Warning: this is a graphic video showing serious injury and death.

Video From First Responders at Gaza beach massacre
 http://www.sendspace.com/file/45hwb2

also read: Palestinian girl won't forgive killers of her family  http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/am/publish/article_18671.shtml

Warning: this is a graphic video showing serious injury and death.

Video From First Responders at Gaza beach massacre
 http://www.sendspace.com/file/45hwb2

also read: Palestinian girl won't forgive killers of her family  http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/am/publish/article_18671.shtml

6 june 2006
palestine

the scenes we are watching on palestine tv right now are
horrific......a pile of bodies on the sandy beach in gaza, emergency crews stumbling,
tripping over the sand, running out of stretchers, running toward
ambulances holding the bodies of children, a small girl screaming "daddy,
daddy daddy" and falling over the body of her dead father, weeping
uncontrollably as the palestinian emergency crews rush past her to bring the
injured to the hospital.

it is as horrific as any palestinian suicide bomb in israel -- 11
killed, 40 injured -- babies missing limbs, body parts falling off of
stretchers....but will this bombing, a missile shot from an israeli naval
vessel at a crowded beach full of vacationing palestinians, be put on the
front page of the washington post? or reported on CNN? will this
child who lost her father be interviewed by sympathetic news teams who will
broadcast her story to the world? or will this broadcast on palestine
tv be the only news coverage that this event will get?

today's attack reminds me of a similar one in 2002 - when a crowded
apartment building in gaza was hit by an israeli missile, and two dozen
family members, asleep in their beds, were blown to pieces....and is it a
strange coincidence that the most brutal israeli attacks happen just
when delicate coalitions and agreements for peaceful solutions are being
made? in the 2002 attack, the missile strike came just hours after all
the palestinian factions had made an agreement (after months of fragile
talks) to stop suicide attacks against israel. the israeli attack
later that night, followed the next morning by an announcement from the US
that they were increasing aid money to israel, so infuriated the
palestinian factions that they called off the agreement.

and now, this blatant massacre of civilians in gaza - coming just as
palestinians were on the brink of a major breakthrough regarding a
document of national unity that would implicitly recognize israel -- now that
chance has been shot down again by israeli violence. hamas had been
going the diplomatic route, adhering since last february to a ceasefire
(despite the israeli side violating the ceasefire hundreds of times
since the agreement), engaging in democratic elections and peaceful methods
of diplomacy. but now, faced with just the latest in a series of
atrocities, the armed wing of hamas says they will no longer adhere to the
cease-fire, and will resume attacks against israel.

americans are not getting the real picture of what is happening here.
in the US, this conflict is portrayed as an embattled jewish nation,
traumatized by the holocaust and struggling to survive, up against a sea
of arabs who hate them only because they are jewish, and irrational
attackers who blow themselves up in the name of allah.

but what do americans know of the palestinian people? do they know how
the palestinians were pushed from their homes in 1948 to become
landless refugees in crowded camps and in diaspora around the world, just so
the state of israel could be created on their land? do they know that
jewish refugees and survivors of the holocaust were turned away from the
US and britain after world war II, because of anti-semitism in those
states, and many ended up coming to the new 'jewish state' unwillingly,
or unwittingly, lured by promises from leaders in the political movement
known as zionism? or how the palestinians were massacred, their land
stolen, their homes taken over by zionists? do americans know the
history of the state of israel, pre-emptively attacking its neighbors time
and again, and pushing the palestinians into smaller and smaller areas
of land -- much like the 'reservation' system created for native
americans in the USA? how the israeli government developed a nuclear program
in secret, exposed only by the actions of one brave israeli scientist
(mordechai vanunu) in the name of peace -- who was subsequently
imprisoned for 27 years and still remains under house arrest - israel now has
over 30 nuclear weapons, and no one in the international community has
said a word. what about how the israeli military has occupied the
palestinian people's land, all of it, for the last 40 years, dividing the
people into checkpoint-divided enclaves, shooting at children and
dropping missiles into crowded neighborhoods on a daily basis, all the while
seizing more and more land for their state?

