Israel's Chemical Weapons July 8, 2004 by James Brooks AntiWar.com On June 10th, 2004, the two clinics in Al-Zawiya treated 130 patients for gas inhalation. The patients were children, women, old people and young men. Dr. Abu Madi related that there was a high number of cases of [tetany], spasm in legs and hands, connected to the nervous system. Pupils were dilated. ... Other symptoms included shock, semi-consciousness, hyperventilation, irritation and sweating." Thus reads a report by medical units serving the West Bank village of Al-Zawiya, where nonviolent resistance to Israel's impending wall has been extraordinarily resolute. According to the medical report (procured by the International Middle East Media Center [IMEMC]), "the gas used against the protestors is not tear gas but possibly a nerve gas." The following day, Israel's "Peace Bloc," Gush Shalom, began a press release with the following quote from Al-Zawiya: "What the army used here yesterday was not tear gas. We know what tear gas is, what it feels like. That was something totally different. ... When we were still a long way off from where the bulldozers were working, they started shooting things like this one (holding up a dark green metal tube with the inscription "Hand and rifle grenade no.400" - in English). Black smoke came out. Anyone who breathed it lost consciousness immediately, more than a hundred people. They remained unconscious for nearly 24 hours. One is still unconscious, at Rapidiya Hospital in Nablus. They had high fever and their muscles became rigid. Some needed urgent blood transfusion. Now, is this a way of dispersing a demonstration, or is it chemical warfare?" The incident in Al-Zawiya appears to be the tenth attack by Israeli soldiers using an "unknown gas" against Palestinian civilians since early 2001. We have photographs of the canisters. We have film of victims suffering in the hospital. We have interviews with Palestinian and European doctors who have treated the victims. And we presumably have hundreds, perhaps thousands, of survivors. But we know nothing of their fate. Despite the evidence, we have not inquired. Though it is a state secret, Israel's development of chemical and biological weapons has been known and analyzed for decades. From the typhoid poisoning of Palestinian wells and water supplies in 1948 to the conversion of F-16s into nerve gas "crop dusters" in 1998, Israel has always demonstrated a strong interest in developing CBW agents and methods for their dispersal. In 1992 an El Al 747 flying nerve gas ingredients from the U.S. to Israel crashed into an Amsterdam apartment building. According to Salman Abu-Sitta, president of the Palestine Land Society, the respected Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad followed up the crash with an in-depth investigation of the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR), Israel's CBW complex in Nes Ziona. The paper reportedly found "strong links" with several U.S. CBW and medical research centers, "close cooperation between IIBR and the British-American biological warfare program," and "extensive collaboration on BW research with Germany and Holland." At IIBR, doctors publish world-class research in acetylcholine, the mother lode of nerve gas design. The Nes Ziona complex is reputed to have invented an "undetectable" poison-needle gun for "clean" assassinations. In September 1997, two days after Jordan's King Hussein told Israeli PM Netanyahu that Hamas was seeking negotiations, Mossad agents in Jordan attempted to kill Hamas leader Khaled Misha'al with a lethal dose of fentanyl. For years, rumors persisted that Israel was using or testing unknown chemical agents on Palestinian civilians. The rumors began to reveal their substance February 12, 2001, when Israel began a six-week campaign of "novel gas" attacks in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. By chance, American filmmaker James Longley arrived in Khan Younis, Gaza in the middle of the first attack. That afternoon he began filming the victims. His award-winning film, Gaza Strip, documents the naked reality of Israel's chemical weaponry - the canisters, the doctors, the eyewitnesses, and the hideous suffering of the victims, many of whom remained hospitalized for days or weeks. The February 12 gassing of neighborhoods in Khan Younis presaged the attacks that followed. When the gas canisters landed, they began to billow clouds of either white or black, sooty smoke. The gas was non-irritating and initially odorless, changing to a sweet, minty fragrance after a few minutes. One victim recalled, "the smell was good. You want to breathe more. You feel good when you inhale it." The smoke often shifted to a "rainbow" of changing colors. From five to thirty minutes after breathing the gas, victims began to feel sick and have difficulty breathing. A searing pain began to wrench their gut, followed by vomiting, sometimes of blood, then complete hysteria and extremely violent convulsions. Many victims suffered a relentless syndrome for days or weeks afterward, alternating between convulsions and periods of conscious, twitching, vomiting agony. Palestinians agreed: "This is like nothing we've ever seen before." Forty people were admitted to Al-Nasser Hospital "in an odd state of hysteria and nervous breakdown," suffering from "fainting and spasms." Sixteen gas patients had to be transferred to the intensive care unit. Doctors "reported the Israeli use of gas that appeared to cause convulsions." At the Gharbi refugee camp, thirty-two people "were treated for serious injuries" following exposure to the gas. Dr. Salakh Shami at Al-Amal Hospital reported the hospital receiving "about 130 patients suffering from gas inhalation from February 12." Bewildered medical personnel had "never seen anything ... like the gas at Tufa." Victims were "jumping up and down, left and right ... thrashing limbs around," suffering "convulsions ... a kind of hysteria. They were all shaking." Others were already unconscious. An hour or two later, they would come to. And the convulsions and the vomiting and disorientation and pain would return. The following day, February 13, Israeli forces again deployed the strange new gas canisters in Khan Younis. Over forty new gas victims, "including a number of children ... from 1 to 5-years-old," arrived at Al-Nasser Hospital and the hospital of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. The news began to trickle out. "Palestinian security services have accused the Israeli army of using nerve gas during a gunbattle yesterday," reported AFX News Limited, noting "the army has strongly denied the charges." The Voice of Palestine reported that "specialists believe that this is an internationally banned nerve gas." Those who inhaled the gas "suffered a nervous breakdown and vomited blood." The next day, Deutsche Presse-Agentur quoted Dr. Yasser Sheikh Ali from Al-Nasser Hospital: "Israel has been using a powerful type of tear gas against the Palestinians that causes convulsions and spasms." According to DPA, more than 80 Palestinians...reported that Israeli soldiers had used the white smoky gas, but Israel denied doing so." The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported that on February 15 three more canisters of the poison gas were fired at houses in the Khan Younis camp, and "another 11 Palestinian civilians, mostly children, suffered from suffocation and spasms due to gas inhalation." British journalist Graham Usher wrote that Khan Younis civilians were "incapacitated" by "a 'new' form of toxic gas." PA President Yasser Arafat publicly "accused Israel of using poison gas." The IDF issued a second denial. Israeli Communications Minister Ben-Eliezer called reports of gas casualties in Khan Younis "incorrect and false." Senior PA minister Nabil Shaath said that a sample of the gas would be sent to "an international center for analysis." The results, if any, were never divulged. On February 18, Israeli soldiers near the Neve Dekalim settlement reportedly fired four poison gas canisters at Palestinian houses in Khan Younis. Later that afternoon, more canisters were fired, forcing Palestinians to flee their homes. PCHR reported that "41 Palestinian civilians, mostly children and women, suffered from suffocation and spasms." By PCHR's count, 238 Palestinians were affected by poison gas attacks between February 12 and February 20. Twenty-seven of the victims were still hospitalized on the 22nd. On March 2, an unknown gas was used against civilians in the West Bank town of Al-Bireh. Israeli soldiers reportedly fired "canisters of a highly effective black gas similar to the one used in Khan Yunis three weeks ago." Twenty-four days later, Israeli forces east of Gaza City used a gas that "left symptoms different from those of the ... gas used first ... in Khan Yunis starting from February 12," although several similarities also appeared. In this attack the onset of abdominal pain seemed to be delayed. On March 30, medical professionals in Nablus reported Israeli soldiers using the new poison gas against Palestinian demonstrators. British journalist Jonathan Cook reported a March gas attack on the schoolyard of Al-Khader village, near Bethlehem. Thirteen year-old Sliman Salah was playing when a gas canister landed next to him, "enveloping him in a cloud of gas described by witnesses as an unfamiliar, yellow colour." Large doses of anti-convulsants were required to control the boy's seizures and maintain consciousness. His symptoms "were finally brought under control five days after his exposure to the gas. But Salah's father says the boy is still suffering from stomach pains, vomiting, dizziness and breathing problems." In its March, 2003 special report, Israel's Secret Weapon, BBC Television reviewed this series of gas attacks, noting, "The Israeli army has used new unidentified weapons. In February 2001 a new gas was used in Gaza. A hundred and eighty patients were admitted to hospitals with severe convulsions. ... Israel is outside chemical and biological weapons treaties and still refuses to say what the new gas was." In my amateur analysis of the reported comments of victims, eyewitnesses and medical professionals regarding this series of attacks, I identified thirty-three distinct symptoms attributed to the unidentified gas. All but three of these symptoms appear to be typical of nerve gas poisoning. Tareg Bey, a chemical warfare expert at the University of California-Irvine, told the Chicago Reader that the symptoms described to him "all fit really well to nerve gas," though he was puzzled by the reported fragrance and skin rashes. In an October 9, 2003, article, Jennifer Loewenstein and Angela Gaff asked, "What gas is Israel using?" They reported the story of Mukhles Burgal, a Palestinian prisoner caught in a brutal attack inside Israel's Ashkelon prison. The "guards forced their way into the crowded cell, spraying two canisters of some type of gas. Some of the 14 prisoners passed out. ... The effects of the gas were severe muscle spasms and an overwhelming sensation of not being able to breathe." Two days later, Palestine Monitor reported that Israeli forces in Rafah were allegedly "firing gas grenades containing a black gas believed to be adamatite [adamsite?] - the use of which is forbidden according to international law. Medical authorities urged people to avoid the gas at all costs, as it not only causes difficulty in breathing but seriously affects the nervous system." For some reason, PCHR's press release from the same day, an apparent source of these reports, is no longer available. On the 14th, eyewitness Laura Gordon wrote, "The army used some kind of nerve gas for the first time in Rafah, leaving