the situation in occupied Palestine, which has Christians as well as Muslims (and also Jews) living there."

Well there might be a bare modicum of multi-culturalism in the West Bank CarolC, but the Palestinian Arabs and Hamas have chased all the others, bar the most stubborn, out of Gaza. Hell even the Bedouin Arabs decided to quit and leave when the Isrealis pulled out. Doubt that then take a look at the demographics of:

- Israel
- West Bank
- Gaza

Then tell me which is the most tolerant, multi-cultural society.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Barry Finn
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 01:37 AM

Someone painting every Muslim with that same general brush again. I do wish this kind of painting would confine itself to the trash bin where it belongs.

Bary

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 12:03 AM

There are over a billion Muslims in the world. If they all felt that all other religions should be eliminated, they would have killed a hell of a lot more people than they have by now. However, that has nothing whatever to do with the situation in occupied Palestine, which has Christians as well as Muslims (and also Jews) living there.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 11:37 PM

NLG member attorney Lynne Stewart was charged with transmitting terrorist communications from prison for Omar Abdel-Rahman, her former client and mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombings.

Stewart was ultimately convicted of the charges and sentenced to 28 months in federal prison.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 11:03 PM

Islamic Jihad Video of Beheaded Israeli in Gaza Emerges

A video from Palestinian Islamic Jihad of a beheaded Israeli is being distributed on the internet. The video shows a crowd of Palestinians in Gaza, including children, shouting "Allahu akhbar!" (God is great) as a terrorist as a terrorist takes the head out of a bag and holds it up for the cheering crowd. Jihadi music plays in the background and the crowd is visibly ecstatic.

Visual evidence suggest that the victim may have been killed first, and then beheaded later.

This should serve as a reminder that beheading those deemed 'infidels' and 'apostates' has a long tradition in Islamic culture and in Palestine.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 10:57 PM

Peaceful Islam

The message is coming from Muslims that all other religions should be eliminated.

That is if you read what they are saying and take it for face value.

But you have a unique talent for blaming yourself for what they are saying.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 10:33 PM

Yeah, somebody is starting to look like they're trying to convince us that all Muslims should be eliminated. I can see how that person might be starting to make their own side in the argument look bad.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 10:31 PM

The police expert who testified about the bullet said he couldn't match the bullet to Jamal's gun. Jamal's gun was never tested to determine whether or not it had been fired. Two of the witnesses the prosecution relied on said their testimony had been coerced. The witness who saw all of it, including who shot Officer Faulkner, was not allowed to give his version of events in court. There is no case against Mumia Abu Jamal.


All of which is entirely irrelevant to the veracity of the report from the National Lawyers Guild, which is supported by reports and testimony from numerous other humanitarian organizations.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 10:29 PM

Hey, Sawzaw, I think we get it already!

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 10:23 PM

Baby Beheaded in Saudi Supermarket

An Enraged Uncle Beheaded an 15-Month-Old Baby in Front of Mother

ABC News

Saudi Arabians recoiled this week at the news that a man allegedly decapitated a 15-month-old baby before his mother's eyes inside a crowded Riyadh supermarket.

"It was shocking for everyone. No one can believe it happened. … It was very depressing," said Samar Fatany, a journalist and women's rights activist in Riyadh.

On Sunday morning a 25-year-old Syrian man beheaded his nephew at Al-Marhaba supermarket, Arab News reported. The man reportedly killed the child after an argument with his sister and brother-in-law.

"It happened so quickly. Before people could intervene, the man had cut more than half way through the child's neck," said Abu Muhammad, a grandfather in his mid-60s, told Arab News.

"He was doing it to get back at his brother-in-law who was always threatening to take the child away from his sister," said Fatany, a contributor to the Arab News.

Some onlookers reportedly fainted at the sight of the body. The accused man was taken into custody and is expected to face the death penalty.

"There were plenty of witnesses, the facts of the case are clear, the evidence is abundant," said Christoph Wilcke, of Human Right's Watch, and an expert on Saudi Arabian law

Wilcke adds, however, that under Saudi law, even if a judge ruled for the death penalty the victim's family could choose to pardon the killer -- perhaps more of a possibility in this case because the alleged killer and victim are related.

If it turns out the the man snapped as the result of mental illness he could also be eligible for a pardon, though Wilcke says that is uncommon.

"I've never heard the insanity defense work in this Saudi Arabia. The concept of mental capacity exists, I just can't think of a real case where it applied," Wilcke said.

This is the latest in a handful of criminal justice cases in Saudi Arabia that have grabbed Western attention in the last year.

In December 2008 a Saudi Arabian rape victim was charged with jail time and 200 lashes after being found in a car with a man to whom she was not related - a verdict that prompted international outrage from Human Rights Watch and other foreign observers, including the White House and U.S. presidential contenders Sen. Hilary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama. The woman, known anonymously in the Saudi press as "Qatif Girl" was eventually released from jail and later pardoned by Saudi King Abdullah.

Fawza Falih, a Saudi woman, is currently awaiting execution after being found guilty of witchcraft in 2005. Dozens of Saudi men were arrested last month for allegedly flirting with women in front of a shopping mall in Mecca. In January, a woman was arrested after having a Starbucks coffee with a male business colleague.

"For a whole two days everybody was depressed and too shocked for words. It is not something you hear of every day here. It is not something accepted or part of the culture," said Fatany.

As the decapitation case moves forward, Saudi Arabians are left recovering from the shock.

The grandfather of a 15-month-old baby allegedly decapitated by his uncle stands in shock at his. The grandfather of a 15-month-old baby allegedly decapitated by his uncle stands in shock at his grandson's death. The uncle, a 25-year-old Syrian allegedly beheaded the toddler after an argument with his sister and brother-in-law inside a crowded Riyadh supermarket.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 10:14 PM

"Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant.

