Phosphorus denial outweighed by evidence" Uncomparable pain and horror for the victims.

international | anti-war / imperialism | news report

Friday January 16, 2009 15:02

by jamie and others

Uncomparable pain and horror for the victims

There are many ways to “light” a battle field. In Gaza, no such area exists anyway. There are just people’s hovels, holes and “homes.” Such as they are after years of blockade and bombardment by Israeli forces. The White phorpous is a terror weapon perfect for driving people away, “never to return.” The Zionist dream is and has always been for many, at least, to remove the native Arab population and posses all of “Greater Israel.” This inhuman weapon nicknamed “Willie Pete.” is perfect for the effort. When it comes into contact with human flesh it moves down toward the bone, tissues evaporate. Victims may survive for some time before vital organs are compromised, effecting death. Parents watch the agony and may be forced to end their children’s wild sufferings by shortening their lives in “other ways.”

January 16, 2009

Phosphorus denial outweighed by evidence: Uncomparable pain and horror for the victims

Michael Evans: behind the story

White phosphorus is controversial stuff. It has a dual use in warfare, one of which is deemed to be legitimate and the other, if used in the wrong environment and with devastating consequences for civilians, could lead to allegations of war crimes.
Artillery shells containing white phosphorus, launched to create a smoke screen for advancing troops, breaches no recognized international convention. The chemical exposed to oxygen rains smoke down over the battlefield.
If it is launched as a deliberate incendiary weapon aimed at burning civilians and homes, a war crimes case can be made on the basis that its use violates Protocol 111 of the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Despite growing evidence, first revealed by The Times , that white phosphorus was being used by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during attacks on Gaza, Israel’s military has denied firing shells with the chemical as a payload. Spokesmen for the IDF have repeatedly stated that Israel has used only weapons that meet international rules on warfare, and that it has not resorted to any system that other countries, including Nato members, have not deployed in past battles.

-1. UN aid compound 'set alight by phosphorus'

-1. Spent shells prove use of white phosphorus

-1. Strange burns increase phosphorus concerns

The evidence that white phosphorus shells have been fired as a smoke screen is so compelling that the denials have increasingly lacked credibility.
By firing such shells into a densely packed urban environment there was always the danger that particles of ignited white phosphorus could land on the skin.

-----

There are many ways to “light” a battle field. In Gaza, no such area exists anyway. There are just people’s hovels, holes and “homes.” Such as they are after years of blockade and bombardment by Israeli forces. The White phorpous is a terror weapon perfect for driving people away, “never to return.” The Zionist dream is and has always been for many, at least, to remove the native Arab population and posses all of “Greater Israel.” This inhuman weapon nicknamed “Willie Pete.” is perfect for the effort. When it comes into contact with human flesh it moves down toward the bone, tissues evaporate. Victims may survive for some time before vital organs are compromised, effecting death. Parents watch the agony and may be forced to end their children’s wild sufferings by shortening their lives in “other ways.”

What a crime is this of the noble state of Israel. “Whatever works” a staunch Zionist might express. Certainly the effectiveness of such methods is not lost on the political leaders, generals, and other officials of this “nation.”

The whole world needs to know. Please spread as widely as possible. jamie

-----

Outrage as Israel bombs UN

Aid workers allege use of banned white phosphorus as Hamas security leader dies in bombing raid on house
By Kim Sengupta in Jerusalem?Friday, 16 January 2009

AP
United Nations workers and Palestinian firefighters try to put out fires and save bags of food aid at the UN headquarters after it was hit by Israeli bombardment in Gaza yesterday
Israeli tanks thrust deep inside Gaza City last night as ferocious fighting raged in dense residential areas with terrified families fleeing along streets echoing with gunfire, although many others were trapped in their homes.