people in convulsions for days." Following the recent gas attack in Al-Zawiya, town officials reportedly told Al Ayyam newspaper, "the Israeli occupation troops were using an illegal substance that caused nerve spasms and that several cases had been transferred to Nablus hospitals." The PA's International Press Center reported that "official and public sources in ... Al-Zawya ... asserted that those who have inhaled the tear gas IOF troops fired at them four days ago are still suffering from the effects of the gas ... a number of those citizens have already had amnesias or partial memory loss, in addition to cramps ... in addition to strange cramps every three hours ... those who inhaled the gas are still suffering severe pains in the joints and nausea for four days now. Eyewitnesses recalled that the Israeli soldiers were keen on picking the empty tear gas canisters." Journalists told IPC "that the gas was in different colors they have never seen coming out of a tear gas canister before, and that some gases had an unrecalled smell." According to IMEMC, "[T]ens of demonstrators who inhaled this gas had partial memory loss. Dr. Bassam Abu Madi told IMEMC that the some of those who inhaled the gas had severe choking and some contraction in their feet and arm muscles. Eyewitnesses said the gas has a strange smell and a reddish-brownish color." In a follow up story, IMEMC concluded that "protesters were attacked with gas that is not like the tear gas. Those who inhaled the gas suffered some memory loss while others had other symptoms of a nerve gas. Yet this was not medically confirmed for lack of laboratories to inspect the gas canisters collected from the scene." Al-Jazeera reported the opinion of Awni Khatib, a professor of chemistry at Hebron University: "The new symptoms - particularly the violent convulsions experienced by some Palestinian protesters outside the village of Sawiya [Zawiya], southwest of Nablus - suggest ... that the Israeli army may be using a new class of chemicals that lie somewhere between normal tear gas and chemical weapons." Israel's repeated use of highly toxic unknown chemicals against Palestinian civilians is now an open secret. We can expect these attacks to continue until a concerted effort is made to determine the facts and hold Israel accountable. So far, the international human rights community has steadfastly ignored the mounting evidence. When will professional investigators begin to retrieve and test the gas canisters? Why has no one but James Longley bothered to document interviews with victims, doctors, and other eyewitnesses? In a world in which one country's mere possession of chemical weapons can be an excuse for international retribution, how can another country's use of chemical weapons against civilians be dismissed as a "regrettably excessive" tactic of crowd control? Our silence is poisoning Palestine.

Flashback: Is The Israeli Military Using Depleted-Uranium Weapons Against The Palestinians? By John Catalinotto and Sara Flounders, International Action Center International Action Center calls for an investigation 27 Nov 2000-- The International Action Center calls upon international organizations, NGOs, environmental and health organizations to investigate the Israeli military's use of prohibited weapons in the West Bank and Gaza, and to mobilize to stop it. These weapons include dumdum bullets and CS gas. The IAC believes it also includes depleted- uranium weapons. The effect of dumdum bullets and CS gas is immediate, easily shown and obvious. Using radioactive and toxic depleted-uranium weapons is an additional crime that has an insidious long-term effect, not only on combatants and civilians in the vicinity, but over a broad area and to the general environment, as has been shown by the Pentagon's massive use of DU weapons in Yugoslavia and especially in Iraq. The International Action Center's own investigative team on Nov. 1 and 2 saw Israeli helicopter gun ships firing into densely populated areas. According to international law these attacks on civilian areas are war crimes--as is the long-term destruction of the environment from DU contamination. Mobilizing investigations, public challenges and mass protests against the use of DU weapons can stop this crime against humanity. The aim of this paper is to show with supporting data that it is credible that the Israeli military is using DU weapons in the Occupied Territories. We know that Israel is DU-armed and capable, and shielding on Israeli tanks is DU-reinforced. The IAC urges scientists, doctors and soldiers who know of the use of DU shells to come forward with definitive proof that the Israeli military has at least tested DU weapons in its attacks on Palestinian offices and homes. In addition, we urge environmental and other organizations to demand an accounting from these authorities. It will also show how following similar Pentagon or U.S. government denials regarding test-firing DU weapons in Puerto Rico, Okinawa Panama and south Korea, revelations and public pressure have forced admissions and in some cases have won pledges to stop firing DU weapons. In Kosovo, Yugoslavia, and in the Persian/Arabian Gulf region this pressure has led to international investigations and legal actions against DU use. DU IS PART OF ISRAELI ARSENAL U.S. arms make up the major part of the Israeli arsenal and Israel has been the number one recipient of U.S. arms aid for decades. These U.S. weapons include the M1 Abrams tank-which fires DU shells and is armored with DU-reinforced metal. The "Apache" and the Cobra helicopter gun ships are also equipped to fire DU shells. Since this latest Intifada started, the U.S. has shipped Israel "the newest and most advanced multi-mission attack helicopters in the U.S. inventory," as reported in the Jerusalem Post. These were Apache helicopters. The IAC delegation witnessed Israeli attack helicopters, which people described to them as "Apache" helicopters from the U.S., firing shells and rockets at targets in and around Ramallah on Nov. 1. They then examined a small office used by the Fatah organization that the projectiles hit and destroyed. The following day they saw machine guns on tanks being fired at Palestinian youths in Ramallah armed only with rocks and slingshots. They also visited a Fatah office near Nablus that Israeli rockets had hit the night before. The IAC delegation gathered up shell casings and metal fragments in these areas. As they were preparing to leave from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, members of the IAC delegation were stopped, searched and interrogated. The shell casings and metal fragments were confiscated. While this prevented the IAC from arranging its own tests, it made them even more suspicious that the Israeli forces were using DU shells and trying to hide it. Because of its great density, DU is also used to stabilize or balance airplanes and missiles, including the Tomahawk Cruise missile. When the missile explodes, or should the plane crash, the DU burns and is released into the air just as it is when DU shells hit steel. DU is also used to shield tanks, including the M1 Abrams tank used by the U.S. and Israel. After 32 continuous days, or 64 12-hour days, the amount of radiation a tank driver receives to his head from overhead armor will exceed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's standard for public whole-body annual exposure to man-made sources of radiation. Whether from shells or from the scrapings from tanks moving around the countryside, radioactive materials enter into the land, the water and the whole food chain, contaminating the densely populated West Bank and Gaza, where water is a scarce resource. Wanton radioactive contamination of this region is a crime against all of humanity and a threat to the entire region now and for generations to come. According to the LAKA Foundation in the Netherlands, the Israeli army first used depleted-uranium weapons in the 1973 war, under direction from U.S. advisers. The same 1995 report from the U.S. Army Environmental Policy Institute mentioned earlier asserts that Israel is one of the countries with DU munitions in its arsenal. These included at that time at least Bahrain, Egypt, France, Greece, Kuwait, Pakistan Russia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States. This assertion has been repeated in the Christian Science Monitor, the Jerusalem Post, the San Francisco Chronicle and other newspapers. Israel has a nuclear-weapons program more developed than that of any country except the five major nuclear powers. For exposing this nuclear program, Mordechai Vanunu, a nuclear-weapons technician, was kidnapped by the Mossad and held in solitary confinement 14 years. Given Israel's own nuclear program and well-developed military industry, the likelihood is that Israel is a manufacturer of DU ammunition. The firm Rafael of Israel is named in numerous reports as being such a manufacturer. But even if this were not the case, Israel has been able to import DU weapons from the United States. DANGERS FROM DEPLETED URANIUM DU, much like natural uranium from which it hardly differs, is both radioactive and toxic. DU is a waste product of the process that produces enriched uranium for use in atomic weapons and nuclear power plants. Over a billion pounds of DU exists in the United States and must be safely stored or disposed of by the Department of Energy. With its half-life of 4.5 billion years, the radioactivity of DU is effectively eternal. It is so abundant it has been given away to arms manufacturers. Because it is extremely dense-1.7 times as dense as lead--when turned into a metal DU can be used to make a shell that easily penetrates steel. In addition it is pyrophoric, that is, it burns when heated by friction from when it strikes steel. When DU burns, this spews tiny particles of poisonous and radioactive uranium oxide in the air. The small particles can be ingested or inhaled by humans for miles around, and even one particle, when lodged in a vital organ, can be dangerous. The Pentagon tested DU shells at various sites around the U.S., and used it openly in combat against Iraq during the 1991 Gulf war. At least 600,000 pounds of DU and uranium dust was left around Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia by U.S. and British forces during that war. Although the U.S. government and military continue to deny or minimize the environmental and health dangers from depleted uranium weapons, they themselves have to admit these dangers exist. A 1995 report from the U.S. Army Environmental Policy Institute, entitled the "Health and Environmental Consequences of Depleted Uranium in the U.S. Army" stated, "If DU enters the body, it has the potential to generate significant medical consequences. The risks associated with DU in the body are both chemical and radiological.... Personnel inside or near vehicles struck by DU penetrators could receive significant internal exposures." DU is also considered at least a contributing cause to the 130,000 reported cases of "Gulf War Syndrome." Numerous international studies in Britain, the United States and in Iraq have linked Gulf War Syndrome to the use of radioactive weapons in the bombing. The chronic symptoms of this ailment range from sharp increases in cancers to memory loss chronic pain, fatigue and birth defects in the veterans' children. The damage to the Iraqi people was even more severe. A symposium in Baghdad in December 1998 found higher rates of childhood leukemia and other cancers in people living around Basra, Iraq, and attributed this to DU contamination. Data was presented on the pattern of a more than five-fold increase in many cancers, a ten-fold increase in uterine