The Qur'an should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth"

Omar Ahmed, Chairman of the Board of the Council of American Islamic Relations

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 10:04 PM

Hamas moves in

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 09:59 PM

Italy Is Roiled by Murder of a Pakistani Woman and Other Violence Involving Immigrants

BRESCIA, Italy, Aug. 23 — A series of unrelated killings here this month has pushed this elegant city to the center of a national debate on the challenges of immigration and cultural integration.
Skip to next paragraph
Filippo Venezia/European Pressphoto Agency

Bushra Bakum, whose husband is accused of slitting their daughter's throat, told reporters, "She was simply a daughter who did not obey."

The Brescia killings have ignited a national debate on immigration.

The trigger was the gruesome killing on Aug. 11 of Hina Saleem, a 20-year-old woman whose family moved here from Pakistan and who was found buried, with her throat slit, in the garden of her family home in a small town about 12 miles north of Brescia.

The tragedy ballooned into a cause célèbre after media reports alleged that Ms. Saleem had been killed because her traditionalist Muslim father objected to her Western lifestyle. She smoked and wore revealing, low-slung jeans like many young women. News reports said she had been living with an Italian man. Her body was found after her boyfriend reported her missing.

Her father and uncle have been arrested in the case. [A brother-in-law turned himself in on Thursday, and an unidentified fourth man, also of Pakistani descent, was arrested Friday and accused in the case, the ANSA news agency reported.]

"She was always happy," said Multani Gurmail, her boss at the Antica India restaurant, where she had worked as a waitress. "I knew she had some problems. I didn't realize how bad they were."

The killing, and a series of other unrelated slayings involving immigrants that followed, has stirred anti-immigrant statements from some residents and groups. It also has prompted front-page debate about what can happen when conservative beliefs collide with the mores of more permissive societies, and has highlighted the generation gap between parents who have immigrated to Italy from countries with conservative social and religious traditions and their Westernized children.

Muslim leaders, who have condemned the killing, say they resent accusations that Ms. Saleem was murdered as a result of her family's religious beliefs.

"For us, murder is a sin, not only a crime," said Mahmood Tariq, the director of the Muhammadiah Islamic Cultural Association in Brescia. "This is an exceptional case," he added, describing the murder as a question of tension between members of the Saleem family. "Cases like this happen in all societies."

On Thursday, Ms. Saleem's mother, Bushra Bakum, dismissed notions that religion had played a role in the killing. She told reporters that Ms. Saleem had been a constant worry to her parents.

"She stayed out without explanation, we never knew where she was and with whom, she was simply a daughter who did not obey," Ms. Bakum said. She also said she would not forgive her husband. "It's his fault and no one else's."]

A few days after Ms. Saleem's body was found, a young Italian woman was found dead in a Brescia church. A Sri Lankan immigrant who assisted the priest has been arrested in the case.

On Aug. 21, an immigrant from Morocco was arrested and charged with killing a notable painter here, and this week a Pakistani man was knifed to death during what appears to have been a robbery. It is still unclear whether the assailants were immigrants.

The result has been a round of anti-immigrant talk. A lawmaker from the anti-immigration Northern League, Angelo Alessandri, told ANSA that immigration to Italy should be limited to people who "are socially, culturally and religiously compatible with our way of life and legislation." Some residents of this wealthy provincial capital east of Milan, in one of Italy's most industrialized areas, have been venting their anger to the news media.

"The mayor tells us we have to live with them, but the immigrants don't reciprocate, and this isn't their city," said Gloria Gatta, the owner of a cafe on the Via San Faustino, a street lined with shops catering to the neighborhood's growing African and Asian population.

Things in Brescia have gotten so bad, she said, that "people are afraid to go out after dark."

Comments like these prompted the mayor's office to issue a statement addressing the recent deaths and pledging increased security measures.

Citing Ms. Saleem's case, the statement said the city would work to ensure that women's rights were respected "against any tribal or fundamentalist point of view."

The anger has Brescia's residents of Pakistani descent worried.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 09:35 PM

Another peaceful Muslim:

BUFFALO 'BEHEADING'

February 14, 2009

An upstate TV exec who set up a channel promoting Muslims as peace-loving people was stressed about his failing business in the days before he allegedly chopped off his estranged wife's head, a friend of the couple said today.

An order of protection barring Muzzammil Hassan, 44, from the couple's upstate home had been taken out by his wife, Aasiya, 37, less than a week before she died.

The couple was in the process of divorcing after bouts of domestic violence, her lawyer told the Buffalo News.

Hassan, who founded Bridges TV in 2004 to counter anti-Islam stereotypes following 9/11, turned himself in to cops Thursday in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park. Police later found his beheaded wife in the TV studios.

He was charged with murder.

"He was worried about the station's future," said Dr. Khalid Qazi, a friend of the couple and president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Western New York, who last spoke to the Hassans a week ago.

"He was stressed, but this has left me absolutely shocked. I still cannot believe it."

Police have still not found the weapon used in the killing, an officer said today.

Bridges TV was set up with $10 million in backing from more than 50 investors. Two years ago, Hassan told Arab News magazine he needed another $5 million and was reaching out to supporters in Saudi Arabia.

Hassan, a father of four who moved to the United States from Pakistan 25 years ago, worked as a banker in Buffalo before quitting to start up the station.

The family home was empty today. A police note stuck to the door five hours before Aasiya's body was found asked her to contact cops.

Nobody at the Orchard Park Police Department today could explain why officers wanted to speak to her.

Qazi said the killings went against the teachings of Islam and damaged the image of Muslims that Hassan worked to promote.

"Domestic violence is despicable, and Islam condones it in no way whatever," he said.

Murders are being committed in the US every day by people of all faiths."

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 09:34 PM

Except that one must read both sides and figure out for them selves which Facts are more plausable.

The cop was shot with a .38. It did belong to Mumia. The guy that sold it to him was found. He had a receipt for the gun signed by Mumia. the serial # matched. Balistics were checked and the bullet frags matched. He was wearing a holster for it.

Instead some people read the talking points "facts" and that is all they want to know. Case closed for them. Even Michael Moore said he did it.

Faulkners wife:

    As I pumped gas, a young man, a white kid who looked college age, pulled up behind me. He was wearing a T-shirt that read 'Free Mumia Abu-Jamal,' and it immediately caught my eye.

