Israel Kidnaps Two Brothers
In an overnight raid into the Gaza Strip the IDF have abducted two brothers. The Israelis claim that the brothers are members of Hamas. Hamas denies this and states that the two brithers are merely the sons of a Hamas member.
The two captured men were brothers Osama and Mustafa Abu Muamar, sons of Hamas activist Ali Muamar.
The raid started at 0330 in the village of Umm al-Nasser, near the Rafah refugee camp and only one kilometre from the Israeli border, Palestinian sources say. An eyewitness, Ali Muamar told Reuters news agency he awoke to see Israeli troops scaling down his wall.
"They blindfolded and handcuffed me and started beating me up with the butts of their rifles and kicking me," said Mr Muamar, who was treated in hospital for wounds.
Mr Muamar said the soldiers seized his computer and left after about an hour.
Palestinian Commandos in a daring raid on Israelis positions on Sunday, killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded five others. THey also captured an Israeli soldier, Cpl Gilad Shalit. Shalit is now being held as a POW.
Three Palestinian Commandoes died in this action against the Israelis. The action was in response to the mass murder of Palestinian children by Israeli Forces. The Palestinian Commandoes showed they were true soldiers by attacking military targets.
Meanwhile, families of some 9,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails demonstrated to demand that the militants holding Cpl Shalit trade him for the release of their relatives.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has threatened to murder the Palestinian President, Prime mInister and the PA Cabinet unless Shalit is released.
I wonder if there will be any sanctions against Olmert foor these remarks and threats? Dont hold your breath.
The hypocrisy of the Israelis is breath-taking. They kidnap two non-combatants, they hold thousands of Palestinian Soldiers in prisons, yet when one of their soldiers is captured, they threaten mass murder.
Shalit is a POW and should be treated as such.
international |
rights, freedoms and repression |
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Monday June 26, 2006 14:44
by pat c
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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40Heres a pic of an Israeli APC destroyed in the Palestinian reprisal raid. You can get more pics at the link below.
Israeli APC destroyed by Palestinian Commandos
The Irish Times has a third of a page devoted to Shalit today but no mention of the Muamar brothers.
"Muamar brothers."
They're not being held for ransom. They were arrested.
No mention of the other israeli that was kidnapped either. Or the attempted kidnapping of two girls last week. Or the kidnapping and murder of an Ethiopian Israeli girl at the hands of the palestinian peace movement
Ah, Arthur Kennedy is back it seems! Your writing style gives you away Arthur. Even Noel doesn't keep on referring to "the Palestinian peace movement". It seems we now have three crazed ultra-Zionist regulars - Noel, Rob and Arthur. Cue more "jokes" about children being blown to bits. Hilarious Arthur, just hilarious
"They're not being held for ransom. They were arrested."
How could the IDF arrest people on the soil of another Country? The IDF invaded the Gaza Strip and kidnapped two non-combatants.
"How could the IDF arrest people on the soil of another Country?"
What country would that be?
Arthur, its known as Palestine. You might remember that the Israelis pulled out of it a while ago. Now they have reinvaded it.
The Israelis committed War Crimes today when they carried out Collective Punishment against the Palestinian People. The IDF destroyed a power plant supplying Gaza City and also destroyed three bridges.
Bombing Sderot - is not a collective ponishment?
"Arthur, its known as Palestine. "
"palestine" is a region so named by the Romans after the 200 year Jewish wars.
There never was, is not now and apparently never will be a nation called "palestine"
The Gazans have been attacking Israel since they ended the occupation. What's their excuse for not building infrastructure, jobs and a vibrant economy? The "occupation"?
They control their border with Egypt, yet instead of being constructive with their new found freedom, the Gazans have been smuggling weapons and firing missiles at their neighbor.
These poor souls have been living on the dole for way too long. It's past time to try something different.
Ah, so there is no occupation, the Palestinians have no right to complain because they have their own nation, but on the other hand, there is no such nation as Palestine ... wondrous stuff Arthur!
Good to see you've come out from behind your "some news" handle anyway, so regular Indymedia readers can simply look up your previous crazy outbursts and ignore what you have to say.
Gaza is not occupied. What have the Gazans done to improve their lot?
Sadly, and like it or not, there has never been an autonomous nation "Palestine". It has for all of its time been either annexed or occupied by invading or neighboring forces.
Today "Palestine" is a "semi-autonomous" region, and able to issue "passport/travel documents" which are not legally recognised as statements of nationality by most nations - only as travel documents. They must also be registered by Israel for purposes of validity - again, a sign of something less than nationhood.
Let's hope Hamas releases the hostage and recognises Israel's right to exist so there can be some positive movement towards sustainable peace and establishment of a 2 state solution. Unfortunately things looks pretty grim at the moment.