and today....a child has lost her entire family. in a single moment,
her whole life has been turned into a nightmare. others have lost
children, brothers, wives, mothers....throughout palestine, people are
watching and crying. three days mourning has been declared throughout
palestine, including a general strike. while the world's media may be
trying to stoke fires of division among these beleagured people, i wish you
could see the steadfastness of shop-owners, schools and businesses that
will remain closed for three days - not because someone is forcing them
not to open, but in mourning for the palestinians who were just killed.

and meanwhile, the israeli military trivializes the attack -- likening
it to a 'work accident' and downplaying the credibility of witness
accounts. these soldiers who shot the missile will never face justice.
israeli soldiers never do. they can kill at will. even when the families
of those killed go to great expense to bring the case to trial, in a
justice system where they are 'non-persons', there is never any justice
served. even in the most publicized case - the case of iman al-hams, a
13-year old girl shot down in cold blood in gaza last year, with
transcripts of the sniper who killed her and the sergeant saying 'it's a
small girl...shoot her....anything that moves in this area, even if its a
three year old, should be shot' - even in that case, where the evidence
was overwhelming that a child was being shot in cold blood, the
sergeant was promoted, not punished. when israelis build settlements on
palestinian land, believe me the palestinians who live there try every means
to stop them -- they take it to court...but no palestinian challenge to
an israeli settlement has ever won in the israeli high court....or they
hold protests, marching and holding signs and banners, which the people
in bil'in village and other villages have done every week for the last
16 months, despite being attacked at every protest by israeli soldiers
who are brutal in putting down the peaceful demonstrations.

most palestinians are incredibly patient. as my pal seth porcello, a
canadian volunteering here in palestine, wrote last week:
"According to many of the people I have talked to here, Bil'in has
become a kind of symbol for non-violent resistance in Palestine.
Their persistence and endurance in continually confronting the wall
that separates them from their land remains unshaken even while under
the most intense repression. However, while Bil'in remains a symbol
of the non-violent resistance in Palestine, it is continually in
danger of becoming a symbol for something else: the failure and
hopelessness of non-violent resistance under the longest and possibly
most brutal occupation in the world. Wagi (wa-gee), a longtime
Bil'in resident who I met at the Outpost spoke to me about this
problem. Wagi has a disabled son, who was shot with a "dum dum" bullet
by an Israeli soldier while at a protest against the wall. The
bullet shattered his spine. Another of his sons was shot in the
shoulder while sitting down during a raid of Wagi's house, and a
third is in prison for three months after attending a non-violent
protest against the wall in Bil'in. While he continues to be
committed to non-violent resistance, he spoke to me about his worry
that the youth, including his sons, would abandon non-violent
resistance as the consequences are often just as dire as those of
picking up a gun. This seems to also be true for internationals,
considering last weeks demonstration nearly claimed the life of Phil
Reese from Australia. As Wagi put it - if people are not allowed to
demonstrate peacefully, then what other option do they have but to
become violent (paraphrasing)? It is a difficult question to answer,
and one that remains a matter of personal choice two generations, and
two intifadas, into this occupation. Wagi was arrested one week
after our conversation at the friday demonstration against the wall
and is now in prison. The shelter we took at the outpost to have our
conversation is now burned to the ground. And the next demonstration
is on friday. For more information on the history of the Outpost,
you can find an audio report here:
 http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2006/05/9843.php"

when palestinians know that no one is hearing their mourning cries, no
one is feeling their pain, no one is standing up to the power of israel
to kill them at will and take their land piece by piece and imprison
them into ghettoes -- how can anyone wonder why some young person would
get desperate and go try to kill some israelis? of course it's not
justified, there is never a justification for killing civilians, but,
living without hope, occupied for generations, your children, brothers,
sisters killed without any recourse, without any justice, with only silence
from the world at large -- can't you understand why someone would?

