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Proof
Positive: Israel Using White
Phosphorus in Gaza
Jerusalem, Jan 10, (RHC).-
Evidence has emerged proving
that Israel has been using
controversial white phosphorus
shells during its offensive in
Gaza, despite official denials
by Tel Aviv. There is also
evidence that the rounds have
injured Palestinian civilians,
causing severe burns. The use of
white phosphorus against
civilians is prohibited under
international law.
According to a story published
by The Times UK, stockpiles of
white phosphorus (WP) shells
have been identified from high-resolution
images taken of Israeli
artillery units on the Israeli-Gaza
border this week.
The
pale blue 155mm rounds are
clearly marked with the
designation M825A1, an American-made
WP munition. The shell is an
improved version with a more
limited dispersion of the
phosphorus, which ignites on
contact with oxygen, and is
being used by the Israeli
gunners to create a smoke screen
on the ground.
The
rounds, which explode into a
shower of burning white streaks,
were first identified by The
Times last weekend when they
were fired over Gaza at the
start of Israel's ground
offensive.
There are now reports that
Palestinian civilians have been
injured by the bombs, which burn
intensely. Hassan Khalass, a
doctor at al-Shifa hospital in
Gaza City, told The Times that
he had been dealing with
patients who he suspected had
been burnt by white phosphorus.
Muhammad Azayzeh, an emergency
medical technician in Gaza City,
said: "The burns are very
unusual. They don't look like
burns we have normally seen.
They are third-level burns that
we can't seem to control."
Victims with embedded WP
particles in their flesh have to
have the affected areas flushed
with water. Particles that
cannot be removed with tweezers
are covered with a saline-soaked
dressing. Nafez Abu Shaban, the
head of the burns unit at al-Shifa
hospital, said: "I am not
familiar with phosphorus but
many of the patients wounded in
the past weeks have strange
burns. They are very deep and
not like burns we used to see."
When
The Times reported earlier this
week that Israeli troops
appeared to be firing WP shells
to create a thick smoke
camouflage for units advancing
into Gaza, an Israeli military
spokesman denied the use of
phosphorus and said that Israel
was using only the weapons that
were allowed under international
law.
Rows
of the pale blue M825A1 WP
shells were photographed on
January 4th on the Israeli side
of the Israel-Gaza border.
Another picture showed the same
munitions stacked up behind an
Israeli self-propelled howitzer.
Confronted with the latest
evidence, an Israeli military
spokesperson insisted that the
M825A1 shell was not a WP type.
She told reporters: "This is
what we call a quiet shell -- it
is empty, it has no explosives
and no white phosphorus. There
is nothing inside it."
U.S.
Weapons
and Technology Kill Civilians in
Gaza Strip
The
U.S. weapons systems used by
Israel in its attacks on Gaza -
including F-16 fighter planes,
Apache helicopters, tactical
missiles and a wide range of
munitions - have been provided
by Washington mostly as outright
military grants, according to a
story by Inter Press Service,
IPS.
A
recently released report shows
that the administration of U.S.
President George W. Bush alone
has provided over 21 billion
dollars in U.S. security
assistance over the last eight
years -- including 19 billion
dollars in direct military aid
as freebies.
A briefing released by the Arms
and Security Initiative of the
New York-based New America
Foundation, says: "Israel's
intervention in the Gaza Strip
has been fueled largely by U.S.
supplied weapons paid for with
U.S. tax dollars." The report
goes on to note: "The Bush
administration has been
unwilling to use its
considerable influence -- as
Israel's major military and
political backer -- to dissuade
the government in Tel Aviv from
its pattern of claiming self-defense
while perpetrating collective
punishment, human rights
violations and undertaking
massively disproportionate
attacks that harm and kill
civilians."
Frida Berrigan, senior program
associate at the New America
Foundation, told IPS that
besides military aid, the United
States has contracted more than
22 billion dollars in arms sales
to Israel in 2008 alone,
including a proposed deal for 75
F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, nine
C-130J-30 military transport
aircraft and four combat ships.
The
two-week military onslaught has
resulted in the deaths of nearly
800 Palestinians, including more
than 300 civilians, mostly
victims of U.S. weaponry. In
comparison, the Israeli death
toll is about seven soldiers and
four civilians, primarily due to
"friendly fire", or victims of
rocket attacks by Hamas.
Mouin Rabbani, contributing
editor at the Washington-based
Middle East Report, says the
intimacy of the U.S.-Israeli
military relationship, and the
frequency with which Israel
launches wars, means that the
Israeli military also performs
the function of testing newly-developed
weapons systems in actual
warfare, which is of value to
both Israel and the United
States.
Tracing historical links,
Rabbani said Israel replaced
South Vietnam as the primary
recipient of U.S. foreign
military aid in the 1970s and
has maintained that status ever
since. He said that Israel is
also permitted to participate in
various U.S. weapons development
programmes, meaning that in
addition to weapons deliveries
it benefits enormously from the
transfer of military
technologies.
Rabbani pointed out that given
the level of U.S. military
assistance to Israel, the
deployment of these weapons in
the current onslaught against
the Gaza Strip, and U.S.
political support for Israel
during this crisis, Palestinians
could be forgiven for insisting
the U.S. shares direct
responsibility.
