Just Muslims killing Muslims

Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dropped cluster bombs on children playing in a park in a Damascus suburb on Sunday. Ten of the children were killed.


But the UN Security Council has not been called into session. No one is calling for a 48-hour cessation of the war to determine how the accident happened because this wasn't an accident. In fact, if you do a Google search limited to the last 24 hours, you will see that no one even noticed this story until around 7:00 am Israel time on Monday, when the Beirut Daily Star noticed it. The BBC picked it up about three hours later - the other entries mostly start about four hours after that. The story has gotten little or no coverage in the US.

But hey - it's just Muslims killing Muslims, so why should the world be interested?

Hamas Concedes That Gaza Is Not Occupied, So Where Is The UN?

In a stunning about-face, and after decades of violence justified by excuses of being under occupation, this week Hamas has admitted that Gaza is not occupied by Israel. And yet, the United Nations, which has long been reluctant to acknowledge Gaza's change in status, is still silent on the issue.

In response to a statement by Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal that Hamas will hold mass demonstrations against Israel inside Gaza to parallel those organized by the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Hamas Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar declared such a protest to be irrelevant. Al-Zahar stated that while the West Bank is "still under occupation" and that all forms of resistance, including armed resistance, should be used in that territory, "popular resistance is inappropriate for the Gaza Strip." "Against whom could we demonstrate in the Gaza Strip?,” al-Zahar asked. “When Gaza was occupied, that model was applicable.”

The international law of occupation requires that a hostile army have “effective control” over a territory in an area where its authority can be exercised, and to the exclusion of the territory’s established government. As foreign minister speaking on behalf of the Hamas government, al-Zahar is giving public credence to what has been a fact since September 2005 – that Israel is no longer in Gaza and that the Israeli government does not displace Hamas’s authority. The assertion that Gaza is no longer occupied is strongly supported by international law derived from the Geneva Conventions and legal precedent. For Hamas to state otherwise would undermine its own power and would be a profound display of the weakness of its government.

For decades, the notion that Israel is an occupier has been the rallying cry of the Palestinian people, seemingly an almost a greater raison d’etre for them than an actual pursuit of self-determination, as evidenced by the consistent rejection of every peace offer presented to the Palestinians and the unyielding rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel. While renouncing the language of occupation with respect to Gaza may be perceived as a concession to Israel, al-Zahar is actually demonstrating the strength of his government and boldness in the face of detractors in Gaza who are desperate for an excuse to continue to fight Israel.

There has been no official Israeli military or civilian presence in Gaza since September 12, 2005, when the last Israeli soldier left the territory and the government declared its specific intent to no longer occupy Gaza and withdrew all of its military and civilian installations. However, UN Watch, an NGO that monitors the actions of the United Nations, has brought further attention to the fact that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has refused to declare Gaza to be anything other than occupied. As recently as September 22, roughly six years since the Israeli disengagement, the U.N. authorized a mission to visit the “occupied Palestinian territory, specifically the Gaza Strip.” In addition, an official U.N. fact sheet on the “Occupied Palestinian Territories” includes the map of Gaza.

While it is not legally necessary for the U.N. to acknowledge the absence of occupation in Gaza – application of the Geneva Conventions and legal precedent have satisfied those requirements - it is politically important for there to be a recognized change in status so that Israel will no longer be held to the more stringent legal requirements of an occupier and to lend greater legitimacy to Israel’s acts of self-defense. Gaza should have the intermediate status of a “sui generis” territory – unique, of its own kind or class - under the control of its own governing authority for the period between the end of occupation and until the finalization of permanent status negotiations. And, considering that the law, the facts, and the leadership of Hamas all indicate that Gaza is not occupied, there is no legitimate reason to continue to deem Gaza to be under occupation, a legally and factually inaccurate status.

The purpose of the United Nations is “to bring about by peaceful means ... adjustment or settlement of … situations which might lead to a breach of the peace.” However, continually declaring that Gaza is still occupied territory and not allowing for an intermediate status may only encourage violence because the Palestinian people in Gaza will feel that their voices are not being heard. Furthermore, by denying a change of status the U.N. is doing the people of Gaza their autonomy as they struggle to prove their worthiness as a nation among nations.

