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Today's Stories August 4, 2006 Col. Dan Smith August 3, 2006 Jonathan Cook Uri Avnery Saree Makdisi Robert Fisk Farrah Hassen Nicola Nasser Ron Jacobs Mitchel Cohen Seth Sandronsky Bruce K. Gagnon Alexander Cockburn
John Ross Chip Mitchell Saul Landau Naseer Aruri Winslow T.
Wheeler Matthias Gebauer Joshua Frank Bill Quigley Manuel Yang Shamai Leibowitz David Himmelstein Lara Marlowe Website of
the Day
August 1, 2006 Michael Neumann Robert Fisk Omar Barghouti Marc Levy Diana Barahona / Jeb Sprague Claud Cockburn Ross Eisenbrey Dave Lindorff John Chuckman Francis Boyle Phil Doe Stephen Soldz Website of the Day
July 31, 2006 Jonathan Cook Uri Avnery Robert Fisk Amina Mire Marjorie Cohn Sibel Edmonds / William Weaver John Ross Stanley Rogouski Gideon Levy Ron Jacobs James Ridgeway
/ Alicia Ng Brian Tokar Alexander Cockburn
July 29 / 30,
2006 Michael Neuman Vijay Prashad Ramzi Kysia Werther Robert Fisk Patrick Cockburn Ralph Nader Rachard Itani Eduardo Galeano Gary Leupp Eve Poretsky John Chuckman Fred Gardner Juan Santos Punyapriya Dasgupta Liaquat Ali
Khan Israel Shamir William A.
Cook Stanley Heller Dave Lindorff Moshe Adler Susie Day Pat Williams Anthony Papa John V. Whitbeck Jackie Corr Myles Palmer Tom D'Antoni Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
July 28, 2006 Jonathan Cook Uri Avnery Renee Bowyer Robert Fisk Patrick Cockburn Ramzy Baroud Don Fitz Elaine Cassel David Price Mike Whitney Mickey Z. Niranjan Ramakrishnan Charles Glass Website of
the Day
July 27, 2006 Tanya Reinhart Saul Landau Ramzi Kysia Tom Barry Joseph Grosso Sharon Smith Gale Courey
Toensing Christopher Reed Werther Yusuf Mansur Richard Harth Website of the Day
Norman
Solomon Barbara
Olshanksy David
Nally Jonathan
Cook Patrick
Cockburn William
Blum Joshua
Frank Gabriel
Kolko Daniel
Cassidy Michael
Dickinson Robert
Fisk Uri
Avnery Website
of the Day
July 25, 2006 Harry
Browne Marjorie
Cohn Robert
Bryce Sharat
G. Lin George
Bisharat CounterPunch
News Desk Zena
El-Khalil Larry
Lack Mike
Mejia Ashraf
Isma'il Website
of the Day
July 24, 2006 Mark
Levy Robert
Fisk Maher
Osseiran Paul
Craig Roberts Patrick
Cockburn Website
of the Day
July 22-23, 2006 Jonathan
Cook Paul
Craig Roberts Gilad
Atzmon Robert
Fisk Ralph
Nader Fred
Gardner Christopher
Reed Dr.
Susan Block Najla
Said Uri
Avnery July 21, 2006 George
Galloway P.