and the israelis know it, too -- that's why they often arrest the
family members of those who are shot in cold blood by their army, or at the
very least put them on 'security lists'. my fiance saed, shot during a
peaceful demonstration in 1991 and paralyzed, is one such example --
his family has been penalized for his having been shot by the israeli
army. what have they done wrong? absolutely nothing. but israeli
authorities feel that those whose family members were shot in cold blood may
be likely to commit 'thought crimes' against the israeli government -
thinking bad thoughts about the israeli soldiers that shot their loved
one, for instance. and these 'thought crimes' (see george orwell's book
_1984_) would be a threat to the israeli goal of complete control and
submission of the palestinian population. saed's mother, a devout
christian, for instance, was denied permission to go to jerusalem to pray in
the church of the holy sepulchre during christmas and easter (an age
old tradition among palestinian christians, dating back to the first days
after christ's death) -- why? 'security reasons'. no other
explanation, no way to know. but it probably has to do with the fact that her
son was shot, in cold blood, and paralyzed, 15 years ago, by their
soldiers -- they worry that she might take revenge. this sweet old lady, who
would never harm a fly, let alone another human being, is being
penalized because her son was a victim of the israeli occupation!!! isn't
there something wrong with this equation?

the booming blast of artillery shells every 15 seconds, relentless,
non-stop shelling for months would drive most normal people insane.
imagine - no place to escape the loud booms - any one of them could hit your
home, kill your family, at any moment. palestinians live in constant
terror. as former US attorney-general ramsey clark said, "the
palestinian people are, along with the iraqi people, the most terrorized people
on earth". and when they fight back against the occupying power -- a
legitimate right under international conventions -- THEY are called the
terrorists.

what is a terrorist anyway? it used to be that anyone who targeted
civilian populations was a terrorist. but it seems that someone who
targets palestinian civilians (ie. the israeli military) is not .....
someone who targets iraqi civilians (the us and british occupying armies) are
not (and if you doubt that they are targeting civilians, check this
british piece about a massacre carried out in cold blood by US marines --
for which the marines have been let off, with the US government saying
they did nothing wrong:
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1784705,00.html ).
or how about afghani civilians? do those who kill afghanis (the US
military) count as terrorists? no, it seems the definition of terrorism
has changed. it is only those who kill OUR civilians, who threaten OUR
'strategic national interest' (ie. our hold on natural resources that
may be in someone else's country, but are needed for americans to
maintain the 'american way of life') who are 'terrorists' in the US
government's view.

take for example the trans-caucasus oil pipeline - just finished -- to
get oil from azerbaijan out through turkey and onward to the USA (much
safer - in the US government's eyes - than the original plan, which was
to route this oil out through afghanistan). this article expains how
the US-trained special forces protecting this pipeline as it runs
through former-soviet georgia are most concerned about 'terrorism' -- by
which they do NOT mean attacks on civilians. by 'terrorism', they are
specifically referring to any attempt to destroy or hinder the constant
flow of oil through this pipeline into americans' gas tanks:
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,1784834,00.html

oh, while i'm on the topic of afghanistan, i just wanted to point out
that the war in afghanistan is far from over. death tolls are as high
as they've ever been, US and british troops are perceived not as
liberators but as occupiers, who have been there for nearly five years --
resentment of the foreign occupation is high, and reached a breaking point
a week ago when riots broke out in kabul after a US military vehicle
did a hit-and-run on a civilian in the city:
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1785599,00.html
and kabul is supposed to be the 'green zone'! the only place in
afghanistan where US and british troops have any semblance of control - the
rest of afghanistan has returned to the local mafias and the taliban has
steadily come back to power in most areas.

and if you have any doubt that the reason for attacking afghanistan was
oil, check out this statement from US representative ron paul from
texas in 2002:
"The real reason for our presence in the Persian Gulf, as well as our
eagerness to assist in building a new Afghan government under U.N.
authority, should be apparent to us all. Stuart Eizenstat, Under Secretary
of Economics, Business and Agricultural Affairs for the previous
administration, succinctly stated U.S. policy for Afghanistan testifying
before the Senate Foreign Relations Trade Committee October 13, 1997. He
said, 'One of five main foreign policy interests in the Caspian region is
to continue support for U.S. companies and the least progress has been
made in Afghanistan , where gas and oil pipeline proposals designed to
carry Central Asian energy to world markets have been delayed
indefinitely pending establishment of a broad-based, multiethnic government.'
This was a rather blunt acknowledgment of our intentions. It is apparent
that our policy has not changed with this administration. Our new
Special Envoy to Afghanistan , Zalmay Khalilzad, was at one time a lobbyist
for the Taliban and worked for Unocal , the American oil company
seeking rights to build oil and gas pipelines through northern Afghanistan .
During his stint as a lobbyist, he urged approval of the Taliban and
defended them in the U.S. press. He now, of course, sings a different
tune with respect to the Taliban, but I am sure his views on the pipeline
by U.S. companies has not changed."
(source: congressional record 2002 -
 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?r107:2:./temp/~r107Zo8Kbi:e7034:)