cancer and a sixteen fold increase in ovarian cancer and the high incidence of still births and congenital deformities, especially in Southern Iraq. U.S. USE OF DU WEAPONS WORLDWIDE The only admitted use of DU in combat has been in the 1991 war against Iraq, the 1995 NATO bombing of Bosnia and the massive NATO assault on Yugoslavia in 1999. There have, however, been other instances when the Pentagon has test-fired DU shells in such a way that it has endangered nearby civilians. Besides the many tests conducted within the United States, these include DU testing at sites in Vieques, Puerto Rico; Okinawa, Japan; Panama and South Korea. VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO Vieques, an island near and part of Puerto Rico, has been a Pentagon target-practice site since 1940. For the past few years and especially since an errant U.S. bomb killed a Vieques resident in April 1999, people in Vieques and all Puerto Rico have mobilized to stop the testing on that island. As part of this mass mobilization, they have demanded that the U.S. Navy fulfill its responsibility to the local environment and clean up depleted-uranium shells it fired on the island. While first denying it did such testing, in January 2000, Navy spokespeople admitted firing 263 shells reinforced with DU during practice runs in Vieques, claiming they did so "by accident." They said Navy forces were able to recover 57 rounds, leaving 206. Removing the DU contamination has remained one of the demands of the movement in Vieques. Dr. Doug Rokke, former Director of the Pentagon's Depleted Uranium Project, has condemned the Navy's use of DU in Vieques and called in a Feb. 9, 2000 news release for "complete environmental remediation of all affected terrain and medical care be provided for all affected residents of Vieques." OKINAWA The U.S. government never notified Japan it was testing DU weapons near Okinawa. Yet it turned out that a U.S Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier jet in late 1995 had test fired 1,520 rounds of DU ammunition. The Pentagon finally admitted this in an article published in the Washington Times on Feb. 10, 1997. This created such a national outrage including angry denunciations in the Japanese Duma that the U.S. government apologized, agreed to remove the weapons from bases on Okinawa and make an extensive clean-up of the site. As reported in the Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun, Pentagon spokesperson Kenneth Bacon said the U.S. military has moved all depleted-uranium bullets deployed in Okinawa to south Korea. He also reportedly said that in south Korea, the shells are closer to a "potential battlefield. According to the Mainichi Shimbun article, a South Korean foreign ministry source said the U.S.-puppet government in Seoul had not been informed of the transfer. "If it is the case that the move was made to avoid further controversy in Japan, it could disturb sentiments of the [south Korean] people," the source reportedly said. SOUTH KOREA And it did. U.S. Air-Force veteran turned peace activist during the war against Vietnam Brian Willson reports on his May 2000 visit to South Korea: "For Example, in May 2000, Koreans discovered that U.S.Air Force A-10s were practice bombing at a 50-year-old bombing/strafing range (Koon Ni) near the village of Maehyang Ri, fifty-five miles southwest of Seoul. On May 8, due to an in-flight emergency, one of the A-10s quickly dropped six bombs outside of the prescribed bombing area, damaging some houses in the village and injuring seven residents. "Local Korean villagers have been vehemently opposed to the use of their historic farmland for U.S. bombing and strafing practice ever since the Korean government first provided the 5900-acre Koon Ni site free of charge to the U.S. military in 1951. The Korean government does not even collect from the U.S. the utility fees entailed for operating the range, now leased by the Pentagon to the world's largest arm's manufacturer, Lockheed Martin. When people inquired into the purpose of the A-10s, and asked for explanations for the errant bombing, they discovered that A-10s were heavily used in Kosovo and Serbia delivering DU-coated weapons. "The local people of Maehyang Ri demanded an answer from the Korean government and U.S. military in Korea as to whether DU weapons were being stored in Korea or used in any way during practice bombings. Though at first officials denied presence of DU, incessant pressure by doubting Korean people finally elicited an admission from officials of both the Korean government and U.S. forces that, indeed, DU was present in Korea. It had been moved there in February 1997 from bases in Okinawa, after the Japanese complained of its presence there. And though Korean and U.S. officials denied that they used DU in practices at the Koon Ni range, they did admit that on two occasions in 1997, DU weapons were inadvertently expended in Korea." PANAMA According to an article in the Aug. 20, 1997 Christian Science Monitor, Rick Stauber, A member of the seven-person team that prepared the US Department of Defense's report on leftover ordnance at three military firing ranges in Panama, says during his investigation he was handed a report, listing all US weapon testing from the 1960s to the early 1990s, that showed that 120mm depleted- uranium projectiles were fired on Empire Range. At first, U.S. Ambassador William Hughs denied Stauber's report. When the Fellowship of Reconciliation brought this to the attention of Panamanian daily newspapers, the strong reaction forced Washington to admit that the military had at least stored DU shells in Panama to test their deterioration in tropical climates. Stauber, a military consultant, said that they would then be obliged to test fire at least some of the shells to see if they were functional. KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA Early in NATO's war against Yugoslavia, on April 1, 1999, the International Action Center sent out a news release charging the U.S. with using DU weapons against Yugoslavia. While the Pentagon was trying to avoid comment on this, Pentagon spokespeople had already told the media that the A-10 Warthog anti-tank plane was being used against Yugoslav tanks in Kosovo. Finally pressure on this question from the media forced the Pentagon to acknowledge use of DU. Still, NATO headquarters and especially the Pentagon withheld cooperation with investigations of DU contamination of Kosovo. On Oct. 14, 1999, a United Nations official who chairs the task force investigating the impact on the environment of the 78-day U.S.- NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia said that NATO officials had refused to cooperate regarding their use of depleted- uranium weapons. Pekka Haavisto, task-force chairperson, said his team was unable to determine the extent of pollution caused by uranium-tipped weapons. He said NATO refused either to admit using the weapons or to cooperate with the task force. Finally though, in a letter to the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan from NATO Secretary-General, Lord Robertson, it states: "DU rounds were used whenever the A-10 engaged armor during Operation Allied Force. Therefore, it was used throughout Kosovo during approximately 100 missions... A total of approximately 31,000 rounds of DU ammunition was used in operation Allied Force. The major focus of these operations was in an area west of the Pec- Dakovica-Prizren highway, in the area surrounding Klina, in the area around Prizren and in an area to the north of a line joining Suva Reka and Urosevac. However many missions using DU also took place outside these areas." According to articles written October 2000 by Rainer Rupp in the Berlin daily, Junge Welt, and by British journalist Felicity Arbuthnot, concern over DU dangers have created problems involving both UN personnel and NATO-country troops occupying Kosovo. "Last week [Oct 14-20] the French government followed its Italian counterpart and launched an investigation of the effects of spent depleted uranium shells on its soldiers in Kosovo. Two Italian K-FOR (occupation) soldiers who were stricken with cancer and who showed symptoms similar to those with Gulf War Syndrome are to be flown from Kosovo to Rome in the near future. "The Rome military prosecutor followed his colleagues in Milan, Turin and Venice and set underway an investigation of the effects of DU- shells on Italian troops in Kosovo. With this in the background the Portuguese defense minister has decided to withdraw the Portuguese troop contingent from Kosovo. (Junge Welt, Oct. 24) Notice that in all these cases the military authorities at first either stonewalled or denied that DU was being used, then wound up having to admit it. ISRAELI EL AL JET A flaming crash of an El Al cargo jet in Bijlmer, a suburb of Amsterdam on Oct. 4, 1992, killing 43 people has been the target of ongoing research. The health consequences for people in a whole section of Amsterdam has created an ongoing movement of the Dutch Greens on the chemical and radiological toxicity of depleted uranium. The El Al Boeing 747 jet had on board tons of chemicals, flammable liquids, substances used in the manufacture of nerve gas and 1,500 kilograms of DU in the form of counterweights. Both the nerve gas chemicals and the DU have long been a topic of debate. The Dutch Ministry of Defense report "Health risks during exposure to uranium" documented the radiotoxic effects of DU in the human body. THE GULF WAR U.S. veterans organizations have campaigned to demand investigation and compensation for their extremely high incidence of chronic sicknesses among Gulf War veterans. The U.S. government has denied their claims. IS ISRAEL USING DU IN COMBAT? Some may argue that because the Israelis are not firing against tanks-the strongest military justification for using DU shells-but against unarmed or at the most lightly armed and virtually unprotected opponents, there is no special reason for them to be using DU shells. This is true. But the same could be said for U.S. forces in Vieques, Panama, Okinawa and south Korea, yet DU weapons were tested in all those places. Like the Pentagon brass, the Israeli general staff would want to try out their weapons under all conditions, especially in combat. Now that they are firing at homes and offices in an attempt to punish the Fatah leadership, they would want to see if DU shells penetrate concrete as they do steel and if this makes a difference in battle. The Israeli military has already shown its racist contempt for the Palestinians by firing to maim thousands and kill hundreds of young people protesting the occupation of their country, people armed in the great majority with stones and slingshots. As of Nov. 20, over 240 people have been killed and over 8,000 wounded. And the Israeli officers have a strong reason to use DU-shielded tanks. They want the Israeli soldiers and their families to think that they are invulnerable in their tanks and armored personal carriers shielded with DU armor. If the troops grow ill months or years later from their constant exposure to radiation, that is no longer a political problem for the generals. The same is true when they handle shells and fire rounds from tank guns. The Israeli peace movement and the families of the troops, should know that the illusion of invincibility comes at a price. There has already been the beginning of resistance among individual Israeli troops to playing the role of oppressor. This movement should seriously consider the dangers of DU. The first step to exposing and stopping this crime and its long-term impact is to start a serious investigation of Israeli use of depleted- uranium weapons.