Asked by Inter Press Service if
there would a change in policy
under an Obama administration,
Rabbani said: "I don't see any
indication that things are set
to change once Obama takes
office."
Tel
Aviv Warns
Gazans to Brace for Military
Escalation
The
Israeli air force has dropped
leaflets on the Gaza Strip
warning residents that it plans
to escalate its two-week-old
offensive. The notice says
Israel is about to begin a "new
phase" of the military offensive,
warning that it will "escalate"
an operation that already has
killed nearly 800 Palestinians.
The
Israeli army said Saturday that
it has dropped the fliers
throughout Gaza. It says the
notices are meant as a "general
warning."
Israeli forces pounded dozens of
targets and edged closer to Gaza
City on Saturday while southern
Israel came under renewed rocket
fire after one of its quietest
nights in the two-week offensive
against Hamas. In the day's
bloodiest incident, an Israeli
tank shell landed outside a home
in the northern Gaza town of
Jebaliya, killing nine people as
they sat outside in their garden.
Flames and smoke could be seen
rising into the sky over Gaza
City on Saturday. In Rafah, a
woman was reportedly killed by a
Israeli airstrike in the
southern town.
Israel has come under
international criticism for the
rising number of civilians
killed in the fighting.
Paramedics said the nine
casualties in Jebaliya were from
the same family and included two
children and two women.
Tel
Aviv's attacks on Gaza have
continued, despite a UN Security
Council resolution calling for
an immediate and durable cease-fire
that would lead to the
withdrawal of Israeli troops
from Gaza. Israel has dismissed
the resolution passed Thursday
as impractical.
Some
of the heaviest fighting
Saturday occurred on the
strategic coastal road north of
Gaza City, according to
Palestinian security officials.
Israeli forces moved to within
about one mile of the city
before pulling back slightly.
The
brutal military offensive has
caused extensive damage
throughout Gaza, fueling fears
of an impending humanitarian
crisis. The United Nations
estimates two-thirds of Gaza's
1.4 million people are without
electricity, and half don't have
running water.
The
civilian death toll has drawn
heavy criticism of Israel from
international aid groups and
triggered anger throughout the
Islamic world and elsewhere.
There have been daily protests
in the Middle East and in Europe.
Earlier this week, more than
40,000 people demonstrated in
Oslo, Norway, denouncing the
attack on Gaza. According to Al
Jazeera, other rallies were held
in Venezuela, Tehran, Khartoum
and Sarajevo. In Canada, more
than 30 activists occupied the
Israeli consulate in Montreal.
The action came one day after a
group of Jewish Canadian women
occupied the Israeli consulate
in Toronto.
Other protests are taking place
in major U.S. cities, targetting
Israeli consulates and
government buildings. On Friday,
a mass march and rally was held
in Chicago at the Israeli
consulate in that U.S. city.
Despite the freezing weather
conditions, thousands marched to
demand an end to Tel Aviv's war
crimes. Among the demands: Stop
the U.S./Israeli War on Gaza!
End the Occupation Now! Free
Palestine! Stop U.S. Aid to
Israel!
Top
UN Official Proposes Mission to
Examine War
Crimes in Gaza
The
top United Nations human rights
official has proposed a mission
to assess violations and
possible war crimes committed by
both Israel and Hamas in the
Gaza conflict, and called for
immediate implementation of a
ceasefire.
High
Commissioner for Human Rights
Navi Pillay told a special
session of the Human Rights
Council in Geneva: “The
situation is intolerable. The
ceasefire called for by the UN
Security Council must be
implemented immediately. The
violence must stop.”
Ms.
Pillay stressed unequivocally
that international human rights
law must apply in all
circumstances and at all times,
and strongly urged the parties
to the conflict “to fulfil their
obligations under international
humanitarian law to collect,
care for and evacuate the
wounded and to protect and
respect health workers,
hospitals, and medical units and
ambulances. Accountability must
be ensured for violations of
international law,” she said,
suggesting that the Human Rights
Council should consider
authorizing a mission to assess
violations committed by both
sides in the conflict in order
to establish the relevant facts
and ensure accountability.
The
head of the UN Human Rights
Council recalled that violations
of international humanitarian
law may constitute war crime for
which individual criminal
responsibility may be invoked.
She also called on the parties
to the conflict to allow the
deployment of independent human
rights monitors in both Israel
and the occupied Palestinian
territory to document any
violations of international
human rights and humanitarian
law.
The
special session was called in
response to a request by Egypt
on behalf of the Arab Group and
the African Group, Pakistan on
behalf of the Organization of
the Islamic Conference, and Cuba
on behalf of the Non-Aligned
Movement.
A
joint statement by the UN Relief
and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA),
the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) and the UN
Children's Fund (UNICEF) said
the terrible suffering of the
civilian population in the Gaza
Strip and the south of Israel
demanded the Council’s urgent
attention.
The
statement says that nothing less
than ending the violence would
be effective to improve the
situation. In addition to those
killed and wounded, thousands of
Palestinians had been displaced,
but there was no safe haven for
them as had been shown by the
incident at an UNRWA school,
where Israeli shells killed 43
people and injured over 100,
according to the statement. |