Israeli shelling set fire to the UN headquarters, a hospital, a school and a building used by the media, leading to widespread international protests and renewed calls for a ceasefire in the conflict which has so far cost 1,073 Palestinian and 13 Israeli lives. A senior Hamas leader, the Interior Minister Said Seyyam who was responsible for thousands of security agents, was killed in an Israeli raid which flattened his brother's home.
Three members of UN staff were injured when three Israeli shells hit the headquarters, setting it on fire. Thousands of tonnes of desperately needed food and humanitarian supplies were destroyed and about 700 refugees given shelter in the building had to be evacuated. UN officials said the shells were white phosphorus, believed to have been responsible for burns suffered by some Palestinian civilians.
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, on a peace mission to the region, said: "I conveyed my strong protest and outrage to the Defence Minister and Foreign Minister and demanded a full explanation."
The Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, apologised for the shelling but claimed Hamas fighters had opened fire from the centre. "It is absolutely true that we were attacked from that place, but the consequences are very sad and we apologise for it," he said. "I don't think it should have happened and I'm very sorry."
John Ging, the director of operations for the UN relief agency, UNRWA, in Gaza described the Israeli claim about a Hamas presence as "nonsense". He added: "It's a total disaster for us." Mr Ging said the UN had warned the Israelis the compound was in danger from shelling that had begun overnight, and provided them with GPS co-ordinates to prevent an attack.
The Al-Quds hospital was also hit by shellfire when Israeli tanks moved further into the city. A tower housing the Reuters agency and other media outlets was also hit. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said the damage caused to the Al Quds hospital is "completely and utterly unacceptable based on every known standard of international humanitarian law".
The hospital is in the Tal Hawa district, a packed residential area. Streams of people fled from the fighting, carrying what belongings they could on foot, by car, and, in some cases wheelbarrows after homes were demolished and set ablaze. Mahmud Tejan Hussein drove away with seven members of his family. "Bullets started hitting our house and I decided that we must get away from here. There are Israeli tanks in the area now and we might get blocked off if we wait. But I do not know where we are going to go. We wanted to go to the UN office, but that has been attacked. Wherever we go, the fighting will follow us."
Musah Mohammed, 36, who stayed at his home in an apartment block, said: "We cannot go out. There is shooting in the street. My mother is ill and she is old; we cannot leave her here. People are shouting to each other from balconies crying that they need help. We have no electricity and very little food and water. We are very afraid; we do not know what will happen next." It was unclear whether the escalation was a final push before a ceasefire, as peace talks continued yesterday in Cairo where Israel's chief negotiator Amos Gilad arrived to hear the Hamas response to an Egyptian initiative.
Mark Regev, the spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister, said a "momentum" was building up on the talks. "Ultimately, we want to see a long-term sustainable quiet in the south, a quiet that's going to be based on the total absence of all hostile fire from Gaza into Israel, and an internationally supported mechanism that will prevent Hamas from rearming," he said.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Mr Olmert by phone that Washington would sign an agreement on measures to stop Hamas from rearming after a ceasefire. The Egyptian proposals call for an immediate ceasefire, resumption of humanitarian aid, an Israeli pullout and the reopening of the border between Israel and Gaza under international supervision.

-----

Sounds like the same old, same old. Israel gets all it wants and it’s victim’s get nothing. jamie

save preference

Comments (13 of 13)

Illegal use by Israel of White phosphorus - Even CNN Confirms Israel Use Of White Phosphorus

by dunk

Fri Jan 16, 2009 15:37

More horrific updates on the illegal use by Israel of White phosphorus during the past days:

Also from Democracy Now, on todays show, horrific details and eye witness accounts that state it and DIMES (Dense Inert Metal Explosive) are being used:

White Phosphorous and Dense Inert Metal Explosives: Is Israel Using Banned and Experimental Munitions in Gaza?
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/14/white_phosphorous...metal
click on this link to watch full article with harrowing images...

MARC GARLASCO: Well, we have not stated that Israel is using it as a weapon. We’ve clearly stated that we’re standing on the border, observing day after day the Israeli Defense Forces firing white phosphorus into the refugee camps and Gaza City. Now, we are not there on the ground to observe any further how it’s being used. I’m about like, say, a mile away. And so, from that distance, you can see very precisely that it’s going in.

DR. MADS GILBERT: Well, I have to underline what my friend on the border is saying. There’s been a palpable absence of international presence. In fact, Dr. Fosse and myself were the only two Westerners in Gaza for those first ten days we stayed there. And it’s absolutely incomprehensible that we, in 2009, we do not have the press on such war ground as Gaza is. And I think also it’s urgent to have international agencies come in and exactly do the examination on the ground to find out what kind of weapons are used.