Flashback: Chemical Warfare on the West Bank? James Brooks Counterpunch July 5 2006 "On June 10th, 2004, the two clinics in Al-Zawiya treated 130 patients for gas inhalation. The patients were children, women, old people and young men. Dr. Abu Madi related that there was a high number of cases of [tetany], spasm in legs and hands, connected to the nervous system. Pupils were dilated...Other symptoms included shock, semi-consciousness, hyperventilation, irritation and sweating." (1) Thus reads a report by medical units serving the West Bank village of Al-Zawiya, where nonviolent resistance to Israel's impending wall has been extraordinarily resolute. According to the medical report (procured by the International Middle East Media Center - IMEMC), "the gas used against the protestors is not tear gas but possibly a nerve gas." The following day, Israel's 'Peace Bloc', Gush Shalom, began a press release with the following quote from Al-Zawiya: "What the army used here yesterday was not tear gas. We know what tear gas is, what it feels like. That was something totally different.... When we were still a long way off from where the bulldozers were working, they started shooting things like this one (holding up a dark green metal tube with the inscription "Hand and rifle grenade no.400" - in English). Black smoke came out. Anyone who breathed it lost consciousness immediately, more than a hundred people. They remained unconscious for nearly 24 hours. One is still unconscious, at Rapidiya Hospital in Nablus. They had high fever and their muscles became rigid. Some needed urgent blood transfusion. Now, is this a way of dispersing a demonstration, or is it chemical warfare?" (2) The incident in Al-Zawiya appears to be the tenth attack by Israeli soldiers using an "unknown gas" against Palestinian civilians since early 2001. We have photographs of the canisters. We have film of victims suffering in the hospital. We have interviews with Palestinian and European doctors who have treated the victims. And we presumably have hundreds, perhaps thousands, of survivors. But we know nothing of their fate. Despite the evidence, we have not inquired. Though it is a state secret, Israel's development of chemical and biological weapons has been known and analyzed for decades. From the typhoid poisoning of Palestinian wells and water supplies in 1948 (3,4) to the conversion of F-16s into nerve gas 'crop dusters' in 1998 (5), Israel has always demonstrated a strong interest in developing CBW agents and methods for their dispersal. In 1992 an El Al 747 flying nerve gas ingredients from the US to Israel crashed into an Amsterdam apartment building. (6) According to Salman Abu-Sitta, president of the Palestine Land Society, the respected Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad followed up the crash with an in-depth investigation of the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR), Israel's CBW complex in Nes Ziona. The paper reportedly found "strong links" with several US CBW and medical research centers, "close cooperation between IIBR and the British-American biological warfare programme", and "extensive collaboration on BW research with Germany and Holland." (7) At IIBR, doctors publish world-class research in acetylcholine, the mother lode of nerve gas design. The Nes Ziona complex is reputed to have invented an "undetectable" poison-needle gun for "clean" assassinations. (8) In September 1997, two days after Jordan's King Hussein told Israeli PM Netanyahu that Hamas was seeking negotiations, Mossad agents in Jordan attempted to kill Hamas leader Khaled Misha'al with a lethal dose of fentanyl. (9) For years, rumors persisted that Israel was using or testing unknown chemical agents on Palestinian civilians. The rumors began to reveal their substance February 12, 2001, when Israel began a six-week campaign of "novel gas" attacks in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. By chance, American filmmaker James Longley arrived in Khan Younis, Gaza in the middle of the first attack. That afternoon he began filming the victims. His award-winning film, Gaza Strip, documents the naked reality of Israel's chemical weaponry_the canisters, the doctors, the eyewitnesses, and the hideous suffering of the victims, many of whom remained hospitalized for days or weeks. (10) The February 12 gassing of neighborhoods in Khan Younis presaged the attacks that followed. When the gas canisters landed, they began to billow clouds of either white or black, sooty smoke. The gas was non-irritating and initially odorless, changing to a sweet, minty fragrance after a few minutes. One victim recalled, "the smell was good. You want to breathe more. You feel good when you inhale it." The smoke often shifted to a "rainbow" of changing colors. (11) (12) From five to thirty minutes after breathing the gas, victims began to feel sick and have difficulty breathing. A searing pain began to wrench their gut, followed by vomiting, sometimes of blood, then complete hysteria and extremely violent convulsions. Many victims suffered a relentless syndrome for days or weeks afterward, alternating between convulsions and periods of conscious, twitching, vomiting agony. Palestinians agreed: "This is like nothing we've ever seen before." (13) Forty people were admitted to Al-Nasser Hospital "in an odd state of hysteria and nervous breakdown", suffering from "fainting and spasms." Sixteen gas patients had to be transferred to the intensive care unit. Doctors "reported the Israeli use of gas that appeared to cause convulsions." (14) At the Gharbi refugee camp, thirty-two people "were treated for serious injuries" following exposure to the gas. Dr. Salakh Shami at Al-Amal Hospital reported the hospital receiving "about 130 patients suffering from gas inhalation from February 12." (15) Bewildered medical personnel had "never seen anything..like the gas at Tufa." Victims were "jumping up and down, left and right..thrashing limbs around", suffering "convulsions..a kind of hysteria. They were all shaking." Others were already unconscious. An hour or two later, they would come to. And the convulsions and the vomiting and disorientation and pain would return.(16) The following day, February 13, Israeli forces again deployed the strange new gas canisters in Khan Younis. Over forty new gas victims, "including a number of children..from 1 to 5 years-old", arrived at Al-Nasser Hospital and the hospital of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. (17) The news began to trickle out. "Palestinian security services have accused the Israeli army of using nerve gas during a gunbattle yesterday", reported AFX News Limited, noting "the army has strongly denied the charges." (18) The Voice of Palestine reported that "specialists believe that this is an internationally banned nerve gas." Those who inhaled the gas "suffered a nervous breakdown and vomited blood." (19) The next day, Deutsche Presse-Agentur quoted Dr. Yasser Sheikh Ali from Al-Nasser Hospital: "Israel has been using a powerful type of tear gas against the Palestinians that causes convulsions and spasms." According to DPA, more than 80 Palestinians...reported that Israeli soldiers had used the white smoky gas, but Israel denied doing so." (20) The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported that on February 15 three more canisters of the poison