and of course there is the well-known statement from Unocal oil company
before congress in 1998:
"From the outset, we have made it clear that construction of the
pipeline we have proposed across Afghanistan could not begin until a
recognized government is in place that has the confidence of governments,
lenders, and our company." - Mr. John J. Maresca, vice-president of
international relations, Unocal Corporation Feb 12, 1998
full statement here:  http://www.progressiveaustin.org/afoilpip.htm
(also available in the 1998 congressional record, print version only)

sigh.....

do americans think that afghani mothers suffer less than they do when
they lose their sons or daughters? or iraqi mothers? or palestinian
mothers? all people suffer, all people feel the loss of a loved one with
pain, anger, sorrow and rage -- this is universal.

so why be surprised that after the daily indignities, the imprisonment,
the constant shelling, the taking over of their land and the killing of
their children with no justice in sight, that some palestinians resort
to desperate acts of violence? but to classify the israel-palestinea
tit-for-tat kind of conflict (ie. you kill my children, so i'll kill
yours), although that element does exist. this conflict is the strategic,
planned takeover of one people's land by another people using violence,
occupation, imprisonment and constant humiliation as tools -- tools
used by the israeli authorities, military and civilians to completely
disenfranchise the palestinians of their land.

if israel is truly a 'democracy', as they claim, then why not take down
the wall, give palestinians citizenship in a state (israeli OR
palestinian), and let them have the equal rights that all people are entitled
to under international conventions???

but that will never happen. because by giving palestinians equal
rights, by defining the borders of their nation, by removing their military
from the palestinian areas, they will not be able to fulfill their
stated objective (stated clearly by israeli prime minister ehud olmert in
his address to the US congress several weeks ago, to thunderous applause
from the american legislators) to TAKE OVER ALL of this land.


oh and btw - the gutless corporate lackeys in the us house of
representatives succumbed to corporate pressure and overwhelmingly passed a bill
yesterday to essentially sell off the internet to the highest bidder
(321 for, 101 against), as well as wrecking public access tv. take a
moment to save the internet by letting your senator know to vote against
it (H.R. 5252 - the COPE Act):
 http://savetheinternet.com

the internet is still a new technology - it has allowed more media
democracy than television and radio put together.....just think, you
wouldn't even be able to get these updates from palestine, if it weren't for
the internet! let's not let them take this away, as was done with
radio and television (both of which were quite democratic at their start,
but were allowed to become controlled by commercial, corporate interests
with the help of the US government).

and here's an op-ed my fiance saed wrote about the Israeli attack on
the Gaza beach, called "The Gaza sea cries pure and dear blood":
 http://www.imemc.org/content/view/19247/1/

-----------------------------
 http://www.jenkasjourneys.org

From the BBC UK website

"The beach explosion was blamed by Palestinians on Israeli shelling near the area where a family was enjoying a picnic.

However, Israeli officials say a military inquiry has ruled that Israel was probably not responsible and that the blast could have been caused by a mine planted on the beach by the Hamas government. "

Link below

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5074798.stm

Someones lying here.

-How does a vile terrorist state like Israel come into being?
-How does a vile terrorist state like Israel get funding and weapon supplies?
-How does a vile terrorist state like Israel get all technical assistance required to build chemical, nuclear, and genetic weapons?
-How does a vile terrorist state like Israel ensure that press reports always use propaganda methods to moderate language and facts in Israel's favour?
-How does a vile terrorist state like Israel continuously carry out terrorist acts that would have sickened even Hitler, in the complete knowledge that not only will they get away with such acts, but that those that attempt to comment against them will almost certainly have their words erased?

