Middle East Watch

475 Article

• US Army Confirms Israeli Nukes; Israeli Aid At Stake

  18 March 2009, by Bryant Jordan
  The Army has let slip one of the worst-kept secrets in the world — that Israel has the bomb. Officially, the United States has a policy of “ambiguity” regarding Israel’s nuclear capability. Essentially, it has played a game by which it neither acknowledges nor denies that Israel is a nuclear power. But a Defense Department study completed last year offers what may be the first time in a unclassified report that Israel is a nuclear power. On page 37 of the U.S. Joint Forces Command (…)  continue
  

• Devouring Jerusalem

  27 March 2009, by Khalid Amayreh
  In its increasingly rabid efforts to consolidate control of traditionally Arab-East Jerusalem, Israel this week moved to suppress Palestinian cultural activities associated with the city being declared the capital of Arab culture for 2009. On 19 March heavily armed paramilitary police violently dispersed a meeting at the Ambassador Hotel in East Jerusalem, confiscating posters, leaflets, placards and computers. Israeli police also raided schools, social clubs and community centres to (…)  continue
  

• We Will Not Forgive The Jews For Their Silence; for Turning Israel Into a Racist, Criminal State.

  26 March 2009, by Sami Jamil Jadallah
  The Jewish War on Gaza and its resultant destruction of the Gaza Strip and the horrible killings of innocent women and children in cold blood and as reported in series of articles in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and in statements made by UN officials were not surprising since Jewish soldiers are educated and trained to do that, simply kill. And so the total silence of the Jewish community around the world and especially the US Jewish community should not come as a shocking surprise but was (…)  continue
  

• U.N. rights envoy sees Israeli war crimes in Gaza

  20 March 2009,
  A United Nations human rights investigator said on Thursday that Israel’s military assault on densely populated Gaza appeared to constitute a grave war crime. Richard Falk, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, said the Geneva Conventions required warring forces to distinguish between military targets and surrounding civilians. "If it is not possible to do so, then launching the attacks is inherently unlawful and would seem to constitute a war crime of (…)  continue
  

• Guardian investigation uncovers evidence of alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza

  23 March 2009, by Clancy Chassay, Julian Borger
  The Guardian has compiled detailed evidence of alleged war crimes committed by Israel during the 23-day offensive against Gaza earlier this year, involving the use of Palestinian children as human shields, the targeting of medics and hospitals, and drone aircraft firing on civilians. Three Guardian films based on a month-long investigation, add weight to calls this week for a full inquiry into the events surrounding Operation Cast Lead, which was aimed at Hamas but left about 1,400 (…)  continue
  

• Gaza : le consensus israélien à l’épreuve de paroles de soldats

  19 mars 2009, par Gilles Paris
  Plus de deux mois après l’offensive sans précédent en intensité menée par leur armée contre le Mouvement de la résistance islamique (Hamas) dans la bande de Gaza, les Israéliens découvrent une réalité différente de celle qui avait été dépeinte à la fin des combats et qui avait valu un satisfecit général aux militaires et à l’échelon politique. Le bilan de l’offensive a tout d’abord été discuté par les éditorialistes israéliens, à commencer par Nahum Barnéa, du Yédioth Aharonoth. Alors que (…)  suite
  

• The lead is cast

  19 March 2009,
  Operation Cast Lead ended two months ago in a show of arrogance by Israeli leaders: Hamas had been dealt a crushing defeat that would deter it from firing rockets, and if it continued to smuggle weapons into Gaza the entire international community, from Washington to Cairo, would rally together to intercept them. The price paid by Gaza’s civilian population - hundreds killed, in addition to the hundreds of armed men from Hamas and other organizations - was presented as an unfortunate, but (…)  continue
  

• Thinking Through a U.S. Strategy Toward Gaza: A Congressional View

  16 March 2009, by Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad
  On March 3rd something that is (to my knowledge) unprecedented happened in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill. A standing room only crowd of over 130 persons heard actual Congressmen (not just outsiders given a platform by Congressmen) objectively discuss the devastation recently visited upon Gaza by the Israeli Defense Forces. It began with an excerpt from a video about the Congressmen’s visit to Gaza that showed what was left of a day-care center. Although not much more (…)  continue
  

• A Jérusalem-Est, le quartier Al-Boustan s’organise contre sa destruction annoncée

  18 mars 2009, par Michel Bôle-Richard
  La résistance s’est organisée. Une grande tente a été dressée et un comité de défense a été désigné. Le quartier Al-Boustan ("le jardin") à Jérusalem-Est est sur le pied de guerre. Les autorités israéliennes ont projeté de démolir 88 maisons pour y créer un parc. Le projet date de quatre ans, mais il vient d’être remis sur la table, et des ordres de démolition ont été notifiés aux 1 500 habitants de ces maisons qui, dit la mairie, ont été construites sans permis de construire. "Certaines (…)  suite
  

• Arming Terrorist Israel

  11 March 2009, by Elias Akleh
  Since their occupation of Palestine in 1948 to establish illegal Israel in the heart of the Arab World until the present, Zionist Israelis had initiated seven wars against their Arab neighbors. Six of those were waged after 1967 to maintain their occupation of the rest of Palestine, Lebanese Sheb’a Farms, and Syrian Golan Heights; formally recognized by the international community as an occupation. Israel had maintained its occupation of the land for the last sixty years. The question that (…)  continue