gas were fired at houses in the Khan Younis camp, and "another 11 Palestinian civilians, mostly children, suffered from suffocation and spasms due to gas inhalation." (21) British journalist Graham Usher wrote that Khan Younis civilians were "incapacitated" by "a 'new' form of toxic gas." (22) PA President Yasser Arafat publicly "accused Israel of using poison gas." The IDF issued a second denial. Israeli Communications Minister Ben-Eliezer called reports of gas casualties in Khan Younis "incorrect and false." Senior PA minister Nabil Shaath said that a sample of the gas would be sent to "an international center for analysis." (23) The results, if any, were never divulged. On February 18, Israeli soldiers near the Neve Dekalim settlement reportedly fired four poison gas canisters at Palestinian houses in Khan Younis. Later that afternoon, more canisters were fired, forcing Palestinians to flee their homes. PCHR reported that "41 Palestinian civilians, mostly children and women, suffered from suffocation and spasms." (24) By PCHR's count, 238 Palestinians were affected by poison gas attacks between February 12 and February 20. Twenty-seven of the victims were still hospitalized on the 22nd. (25) On March 2, an unknown gas was used against civilians in the West Bank town of Al-Bireh. Israeli soldiers reportedly fired "canisters of a highly effective black gas similar to the one used in Khan Yunis three weeks ago." (26) Twenty-four days later, Israeli forces east of Gaza City used a gas that "left symptoms different from those of the..gas used first.. in Khan Yunis starting from February 12..", although several similarities also appeared. In this attack the onset of abdominal pain seemed to be delayed. (27) On March 30, medical professionals in Nablus reported Israeli soldiers using the new poison gas against Palestinian demonstrators. (28) British journalist Jonathan Cook reported a March gas attack on the schoolyard of Al-Khader village, near Bethlehem. Thirteen year-old Sliman Salah was playing when a gas canister landed next to him, "enveloping him in a cloud of gas described by witnesses as an unfamiliar, yellow colour." Large doses of anti-convulsants were required to control the boy's seizures and maintain consciousness. His symptoms "were finally brought under control five days after his exposure to the gas. But Salah's father says the boy is still suffering from stomach pains, vomiting, dizziness and breathing problems." (29) In its March, 2003 special report, Israel's Secret Weapon, BBC Television reviewed this series of gas attacks, noting, "The Israeli army has used new unidentified weapons. In February 2001 a new gas was used in Gaza. A hundred and eighty patients were admitted to hospitals with severe convulsions....Israel is outside chemical and biological weapons treaties and still refuses to say what the new gas was." (30) In my amateur analysis of the reported comments of victims, eyewitnesses and medical professionals regarding this series of attacks, I identified thirty-three distinct symptoms attributed to the unidentified gas. All but three of these symptoms appear to be typical of nerve gas poisoning. (31) Tareg Bey, a chemical warfare expert at the University of California-Irvine, told the Chicago Reader that the symptoms described to him "all fit really well to nerve gas", though he was puzzled by the reported fragrance and skin rashes. (32) In an October 9, 2003 article, Jennifer Loewenstein and Angela Gaff asked, "What gas is Israel using?" They reported the story of Mukhles Burgal, a Palestinian prisoner caught in a brutal attack inside Israel's Ashkelon prison. The "guards forced their way into the crowded cell, spraying two canisters of some type of gas. Some of the 14 prisoners passed out...The effects of the gas were severe muscle spasms and an overwhelming sensation of not being able to breathe." (33) Two days later, Palestine Monitor reported that Israeli forces in Rafah were allegedly "firing gas grenades containing a black gas believed to be adamatite [adamsite?]- the use of which is forbidden according to international law. Medical authorities urged people to avoid the gas at all costs, as it not only causes difficulty in breathing but seriously affects the nervous system." (34) For some reason, PCHR's press release from the same day, an apparent source of these reports, is no longer available. (35) On the 14th, eyewitness Laura Gordon wrote, "The army used some kind of nerve gas for the first time in Rafah, leaving people in convulsions for days." (36) Following the recent gas attack in Al-Zawiya, town officials reportedly told Al Ayyam newspaper, "the Israeli occupation troops were using an illegal substance that caused nerve spasms and that several cases had been transferred to Nablus hospitals." (37) The PA's International Press Center reported that "official and public sources in..Al-Zawya..asserted that those who have inhaled the tear gas IOF troops fired at them four days ago are still suffering from the effects of the gas...a number of those citizens have already had amnesias or partial memory loss, in addition to cramps...in addition to strange cramps every three hours... those who inhaled the gas are still suffering severe pains in the joints and nausea for four days now. Eyewitnesses recalled that the Israeli soldiers were keen on picking the empty tear gas canisters.." Journalists told IPC "that the gas was in different colors they have never seen coming out of a tear gas canister before, and that some gases had an unrecalled smell." (38) According to IMEMC, "..tens of demonstrators who inhaled this gas had partial memory loss. Dr. Bassam Abu Madi told IMEMC that the some of those who inhaled the gas had severe choking and some contraction in their feet and arm muscles. Eyewitnesses said the gas has a strange smell and a reddish-brownish color." [corrected copy] In a follow up story, IMEMC concluded that "protesters were attacked with gas that is not like the tear gas. Those who inhaled the gas suffered some memory loss while others had other symptoms of a nerve gas. Yet this was not medically confirmed for lack of laboratories to inspect the gas canisters collected from the scene." (39) Al Jazeera reported the opinion of Awni Khatib, a professor of chemistry at Hebron University; "the new symptoms-particularly the violent convulsions experienced by some Palestinian protesters outside the village of Sawiya [Zawiya], southwest of Nablus-suggest..that the Israeli army may be using a new class of chemicals that lie somewhere between normal tear gas and chemical weapons." (40) Israel's repeated use of highly toxic unknown chemicals against Palestinian civilians is now an open secret. We can expect these attacks to continue until a concerted effort is made to determine the facts and hold Israel accountable. So far, the international human rights community has steadfastly ignored the mounting evidence. When will professional investigators begin to retrieve and test the gas canisters? Why has no one but James Longley bothered to document interviews with victims, doctors, and other eyewitnesses? In a world in which one country's mere possession of chemical weapons can be an excuse for international retribution, how another country's use of chemical weapons against civilians be dismissed as a "regrettably excessive" tactic of crowd control?