    I walked up and asked him where he got the T-shirt. He said he was a student at U.C.L.A. and they had recently held a rally for Abu-Jamal. I asked him if he knew anything about the case in which Abu-Jamal was involved.

    He said, "Well, I know that this guy was a Black Panther who was railroaded. Someone else shot a police officer and he was framed for it." I cringed when he went on with the usual recitation of misinformation being spun by the Abu-Jamal defenders: a peaceful black activist, a social dissident, hostile white police force, F.B.I. surveillance, conned eyewitness accounts, phony ballistics, etc.

    I heard him out and offered to provide him with the actual facts of the case. He politely declined my offer. Before I left, I suggested that when he wore a political statement on his chest he would be well served if he knew his facts, because you never know when you might run into the widow of the officer. I left him in stunned silence.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 09:20 PM

From Amnesty International...

The prosecution of Mumia Abu-Jamal was built upon three pillars: the testimony of eyewitnesses; ballistics evidence; and an alleged confession by the accused. After a thorough study of original trial documents, Amnesty International has determined that the veracity of each of these three pillars is in sufficient doubt to make a new trail essential.

Key concerns

            -The three prosecution eyewitnesses substantively altered their description of what they saw between their original statements to police and their trial testimony.
            -The witnesses were confused and unclear about the height of the shooter, what clothes he was wearing, in which hand he held the gun, and whether he ran away from the scene.
            -The alleged confession, reportedly crucial to the jury's decision and sentencing, was first reported more than two months after the shooting.
            -The alleged confession directly contradicted the contemporaneous notes of one of the alleged witnesses to the confession (a police officer) that "the negro male made no comments." This evidence was not put before the jury.
            -There is also evidence that witnesses were offered inducements to alter their testimony in favour of the prosecution's version of events. This evidence was not put before the jury.
            -Lack of adequate ballistic tests to determine whether Abu-Jamal's gun had recently been fired. It was not determined, for instance, whether there was residue on his hands from firing a gun.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR51/020/2000/en/dom-AMR510202000en.html


This video does an excellent job of debunking all of the points in the Justice for Faulkner account (by the way, they never tested Jamal's gun to determine whether or not it had been fired, and the police expert testified that he couldn't match the bullet to Jamal's gun)...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2537462601888502694



More accounts from humanitarian organizations about what was done in Gaza...

B'Tselem

International Federation for Human Rights

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/amnesty-international-team-talks-gaza-survivors-20090121

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/israeli-soldiers-leave-gaza-homes-devastated-condition-20090123

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/israeli-army-used-flechettes-against-gaza-civilians-20090127

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 07:07 PM

I guess the Free Mumia site could be about as biased as the Justice for Daniel Faulkner site that is quoted in the post above.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 05:32 PM

As for your talking points propaganda from freemumia.org Could that website possibly be biased?

"* The policeman was killed with a 44 caliber gun. Abu-Jamal's gun which he was licensed to carry as a night-time taxi driver, was a 38 caliber."Jamal's own ballistics expert, George Fassnacht, conceded in his 1995 PCRA testimony that the fatal bullet was not .44 caliber, and that it was most "likely" a .38. Although the D.A.'s officer offered in open court to let Jamal's attorneys test the fatal bullet, they refused this offer, and have never offered any alternative test results to counter the above evidence.

---

"* The police never tested Abu-Jamal's gun to see if it had been recently fired. They never tested his hands to see if he had fired a gun. They have never shown Abu-Jamal 's gun to be the fatal weapon." Mumia hands were not tested due to the FACT the test would be compromised because of the struggle with the police officer.
Attorney Anthony Jackson asked Anthony Paul if the general rifling characteristics etched of the bullet removed from Officer Faulkner's brain matched the pattern found in the barrel of Jamal's gun. Mr. Paul states that they clearly do match Jamal's gun.
"The general characteristics being part of the eight lands and grooves and a right hand direction of twist, you have a part of that [bullet] still exposed with sufficient quantity to be able to say that a firearm rifled with eight lands and grooves with a right hand direction of twist discharged that projectile."

---

* No police officers present at Abu-Jamal's arrest claimed to have heard Jamal's "confession" until two months after it allegedly occurred. This was right after Abu-Jamal had filed police brutality charges. Abu-Jamal's doctor said that Abu-Jamal, who was unconscious, said nothing. He reported that a nurse found police with loaded guns pointed at Mumia as he lay unconscious in his hospital bed.The confession occurred outside, in front of the automatic doors to the Emergency Room, a considerable time before the doctor saw him. By then he was nearly comatose. The nice man violently struggled with the police and refused treatment and a court order has to be obtained which took hours.
The confession was heard by a hospital security guard and reported by her the next day. Officers Gary Bell and Gary Wakshul each stated that they failed to write about the confession in their reports because they were emotionally devastated after seeing their friend and partner with a fatal hole in his head. They did not even remember what they had written in their reports immediately after the shooting.
Priscilla Durham, a black person, stated that she had no idea who Mumia Abu-Jamal was when he made his statements as he lay on the ground, outside the Emergency Room doors.
"At this time I didn't know [who he was]... all I did was hear him say, I shot the mother fucker and I hope the mother fucker dies."

---

* William Singletary, a Vietnam veteran and local businessman, saw the whole incident and has testified that Abu-Jamal was not the shooter. However, the police forced him to change his story and intimidated him into leaving Philadelphia. William Singletary testified. The only witness put forward by the defense who has claimed in court to have seen someone other than Abu-Jamal kill Officer Faulkner. Singletary insisted that Abu-Jamal wore a "safari suit like the Arabs wear" at the crime scene. He stated that he observed a police helicopter "circling overhead" that escaped the notice of everyone else in the area. the Philadelphia police department did not own a hellicopter.