- Israel imposes siege on civilians in Gaza and is enforcing collective
punishment while HAMAS moves for peace.
- 8000 Palestinians prisoners languish in Israeli jails without media
storm
Following an Israeli military incursion into the Gaza Strip early on Monday morning the IPSC is gravely concerned at the situation inside Gaza.
Israel has imposed a total siege on the Gaza Strip for the past three days - preventing anyone from entering or leaving. The Israeli military has also attacked bridges in the middle of Gaza to divide Gaza into separate parts - a tactic used regularly during the al Aqsa intifada which causes severe suffering for Palestinian civilians.
The Israeli military has also attacked an electricity station, thus cutting off electricity to 80% of the Gaza Strip - a form of collective punishment prohibited under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
All of these developments come while the HAMAS government moves to sign the Prisoners' Peace Document. Simultaneously, Israel is continuing with its apartheid policies in Palestine.
Israel has been responsible for wide-scale human rights violations including extensive house demolitions, collective punishment, extra-judicial executions, wilful killing and injury of civilians, construction of illegal settlements and the related annexation wall, torture and internment without trial [administrative detention] in Palestine.
Around 8000 Palestinians languish in Israeli prisons. Included among them are 1000 men, women and children who have been detained during military raids across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and have yet to face any sort of trail. 650,000 Palestinians have been detained since the 1967 occupation began. (Source: 'Front Line Palestine' www.frontlinedefenders.org )
Israel detains human rights defenders - such as the Fieldworker for Palestinian NGO al Haq, Ziyad Hmeiden. Ziyad is a 31 year old human rights defender , married with 2 children. He has spent over 1 year without charge in an Israeli prison.
To date no international fuss has been made to secure his release, despite the fact that he has no connection with any military activity what-so-ever. Human rights defenders from a number of other Israeli and Palestinian organisations - such as the Public Committee against Torture in Israel, the Alternative Information Centre and Addameer Prisoner's Rights Association - are also being detained without charges by the Israeli military.
The IPSC condemns the ongoing conspiracy of silence practised by the EU/USA regarding these and the other Palestinian detainees interned in Israeli prisons.
The Israeli government also refuses to hand over dozens of remains, including specific body parts, to Palestinian families. Some of these cases stretch back to the first intifada.
The IPSC calls for these prisoners to be released and for Israel's trade privileges to be removed through the activation of Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association agreement. Failing that the IPSC repeats its call for Irish people to act where their government has failed by
boycotting all Israeli goods.
For further comment contact: David Landy, 085-712-1058.
You boycotte our products anyway, don't you?
Give nukes to all arab neighbours of Israel and peace will be in Palestine.
It should be a deterrent to the israeli big mouth and their yankee puppets.
"Give nukes to all arab neighbours of Israel and peace will be in Palestine."
Good idea! From about 50 thousand feet. Just make sure the wind is blowing East.
Ah good Arthur, now you're making it clear that you favour mass murder, the deliberate slaughter of millions of civilians because they happen to be Muslim. At least it spares us the trouble of having to argue against you, you keep discrediting yourself
LOL Arthur, just helping our International Observer friend out with delivery of the Nukes he ordered.
Nobody cares if Israel possess yes or not nukes, because everybody knows they possess IT already and because of yjis they've got that big mouth but things will turn back, opressed people in the world living under yankee and jewry dictatorship that finance and sustain Israel politics of SIONIZISM (this neologism is mine!) in the land stolen from the indigenous people there, are fed up with their hipocrisys. I'm OK that Iranians and many others may have access to nuclear technology and why not some 50 or 60 small powerful nukes just in case to deter imperialist invasion...the same as they do the yankees, the brits, the frenchies, etc, everybody would be quite and peaceful at last.
The noun Sion has 3 meanings:
Meaning #1: originally a stronghold captured by David (the 2nd king of the Israelites); above it was built a temple and later the name extended to the whole hill; finally it became a synonym for the city of Jerusalem
Synonym: Zion
Meaning #2: Jewish republic in southwestern Asia at eastern end of Mediterranean; formerly part of Palestine
Synonyms: Israel, State of Israel, Yisrael, Zion
Meaning #3: an imaginary place considered to be perfect or ideal
Synonyms: Utopia, Zion
What is the likelihood that Israelis have murdered the two 'kidnapped' brothers?
Yes, I would say zero chance too.
The Palis on the other hand.......
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5125256.stm
Well Israel are quick enough to butcher children, why wouldnt they murder the brothers? We'll probably hear that they were shot trying to escape.
The key to defusing the situation, according to UNSG Kofi Annan, is to release Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit. Things are getting fairly tense over here, and Syria firing on IAF is not a good sign.