What do the UK, US, Canada, France, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Canada, and Australia all have in common? Well, Israel requires just one thing, namely that its tribe controls a key block of world governments to ensure that Israel will not only get away with the very worst CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, but will be made more powerful by such crimes. How is this control maintained? Simple- by the most dedicated acts of infiltration, corruption, and blackmail.

Today Israel carried out another standard (for it) act of mass murder. They attacked a vehicle in Gaza, waited for a crowd to appear helping the victims, and then (MINUTES LATER) rocketed the crowd, butchering the people there, including the doctors (THE ACTUAL TARGET). Of course, this NAZI ACT OF MASS MURDER was captured in living colour via the best optical systems US money can provide, but unlike Blair's massive bombs that fell on 'al Zarqawi', the BBC (Israel's biggest media cheerleaders) won't be rushing to show its viewers this piece of 'military' video footage.

So here we have a terrorist state that murders US and UK civilians for fun, has been responsible for numerous acts of MASS MURDER every year of its history, and is armed to the gills with weapons of MASS DESTRUCTION. And yet, it is Iran up for destruction, not Israel.

Think on this. Israel was formed when members of its tribe flooded into Palestine from post war Europe and US, in waves of raping, torturing and mass murdering. The leaders of these people rallied their butchers by saying "Never forget, and to prove this treat the people of Palestine in the same way that the nazis treated us". They did this ONLY because they knew that their tribe had complete control of the UK, US, French, and Russian governments at the time, and that powerful members of their tribe in the US would provide all the funds required, and access to military equipment left over from WW2.

This first stage was nothing more than the colonial racist abuse of power that had formed much of Earth's history for many centuries before WW2. The tribe was aware that such concepts were about to become obsolete and unacceptable (how could they not, given America's thoughts on the nature of post-WW2 politics), but that here was a final moment in history where a 'white' western power could exterminate and remove the native people of a land.

There was a greater consequence. The very act of creating 'Israel' dictated how the strategy that the tribe would have to follow for decades to come. Of course, the tribal leaders foresaw all this long ago. Israel was NOT created to be a jewish state. The US was always a vastly better place for powerful jews to persue their ambitions, giving massively disproportionate power to the jewish population living there. No, Israel was created so that the requirement to defend the obscenity of that state and its actions would bond together the members of the tribe, no matter where on the planet, in blood and violence.

The continuous existence of Israel DEMANDS the control of key Earth governments, and since WW2, the tribe has extended the list of powerful nations that ALWAYS do its bidding to a point of near completion.

The continuous existence of Israel DEMANDS the control of MASS MEDIA, and the nature of the message that the majority of people in the West receive on a daily basis. Pre-WW2, and the tribe only had partial control (witness the support the nazis received from certain media organisations). Today, every major radio, TV, and newspaper broadcaster in the West is under the control of the tribe. So absolute is the power of Israel and its supporters that their media organisations have to insert an occasional (harmless) anti-Israel looking story in an attempt to prevent even the stupidest of sheep from asking difficult questions.

The continuous existence of Israel DEMANDS a constant proof that Israel uniquely exists above the laws of man. Here we return to the atrocities in Gaza. A little land more of less for Israel is nothing against the land they control in Europe and the US. The native population of Palestine, for all it would offend any concept of justice, require so little in compensation for the years of warcrimes carried out against them, that the cost of one week's occupation in Iraq would deal with that. No solution is found in Palestine, because no solution is sought. Israel was NOT created by the leaders of its tribe to be a solution, but to be a means to an end- a constant engine driving a people into endless religious and racist warfare, drawing them ever closer together, and placing them at ever increasing odds with the rest of the planet.

Israel is intended to save the same purpose as the swastika, a symbol rallying a so-called 'master-race' behind an ever increasing litany of atrocities. The psychology of the nazis, and Israel and its supporters, are IDENTICAL. A 'master-race' can ONLY prove itself by being beyond the laws of 'lesser' 'inferior' humans. The ability to plan and execute atrocities WITHOUT punishment 'proves' that you are a 'master-race' and that those that refuse to punish you nothing more than 'cattle' deserving to be ruled and used.