Sainath Aseem
Shrivastava Alexander
Cockburn Website
of the Day July 20, 2006 William
S. Lind Robert
Jensen John
Ross Tom
Hayden Paul
Craig Roberts July 19, 2006 Patrick
Cockburn Trish
Schuh Jonathan
Cook Vicente
Navarro July 17 / 18 2006 Mike
Whitney Kathleen Christison Atrocities in the Promised Land
July 14 / 15,
2006 Alexander Cockburn Tanya Reinhart Robert Fisk Daniel Cassidy Winslow Wheeler Hugh O'Shaughnessy M. Shahid Alam William S. Lind Ramzy Baroud Gilad Atzmon Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Samar Assad Ron Jacobs Lee Ballinger Walter Brasch Dave Lindorff Clifton Ross Tom Crumpacker Ricardo Alarcon William Hughes Susie Day Farrah Hassen Poets' Basement
July 13, 2006 Rev. William
Alberts Ramzi Kysia Rep. John P. Murtha Radford / Santos Stan Cox Saul Landau José
Pertierra Website of
the Day
July 12, 2006 John Ross John Stauber Robert Boston Wayne S. Smith John Graham Kevin Prosen Jonathan Cook Website of
the Day
July 11, 2006 Dave Lindorff Dave Zirin Mokhiber / Weissman Amira Hass Clare Hanrahan Brian Cloughey Felice Pace Raed Jarrar Website of the Day
July 10, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Uri Avnery Roger Burbach Ron Jacobs Joshua Frank Missy Comley Beattie Alexander Cockburn
Stephen Green Paul Craig
Roberts Greg Moses Ralph Nader Laura Carlsen Conn Hallinan John Chuckman Fred Gardner Dr. Tod Mikuriya Pierre Tristam Lucinda Marshall David Swanson Heather Gray Dave Zirin
/ John Cox Mark Engler Michael Lettieri Ron Jacobs Jamal Juma' Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement
July 7, 2006 John Ross July 6, 2006 Nick Dearden John Stanton Ralph Nader Laray Polk Saul Landau Joshua Frank William S. Lind Adelman / Lindorff Jonathan Cook Website of
the Day
Mike Whitney Saul Landau Ramzy Baroud Missy Comley Beattie Arthur Neslen Vincent Maruffi Paul Cantor Paul D. Johnson David Price
Col. Dan Smith Chris Floyd Marjorie Cohn James Brooks Medea Benjamin Matt Reichel Elisa Salasin Rick Wilhelm Paul Craig
Roberts Website of the Day
July 3, 2006 Robert Bryce Dr. Bouthaina Shaban Julia Olmstead Dave Lindorff Andres Gomez Alan Singer Alexander Cockburn
Paul Craig
Roberts Stephen T.
Banko Daniel Cassidy Fawzia Afzal-Khan Jeff Taylor John Ross Greg Moses Laura Carlsen Justin E.H.
Smith Brian Cloughley Anthony Papa Mike Ferner Jerry Tucker Jane Goodall / Rick Asselta Phyllis Pollack Poets' Basement
June 30, 2006 Marjorie Cohn Heather Williams Burbach / Cantor Nick Dearden Michael J.
Smith Brian Concannon Virginia Tilley
Bill Quigley Ron Jacobs Paul Craig
Roberts June 28, 2006 Jorge Mariscal Greg Moses Mark Weisbrot Ramzy Baroud Dave Lindorff William S.
Lind Mike Ferner Zoltan Grossman
Marjorie Cohn Benjamin /
Jarrar William Hughes Doug Giebel Uri Avnery Alexander Cockburn
June 26, 2006 Don Santina Ralph Nader Dave Lindorff Rafael Rodriguez-Cruz Evelyn Pringle Jonathan Cook
June 23, 2006 Youmans / Erakat Dave Lindorff Ron Jacobs Col. Dan Smith
June 22, 2006 Marjorie Cohn Winslow T.
Wheeler Tanya Reinhart Mike Marqusee William Blum
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August 4, 2006 "We Have a Death Warrant For Your Home"No Lights in GazaBy ELIZA ERNSHIRE West Bank, Palestine. In Gaza the people have long endured the night-time terror of sonic-booms even before the low-flying, sound-barrier-breaking jets were accompanied by bombs and exploding shells. Now, as the war in Gaza continues unabated, the Israeli forces are tripling their psychological attacks against the already terrified civilians. Everyone can remember waking in the dark of night and calling out for a light. Everyone has heard their own little ones whimpering as they wake from a nightmare and everyone knows that to be soothed and to sooth and comfort, a light is turned on to disperse the shadows from the corners and make lie to the fears of the child. ''No, there is no one behind the door who will harm you my darling.'' But there are no lights in Gaza, and flickering candlelight only heightens the fear and anxiety in the face of the mother when she tries to comfort a child. She can not say that no one is behind the door because there well might be, and if they are there they will harm her child, as the statistics of this conflict shamefully show. There is no light, there is no fresh water to give the people, there is no sewage system and there is no way that the hospitals will be able to continue functioning. All these factors are frightening. That the 1.3 million people in Gaza will slowly starve to death, or die of some unsanitary disease, is frightening. It is the feeling that one might have in a confined space wondering how long the air will last The Israeli Army are now calling residents on their mobile phones them to warn them of an imminent raid on their family home. Witnesses in Gaza tell of the following messages they have received: "If you want to give shelter to terrorists, we will destroy your house, as we are destroying the houses of Lebanon," and ''Name and Surname, here is the IDF, you have just one hour to leave your house and to advise all your neighbors, as after that we will destroy your house. We have a death warrant for your home." Whether the raid occurs or not, the family are traumatized by the messages that either they received or their neighbors received or that they are afraid they will receive today or tomorrow or in the middle of the next night. In countless ways a war is being waged against the future social health of the Arab states, where at the very least 50% of the population grow up with missing members of their families due directly to Israeli and American conquest wars and subsequent occupation of territories. To further discredit the Israeli
invasions of recent weeks and add weight to the immorality of
Israeli tactics, evidence is slowly mounting about the use of
chemical weapons and phosphorous bombs against the population
of Gaza and the Lebanese people. Doctors have started testifying
in south Lebanon about the condition in which some victims are
brought in to be identified. They have reported how many corpses
arriving in the hospitals show no signs of bleeding. How the
bodies were burnt beyond recognition and how a strange odor emanated
from them. To the relatives of these victims,
and to the people who saw them die, nothing will make them ever
forget.
