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Dear Brother and friend AbdelBari Atwan, Editor of Al-Quds London An Open Letter on the Murder of Palestine, from George Galloway MP It has been said that you, Sir, are the "last Arab". We both know that is not true, there are still others, but millions of us know why it was said of you. You are a Knight of the Arabs that's for sure. Born in a Gazan refugee camp, you are a Prince among men. I have known you for thirty years; back then you still had some of the dust of the camp about you. Now you are an ever-present commentator in the media, publish the Arab world's only independent newspaper, and are highly respected by all who know you. Together we have fought in the land of Balfour and Sykes, of Anthony Eden and Anthony Blair, many great political battles. Many tears and much blood has flown over those years, and before, and it's not going to stop now. I am moved to write having seen yet another of your heart-piercing interviews on television. You leave the inte...

"For us, being cautious means being aggressive," one IDF officer told IPS , "When we suspect that a Palestinian fighter is hiding in a house, we shoot it with a missile and then with two tank shells, and then a bulldozer hits the wall. It causes damage but it prevents the loss of life among soldiers." Due to the significant loss of military lives in the Lebanon war, Israeli military planners took into account the effect on Israeli morale and support during the war on Gaza. "From the minute we entered, we've acted like we're at war. That creates enormous damage on the ground," the officer continued. In addition to so-called military targets, the IDF has bombed clearly marked UN buildings such as hospitals and several schools which has lead to many women and children - non-combatants - being massacred for doing nothing more than trying to shelter and hide from the fighting. These buildings were shelled even though the UN had clearly given the IDF...

Photographic evidence has emerged that proves that Israel has been using controversial white phosphorus shells during its offensive in Gaza, despite official denials by the Israel Defence Forces. There is also evidence that the rounds have injured Palestinian civilians, causing severe burns. The use of white phosphorus against civilians is prohibited under international law. The Times has identified stockpiles of white phosphorus (WP) shells from high-resolution images taken of Israel Defence Forces (IDF) artillery units on the Israeli-Gaza border this week. The pale blue 155mm rounds are clearly marked with the designation M825A1, an American-made WP munition. The shell is an improved version with a more limited dispersion of the phosphorus, which ignites on contact with oxygen, and is being used by the Israeli gunners to create a smoke screen on the ground. The rounds, which explode into a shower of burning white streaks, were first identified by The Times at the weekend when they we...

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says Israel will continue its offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, despite a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. Hamas leaders also dismissed the measure, saying it did not take Palestinian interests into account. The resolution, approved late Thursday by a 14-0 vote, calls for a truce leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces. It also demands an end to Hamas rocket attacks and calls for the unimpeded distribution of humanitarian aid. The United States abstained from the vote, saying it wants to see the outcome of mediation efforts by Egypt. In Gaza, Israeli warplanes carried out at least 50 air strikes overnight and early today, killing at least 12 Palestinians. Hamas also continued firing rockets into southern Israel. Meanwhile, a U.N. report issued today said 30 Palestinians were killed earlier this week when the Israeli army moved more than 100 civilians into a house, warned them to stay insi...

Despite Israel's propaganda campaigns on Gaza conflict, world public opinion remains critical of Tel Aviv. TEL AVIV - Israel has taken a battering in the global media battle over its war on Gaza, despite deploying a propaganda campaign that used Youtube and blogs, experts said. Populations and even governments worldwide have slammed the Israeli military onslaught on the Gaza Strip, with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemning attacks near UN schools that killed dozens and foreign media angry at being kept out of the Palestinian territory. With images of parents carrying lifeless children to overwhelmed hospitals dominating international media, angry protests have been staged in major capitals and Israeli websites have reportedly come under cyber attack. European Union External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told President Shimon Peres in a meeting on Tuesday that "Israel's image is being destroyed" by its refusal to heed appeals for a ceasefire. H...

The current uproar in Arab streets might not be of any direct help to Gazans but it draws battle lines between the masses and their regimes, notes Sherine Bahaa "Arabs are a vocal phenomenon," said former Israeli minister of defence Moshe Dayan disdainfully shortly after the Arab defeat in 1967. Five consecutive days of round-the-clock raids on densely populated Gaza, which has been under tough sanctions for the past 18 months, pushed the number of martyrs approximately 400 and two thousand wounded. But are these figures high enough to trigger a real reaction? "How many shaheed (martyrs) are enough for Arab rulers to retaliate to the Israeli massacres," a Syrian young man was shouting during a demonstration beside Al-Yarmouk refugee camp. A Yemeni protester who rushed into one of the demonstrations that filled the streets of Sanaa less than two hours after the first raid said, "this is not just an invasion of Gaza; it is an invasion of all Arab states and a d...

New year Eve & Since Then : Gaza – Ma'an – Sixteen out of the 28 killed in Israeli airstrikes were children; nine were from the same family, five of the adults killed were women. On Friday the bodies of the Rayan family children were buried, and Palestinian medical sources confirmed the deaths of three more Palestinians under 17. Seven Palestinians have been killed since midnight Thursday bringing the death toll to 428 and the injured to 2,220 on day seven of the Israeli operation. The day's strikes were reported as follows: 2:45 One of the children killed Friday was from the Al-Astal family. He was playing outside his home in the Al-Qararra neighborhood was killed when a shell hit the area. 2:30 In the An-Nuseirat refugee camp the Israeli army targeted the home of Imad A'qel, a prominent leader of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. The home was destroyed but no injuries were reported. A'qel is one of the assistants to general leader o...

Everyone is comparing the fight in Gaza with Israel's 2006 war against Hezbollah . But I just chatted with an informed observer, who sees some key differences. One lesson [Prime Minister Ehud Olmert] clearly has learned is expectation management. At the start of the 2006 war, he pledged to cripple Hezbollah's military capabilities in southern Lebanon, to force the group to give back some captured Israeli soldiers, and to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its arsenal. That was never realistic. This time around, he's being more measured, talking about simply restoring some sense of normalcy to sourthern Israel - though the decision to reject a 48 hour ceasefire makes you wonder if he's again getting seduced by the concept of total victory. In terms of how the operation is conducted, the two major takeaways from [the] Winograd [Commission, which examined the Israeli efforts in '06] were that: (a) even though it took a month for the ground invasion to heat u...

If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country. It is true God promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been Anti - Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that? David Ben Gurion – First Israeli Prime Minister This statement made by Ben Gurion in 1948 reveals a great deal about the status of the Muslim Rulers in the eyes of Zionists. Even Ben Gurion the first prime minister of Israel regarded the act of signing an agreement by a Muslim ruler with the state of Israel as a betrayal of the people they represented. However, today the Muslims rulers are not content in their betrayal by signing treaties with the state of Israel, they are working to normalise relations between this illegal entity and the Muslim countries and they also oppose any resistance...