In light of the groundbreaking proclamation by Hamas Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar, Secretary Ban should abandon the outdated and inaccurate rhetoric of occupation employed by the U.N. for so long. The United Nations should now seize the opportunity to have the words and actions of the organization reflect its stated determination “to promote social progress” and extend “better standards of life in larger freedom” to the Palestinian people of Gaza.

Elizabeth Samson is a Visiting Fellow at the Hudson Institute. She is an attorney specializing in international law.

The cruel Egyptian blockade of Gaza continues

Egypt has arrested 10 Gazans who sneaked through tunnels under Rafah into the country.

The people who were nabbed had tried to enter Egypt legally through the Rafah crossing, but the severe limitations on who can leave Gaza and long waiting lists, along with the corruption of the officials in charge of the crossing, forced them to use more illicit means of entering Egypt.

Three of the people caught were students, and a brother and sister were also caught.

A few weeks ago another dozen or so Gazans were arrested as well in Egypt.

I'm sure that the Free Gaza movement and Viva Palestina are staging noisy protests outside Egyptian embassies worldwide on the cruel, inhuman treatment by Egypt of innocent Gazans. Because we all know how much they care about the lives of Gazans in their open-air prison.

ISRAEL SLAMS UN SECURITY COUNCIL ON PA ROCKET ATTACKS

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations is asking that body's Security Council why it's not “shocked” by the constant barrage of rockets and mortars fired by Gaza terrorists at southern Israel.

Ambassador Ron Prosor declared Wednesday during a meeting of the U.N. Security Council that the unstable security situation in southern Israel should shock that body's members – which have often expressed deep dismay at similar situations elsewhere in the world.

Prosor criticized the Council at its session on Wednesday for not condemning the attacks by Palestinian Authority Arab terrorists, who earlier this month killed a 56-year old Ashkelon man and physically wounded 16 other people in a barrage aimed at the southern region.

Another 14 people were also sent to the hospital with trauma reactions and severe anxiety attacks during the five-day period in which rockets and mortars were fired at Israeli civilian communities.

“The pain caused by these attacks is permanent,” Prosor pointed out. “The scars are both physical and psychological... One million Israelis were compelled to stay home from work last week to ensure their safety... 200,000 children were kept home from school.

“These stories should shock and appall the Security Council and all decent people. Yet, not a single world of condemnation has been uttered by this Council. Not one word.

“The silence speaks volumes,” he said.

Syrian death toll over 5000!

From IRIN: 

Twice as many people have allegedly been killed in Syria - since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began six months ago - than the current UN estimate, and three times the regime's official tally, according to new statistics from human rights researchers and opposition activists in Syria.

The report by Avaaz, the global campaign group and its partner Insan, a leading Syrian human rights organization, said over 5,300 people have been killed.

A team of 60 human rights researchers verified the names of 3,004 people killed in over 127 locations across Syria from 18 March to 9 September, while an additional 2,356 people were registered as dead, but have not yet been verified, the report said.

Each of the 3,004 recorded killings was triple-sourced in line with international protocols for recording casualties of conflict, by at least one family member and two other contacts, such as friends, community leaders, clerks or imams of mosques.

The other 2,356 names have been recorded as killed but Insan researchers have not yet been able to triple-source each case, as the deaths were either reported in the Syrian state media or the bodies were taken away following injury or death and later not acknowledged by the authorities.

The total figure of 5,360 people killed is roughly double the current figure of 2,600 given on 12 September by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, while Amnesty International has documented the deaths of 2,121 people, not including members of the security forces.

The government acknowledges only 1,400 casualties.

“We knew the official numbers were way below,” Avaaz’s Henrietta McMicking said. “The 3,004 names have been verified, while we know that the 2,356 additional people are definitely dead, but we have not been able to verify their names under our stringent criteria.”

The as yet unverified figure includes 308 names of people reported killed in Syrian state-run media, 674 names of military personnel the authorities have reported killed, and 1,374 names of people who have been reported dead, but whose bodies have never been found.

I guess Western-educated ophthalmologists who marry glamorous women can be mass murderers as well. Who would have guessed it.