Israeli Blood-sport in Gaza 11/07/2006 By Mike Whitney ""We are sure that Israel is using a new chemical or radioactive weapon in their operation...When we try to X-ray dead bodies, we find no trace of shrapnel that hit the person killed." Dr. al-Saqqa, Shifa hospital, Gaza; following the examination of the "completely burnt" bodies of dead Palestinians killed in Israeli air raid. Question: How many editorials or op-ed columns have appeared in American newspapers defending the rights of Palestinian civilians to live in peace without the constant threat of being invaded or shelled by the world's forth largest military? None. How many editorials or op-ed columnists have defended the Geneva Conventions or international laws against collective punishment, the willful destruction of critical infrastructure, or military maneuvers that deliberately put civilians in imminent danger? None. Then how many editorials or op-ed columnists have presented the recent flurry of events (including the capture of Israeli soldier Galid Shalit) in the broader context of Israel's ongoing boycott of food and medical supplies, as well as the 50 or so Palestinian civilians who have been killed in Israel's regular incitements in the occupied territories? None. The account of Palestinian suffering and victim-hood rarely finds its way into the mainstream press, but in the present case, it has been completely ignored. In fact, none of the media provide any context for the current invasion at all. Israel's blockade of food and lethal provocations have been going on for months, and yet, the accounts from Gaza would have the reader believe that history began on the day that the Israeli soldier was captured. Sure, if the reader wants a balanced perspective, he can go to the internet and choose from the many articles which provide the Israeli or Palestinian perspective of events, but the mainstream media? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. The bias has grown into such an impenetrable cloud of pro-Israeli rubbish that it's laughable. In fact, its more likely to stumble across the random article lambasting Bush or Cheney than anything remotely critical of Israel. There's no debate about the facts of Israel's brutal siege of Gaza. The only thing in dispute is the way those facts are skewed in the American media. Pick up the New York Times and you would swear it was edited by Ariel Sharon. There's not even an attempt at evenhandedness; just the foolish ruminations of scribes who think they can spin war crimes into hard-hitting journalism. Israel has been pummeling Gaza for months; intentionally starving the beleaguered occupants while lobbing 6,000 artillery shells into populated areas. Isn't that front page news? Meanwhile, another 50 civilians have been bumped-off in gangland-style hits ("Targeted assassinations") authorized by the Knesset's newest Mafia Don, Ehud Olmert. Olmert has put the carnage and destruction into high-gear eliciting criticism from his very own daughter who protested in front of her father's home with signs that said, "Stop the Killing" among other things. The Israelis have developed "sound machines" that emit ear-piercing explosions that have been deployed in Gaza City to shatter windows, cause miscarriages, and send children into deep trauma. It is a "terror device" pure and simple; it has no other function except to produce massive fear and anxiety. It is the latest weapon in the prodigious arsenal of the "world's most moral army" (Olmert quote) So why can't we get the real scoop about Israel's depredations in the territories or, at the very least, an occasional article providing a differing point of view? Is that too much to ask? Simply put, anyone who believes this nonsense about "the poor abducted soldier" who fell prey to Hamas terrorists is a fool. The soldier is part of an illegal occupation which has been condemned in countless UN resolutions and which makes him a legitimate target in the struggle for national liberation. Since his capture, he has received medical attention and, my guess is, he probably hasn't been tortured or abused at all. (which certainly would not be the case if he was captured by Israeli or American forces) So, who're the terrorists here anyway? Newly elected Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has been calling for calm and restraint throughout the entire 14 day ordeal. In fact, Haniyeh has made repeated appeals to the militants to release the soldier unharmed even while "Olmert the barbarian" was rampaging through Gaza blowing up roads, electric power plants, water lines, and, yes, even schools. Schools, for God's sakes. That's just flat nuts! If Israel had any sense they'd dump Olmert the madman and appoint Haniyeh as Prime Minister. So far, he's the only one who has emerged from this mess looking like a reasonable fellow. (Note: Israel continues to threaten his life.) Anyway, don't expect objectivity from the American "free press". I had to search through the Arab media just to find out that the UN was sending a fact-finding mission to Gaza to report on "Israel's grave rights violations". Don't you think that the American people would like to know that little tidbit? Or, that UN special-rapporteur, John Dugard is headed off to Gaza to investigate the Israeli military's "disproportionate use of force against civilians". Dugard said, "It is clear that Israel is in violation of the most fundamental norms of humanitarian law and human rights." His comments have not appeared in any American newspaper. Wouldn't the American people want to know how far removed their government is from the prevailing opinion of other countries? Sure they would, but don't expect the media to tell them. The American public has no idea the effect this invasion has had on the Muslim world; the mass demonstrations in Amman, Cairo, Tehran, Doha etc. They haven't heard the anger ring-out at the United Nations or the world leaders who are sick and tired of the US defending Israel's heavy-handed tactics. The average American has no idea that Israel is keeping over 9,000 prisoners locked up without charges and that over 400 of them are woman and children. What the hell are they doing with children anyway? It's an outrage. It's pretty clear that Israel would never get away with its crimes against humanity if it didn't have a trustworthy friend in the American media. The streetwalking western press gave Bush a free pass on his Iraqi bloodbath; now they're abetting Israel in its terror-crusade in Gaza.

Israelis give government good grades for response to Gaza situation JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST The government's conduct in the situation created by the kidnapping of the soldier Gilad Shalit currently wins quite good grades from most of the public, according to a new poll published by professors Ephraim Yaar and Tamar Hermann of Tel Aviv University. Nevertheless, the majority identifies with the statement that it is unfair that the kidnapping drew such a severe response, whereas Israel's reaction to the ongoing Kassam fire on Sderot has been relatively restrained. Furthermore, in contrast to the decision-makers' stated refusal to hold direct negotiations with Hamas on freeing the kidnapped soldier, the prevailing view in the public is that Israel should indeed negotiate for his release. This apparently reflects the overriding importance the public in general ascribes to the principle of redeeming captives, since when it comes to direct political negotiations with Hamas, the public is almost evenly split in its positions with a slight advantage for those opposing such talks. As for the personal functioning of the prime minister and the defense minister so far, a different picture emerges. A majority, albeit small, evaluates Olmert's functioning positively, while a larger majority views Peretz's functioning negatively. In any case, neither leader is viewed especially flatteringly. Finally, apparently on the background of the recent deterioration in the security situation, today - unlike in the past - a small majority of the public believes that the unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip was not the right step and that the prime minister's realignment plan is also counter to Israel's national interest. This may also explain why a clear majority assesses the national mood as bad. Those are the main findings of the Peace Index survey that was carried out on July 3-4. Slightly over half the public (52 percent) sees the government as acting properly in the situation created by the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, while one-third views it as failing the test (This one-third is made up, as would be expected, of voters for the opposition parties from the Right - Likud, National Union/National Religious Party and Israel Beiteinu.) Yet, at the same time, a 54% majority identifies with the claim that it is unfair that Israel reacted to the kidnapping with such severity, including the arrests of Palestinian members of parliament from Hamas, while responding with more restrained measures to the ongoing Kassam fire on Sderot. That does not mean the public lacks empathy for the efforts to free the kidnapped soldier. On the contrary, the prevailing view (48%) is that Israel must always remain committed to the principle of redeeming captives, with only a third saying that sometimes security and national interests are more important. On this question, a pronounced gap was found between men and women. Among the former, there was an even split on this question; among the latter, the rate of those endorsing the supreme obligation to redeem captives - 57 - was much higher than the rate of those saying there are sometimes more important considerations - 27%. The Israeli leadership makes repeated declarations that it will not negotiate directly with Hamas because the organization does not recognize Israel's right to exist and supports terror against it. The data show, however, that 50% of the public support negotiating with Hamas in the case of the kidnapped soldier, with 42% opposing it. The strongest support for negotiations in this context comes from Labor, the Gil Pensioners Party and Meretz voters, and the lowest from Israel Beiteinu and United Torah Judaism voters. On political negotiations, however, the public is divided - 47% in favor and 49% against, with the opposition concentrated among voters for Israel Beiteinu, UTJ, NU/NRP and Likud. In both cases, though, the public as a whole is more open than the leadership to the possibility of dialogue with Hamas, a finding the Peace Index surveys have pointed to consistently in recent months. At the same time, a majority of the public accepts the narrative of the political and military leadership that the Palestinian attack on the tank constituted an "act of terror" and not a military (and thus more legitimate) act. Sixty-one percent concur, with only 32% defining the act as military. Amid the criticism leveled at the security forces in the media and by various analysts, the survey checked to what extent the public accepted the view that the event at Kerem Shalom was a military failure or instead believed, like the political and military leadership, that such incidents could not always be avoided under the pressures in which the defense establishment operated. Forty-seven percent agree that it is impossible to prevent such events totally under the pressure of circumstances, whereas 40% think there was a foul-up. Note that only among Likud voters is there a majority for those who see a failure (49% compared to only 36% who view the event as an unavoidable mishap). In other words, even among the voters for the rest of the opposition parties, the majority accepts the establishment's position. The deteriorating security situation and the recent incidents have apparently caused a change in the public's positions on policy toward the Palestinians both in the past and the future. The majority that supported the unilateral disengagement from Gaza seems to have disappeared, with only 46% now saying it was the right move, while 50% view it as having been unwise. The realignment plan, which was less popular from the start than the disengagement, is now supported by only 39% with 47% opposed. This also seems to explain the majority's assessment of the "national mood" as negative: 62% define it as moderately bad or very bad and only 30% as very good or moderately good, with voters for the right-wing parties, as expected, making the gloomiest evaluations.

"Israel Imprisons the Vice President of the Euro-Med Assembly and where is the EU?" Date posted: July 11, 2006 By Luisa Morgantini "I have no more words to express my indignation for the repeated and unpunished violations of the legality by the Israeli government. But it seems that the European Union is speechless either, since it hasn't condemned yet the imprisonment, that took place on Friday 7 July, of Mr Hassan Khreshi, Vice President of the Political Committee on Security and Human Rights of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliament Assembly (EMPA), of which I am member as well" declared Luisa Morgantini (GUE/NGL). "What more Israel has to do, which other violation Israel has to commit, how many other murders of civil victims have to be completed before the EU firmly orders to Israel to respect the international law and the human rights?" The imprisonment of Mr Hassan Khreshi, former speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Member since 1996, and Palestinian representative to the EMPA and to the Parliamentary Assembly of the NATO, which took place in the crossing of the Allenby bridge, between Jordan and Palestine, while he was coming back from a work meeting, "is a new episode of arrogance and impunity of Israel - Morgantini continues - . Khreshi is not member of any Palestinian political party, he is an independent. In the Political Committee we all had the pleasure to appreciate his availability and openness to dialogue. "The non-right Israel used to arrest him is part of a real war strategy against the Palestinian National Authority and its Parliamentary Institutions, elected in a democratic way, under the control of many international observers, even from Europe. "Until this moment 64 Members of the Palestinian Parliament and 8 Ministers of the PNA have been illegitimately kidnapped by the Israeli Government, which hasn't stopped itself even in front of the condemnation voices of the international and European institutions, even if they have been very weak. "The European Union, with the weakness of her position towards this evident violation of the international legality, becomes accomplice of this clear and without precedents injustice. "I believe it is not only necessary but even urgent that Brussels strongly demand to Israel, member of the EMPA, and partner of the EU in the Barcelona Process, to immediately release Mr Hassan Khreshi, and all other representatives of the Palestinian Legislative Council, imprisoned and deported in Israel, and to stop the siege against the civil population of Gaza and all the occupied territory". Luisa Morgantini, Chair of the Development Committee of the European Parliament and Member of the Political Committee of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliament Assembly

Four Palestinians die at Rafah border awaiting entry into Gaza Haaretz 11/07/2006 Four Palestinians have died in recent days awaiting entry into the Gaza Strip on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, which has been closed for nearly two weeks since the kidnapping of Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.