The Cat
and swop the Israeli Corporal for Palestinian POWs. The IAF is attempting to provoke war by flying over Syria.
Pat C,
the IAF overflight was designed to push Damascus to turf out Khaled Meshaal. It can start a war at will. The danger is that this Operation may be the first of a new round.
The Cat
Eh, no. Israel violated Syrian air space, thats an act of aggression. Israel is illegally holding 8,000 Palestinian POWs. On Monday they kidnapped another 2 hostages the Muamar brothers. The corporal should be treated as a POW and exchanged in return for POWs that the Israelis are holding.
A timely report from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East . Full article at the link.
DUBAI, 19 Jun 2006 (IRIN) - Palestinian refugees have had a chequered existence in the Middle East. According to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Palestinian refugees are those who had been residents of Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who had lost their homes and means of livelihood, as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israel conflict. Thousands more Palestinians fled homes after the six day Arab- Israeli war of 1967.
Some AI statistics:
Since the beginning of this year Israeli forces have killed some 150 Palestinians, including some 25 children, and Palestinian armed groups have killed close to 20 Israelis, including two children.
Thanks for your attempt to educate me about what is happening where I live. Correct, overflights are an act of aggression. I was explaining what the strategic purpose of the overflights were, not provoking a they did that first banal argument, which is pointless. Just for your own peace of mind, the invasion by the Palestinians on Sunday during which they killed two soldiers and abducted a third was also an act of aggression. And he is not a POW, as he was not captured on the field of battle by uniformed soldiers. Check your Geneva Conventions my friend.
The Cat
The Palestinian Commandos were in uniform. Israel is in breach of the Geneva Convention. It holds Palestinian Soldiers, many of whom were captured in uniform, in prisons.
See the AI statistics above on casualties.
Great! If they were in uniform and to be accorded the benefits of the GC then they initiated an act of war on a sovereign state (don't hear much whining about an illegal war though) and therefore Israel is defending it's integrity. Well done Pat.
Incidentally, this morning the IDF aircraft fired missiles at numerous targets in Gaza. 16 air strikes targeted access routes and open areas in southern Gaza. Seven additional strikes hit a weapons storage facility, an Aksa Martyrs Brigades office, the Interior Ministry building in Gaza City, a Hamas office and three training camps belonging to the Aksa Brigades and Hamas. The IDF said the attack on Interior Minister Said Siyam's offices in Gaza City was caused by its being used as "a meeting place to plan and direct terror activity."
So Pat, aren't you glad you just have the Friday rush hour to deal with?
The Cat
Gaza is a gigantic prison over which Israel has complete control in terms of resources. Understandibly the inmates of the prison rebel against their oppressors attacking concentration camp guard towers. The Israelis collectively punish the inhabitants of the prison in the mistaken belief that it will weaken their resolve.
William Bell, Christian Aid’s senior policy officer responsible for Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said: ‘Christian Aid partners in Gaza are telling us how people are rushing to buy dwindling supplies of bottled water, that tomorrow there will be very little bread available in Gaza as the ovens will not be working and that stocks of petrol and gas remain scarce.
‘The message to the civilian population of Gaza could not be clearer – collective punishment is part of Israel’s military strategy.
‘This is in addition to the internal security chaos that exists in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the lack of Palestinian Authority control.
‘Israel, in the name of security, has imposed lengthy closures on the strip which has frustrated any meaningful commercial activity and caused regular shortages of essential supplies.’
Mr Bell said Christian Aid implored the international community to recognise that ‘we are facing a humanitarian crisis that is deteriorating at an alarming pace and to respond accordingly.
‘Since the election of Hamas in January this year, international aid from the EU and US governments has been suspended. Therefore, the beleaguered population cannot rely on their government to provide essential humanitarian assistance,’ he said
‘By the weekend it is estimated that water will be in dangerously short supply and that essential foods will be unavailable. After only 24 hours of a military invasion and siege on a civilian population the humanitarian impact is looking perilous.’
Great! If they were in uniform and to be accorded the benefits of the GC then they initiated an act of war on a sovereign state (don't hear much whining about an illegal war though) and therefore Israel is defending it's integrity. Well done Pat.
they were responding to acts of agression carried out by the IDF including two incidences of the mass murder of children by artillery shell and missile.
Incidentally, this morning the IDF aircraft fired missiles at numerous targets in Gaza. 16 air strikes targeted access routes and open areas in southern Gaza. Seven additional strikes hit a weapons storage facility, an Aksa Martyrs Brigades office, the Interior Ministry building in Gaza City, a Hamas office and three training camps belonging to the Aksa Brigades and Hamas.
Many attacks on civilian targets including govt offices. These count as war crimes.