Syrian Tanks Firing on Civilians and Mosque The death toll In Syria on Sunday passes 50. Syrian tanks mow down civilians, fire on mosques. WARNING: Some scenes not suitable for children

The death toll in four cities Sunday reportedly is well over 50 as Syrian tanks mow down civilians and fire on mosques. WARNING: Some scenes not suitable for children.

At least 45 were killed in the northern city of Hama and another 100 or more wounded as tanks rumbled through the northern city.

Nearby, more than a dozen people were killed in Deir Ezzour, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, quoted by CNN. %ad%

The brutality of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s apparent fight-to-death against the Arab Spring uprising surpassed all previous depths as the death toll in the four-month protest movement swells to 1,700 and probably is closer to 2,000. Thousands of people have “disappeared” as Assad borrows tactics from Iran and with the help of Irnaian Revolutionary Guards to arrest and torture dissenters.

In some cases, soldiers welcomed the protesters aboard their tanks, but the bloody scenes, caught on film by citizens risking their lives, indicate the overpowering presence of the army.

As previously documented, Syrian troops fired on civilians trying to treat and rescue the wounded. Tanks also fired on mosques where loudspeakers broadcast, “Allah Akbar.”

Syrian Death Squads Massacre Mourners at Funerals A mother and brother of a victim of Assad’s death squads were gunned down as they tried to bury the victim. Mass arrests reported.

A mother and brother of a victim of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s death squads were gunned down as they tried to bury the victim until security forces fired at crowds. Five others were killed and more than 40 were wounded.

The mourners fled in a panic, and soldiers and police continued to shoot at anyone in the street in Homs, a center of opposition against theAssad regime.

The death toll the past four days has climbed to 50, and even pro-government media are beginning to encourage diplomatic means to end what one newspaper called a “nightmare.” Human rights groups estimate that more than 1,600 people have been mowed down since the beginning of the four-month uprising, but the numbers probably are far higher. In addition, more than 20,000 have been arrested, half of them still in custody and hundreds of them tortured.

"The authorities' plan failed just as it failed in Banias last April" when secret police and soldiers fired at a mosque, London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Refugees from Syria continue to try to cross borders despite deployment of additional Syrian soldiers to prevent them from leaving the country. Dozens of Syrians managed to cross into northern Lebanon on Tuesday.

One of the reasons that Assad has been able to stubbornly hold on to power is the fear of the United States and other countries of what might happen if he is toppled or steps down. President Barack Obama backed the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, but the substitute provisional military regime so far has proven itself to be anti-Israel, anti-America and has been accused by Egyptians of continuing the same corruption and lack of reforms that tainted Mubarak.

Complicating the situation in Syria is the mix of secular and different religious factions of Christians, Sunni Muslims and Alawites, the minority community of two million people, including Assad.

Alawites comprise only 10 percent of the Syrian population but hold key positions in the government.

First person video of Syrian sniper shooting cameraman

From Ha'aretz:

Syrian opposition released footage Sunday that it says was filmed in the restive city of Homs, in which a civilian cameraman is fired upon by troops dispatched by President Bashar Assad.

In the video, the photographer documents the security forces firing indiscriminately at citizens and homes in the Karm a-Shami neighborhood. As the photographer narrates what is happening around him, the camera focuses on a uniformed man hiding near a house below.

After a few seconds the soldier is seen pointing his gun at the photographer and firing, apparently hitting him as the camera drops. Media outlets outside of Syria have yet to verify the events documented.

No idea if the cameraman survived.

Cold-Blooded Shooting of Syrian Youth by Assad’s Troops

Syrian President Bashar Assad’s soldiers secretly razed homes in the city of Hama, north of Damascus, amid his regime’s fears that the violent attempts to suppress the uprising might spell an all-out revolution.
Video: Assad’s troops shoot youth on street in Homs in central Syria.