---

Other key witnesses, such as Veronica Jones -- who now testifies in support of Abu-Jamal, were harassed into giving false testimony. Two prosecution witnesses were given special favors, including exemption from criminal prosecution, for their testimony. At the 1996 hearing, Ms. Jones repeatedly appeared quite confused as to whom she had spoken to about anything in 1982. She stated that a factor contributing to her confused state in 1996 was her heavy drug use throughout the 1980's.
In addition to her alleged conversation with Cynthia White, Ms. Jones, who in 1982 had been arrested on an armed robbery charge, now claims that she too was visited by police officers while awaiting trial. She alleges that these officers offered her a deal similar to the one allegedly provided for Ms. White, and that they threatened to go hard on her in regards to her pending armed robbery charge, if she didn't cooperate with them. Ms. Jones recollection regarding the facts of her own alleged meeting with police in 1982 is very unclear. While testifying in 1996, she was unable to remember what the specifics of this alleged deal were and she failed to remember how the deal was to benefit her, beyond being given a break on her pending felony case. Further, Jones couldn't remember the names of the officers that allegedly visited her or when the visit occurred.* The Judge, Albert Sabo, sentenced more people to death than any other sitting judge in the US. This claim has never been proven since no such statistics are collected, nor have they ever been collected in the United States.

---

* The public defender didn't interview a single witness in preparation for the trial, and didn't have funds for defending a capital case.>tt> The Judge initially agreed to Abu-Jamal's request to represent himself, with criminal defense attorney Anthony Jackson acting as his legal advisor. Thus Jamal should have done the interviewing. During the first day of the trial this decision was reversed and Jackson was ordered to resume acting as Abu-Jamal's sole advocate by reason of what the judge deemed to be intentionally disruptive actions on Abu-Jamal's part.

---

* The prosecutor removed 11 qualified African Americans from the jury. He also argued for the death penalty because of Mumia's membership in the Black Panther Party, a practice later condemned as unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court. Jamal represented himself throughout the jury selection process, and personally participated in the selection of each and every juror. He used his peremptory challenges (each side gets 20 of these, each of which allows them to reject one potential juror at their discretion) to remove an unknown number of white potential jurors -- although, at the time, no one thought to accuse Jamal of rejecting white people because of their race.

---

* The racial bias of Philadelphia's courts has resulted in 120 people on death row, all but 13 non-white. There are currently 231 prisoners on Death Row in Pennsylvania. Of the 231 Death Row prisoners, 141 are black, 70 are white, 18 are Latino and 2 are Asian.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 01:28 PM

Facts about Mumia's 1982 trial:

* The policeman was killed with a 44 caliber gun. Abu-Jamal's gun which he was licensed to carry as a night-time taxi driver, was a 38 caliber.

* The police never tested Abu-Jamal's gun to see if it had been recently fired. They never tested his hands to see if he had fired a gun. They have never shown Abu-Jamal 's gun to be the fatal weapon.

* No police officers present at Abu-Jamal's arrest claimed to have heard Jamal's "confession" until two months after it allegedly occurred. This was right after Abu-Jamal had filed police brutality charges.

* Abu-Jamal's doctor said that Abu-Jamal, who was unconscious, said nothing. He reported that a nurse found police with loaded guns pointed at Mumia as he lay unconscious in his hospital bed.

* William Singletary, a Vietnam veteran and local businessman, saw the whole incident and has testified that Abu-Jamal was not the shooter. However, the police forced him to change his story and intimidated him into leaving Philadelphia.

* Other key witnesses, such as Veronica Jones -- who now testifies in support of Abu-Jamal, were harassed into giving false testimony. Two prosecution witnesses were given special favors, including exemption from criminal prosecution, for their testimony.

Elements in an unfair trial:

* The Judge, Albert Sabo, sentenced more people to death than any other sitting judge in the US.

* The public defender didn't interview a single witness in preparation for the trial, and didn't have funds for defending a capital case.

* The prosecutor removed 11 qualified African Americans from the jury. He also argued for the death penalty because of Mumia's membership in the Black Panther Party, a practice later condemned as unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court.

* The racial bias of Philadelphia's courts has resulted in 120 people on death row, all but 13 non-white.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 12:33 PM

"Eighteen years after the slaying, Arnold Beverly claimed that, "wearing a green (camouflage) army jacket", he had run across the street and shot Daniel Faulkner as part of a contract killing because Faulkner was interfering with graft and payoff to corrupt police"

Abu-Jamal decided not to use Beverly because Abu-Jamal was "far too honorable to propagate a lie upon which to build a case for his freedom.

"Cynthia White either died in 1992 or disappeared, and it was subsequently alleged that she falsified her testimony."

Cynthia White, a prostitute, claimed to see a man emerge from a nearby parking lot and shoot Faulkner.

"Kenneth Pate, a stepbrother of Priscilla Durham who was imprisoned with Abu-Jamal on other charges"

Abu-Jamal's brother, William Cook, did not testify or make any statement until 2001 when he claimed that he had not seen who had shot Faulkner.

In his version of events, detailed in a sworn statement almost 20 years afterwards, Abu-Jamal claimed that he was sitting in his cab across the street when he heard shouting, then saw a police vehicle, then heard the sound of gunshots. Upon seeing his brother appearing disoriented across the street, Abu-Jamal ran to him from the parking lot and was shot by a police officer. The statement includes no mention of the gun that was found nearby him at the crime scene nor the corresponding firearms shoulder holster he was found to be wearing at the time of his arrest.

He continues to write a Saturday weekly column for the German language Marxist newspaper "junge Welt".

In October 2002, he was conferred honorary membership of the Berlin-based Association of Those Persecuted by the Nazi Regime – Federation of Antifascists and Antifascist Groups (VVN-BdA).

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 11:10 AM

"...In 2001, he received the biannual Lübeck Erich Mühsam Prize, awarded by Frank-Thomas Gaulin of Kunsthaus Lübeck, for special commitment to human rights.[94] In October 2002, he was conferred honorary membership of the Berlin-based Association of Those Persecuted by the Nazi Regime – Federation of Antifascists and Antifascist Groups (VVN-BdA).[95]"

Boy, I know I for one am really impressed by the citation of those groups! [voice oozes with contempt] Where can I join up? [twinkle in eyes]

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 10:05 AM

Claims, allegations, conspiracies, Yes that is what truth is all about isn't it? The grassy knoll, non existant airliners. What someone wrote in a book written with a profit motive. What another prisoner said.