Atrocity was essential to the nazis, and atrocity is essential to Israel. It is interesting to note that the same UK government that gives ABSOLUTE support to daily Israel atrocities, arrested two british football supporters for supposedly having so-called nazi insignia daubed on their bodies in Germany. When one of Israel's top WAR-CRIMINALS was in the UK at the invitation of a group of Israel terrorist supporting/funding UK citizens, the CPS, police, and government members rushed to warn this war-criminal to stay within his plane and fly back out of the country to avoid arrest.

While Israel was carrying out its latest atrocities, Blair, of course, was in private meetings with Israel's highest terrorist leader.

The most recent act of mass murder in Gaza isn't even on the BBC's main teletext news-index. What a surprise.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5074792.stm

The fact that this bombing took place just days after Palestinian President Abbas announced a referendum of the people regarding whether they should finally recognise the state of Israel illustrates that Israel do not want peace.

Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert came to Britain yesterday for talks with Blair and said he would be prepared to negotiate with the Palestinians about Israel's borders if only Hamas will call a ceasefire, ignoring the fact that until until this bombing happened there had been a sixteen month truce in place already, which Hamas cancelled because of the actions of Israel.

Israel do not want peace in the Middle East because it will thwart their expansionist plans.

Yet another murderous attack by the Israeli armed forces against the innocents. They have the gall to deny responsibility and neither do they show any care. They have it in their power to make peace with their arab cousins but do not want to learn the lessons of history and let the killing go on!!

I am against extemism and intolerance and want to express my deep symathies for the remaining children of that peaceful family group.

There is no excuse. Look at that child. No official denials or apologies are good enough. She could have been an Israeli girl (or a child from any nation). Hate or revenge is not the answer.

Yet what are 'grownups' doing?

Frankly what they are doing is far worse than childish games. When people attack the innocent with missiles and bombs, they are acting much worse than playfull children.

When we have true compassion for all peoples, we grow up and are fully human.

People want their humanity back. Stop playing these war games. It not the sort of game she wanted to play.

Weep for that little girl. Find your humanity. Then do something positive for peace - not war, not hate or revenge.

John

for Dr Cohen

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/06/342770.html

The Palestinians "terrorize" while the IDF "accidentize." The results are the same - dead and wounded people, only the IDF is way ahead in the body count category due to superior technology. But, give the Palestinians some time to catch up with better missiles and rockets and the total body count on both sides will begin to even out.

****

Indymedia admins hide comments that breach the Editorial Guidelines:

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/static/editorial.html

But you can still access them:

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/06/342496.html?c=all

If you want to debate the editorial decisions then raise your concerns on this list:

 http://lists.indymedia.org/imc-uk-features

This comment might also get hidden... ;-)

It is no surprise that the Hasbarah machine has gone into overdrive over this one. That anyone trusts an IDF investifgation into itself after well publicised cases such as Tom Hurndall, James Millar, Ian Hook and Rachel Corrie seems to indicate a deep seated desire to ignore reality on the ground.

Israel is not the first Apartheid country to tell lies about it excesses against indigenous peoples.

 http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4814.shtml

Comments are subject to the same guidelines as news articles, and the comments section is not intended to be a bulletin board. Theres a link to all the hidden comments in watchers post. Read them and marvel at how nasty they are.

Vat is gewrong mit gekilling zome Chews?
Undt schpreading a bit of propaganda along ze vey?

German paper doubts Gaza beach reports
German newspaper casts doubt on Palestinian claims that IDF shell killed seven family members on Gaza beach. How come Hadil Ghalia was seen wearing dry clothes after the Gaza beach attack when she was reported to have been swimming?
Ynet
 http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3264158,00.html
Original article (in German):  http://www.sueddeutsche.de/ausland/artikel/315/78237/5/print.html