Tens of thousands of residents poured out in Hama to demonstrate for freedom. Forces which earlier had withdrawn to surround the city swooped down and beat and arrested hundreds of activists. Assad on Friday sacked the governor of Hama on charges that he was too lax in dealing with protesters.
The death toll in the three-month-old protest movement has reached 1,300-1,600, according to different estimates, and at least 20,000 people have been detained or have disappeared.” Half of them have allegedly been released.
Human Rights Watch reported Saturday that the government crackdown in Homs, a city in central Syria and a center of anti-regime activity, included vandalism of homes by plainclothes police.
The latest round of violence virtually has erased memories of Assad’s public leniency last week, when his government allowed 200 activists to meet at a Damascus hotel without interference by the police or army. Events on Monday indicated that Assad has no intention of letting up, but the protest movement also appears to gaining even more steam.
Tanks were deployed Sunday and Monday at the entrance to Hama, home to 400,000 Syrians while arrests and shootings continued in half a dozen other cities, as well as a suburb of Damascus

Arabs that the flotilla ignores: The tent city of Medinat al-Salam

From Al Masry al-Youm:

Naglaa Mahdy sleeps in a tent with ten other women and their children. She wakes up and dusts herself off, then she tries to figure out how to feed herself and her family on her tiny budget.

Mahdy is one of over 1000 people who, after being evicted from their rented apartments in February, have been living in tents in Medinat al-Salam.

After cooking on a stove she borrowed from another tent (all of her home appliances have been stolen), Mahdy spends the rest of the day waiting for representatives from the governorate, who visit periodically to assess the families and determine who deserves an apartment.

This is life in the Medinat al-Salam tent city [in Egypt.] Some residents have brought their protests to central Cairo and attracted attention to their cause, but many more continue their threadbare existence under canvas.

Mahdy is still mourning the loss of her baby, who was born prematurely a week ago. The baby died three days later because Mahdy couldn’t afford the necessary medical treatment. Despite her physical and emotional pain, Mahdy still congregates with the other residents of the tent city whenever a governorate representative arrives. She is desperately trying to secure an apartment for herself, her husband and her remaining two children.

During the security vacuum that began on 28 January, landlords in Medinat al-Salam worried that tenants would take over their apartments and refuse to leave when their contracts expired. In a preemptive move against having their apartments stolen, landlords terminated renters’ contracts and evicted them from their homes.

In February, the evicted families were promised apartments within a month and housed in tents in the Sbiko area in Medinat al-Salam under orders from Prime Minister Essam Sharaf.

Early this month, the governor of Cairo announced the allocation of 126 apartments for the evicted residents, and a renewed investigation into the cases of another 293 families. The rest of the tent city’s residents were deemed undeserving by the governor, who claimed that they had already received apartments.

They deny the governor’s claims and complain that the majority of the apartments were allocated to people from other areas. The tent dwellers assert that they have no other assets, despite the governorate officials’ claims that they do. The tent dwellers say this is simply a ruse on behalf of the authorities to justifiy denying compensation. The residents say that although there is a minority of “powerful people” among them who have assets, most families have next to nothing.

“If I had any assets, would I have exposed myself and my kids to this unbearable life?” said Marwa Zawam, one of the residents.

Residents say that those among them with connections and money are making trouble for the rest of them. They say that these people bribe governorate workers to allocate apartments for them, and keep other families from making contact with officials.

Every tent, the size of a small room, houses ten families. Women and children sleep in the tents at night while the men keep watch. Come daybreak, the women and children step outside and the men file in for their turn at sleeping.

Sleeping on a thin cover, the residents spend the night on the sandy floor, an arrangement that many say has given them breathing problems.

Warda Zeid has been in and out of hospitals for the past six months with two of her three children who have allergies.

“This child starts getting convulsions in the middle of the night; I take him and run to the hospital. I don’t know what to do,” says Zeid, holding her three-year-old child.

There is only one bathroom for the entire tent camp. It is made of cubicles with a hole in the floor and a light sheet for a cover. The women complain of the lack of privacy and say they’re scared to go to the bathroom at night.

With nothing but a rope to secure the entrance to each tent, residents say they are subjected to frequent attacks by criminals. Some local thieves use the camp as a hiding place after committing crimes in the neighborhood, while others have taken to stealing appliances belonging to the homeless families.

After repeated attacks on the tents and the rape of an 8-year-old boy, the men, whose work was already severely affected by the slumping economy, stop working completely. Instead, they stay with their families for protection, relying for financial support on friends and relatives.