Related article:
Gaza's burn victims add to pressure on army over phosphorus
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east...8.ece

CNN Confirms Israel Use Of White Phosphorus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQWl_uQKxOI

Daylight White phosphorus illegal bombardment: Israel Using Banned and Experimental Munitions in Gaza

by Shalom & Salaam

Fri Jan 16, 2009 16:06

Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects. Geneva, 10 October 1980.

Protocol on Non-Detectable Fragments (Protocol I). Geneva, 10 October 1980.

Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices (Protocol II). Geneva, 10 October 1980.

I don't get it

by Curious

Fri Jan 16, 2009 16:17

What's the difference between a phosphorous shell that burns a person to death or a high explosive artillery that can blow a person to fragments or mortally wound or mutiliate a person with shards of high velocity shrapnel?
How about a rifle bullet that tumbles or fragments inside the human body creating a cavity inside the abdomen and a ragged exit wound?
How about a Hamas rocket is usually packed with explosives and shrapnel ball bearings that spray in all directions upon detonation ripping off limbs and disembowelling or beheading victims?
How about a Hamas suicide bomber dressed as a civilian can slip past security step onto a bus and blow himself up with explosives packed with nails and screws?

A weapon is a weapon is a weapon and a victim of any of these weapons dies in horrible excrutiating agony.

I fail to see why the use of phosphorous is exceptional.

international law

Fri Jan 16, 2009 16:25

Why not read into the links which contain the info

Under international law, phosphorus is allowed as a smokescreen to cover troop movements and protect soldiers or to be used for illumination, but it’s considered illegal if used against people.

DIMES, are not yet in a catogery as they are so new, but no doubt will be illegal as used at present in Gaza. If this is a just world, soon Isreal will be hauled up infront of international court and charged with war crimes for their actions...

read the titles of the acts.

by Clue

Fri Jan 16, 2009 16:30

I fail to see why the use of phosphorous is exceptional.

There is a valid point in there, with some not so valid.

The main difference between things like Napalm, White Phosphorous and Cluster bombs and tragetting somebody with a rifle is that the rifle bullet can be targetted, and indeed if well targetted could cause a fairly instant and painless death. (of course it may not happen so quickly)

Whereas, the others spread out, and will indiscriminately affect anyone in the immediate area, and they may die a horrible slow death from being burned, or shock from loss of fluid from burns, or inhaling the White Phosphorous which burns in air and will continue to burn in the lungs.
(in the case of Cluster bombs, there is also the danger of some of the bombs NOT going off when they hit the ground and lying there like a mine waiting to go off with a bump. )
Basically it is not possible to use these weapons in civilian areas and only take out enemy fighters.

Yes.
Hamas suicide bombers on a bus full of civilians are also war criminals. They escape prosecution by virtue of being dead alongside with their victims.

Yes, their rockets are poorly targetted, and home made, and should not be fired because they cannot be accurate enough to be used to target the IDF shooting at them.
The sheer ineffectiveness of Hamas home made rockets, shows them to be a futile exercise of a people under siege.

It is worth noting though during the ceasefire, the number of rockets coming out of Gaza dropped dramatically as Hamas clamped down on the various groups and individuals firing them. the IDF broke the ceasefire for political reasons. Hamas had nothing to gain.

But what is the difference?

Fri Jan 16, 2009 16:31

White phosphorous causes hideous injuries and deaths.
But how is that different from bullets, bombs, shells, grenades, bayonets, landmines or any other military weapon?
Why is it humane to be riddled with bullet wounds and inhumane to be incinerated with white phosphorous?
I don't get it.

not worth a DIME.

by .

Fri Jan 16, 2009 16:32

"DIMES, are not yet in a catogery as they are so new"

very likely they will at the very least be banned for the undetectable particles, which make it very hard for medics to find and remove the shrapnel.

I'm not talking about how accurate the weapon is

Fri Jan 16, 2009 16:35

Whether I am killed by an indirectly aimed mortar that rips out my intestines or struck by a bullet fired by a sniper that leaves me bleeding slowly to death, what is the difference?
Surely all weapons are barbaric and evil?