While three major British newspapers published reports contradicting Israel's claims that its military was not responsible for the murder of seven members of the Ghalia family on a Gaza beach over a week ago, a German newspaper casts doubt on the authenticity of pictures taken soon after the bloody incident.
According to new findings, testimonies and hospital records, deadly blast at Gaza beach, which killed Ghalia family members, occurred at time of shelling, not after; British Guardian, Independent, Times newspapers publish findings casting doubt on Israel's claims
German daily Sued Deutsche, said pictures taken by Zakaria Abu Irbad, 36, a cameramen with the Palestinian independent news agency Ramattan, contradict Palestinian claims that an IDF shell killed the Ghalia family and point to the possibility that the event was staged to hold Israel responsible.
Irbad was the first journalist to arrive at the s cene after the attack and Ramattan sold footage of Hadil weeping on the beach by her dead father to all major news broadcasters.
The newspaper said in footage of the beach taken by an IDF drone at the time of the attack, five craters left by IDF artillery shells could be seen, but that 250 meters away people could also be seen.
The paper said it is strange that although shells exploded 250 meters away from a beach site where Palestinian families congregated, no one was seen running away or panicking.
Irbad told the newspaper he was told of the attack by paramedics who guided him to the scene.
But no paramedics are seen until later in the footage, raising suspicions that he was first to reach the scene.
Moreover, if Irbad was the first to get to the scene, why were most bodies covered by sheets? Who was there first to cover the bodies? The newspaper asked.
The newspaper also doubts Irbad's claim that Hadil was not injured because she was in the water when the shell exploded. His footage show her dry and fully clothed.
Another question raised by the newspaper is a shot of a man carrying a rifle next to the dead body of Hadil's father. The newspaper said in earlier footage, the same man was seen lying on the beach among the injured.
The footage also shows paramedics in green clothes and a dozen of bearded men looking for evidence. The newspaper asks whether the men are Hamas affiliates and wonders why they were preoccupied with collecting evidence rather than helping the injured.
Did Hamas men hide evidence from the scene, as claimed by eyewitnesses interviewed by Israeli broadcasters?
The newspaper said Irbad evaded most of the questions addressed to him.
Asked why he didn't try to calm Hadil instead of filming her he said: "She asked me to film her. She wanted to be seen next to her father to show the world the crimes that Israel is committing."
The newspaper finally asks: "Did the shocked 10-year-old girl, who had lost her father minutes earlier, give the cameraman direction instructions?"

Yediot Aharonot, June 21, 2006, Translated from Hebrew by Mark
Marshall
(Footnotes added - see link)

In Israeli discourse, Israel is always presented as the side exercising restraint in its conflict with the Palestinians. This was true again for the events of the past week: As the Qassam rockets were falling on the Southern Israeli town of Sderot, it was "leaked" that the Israeli
Minister of Defense had directed the army to show restraint.[i]

During the week of Israeli restraint, the army killed a Palestinian family who went on a picnic on the Beit Lahya beach in the Gaza Strip; after that, the army killed nine people in order to liquidate a Katyusha rocket. But in the discourse of restraint, the first killing does not count, because the army denied its involvement, and the second was deemed a necessary act of self-defense. After all, Israel is caught in the midst of Qassam attacks, and must defend its citizens. In this narrative, the fact that Israel is content merely to bombard the Gaza Strip from air, sea and land is a model of restraint and humanity that not many states could match.

But what is driving the Qassam attacks on Israel? For 17 months, since it declared a cease fire, Hamas has not been involved in firing Qassams. The other organizations have generally succeeded in launching only a few isolated Qassams. How did this evolve into an attack of something like 70 Qassams in three days?

The Israeli army has a long tradition of "inviting" salvoes of Qassams. In April of last year, Sharon took off to a meeting with Bush in which his central message was that Abbas is not to be trusted, has no control of the ground, and cannot be a partner for negotiations. The army took care to provide an appropriate backdrop for the meeting. On the eve of Sharon's
departure, on 9 April 2005, the Israeli army killed three youths on the Rafah border, who according to Palestinian sources were playing soccer there. This arbitrary killing inflamed a wave of anger in the Gaza Strip, which had been relatively quiet until then. Hamas responded to the anger on the street, and permitted its people to participate in the firing of Qassams. On the following two days, about 80 Qassams were fired, until Hamas restored calm. Thus, during the Sharon-Bush meeting, the world received a perfect illustration of the untrustworthiness of Abbas.[ii]

At the beginning of last week (11 June), Olmert set out on a campaign of persuasion in Europe to convince European leaders that now, with Hamas in power, Israel definitely has no partner. The USA does not appear to need any convincing at the moment, but in Europe there is more reservation about unilateral measures. The Israeli army began to prepare the backdrop on the night of the previous Thursday (8 June 2006), when it "liquidated" Jamal
Abu Samhanada, who had recently been appointed head of the security forces of the Interior Ministry by the Hamas government. It was entirely predictable that the action may lead to Qassam attacks on Sderot. Nevertheless, the army proceeded the following day to shell the Gaza coast (killing the Ghalya family and wounding tens of people), and succeeded in igniting the required conflagration, until Hamas again ordered its people, on 14 June, to cease firing.