Jury trial do not even enter the picture do they? Even when two trial produced the same results.

How about the other criminal members of NLG?

Kathy Boudin went to prison for her involvement in an October 20, 1981, armed terrorist assault that left Nyack, New York Police Sgt. Edward O'Grady, Patrolman Waverly Brown and Brinks guard Peter Paige dead.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Folkiedave
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 04:03 AM

I am not bothered about starting an argument about the who's, what's and wherefore's of the NLG.

Surely the point is - "Is what they wrote true?"

They name names so it is not unsupported - and from what people say on here and other reports much of it seems to be supported from elsewhere.

Now in the UK you can shoot someone - have the gun that did it - loads of witnesses and still no-one is charged with doing it.

Surely things are better in Gaza?

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 03:25 AM

"Since the sentence, new claims contradicting the trial evidence have surfaced.

Eighteen years after the slaying, Arnold Beverly claimed that, "wearing a green (camouflage) army jacket", he had run across the street and shot Daniel Faulkner as part of a contract killing because Faulkner was interfering with graft and payoff to corrupt police.[41] Private investigator George Newman claimed in 2001 that Chobert had recanted his testimony.[42] Cynthia White either died in 1992 or disappeared,[43] and it was subsequently alleged that she falsified her testimony.[44] Kenneth Pate, a stepbrother of Priscilla Durham who was imprisoned with Abu-Jamal on other charges, has since claimed that Durham admitted to not hearing the hospital confession.[45] The hospital doctors have claimed that Abu-Jamal was not capable of making such a dramatic bedside confession at that time.[7]".

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 02:39 AM

What kind of justice did Daniel Faulkner get from the vice president of the NLG, Mumia Abu-Jamal?

Faulkner was murdered, shot in the back 4 times and once in the face, by Mumia Abu-Jamal for trying to arrest his brother. He was convicted twice in a court of law and he is in prison and claiming injustice like a murdering Palestinian.

Daniel J. Faulkner was a police officer in the American city of Philadelphia who was shot and killed in the line of duty by Mumia Abu-Jamal. The slaying was the culmination of a traffic stop in downtown Philadelphia, not initially involving Abu-Jamal, which escalated into an exchange of gunfire in which Abu-Jamal was himself shot and wounded by officer Faulkner.

On December 9, 1981, between three thirty and four o'clock in the morning, Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner stopped the driver of a light blue Volkswagen at the corner of Thirteenth Street and Locust Street for driving the wrong way down a one-way street.

Officer Faulkner had the driver exit the vehicle.

As Officer Faulkner was speaking with the driver, the driver struck Officer Faulkner in the face. Officer Faulkner struck the driver back and attempted to take him into custody. As Officer Faulkner was attempting to subdue the driver, the driver's brother came running from a parking lot across the street from the spot where Officer Faulkner had the driver of the Volkswagen.

While Officer Faulkner's back was turned, the brother of the driver, Mumia Abu-Jamal, opened fire, striking Officer Faulkner in the back four times. Officer Faulkner fell to the ground, but was able to turn around, reach for his own firearm, and fire at Abu-Jamal, striking him in the chest. Abu-Jamal, now standing over Officer Faulkner, fired four shots at close range. One shot struck Officer Faulkner between the eyes and entered his brain.

The suspect attempted to flee but fell to the ground several feet from where he had just shot Officer Faulkner. When back-up officers arrived they found Officer Faulkner mortally wounded and the suspect, murder weapon in hand, laying several feet away.

made a traffic stop of a Volkswagen driven by William Cook, Abu-Jamal's brother, on Locust Street between 12th and 13th Streets, in Philadelphia. Officer Faulkner radioed for backup assistance, and both men exited their vehicles. A struggle ensued, and Officer Faulkner tried to secure Cook's hands behind his back. At that moment, Abu-Jamal, who was in a parking lot on the opposite side of the street, ran toward Officer Faulkner and Cook. As he approached, Abu-Jamal shot Officer Faulkner in the back. As Officer Faulkner fell to the ground, he was able to turn around, reach for his own firearm, and fire at Abu-Jamal, striking him in the chest. Abu-Jamal, now standing over Officer Faulkner, fired four shots at close range. One shot struck Officer Faulkner between the eyes and entered his brain.

Abu-Jamal collapsed nearby and was taken into custody by responding police officers. Daniel Faulkner was pronounced dead the same night. Abu-Jamal was charged with murder in the first degree and convicted of that charge in 1982.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 01:27 AM

"Since the sentence, new claims contradicting the trial evidence have surfaced.

Eighteen years after the slaying, Arnold Beverly claimed that, "wearing a green (camouflage) army jacket", he had run across the street and shot Daniel Faulkner as part of a contract killing because Faulkner was interfering with graft and payoff to corrupt police.[41] Private investigator George Newman claimed in 2001 that Chobert had recanted his testimony.[42] Cynthia White either died in 1992 or disappeared,[43] and it was subsequently alleged that she falsified her testimony.[44] Kenneth Pate, a stepbrother of Priscilla Durham who was imprisoned with Abu-Jamal on other charges, has since claimed that Durham admitted to not hearing the hospital confession.[45] The hospital doctors have claimed that Abu-Jamal was not capable of making such a dramatic bedside confession at that time.[7]"...

...In 2001, he received the biannual Lübeck Erich Mühsam Prize, awarded by Frank-Thomas Gaulin of Kunsthaus Lübeck, for special commitment to human rights.[94] In October 2002, he was conferred honorary membership of the Berlin-based Association of Those Persecuted by the Nazi Regime – Federation of Antifascists and Antifascist Groups (VVN-BdA).[95]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumia_Abu-Jamal

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 01:15 AM

From the National Lawyers Guild "about" page. They've been very successful in the past in advocating for social justice on many levels. And as I said, there are many other humanitarian organizations who are seeing and reporting the same kinds of things as this organization, so it's not their word against that of everyone else.