Gaza: Of Mice and Men By Israel Shamir 11/07/2006 A cat called to the mouse holed up under the floor: “Come out, you have nothing to worry about! I have become a pious vegetarian, preparing for my Hajj, you may play freely”. “Oh wonderful news”, cried the mouse and ran out of the hole; a moment of the eternity clock passed, and the mouse found herself in cat’s claws, goes Nizami’s fable. This is, in brief, the development of Gaza crisis that began with Israel’s phoney but much advertised “withdrawal” (a.k.a. “disengagement”) from Gaza in summer 2005, followed by their phoney permission to run democratic elections for the Palestinian government. - “Sharon changed his ways”, exclaimed the good-meaning Americans and Europeans; “he – and after him, Olmert – are ready for peace and reconciliation.” - “We liberated Gaza”, said Hamas. - “Oy vey!” cried the settlers. The cries of joy and sorrow of the fake withdrawal had not died out, when the real siege and bombardment of Gaza began. After a few months of shelling, this real takeover of Gaza and arrest of all Palestinian leadership completed the picture of a fat cat playing with the mouse. Our readers may remember that at the height of withdrawal hullabaloo we called (in Much Ado about Gaza) for everyone to tone down their expectations: an Israeli pull-out is always followed by a push-in, as in a rape scene. Do not expect to see the last of them: an Englishman leaves without bidding farewell, a Jew says his farewells but does not leave, quoth a Jewish joke. Readers of this list and site received, as always, the correct forecast: indeed the Jews came back. The intermezzo was quite sad, too. Gaza after the withdrawal was one of the most depressing places on earth, with widespread starvation and vast unemployment, and it was not the Gazans’ fault: whether under Hamas or Fatah rule, Gaza can’t stand alone; this narrow strip is surrounded by Israeli troops and barbed wire, the Gazans have no way to sell their goods or to import their needs but through Jewish-controlled ports. Remove the SS men from Auschwitz to its perimeter, give the camp full autonomy but keep its gates shut from outside, and you’ll get a picture of Gaza. The Jews destroyed the Gazan industry and trade by their siege: Gazan fruits and flowers for export withered at Karmi checkpoint, and multimillion-dollar investment went down the drain. Gazans openly regretted their new-found “independence”, because in the days of Israeli rule they could make a living working at Israeli factories, and the Israeli shelling was much more moderate, while “independent” Gaza was subjected to incessant shelling. Hundreds of missiles and shells were launched against this small strip of land daily, killing a few but ruining the nerves of its residents. I, for one, know what that means: in 1974, my commando unit spent less than half a year in the fortified crater of an extinguished volcano some 40 km (25 miles) to the south of Damascus. We were shelled daily by Syrian artillery, and we could not respond with our light arms to their cannons. At the first exiting boom we would hide in bunkers and wait for the salvo to land. Sometimes, it was a single shell, sometimes it was followed by the inhuman squeal of a Katyusha missile. We had very few casualties: a couple of wounded and one killed for this whole period of time, but our nerves were completely shattered. We stopped brushing our teeth and shaving: it did not make sense when death is so imminent. We ceased writing letters. Even the periods of the most intense fighting we went through with dozens of killed comrades were preferable to the attrition of incessant shelling. Gazans – children, women, men, - had now almost a year of attrition made worse by aerial booming, something we were free from by virtue of Israeli air superiority. Israeli tactics in Gaza resemble the strategy of “starving into obedience” applied by the Pentagon to North Vietnam, per the Pentagon Papers, - the single most evil piece of strategic planning in the 20th century: “Strikes at population targets are likely not only to create a counterproductive wave of revulsion abroad and at home, but greatly to increase the risk of enlarging the war with neighbours. Destruction of locks and dams, however, does not kill or drown people. By shallow-flooding the rice, it leads after time to widespread starvation (more than a million dead?) unless food is provided--which we could offer to do at the conference table.” [1] If the Jews were to bomb a hundred thousand Gazans to oblivion, probably there would be “a wave of revulsion”, but destruction, starvation and thirst are equally efficient, and do not disturb the world conscience all that much. The destruction of a Gazan power plant was a shrewd business decision as well: this American-build and insured station competed with the Israeli Electric Company for supply of electric power to Gazans. Even running at half-capacity, the power station undermined the Jewish supplier’s monopoly.[2] Now it is gone, and Gazans will have to buy all their electricity from Jews at a much higher price. Combining business with pleasure, this destruction also allowed Jews to “thirst Palestinians” in addition to starving them as Gaza has no rivers, and electricity is needed to operate pumps. Still, in this short time of Gazan “independence”, Gazans proved they are men, not mice. Their stubborn launching of Kassams were a sign of their unbroken spirit: they refused to be starved into obedience. Kassam is hardly a weapon in the modern meaning of the word. This is a medieval weapon, a catapult, at best: an iron mote propelled by a simple device, carrying no explosives. We built and launched such missiles when we were kids in prep school. Surely, an iron mote can kill in the unlikely case of a direct hit, but the chances are small indeed. Their brave and well-planned raid of an Israeli siege unit has restored our appreciation of Gazans’ fighting abilities. It is not a simple thing to attack tanks with your bare hands. True, Israel utilised this courageous raid to jumpstart a new invasion of Gaza, but do not make too much out of this linkage: Haaretz (29.06.06) revealed that the plans for mass arrests of Palestinian leadership and for re-invasion were prepared a long time ago. The Israeli government referred to the raid: “a horrific, serious terror attack was carried out by Palestinian factions, which ended in the deaths of two soldiers, the injury of an additional soldier, and the kidnapping of Shalit.” Our friend Jeff Blankfort wittily quipped: “One would think Shalit was a little boy walking to the candy store who had been seized by a notorious child molester and not a soldier on active duty”. A Palestinian Christian Professor and a Knesset Member, Azmi Bishara said well of the resistance fighters: “Some people chose to respond to the murder of Palestinian civilians by attacking an Israeli military installation. They made the hardest choice, and chose the difficult path. Those who did not take this path, who did not make this sacrifice, or put their courage to this test, or suffer the trembling nerves in the darkness of the tunnel, yet who have some delicacy of feeling towards the pains of the Palestinians could at least spare this operation the embarrassment of tainting it as terrorist.” Yea, when the Jews attack, that’s war, when they are attacked, it is terror. Uri Avnery called it “a unilateral war”, on a par with their “unilateral withdrawals”. But this unilateralism is a constant feature of Jewish-Native relations: when Jews attack natives, this is rightful vengeance, when they get some of it back, it is a pogrom. Long before the Jews defamed Palestinians as terrorists, they vilified their previous native neighbours, Poles, Ukrainians, Russians, Spaniards, Germans as subhuman and vicious antisemites. If we reject their defamation of Palestinians, we may re-examine their accusation of others, and the whole narrative of Jewish suffering will collapse. Then, the problem of Palestine, or rather the problem of Jewish mistreatment of their ‘goyim’ will appear as an old problem, for the way Jews act today probably is the way they acted – if they could – yesterday. Long before the apartheid wall spanned Palestine, the Jews did not allow a native Spaniard to enter the walled city of Lucena, where they held sway.[3] Long before they shelled Gaza, they filled Mamilla Pool in Jerusalem with blood of slaughtered Christians. This is a good news for the descendants of Jews: we were brainwashed in hatred to ‘antisemitic’ mankind; came the Rape of Gaza, and now we learn that mankind was right and good, while we misbehaved. It is better to find oneself in the wrong than to accuse the whole of mankind, for one can repent. This understanding began to seep into our conscience. A Jaffa man Anwar Sacca wrote to Dorothy Naor, a wonderful Israeli woman: “Through their [Jewish] history, unfortunately not only for Jews but for the whole world, they were always self-destructive supremacists. As a minority living within any country and enjoying its citizenship, they always antagonized their fellow citizens by totally dominating their economy, media, life styles etc...to a limitless extent which generated dreadful consequences they had to heavily pay for. The same case applies in Palestine…” The Rape of Gaza fits too well into this centuries-proven pattern. The Jewish leadership never intended to give their captive goy a chance to lead normal life. Sooner will a cat turn vegetarian. Whatever they do, expect the worst. Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes. “Their good deeds are as dangerous as their obvious crimes”. In 1880s, Dostoyevsky prophesised: if and when the Jews get power, they will skin the goy alive. In Palestine this prophesy is being realised. This is not a question of innate Jewish qualities: a Jew can be good and do good, a Jew can repent, but ‘the Jews’ can’t because this body politic exists to compete and combat the indigenes, whether in Palestine or elsewhere. Ideologically, a Jewish state will do the Jewish thing, that is, to fight natives and combat the Church, whether Christian or Islamic. “If the Jews of old were to come back”, - wrote Simone Weil, - “they would destroy our churches and massacre us all”. “The Jewish tradition is rampantly ethnocentric and dehumanises outsiders with a gusto that could hardly be exceeded”, - wrote Ed Herman in his Triumph of the Market[4]. In the Jewish State, the Jews of old have come back, and the Jewish tradition has became paramount. Thus, the Hamas was right in refusing to recognise the Jewish state: in no way this state can become a tolerable neighbour, whether ruled by Labour of Peretz or by Kadima of Olmert, or even in extremely unlikely case of being ruled by Mr Avnery. This state has to be dismantled, like the Assassins’ extraterritorial State that once controlled the Middle East. The Assassins drew their power from their ability and preparedness to assassinate the prominent leaders of Crusaders and Muslims, while leaving alive only weak rulers who did not dare to touch them. The Jews do the same: sometimes, by sword, sometimes, by their money, sometimes, by their media, but no strong leader has emerged within their sphere of influence. * Assassinations by media are the most frequent, and this topic is well covered. If they decide to kill a person by their media, they try to eliminate every reference to his name; if it does not work, they attack him ad hominem, spreading lies and distortions. This treatment was recently given to the leaders of Iran: the Jewish press spread a lie that the Iranians intend to adorn every Jew with a yellow star. They lie was quickly disproved, but the retraction appeared on far-away pages of newspapers, while the damage was already done. The US politicians who tried to go against Jewish orders were usually assassinated by Jewish media and found themselves in the wilderness. * Assassinations by money are equally frequent: enough to mention a prominent American industrialist Henry Ford who tried to combat Jewish influence. Eventually he received an offer he could not refuse; he apologised, burned his books, and repented. He preferred that to destruction of his car-making empire. * Assassinations by sword were done when nothing else worked: Lord Moyne, Folke Bernadotte, Sheikh Yassin. Hundreds of Palestinian leaders were assassinated by Jews. Recent publication of Haaretz tells of operation Zarzir (Starling), a Jewish “comprehensive, operational plan, a nationwide program of assassinations” of enemy leaders, both political (Emile Houri) and military leaders, such as Hassan Salameh and Abdel Khader al-Husseini. Khaled Meshal escaped their assassins just by chance – they tried to drop poison into his ear in a rather Shakespearian fashion. In the days of old, salvation came from unexpected corner: West Asia was conquered by Mongols and these ruthless warriors flushed the Assassins out of their mountain retreats and utterly destroyed their conspiracy. Their harmless descendants are Ismailis, who live peacefully and do not disturb peace anymore. If we can’t solve the problem, some new Mongols will dismantle the State of Sodom and render descendents of Jews as harmless as Ismailis. Then, there is a milder way of dealing with the problem by introducing reciprocity instead of unilateralism. A medieval chronicle reports that the Jewish King of Khazar once said to a Muslim visitor: “We would destroy all the churches and mosques in our kingdom right away, but we can’t for fear that they will destroy the synagogues in Baghdad and Constantinople”. Indeed, if in response to the Jewish destruction of Gaza’s power plant, an Israeli power plant in Caesarea were erased, and the Jews had to survive our summer without air-conditioners, they wouldn’t do it again. If the Jews in Europe were limited to the rights their brethren granted to Palestinians, Palestine would be free tomorrow. But why should we indulge in daydreaming? Who could do such a deed? The Arabs are subdued. The US conquest of Iraq eliminated the last independent Arab state. Iran is being pushed hard and this powerful Muslim state is happy every day it is not bombed. Syria is in the crosshairs of the US whom the French are helping them to contain Damascus. Never before – since Saladin – has the Middle East been so helpless and powerless. Europe and America are equally subdued: none of prominent public figures dared to object to the Jewish Drang nach Gaza. “Why do you keep quiet?” exclaimed Jonathan Steele in the Guardian (July 6, “Europe's response to the siege of Gaza is shameful”). Don’t you know the answer, Mr Steele? Whoever tried, was invariably defamed as “antisemite” and “neonazi”, and lost his living and his good name. I know, I tried to defend the Palestinians, and was stabbed in the back by a couple of nice Palestinian activists, Mr Ali Abunimah and Mr Nigel Perry of Electronic Intifada, followed by a cabal of other pro-Palestinian activists. Only after that did the heavy guns of Jewish media – like Aaronovitch of the Times, or Wikipedia – go into action. These good activists deserve some credit for present destruction of Palestine: if an Israel Shamir from Jaffa is attacked like that, what could expect a John Smith from Wisconsin? Whoever tried to defend Palestinians, got this treatment, unless he observed the PC rule of never uttering the J word. Still, I do not regret speaking the truth, for if we keep silent, the stones will cry out. The Palestinians have no chance, unless we free our souls from Jewish control. And here we may turn to the second J word, more mighty than the first: Jesus. The present subservience of the West began with a minor step. In 1960s, the Western churches removed from their liturgy a prayer “Oremus et pro perfidis Judaeis”, “Let us pray for perfidious Jews that our God and Lord will remove the veil from their hearts so that they too may acknowledge the light of thy truth which is our Lord Jesus Christ and be delivered from their darkness”. This is a far cry from the Jewish prayer “Shepokh Hamatha”, “Lord, vent your fury upon goyim who do not know your name”. But the Jews preserved their prayer of vengeance, while misled and subdued Christians dropped their prayer of mercy. Say this prayer today, say it in your church, dismiss a priest who dares it not, and tomorrow you will not writhe in face of Jewish displeasure, and Gaza – and your soul - will be saved. And if your prayer will be answered, the Jews will be saved, too.

Israeli President in Spiraling Sex Scandal By AMY TEIBEL Associated Press July 11, 2006 JERUSALEM -- Israel's president is being dogged by allegations of sexual harassment in a spiraling scandal that has pushed the country's violent standoff with Hamas off the front pages. The swirl of accusations against President Moshe Katsav has not led to charges or even a police investigation. But it is threatening to tarnish the image of a Mr. Clean politician and has invited comparisons to another presidential sex scandal. "Who does he think he is? Clinton?" a pair of comedians wrote in a newspaper column this week. Katsav, who has held the largely ceremonial office since 2000, denies wrongdoing. The first allegation surfaced late last week when Israel's Channel 2 TV reported that a former senior employee in the president's office accused him of sexually harassing her. The woman has not been identified. In a meeting with Katsav last week, she also threatened to disclose the number of an overseas bank account allegedly set up to collect money the president received in exchange for presidential pardons, the television report said. The employee demanded hush money, it added. The Maariv newspaper reported Tuesday that a second woman has since come forward with similar accusations. "Katsav sexually harassed me," the headline blared. The newspaper did not reveal her identity. With the Katsav story dominating the media, Israel's two-week military operation in Gaza sparked by the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Hamas-linked militants was relegated to the back pages. The president, whose decades-long political career had been unmarred by any whiff of scandal, insisted in a statement that all his dealings with female employees have been professional. His office has said he has filed no blackmail complaint. And it rejected the graft accusation as absurd. "The president decides whether to grant clemency after a recommendation by the justice minister, whose signature is required on the writ of clemency," his office said. Though no sexual harassment charges have been filed, the president discussed the case with Attorney General Meni Mazuz last week. Mazuz asked Katsav to hand over any pertinent documents to him. Late Tuesday, Mazuz ordered a criminal investigation into the alleged blackmail attempt, Israeli media reported. Quoting Justice Ministry officials, the Haaretz daily's Web site said the probe is a preliminary investigation opened on the basis of a meeting between Katsav and Mazuz and two letters the president provided the attorney general. Katsav, Israel's eighth president, was elected by parliament in 2000. Israeli presidents enjoy immunity from trial on charges related to their tenure in office, Justice Ministry spokesman Jacob Galanti said. They are not immune from investigation, Galanti said. The president's office is no stranger to scandal. Ezer Weizman's last year as president in 2000 was tainted by allegations he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from a French tycoon. Police could not prove he evaded taxes or violated a law prohibiting government officials from accepting gifts in the course of official business. But they said Weizman's failure to report the gifts to authorities constituted fraud and breach of public trust. The case was closed - but only because the 5-year statute of limitations had run out on the charges. Comment: In the time-honored tradition of introducing a purile scandal when planning to commit a crime, the Israeli government and press presents this wonderful distraction for the Israeli people, just so they don't have to watch as their brave sons go about the brave job of butchering innocent civilians and children.