The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559. Everyone knows how United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559, has been the most quoted resolution of the past month. The numbers 1559 fall off the tongues of politicians, journalists and Israeli citizens alike. Hezbollah must be disarmed, and by invading Lebanon and razing its cities, Israeli politicians are expecting to have their backs patted by the world for being the ones upholding the United Nations Security Resolution. Two days ago an Italian Parliamentarian made a very good speech about the hypocrisy of the current situation in Lebanon and Israel in regards to this UN Resolution. ''For this one resolution that Israel is ''upholding'' they are daily violating a hell-ofa-lot more.'' Such as protecting civilians
in wartime. I hardly even dare to remark on the Israeli soldiers captured by Hamas and Hezbollah fighters in June and July this year; actions which in someway were the catalyst of this conflict, or at least an excuse. However I feel bound to keep banging away at the prisons' Iron Gate which holds inside it utter disregard for any form of justice. The situation for political
prisoners inside Israel can only be likened to the conditions
suffered by political prisoners of America held in Iraqi prisons
and in Guantanamo Bay. Should we speak about the confessions
that 14-16 year old youths are forced to sign, written in Hebrew,
after sometimes 20 days of interrogation and isolation? Or of the beatings that have left many with broken bones and sightless eyes? Should we speak of the military court, conducted entirely in Hebrew, where young Palestinians are sentenced to 20 or 30 years in prison for crimes they are never told about because they are contained in a ''closed file''? Or about the impossibility of Lawyers to visit their clients due to movement restrictions which do not allow them to leave the West Bank, although the majority of prisoners are held within Israel? Or about the personal heartbreaking stories of the family visits to the prison where the prisoners are only allowed 45 mins to see mother and sisters and brothers (if they are not between 14-45 years) behind a glass window and wire mesh and cannot even touch their hands? Or maybe that is enough for the moment. There are times when it is easier to be objective and to try and understand the roots of this conflict from a perspective not tainted by the propaganda that is rife on both sides of the Wall. But as the days pass and the bombing continues and the civilians of Gaza are being more and more forgotten, it is hard to talk about balance and equal wrong or right in this conflict. The plain facts are that both Ismail Haniyeh the Palestinain Prime minister and member of Hamas, and Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, have called for a cease-fire on humanitarian grounds and both have been rejected by Israel and America on political grounds. The cease-fire is still a far-off dream. The ground invasion gathers momentum and the relief -- aid so desperately needed by civilians in the war zone -- is unable to reach them while relief workers are unable to offer them any form of help. There is outcry here and in many parts of the world. People are horrified by the blood-shed; people are horrified by the plight of the children and by the sight of their little tortured bodies being dragged out of the rubble. But nothing has changed. Israel is not going to be deterred at this stage of its operation while it has the backing of the US and Britain. Here, in the West Bank, people
are tired of hearing the leaders of Israel and the US continuing
to spout reasons for the necessity to continue military action
against Lebanon and Palestine. Reasons are cited that are synonymous
with policies that World Leaders have used on countless occasions
over the past hundred years of conflict to justify military actions
that cripple an ''enemy'' country and cause innumerable civilian
casualties. Such as ''Bombing to Save Lives'' or ''Ending the
Terrorist Threat by Destroying the Resistance'' or ''Upholding
International Resolutions''. On a political level there has never been a need to justify the useless slaughter of human beings when there is a specific agenda that needs to be fulfilled. If a population becomes a little angry at their government's war-tactics then the justification of ''kill to save lives'' is usually accepted. During the WWII bombings of Germany, Sir Arthur Travers Harris, the British air marshal and commander in chief of the Royal Air Force wrote:
Or a ''captured'' Israeli soldier? In 1917 Hermann Hesse wrote to a German Minister to the effect that if only he could see the reality of the Western Front and hear the cries of the dying soldiers and the wailing of the women he would ''lock himself in his room and cry.'' And in the morning he would call on the Leaders to end the war. But now the Ministers do hear the crying and do see the wounded and the killed and still fail to act. What has changed since Hermann Hesse's impassioned plea to his Minister in 1917? The age of television and computer imagery has taken over the world and the human senses have suffered most. People have become desensitized. They have become accepting of images of war and killing and torturing because unconsciously they can distance themselves from the reality, as they are accustomed to do when they sit down to a TV dinner and a 'good horror movie'. But the reality on the ground
in Gaza and the West Bank and in Lebanon is not just a horror
movie. When America dropped the two
bombs on the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in
1945, they were acting supposedly to save a ''possible one million
lives of American service men'' the estimated cost of a ground
land invasion of Japan. While the bombing of Berlin is ''justified'', the bombing of Dresden, where the allied forces bombing with incendiary bombs killed somewhere between 35,000 and 135,000 civilians, is conveniently taken out of many history books, as the bombing of Qana will be too. The idea of '''destroying resistance''
to Israel is too fluid a one to accept. What resistance is Israel
actually speaking about? And Resistance to what? The obvious
military ones of capturing Israeli soldiers and firing Qassam
rockets and Katyusha rockets is only a fraction of the resistance
movement that Israel and America are bent on destroying. The use of psychological means to reach these ends is quite terrifying. There are too many examples of the way in which the state of Israel and the US are undermining their Middle Eastern ''enemies'' through psychologically terrifying them. ''If they only fought us with weapons they know they would be finished,'' an ex-prisoner of 12 years told me the other night. ''But instead they torture us so that only the strongest manage to survive.'' The Israeli Army uses specific methods of psychological warfare in combat zones and more subtle forms of it in non-combat but occupied zones; yet all methods add up to the frightening reality that Israel and the US are bent on inflicting long-term effects on the Arab world that will turn them into the desperate and maddened people that the Western media has long since portrayed them as. In an unprecedented incident, an Israeli artillery officer has refused to bomb Lebanese villages. Israeli press sources have stated that Corporal 'Umri Zaid, from the Israeli city of Safad, who serves as an artillery soldier in the occupied Golan Heights, had refused orders to launch more than 150 shells onto the Lebanese village of Al-Jdairah. The sources have reported that
the soldier told his comrades that he wasn't ready to serve in
an army that is professional in shelling civilians in their villages
and cities. He packed his belongings and headed to his home.
The deputy head of the artillery brigade has announced that he will take the soldier to court. The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that Israeli soldiers have killed 176 residents, including 40 children, and injured 872, including 272 children, since Israel declared its "Summer Rains" offensive in the Gaza Strip on June 27. During the period between June 27 and July 31, Israeli soldiers also shot and injured 172 residents in West Bank and 520 in Gaza. Geneva Convention IV Art. 16. The wounded and sick, as well as the
infirm, and expectant mothers, shall be the object of particular
protection and respect Art. 18. Civilian hospitals organized to give
care to the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases,
may in no circumstances be the object of attack but shall at
all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict
Art. 19. The fact that sick or wounded members of the armed forces are nursed in these hospitals, or the presence of small arms and ammunition taken from such combatants which have not yet been handed to the proper service, shall not be considered to be acts harmful to the enemy and: Art. 20. Persons regularly and solely engaged in the operation and administration of civilian hospitals, including the personnel engaged in the search for, removal and transporting of and caring for wounded and sick civilians, the infirm and maternity cases shall be respected and protected Eliza Ernshire can be reached at eliza_ernshire@yahoo.co.uk
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann  Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair          Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org.                    |