Mission

The National Lawyers Guild is an association dedicated to the need for basic change in the structure of our political and economic system. We seek to unite the lawyers, law students, legal workers and jailhouse lawyers of America in an organization that shall function as an effective political and social force in the service of the people, to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests.

Our aim is to bring together all those who recognize the importance of safeguarding and extending the rights of workers, women, farmers, people with disabilities and people of color, upon whom the welfare of the entire nation depends; who seek actively to eliminate racism; who work to maintain and protect our civil rights and liberties in the face of persistent attacks upon them; and who look upon the law as an instrument for the protection of the people, rather than for their repression.

History

Founded in 1937 the National Lawyers Guild was the nation's first racially integrated bar association. The first Guild lawyers supported President Roosevelt's New Deal, assisted the emerging industrial labor movement, and opposed the racial segregation policies of the American Bar Association and the larger society. During its 65 year history, the NLG has been an important part of the American people's struggle for real democracy, for economic and social justice, and against oppression and discrimination based on race, ethnicity, immigration status, class, gender or sexual orientation. Consistent with its commitment to ensuring fairness and equality for all people, law students, non-lawyer legal workers and inmate legal experts are full members. The Guild elected its first African-American president in the early 1950s and its first female president in the 1960s. The first legal worker president was elected in 1996.

In the 1930s, NLG lawyers helped organize the United Auto Workers (UAW), the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and supported the New Deal in the face of determined ABA opposition. In the 1940s, Guild lawyers fought against fascists in the Spanish Civil War and WW II, and helped prosecute Nazis at Nuremburg. Guild lawyers fought racial discrimination in cases such as Hansberry v. Lee, the case that struck down segregationist Jim Crow laws in Chicago and entered our culture as Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun". The Guild was one of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) selected by the U.S. Government to officially represent the American people at the founding of the U.N. in 1945.

In the late 1940s and 50s, Guild members founded the first national plaintiffs personal injury bar association that became the American Trial Lawyers Association (ATLA), and pioneered the storefront law offices for low-income clients that became the model for the community-based offices of the Legal Services Corporation. During the "McCarthy era", Guild members represented the Hollywood Ten, the Rosenbergs, and thousands of victims of the anti-communist hysteria. Unlike all other national civil liberties groups and bar associations, the Guild refused to require "loyalty oaths" of its members and the NLG was unjustly labeled "subversive" by the government. The Justice Department admitted the charges were baseless after ten years of federal litigation.

In the 1960s, the Guild set up offices in the South and organized thousands of volunteer lawyers and law students to provide legal support for the Civil Rights Movement long before the federal government was involved. Guild members represented the families of murdered civil rights activists Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman, who were assassinated by local law enforcement members of the Ku Klux Klan. Guild-initiated lawsuits brought the Kennedy Justice Department directly into the Civil Rights struggle in Mississippi and challenged the seating of the all-white Mississippi delegation at the 1964 Democratic Convention. Guild lawyers defended thousands of civil rights activists who were arrested for exercising basic rights and established new federal constitutional protections in ground-breaking Supreme Court cases such as: Dombrowski v. Pfister, which enjoined thousands of racially-motivated state court criminal prosecutions; Goldberg v. Kelly, the case that established the concept of "entitlementsf" to social benefits which require Due Process protections; and, Monell v. Dept. of Public Services, which held municipalities liable for brutal police employees.

More here...

http://nlg.org/aboutus/history.php

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 16 Feb 09 - 12:39 AM

"American Lawyers Guild's report on their investigative trip to Gaza..." Ahhhhhhhh make that National Lawyers Guild:

Mumia Abu-Jamal is Vice President of the National Lawyers Guild
He was born Wesley Cook on April 24, 1954 and is an American who was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1981 murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner. Prior to his arrest he was a Black Panther Party activist, cab driver, and journalist. Since his conviction, his case has received international attention and he has become a controversial cultural icon. Supporters and opponents disagree on the appropriateness of the death penalty, whether he is guilty, or whether he received a fair trial During his imprisonment he has published several books and other commentaries, notably Live from Death Row. As of 2008, his legal appeals are still unsettled and he is a prisoner at State Correctional Institution Greene near Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.

NLG and the Weather Underground

Leonard Boudin, a paid agent of the Castro government since 1960, and his partner Victor Rabinowitz, were identified as members of the Communist Party, U.S.A. In addition to working for the Cuban government, Leonard Boudin is the father of Weather Underground Organization (WUO) leader Kathy Boudin. [Kathy Boudin went to prison for her involvement in an October 20, 1981, armed terrorist assault that left Nyack, New York Police Sgt. Edward O'Grady, Patrolman Waverly Brown and Brinks guard Peter Paige dead.]Starting in the early 1960s, Kathy Boudin attended receptions and functions with her parents at the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in New York. In 1965 she studied for a year in the Soviet Union, was paid 75 rubles a month by the Soviet government and, according to her resume, taught school on a Soviet collective farm. Boudin s stay in the Soviet Union was not part of any student exchange program. During this period it has been reported that the CIA intercepted correspondence between Boudin and her father in which he made arrangements for her to participate in one of the Communist World Youth Festivals.

Following the March 1970 explosion of a New York townhouse which killed three Weathermen who were constructing an anti-personnel bomb, Kathy Boudin disappeared. It was reported at the time that she and Cathy Platt Wilkerson were provided with false identification documents by the Cuban U.N. Mission with which they fled the United States for Czechoslovakia. The declassified FBI report on foreign contacts of the Weather Underground Organization produced by the FBI s Chicago Field Office reported that OnFebruary 10, 1976, a source in a position to possess such information advised that Leonard Boudin...had indicated to a friend that Kathie [sic] was presently in Cuba.

Dana H. Biberman, born February 24, 1951, is a veteran of the Columbia University SDS chapter. Biberman s sister, Nancy, was also a veteran of the Columbia University SDS. In 1968 Dana Biberman joined the NLG national office staff where she remained for some four years, organizing mass defense of demonstrators and support work for the Panther 21 and doing NLG organizational work.