Meanwhile Gazans living in the worst camps get free housing, free medical care and free education. 

There are no flotillas for residents of the tent city of Medinat al-Salam, since their misery cannot be blamed on Jews.

Syrian forces shell town kill 41, lawyer says

ANTALYA, Turkey (Reuters) - Syrian forces killed 41 civilians in an effort to crush pro-democracy protests, a human rights lawyer said on Wednesday, as opposition leaders met in Turkey to plot the downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Lawyer Razan Zaitouna told Reuters by telephone from Damascus the 41 dead in Rastan included a four-year-old girl killed as government forces shelled the central town on Tuesday.
Five of them were buried in Rastan on Wednesday, she said.
Syrian forces also killed nine civilians on Tuesday in the town of Hirak, rights campaigner Ammar Qurabi said on Wednesday.
The nine, among them three doctors, one dentist and an 11-year-old girl, were killed by snipers and during the storming of houses in Hirak, where tanks had deployed this week, Qurabi, who heads the Syrian Human Rights Organization, told Reuters.
Rights groups say 1,000 civilians have been killed as Assad seeks to crush a revolt which has turned into the gravest challenge to his 11-year rule. The severity of the crackdown has provoked international condemnation and sanctions.
"The revolution inside Syria has declared 'the people want the overthrow of the regime'. We echo it. The price of the blood being shed can only be freedom," Abdelrazzaq Eid, a senior figure in the Damascus Declaration umbrella opposition group, told a conference in the Turkish coastal city of Antalya.
The gathering is the first official meeting of activists and opposition figures in exile since protests erupted 10 weeks ago in Deraa, a poor, agricultural city in southern Syria.
"The dictatorship has presented nothing to show a modicum of good intentions. It has lost any legitimacy by firing at and killing its own people," Eid said, to the applause of delegates.
Syrian authorities blame armed groups, backed by Islamists and foreign agitators, for the unrest and say more than 120 police and soldiers have been killed.
The meeting in Turkey brought together a broad spectrum of opposition figures driven abroad over the last 30 years, from Islamists crushed in the 1980s, to fleeing Christians.
A regional Middle East player, Assad has sought since succeeding his father in 2000 to maintain Syria as an ally of Iran and supporter of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah while seeking better ties with the West and peace with Israel.
But Assad's handling of the protests has triggered U.S. and EU sanctions on members of the ruling hierarchy, including himself, after four years of detente with the West. Syria's backer Turkey has also begun to criticize Assad.
"SACRIFICES"
Delegates in Turkey said an ultra-loyalist army controlled by Assad's brother Maher, and a security apparatus which has suppressed dissent for decades, were preventing Damascus and Syria's biggest city Aleppo from joining the demonstrations.
But they said international pressure and a series of gruesome killings have turned Syrian public opinion against the 45-year-old leader, pointing to a slow but steady expansion of demonstrations, despite an intensified military crackdown.
"I am afraid there will be more sacrifices before Assad goes, but this is the nature of revolutions," said Naim al-Salamat, a researcher who lives in Ireland.
Thirteen-year-old Hamza al-Khatib has become a potent symbol to protesters after video of his bloodied corpse was posted on the Internet. Activists say he was tortured and killed by security forces. Syrian authorities deny he was tortured and say he was killed when armed gangs shot at government forces.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was "very concerned" about Khatib's case.
"I think what that symbolizes for many Syrians is the total collapse of any effort by the Syrian government to work with and listen to their own people," Clinton told a news conference.
"I can only hope that this child did not die in vain."
Assad has issued decrees aimed at appeasing public grievances. Opposition leaders say they would not change the nature of a repressive political system in which arbitrary arrests, beatings and torture of political detainees are common.
State news agency SANA said on Wednesday Assad ordered the formation of a committee tasked with setting the framework for a national dialogue.
On Tuesday he announced an amnesty for political prisoners, but rights campaigners said the decree had numerous exceptions, specifying reduced sentences for many cases rather than release.
France said the amnesty had come too late.
"The Syrian authorities' change of direction will have to be much clearer and more ambitious than a simple amnesty," France's Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told France Culture radio.
(Editing by Jon Hemming and Michael Roddy)

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