What's different

by gazasympathiser

Fri Jan 16, 2009 17:23

What's different is that phosphorous is essentially a chemical weapon and his hence more indiscriminate especially when used against civilians in built up areas as it is very like to cause fires (that's why it is used) and cause burning if inhaled or handled.

It is the chemical equivalent of cluster bombs which left millions of bomblets scattered all over southern Lebanon in 2006 when they were used to render large swathes of that country uninhabitable by the Israelis.

We're not talking about a few people or even tens of people being affected here, we're talking about entire populations being targeted with these weapons.

Satisfied?

So much for purity of arms eh?

The important question is not what the difference is between one weapon and another.

The question is why a particular is being used and with what intent.

In this instance the Israelis use these weapons as a form of collective punishment which is of course illegal under the UN charter.

But you wouldn't care about that would you?

Are Hamas rockets collective punishment too?

Sat Jan 17, 2009 09:44

War is war. When a nation goes to war with another nation this is what happens isn't it?
If Hamas punish the Israelis with indiscriminate rockets surely Palestinians can expect the same?
When London was bombed by the Luftwaffe then Berlin was bombed by the Royal Air Force.

Nonsense

by Conor. M - S.E.E.D

Sat Jan 17, 2009 11:07

'''War is war. When a nation goes to war with another nation this is what happens isn't it?
If Hamas punish the Israelis with indiscriminate rockets surely Palestinians can expect the same?
When London was bombed by the Luftwaffe then Berlin was bombed by the Royal Air Force'''

This is not war. What do Hamas have? Israel have to most deadly and sophisticated weapons known to man.
Hamas DID NOT push Israel, Israel pushed Gaza when it did nothing during the ceasefire and Gaza lived up to its promises. The Luftwaffe and the RAF have airplanes, Gaza doesn't even have one tank! Be realistic... Israel are SLAUGHTERING anyone they can. They want them dead, they broke the ceasefire, they implemented the economic and political sanctions, they built the walls to imprison the Palestinians, they control the airspace and sea, they are the ones who have committed absolutely horrendous war crimes and you know it.

Enough of this rhetoric... When the world boycotted S.Africa (and I'm not suggesting for a minute they are the same) no one said, 'thats terrible, the blacks threw a stone at the police', or 'bad news, they are uprising in the townships because they are dying there'. It just so happens that Israel has the power of banks, corporations and American propaganda behind it.

The people of Gaza have seen things no man or woman in Israel or the ''western world'' could ever imagine. Its time for their freedom. Its time fir their peace.

SUPPORT GAZA -- BOYCOTT ISRAEL

by George F. Ryan

Fri Jan 23, 2009 02:26

This is a war. It started in 1948. Just because most of the Arab forces have made peace and the hold-outs are poorly-equipped does not mean that it is not a war. The relative equipment of both sides does not affect that this is a war, with two sides. Hamas' charter specifically declares that there is no solution to the Palestine crisis but through Jihad (HOLY WAR). Assymetrical warfare is still warfare.

'The Israelis are slaughtering anyone they can.' Be realistic. The casualties in a three week campaign in Gaza do not exactly fill the category of slaughter. They are actually pretty minimal. I guess that military history is not your area of expertise.

A cease-fire is exactly that, a temporary cessation of fire. The war did not end because of the cease-fire, it paused. So obviously Israel would continue to blockade Gaza, so as to limit Hamas supply routes. Nothing too groundbreaking there.

Hyperbole, of which there is far too much on this site, does not actually relate to what is going on nor does it change that facts of the issue.

I see clearly that you support Hamas in this struggle. Do you expect Israel to relinguish its right to exist because of a boycott? Do you have any plausible solution to the ongoing war in Palestine?

by Miriam

Fri Jan 23, 2009 03:40

Most people here support the right of the Palestinians to self-determination, to the end of the illegal and brutally imposed occupation of their country. Hamas are certainly no more extreme in their views than the Zionists who are responsible for creating and prolonging this situation.

Number of comments per page

Upcoming Events

New Events

Other Press

User Preferences

Feeds

Blog Feeds

The Saker

Public Inquiry

Lockdown Skeptics

Phosphorus denial outweighed by evidence" Uncomparable pain and horror for the victims.

Comments (13 of 13)