During 1974 and 1975 she played an active role in the formation of the WUO s overt arm, the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC). The FBIreport states that in March 1975 Biberman traveled to Cuba as a member of the Venceremos Brigade (VB) 8th contingent. Internal PFOC documents circulated in 1976, summing up the group s accomplishments during the previous year, noting that two PFOC members had been sent to Cuba with the Venceremos Brigade.

Biberman was an active member of the New York PFOC chapter, and its successor, the May 19th Communist Organization (M-19 CO). The M-19 CO can be characterized as the Weather Underground Organization s own incipient Communist party. With Judith Clark and Eve Rosahn, Biberman was a member of the Committee for the Suit Against Government Misconduct, a PFOC-controlled group set up to publicize a damage suit by 10 WUO associates against the United States, FBI and present and former government officials.

Kenneth Cloke, born May 18, 1941, was an active member of SDS in the mid-1960s. According to the FBI report, Cloke has directly been involved with the WUO since its submergence into the underground. It is noted that the section of the FBI report on Cloke s WUO activities notes that Cloke had been seen in contact with Bernardine Dohrn in the summer of 1971, when WUO fugitives were living in apartments in Venice, California. The report also contains two pages of additional material on Cloke s work with the WUO which has been deleted as too secret to be released. In 1967, while CPUSA veteran Victor Rabinowitz served as the NLG national president, Ken Cloke was hired as NLG national executive secretary at the same time Bernardine Dohrn was hired as national student organizer.

Also in 1967 Cloke joined the National Council of the NECLC, controlled by veteran CPUSA activists and lawyers including Victor Rabinowitz and Leonard Boudin. Cloke, and many other NLG activists with ties to the Weather Underground Organization, Black Liberation Army and Cuba,remain on the NECLC Executive Committee and National Council.

Dennis D. Cunningham, an NLG activist who has held office not only in the Chicago chapter, but has been regional vice president, had been active with the Chicago chapter of the WUO s Prairie Fire Organizing Committee since early 1975. Cunningham s WUO membership, and others, is readily verifiable in the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee report, The Weather Underground, published in 1975. Cunningham was a member of the People s Law Office, a Chicago group of NLG lawyers and legal workers, most of whom were members of the Weather Underground s PFOC, or WUO/PFOC fronts such as the New Movement in Solidarity with Puerto Rican Independence (NMSPRI), through which the WUO provides support to its terrorist comrades in the FALN and the FALN s overt political arm, the Movimiento de Liberacion Nacional(MLN).

Among the past and current members of the People s Law Office were attorneys Michael E. Deutsch, an active PFOC member; G. Flint Taylor and Jonathan C. Moore, lawyers for violence-oriented radical plaintiffs suing the Chicago Police Department for having monitored their activities.

Michael E. Deutsch, born May 9, 1945, a member of the Chicago PFOC chapter. The FBI s report on Weather Underground foreign contacts noted that NLG activists Dennis Cunningham and Jeff Haas hosted at least four meetings in their apartments to organize logistical support to WUO fugitives during the period January 7-10, 1971.

The FBI s material on Deutsch s foreign activities is deleted on national security grounds. Deutsch traveled to Cuba as part of the first official NLG delegation in the summer of 1972. According to Guild Notes (Vol. I, No. 3,Sept-Oct 1972), the NLG delegation also included Karen Jo Koonan of Los Angeles, closely associated with the WUO leadership; and Margaret Burnham, the step-daughter of the late CPUSA Political Committee member Hyman Lumer. Burnham went on to become a Municipal court judge inBoston, and an official of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR), a CPUSA front directed at the prisoner-organizing and civil rights movements.

Bernardine Dohrn was hired by the NLG as National Student Organizer in 1967. While still an NLG representative she traveled to Budapest, Hungary in September 1968 to meet with representatives of North Vietnam and the Vietcong terrorists. In July 1969 Dohrn and other SDS Weatherman leaders traveled to Cuba for more meetings with the Vietnamese Communists. New Left Notes (August 29, 1969) provided an eight-page special supplement describing what took place and stating that the Vietcong wanted the Weathermen to organize violent protests in the United States against support of South Vietnam.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 15 Feb 09 - 11:20 PM

Just because they're lawyers doesn't mean they have any interest in what happened in Gaza other than a desire to uncover the truth. A lot of lawyers contribute their services for free to causes that they consider important, like for instance, the cause of human rights.

However, they're not the only ones who are finding these things when they investigate. There are humanitarian organizations from all over the world who are going into Gaza and conducting investigations about what was done there, and they're finding the same things. The group in the link I posted are laywers. Other groups are not.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: DougR
Date: 15 Feb 09 - 07:32 PM

And the American Lawyer's Guild has no dog in that race, right?

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: CarolC
Date: 15 Feb 09 - 02:42 AM

American Lawyers Guild's report on their investigative trip to Gaza...


What We Found in Gaza
Strong Indications of Violations of the Laws of War, U.S. Law, and War Crimes Found in the Gaza Strip

NLG Delegation

GAZA CITY - "We are a delegation of 8 American lawyers, members of the National Lawyers Guild in the United States, who have come here to the Gaza Strip to assess the effects of the recent attacks on the people, and to determine what, if any, violations of international law occurred and whether U.S. domestic law has been violated as a consequence. We have spent the last five days interviewing communities particularly impacted by the recent Israeli offensive, including medical personnel, humanitarian aid workers and United Nations representatives. In particular, the delegation examined three issues: 1) targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure; 2) illegal use of weapons and 3) blocking of medical and humanitarian assistance to civilians.

Targeting of Civilians and Civilian Infrastructure

Much of the debate surrounding Israel's aerial and ground offensive against Gaza has centered on whether or not Israel observed principles of proportionality and distinction. The debate suggests that Israel targeted Hamas i.e., its military installations, its leaders, and its militants, and in the process of its discrete military exercise it inadvertently killed Palestinian civilians. While we have found evidence that Palestinian civilians were victims of excessive force and collateral damage, we have also found troubling instances of Palestinian civilians being targets themselves.