The IDF said the attack on Interior Minister Said Siyam's offices in Gaza City was caused by its being used as "a meeting place to plan and direct terror activity."
The Israeli Cabinet, "Defence" & Interior Offices are used to plan and direct terror against the Palestinian People. I'm sure you agree that they are legitimate targets.
So Pat, aren't you glad you just have the Friday rush hour to deal with?
I walk to work.
He is injured, and yet just today they have allowed a doctor to see him, and even that only after Egypt pressed they will.
And all this time the Israeli Occupation Forces were claiming to be better than their foe?
Who has had access to the 67 elected Hamas deputies abducted by democracy-loving Israeli Army last night?
A soldier is a legitemate target in any war, not civilians. The initial offer to release the corporal of an aggression force in exchange for Palestinian women and children in Israeli custody really highlights the double-standards.
that a plausible reason for delaying access to Shalit would be the the probable concomitant death-sentence it would spell for his captors.
The military operation against a military target that led to his capture, was brave in anyone's language, expecially given the disparity of fire-power.
This reminds me of the school bully who torments, hits, and eggs on the weaker kid until the weaker kid hits back.. and then all of a sudden it's the weaker kid's fault.
and the US is there happily being the bully's henchmen.
Lebanon Israel Facts the Media Isn't Telling You
Spread the word about this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKq38COoTG8 about Lebanon, Israel, Gaza Hezbollah and the Palestinians
Noam Chomsky reveals facts like the abduction of the two Gaza civilians June 24, BEFORE the Israeli soldiers were captured. Learn the background that the mainstream media doesn't report.
Chomsky talks about the EVENTS that incited a reaction: "In my view, the inciting event in the present case, events, are those that I mentioned -- the constant intense repression; plenty of abductions; plenty of atrocities in Gaza; the steady takeover of the West Bank, which, in effect, if it continues, is just the murder of a nation, the end of Palestine; the abduction on June 24 of the two Gaza civilians; and then the reaction to the abduction of Corporal Shalit."
About the civilian brothers, Chomsky wrote, "My sources were Gideon Levy, Ha'aretz, July 2, 2005; Jonathan Cook, July 30, who reviewed British press notices of the kidnapping, marginal and understated, in the media critique journal Medialens. David Peterson has since done a media search. He found brief mention in the Baltimore Sun and LA Times, dismissing it as quite normal (Hamas militant, suspected Hamas militant, therefore OK -- soldier in an army attacking Gaza, definitely not OK, in fact a major crime). He also found serious coverage, even identifying the victims (not worth naming in the US and UK), in the Turkish Daily News, June 25, an immediate report."
On 7/2/06 Gideon Levy of Haaretz reported, "It's no accident that nobody mentions the day before the attack on the Kerem Shalom fort, when the IDF kidnapped TWO CIVILIANS, a doctor and his brother, from their home in Gaza." http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=7...33427
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070306X.shtml
Jonathan Cook writes, "Few readers of a British newspaper would have noticed the story. In the Observer of 25 June, it merited a mere paragraph hidden in the “World in brief” section, revealing that the previous day a team of Israeli commandos had entered the Gaza Strip to “detain” two Palestinians Israel claims are members of Hamas. The significance of the mission was alluded to in a final phrase describing this as “the first arrest raid in the territory since Israel pulled out of the area a year ago”. More precisely, it was the first time the Israeli army had re-entered the Gaza Strip, directly violating Palestinian control of the territory, since it supposedly left in August last year."
http://www.medialens.org/alerts/06/060630_kidnapped_by_...l.php
The media's non-reporting is all the more amazing since, as mentioned, this incursion was the first into Rafah since the implementation of the Israeli Disengagement Plan in September 2005! http://pchrgaza.org/files/W_report/English/2006/29-06-2...6.htm
http://tinyurl.com/s6c7g
Its interesting to read all these arguements posted by people from all spectrums. I think ultimately everyone will agree that in war, no one follows the rules.....are there even any rules? Articles like the Geneva Convention merely play a purpose in occasionally prosecuting war criminals, the convention itself does not prevent innocent people from dying, nothing does in war. Israel, Hezbollah, Hamas are all guilty of "war crimes", indiscrimate shellings, bombings, raids etc. However there is one discrepancy- When western nations and their allies commit these crimes, it is either unreported or reported as an "unfortunate accident" or "the cost of freedom". Such rhetoric is studpid at the least, hypocritcal and unjust at the worst. As important as a peace solution to this crisis is, the damage has been done. Lebanon is in ruins, the regions is once again unstable, millions of minds have been provoked and angered.....it goes without saying that violence will only breed more violence.
You can send a message to the Israeli embassy in Dublin at this link:
http://dublin.mfa.gov.il/mfm/web/main/feedback.