The delegation recorded numerous accounts of Israeli soldiers shooting civilians, including women, children, and the elderly, in the head, chest, and stomach. Another common narrative described Israeli forces rounding civilians into a single location i.e., homes, schools which Israeli tanks or warplanes then shelled. Israeli forces continued to shoot at civilians fleeing the targeted structures.

We spoke to Khaled Abed Rabbo, who witnessed an Israeli soldier execute his 2-year-old and 7-year-old daughters, and critically injure a third daughter, Samar, 4-years old, on a sunny afternoon outside his home. Two other Israeli soldiers were standing nearby eating chips and chocolates at the time on January 7, 2009. Abed Rabbo recounts standing in front of the Israeli soldiers with his mother, wife and daughters for 5 - 7 minutes before one of the soldiers opened fire on his family.

We spoke to Ibtisam al-Sammouni, 31, and a resident of Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City. On January 4th, the Israeli army forced approximately 110 of Zaytoun's residents into Ibtisam's home. At approximately 7 am on January 5th, the Israeli military launched two tank shells at the house without warning killing two of Ibtisam's children: Rizka, 14 and Faris, 12. When the survivors attempted to flee Israeli forces shot at them. Her son Abdullah, 7, was injured in the shelling and remained in the home among his deceased siblings for four days before Israeli forces permitted medical personnel into Zaytoun to rescue them. After medical personnel removed the injured persons, an Israeli war plane destroyed the house and it crumbled over the lifeless bodies. The dead remained beneath the rubble for 17 days before the Israeli Army permitted medical personnel to remove their bodies for burial.

We spoke to the family of Rouhiya al-Najjar, 47, who lived in Khoza'a, Khan Younis. Israeli forces ordered her neighborhoods residents to march to the city center. Rouhiya led 20 women out of her home and into the alley. They all carried white scarves. Upon entering the alley, an Israeli sniper shot Rouhiya in her left temple killing her instantly. Israeli forces prevented medical personnel from reaching her body for twelve hours. These are only some of the accounts that we've collected.

Israeli forces also destroyed numerous buildings throughout the Gaza Strip during the recent incursion. Guild delegates viewed the remains of hundreds of demolished homes and businesses - in addition to the remains of the American School in Gaza, damaged medical centers, and the charred innards of UNRWA warehouses. While in situations of armed conflict, collateral damage and mistakes can occur, the circumstances surrounding the cases that the delegation investigated indicate deliberate targeting rather than collateral damage or mistake. Specifically:

The American School at Gaza, which was hit with two F-16 missiles on January 3, 2009, killing the watch guard on duty. According to Ribhi Salem, the school's director, the Israelis gave no warnings. Mr. Salem stated that the school had come to an agreement with resistance groups not to use school grounds and there had never been resistance activity on the property."


More here...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/02/08-0

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Teribus
Date: 14 Feb 09 - 07:02 PM

Well done Israel - No truce until Gilat Shalit walks across the crossing point of his chosing from Gaza to Israel.

I would actually add the proviso that after a given date - to be determined a number of Hamas captives held by Israel will be executed up until the time that the captive Israeli soldier is released.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Sawzaw
Date: 14 Feb 09 - 10:19 AM

The bloodthirsty (by their own proclaimed policy) Palestinians can't get along with each other. So how can anyone make peace with them?

Watch the Video

Activists seek 'Gaza abuses' probe Aljazeera.net Feb 8

On Sunday, Randa Siniora of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, said "There is a state of vigilantism and chaos, lawlessness in the Gaza Strip right now," "Extrajudicial killings have increased during the Israeli aggression."

Separately on Sunday, the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights called for an investigation into the death of a man beaten in the custody of security forces loyal to the Hamas movement.

Jamil Shakoura died in a Gaza hospital after receiving a number wounds to his head while detained, the group said. He was not believed to be affiliated to any political group and it was not clear why the security forces were investigating him.

Human rights groups say that at least three people have died while in detention since Hamas seized full control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after pushing out security forces loyal to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and head of Fatah.

Khalil Abu Shammala, a human rights monitor, told Al Jazeera that dozens of Fatah members were shot and tortured as Israeli forces bombarded the Gaza Strip for 22 days. "I don't ignore that there were some mistakes made my members of Hamas, but I think that is not a policy adopted by the leadership here"

Naem Atallah told Al Jazeera that he found the body of his son Osama, a Fatah supporter, at Gaza's Shifa hospital after he was taken away from the family home by 10 masked men."I asked them who are you? They answered that they are from the internal security. I asked how do I know you are from internal security and one showed me his ID card," he said.

Osama, a teacher and father of five children, had been strangled, suffered blunt force trauma to his head and been shot in the shoulder. Another Fatah supporter, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, said that that he had been shot in the leg three times by Hamas loyalists.

"They shot me because I am Fatah," he told Al Jazeera. "There were 15 guys with hoods over their heads. Three of them asked me to stand against the wall and asked me my name. Three started shooting."

Hamas officials have said that they have several investigations under way into the claims of extrajudicial beatings, torture and killings. "All our investigations are open to everyone," Ihab al-Ghusain, a spokesman for the Hamas interior ministry, told Al Jazeera. "Nobody is allowed to kill anyone, beat anyone, arrest anyone."

However, all of Al Jazeera's attempts to arrange to view the files on the ongoing investigations went unanswered. Relations between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah have been strained since 2007, but Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, denied that the movement's leaders are encouraging a policy of targeting rival Palestinians."I think it's a shame for Palestinians to arrest each other or torture each other; its very shameful so we have to stop it."

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Teribus
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 08:30 PM

Don't know about charges of bias Nickhere.

With regard to the BBC, the report actually exists, the investigative stuff has all been done, according to the internal report there is no doubt whatsoever that the BBC has found that the BBC's news coverage of the Palestine/Israel conflict is decidedly biased against the Israeli's.

The current court case is related to release of that report so that its findings can be made known to the public in general.

Subject: RE: BS: Israel Moves in.
From: Nickhere
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 06:49 PM

There was another station that didn't broadcast it either, so maybe the charges of bias have been levelled at more than one station?