This time, the show orchestrated by the army got a bit messed up. Pictures of the child Huda Ghalya succeeded in breaching the wall of Western indifference to Palestinian suffering. Even if Israel still has enough power to force Kofi Annan to apologize for casting doubt on Israel's denial, the message that Hamas is the aggressive side in the conflict did
not go unchallenged in the world this time. But the army has not given up. It appears determined to continue to provoke attacks that would justify bringing down the Hamas government by force, with Sderot paying the price.

Even though it is impossible to compare the sufferings of the residents of Sderot with the sufferings of the residents of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya in the North of the Gaza Strip, on which 5,000 shells fell in the past month alone[iii], my heart also goes out to the residents of Sderot. It is their destiny to live in fear and agony, because in the eyes of the army their suffering is necessary so that the world may understand that Israel is the restrained side in a war for its very existence.

How to fart for Israel and produce a smoke-screen of rancid guff to protect a terrorist state:

1) Label any criticism of Israeli Government actions anti-Semitic, and beyond the bounds of civilised discourse.

2) When confronted with a Palestinian sympathiser, call him or her a terrorist, or if he or she is over 70, a terrorist supporter.

3) If your opponent is winning the argument, mention THE HOLOCAUST.

4) Talk about suicide bombing, never talk about the occupation.

5) Shhhhh! Not in front of the Goy! - Don't mention the settlements, or the settlers, and especially don't mention the heroic actions of Dr Baruch Goldstein.

6) Remember that Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B'Tselem, the United Nations, the European Union, the BBC, and the International Court, and any other respected oranganisation that critisises Israel are all driven by rabid irrational institutionalised anti-Semitism!

7) Just as all murderers are let off because other people commit murder, so Israel should be let off because it is not the only state in the world to violate human rights.

8) The Israeli army cannot lie when it investigates alleged atrocities comitted by itself. The army is incapable of telling lies. Ever.

9) What's good for Israel is good for America. Except peace talks and compromise.

10) Any Jew who critises Israel is mentally unbalanced and self-hating.

... like the time (coincidently at another crucial point in the long drawn out and never ending peace process[sic]) when israel claimed to be under 'intense' attack from rocket 'bombardment' ... only it turns out that (admitted rather sheepishly by the idf) that this bombardment was from a mis-firing missle test originating from within israel.

This incident was one of the few to be monitored and analysed by the un mission at the time, using technologies that can indicate the direction and distance of the projectile ... of course realising this, the idf made a rapid about face from its initial claims of attack from Quassim rockets ... only, get this, the left hand of the idf couldn't keep up with the right hand ... at the same time as the irritated idf spokesperson was trying to patiently explain the nature of the 'rouge missle test' to a crowd of jounalists, another idf unit was patiently explaining the nature of the phsical evidence it had 'found' of the Quassim rockets that had 'bombarded' israel that day ...

... whoops!

And just what kind of damage can these legendary rockets cause?

Well, if they succeed in leaving the ground and not falling apart (there is only so much aerodynamic stability you can build into a flimsy shed designed primatively welded tube) and the 'engines' (and ain't it sweet how they feature the classic saturn 5 arrangement of 5 exhuast nozzles!!!) don't cut out and actually burn the 20 - 30 seconds worth of kerosene fuel (not strictly rocket fuel - but hey designing inter-continetal ballistic missles made from scrap is tedious right?!?) AND if they fly roughly in the right direction (having no guidence or telemetry systems) ... THEn they might successfully deliver their leathal payload to ... to ... to ... er, about .01% of israels inhabital areas!

The evidence of their leathality is still open to question, seeing as the inquests on the 2 claimed victims for this weapon over the ENTIRITY of its use were conducted by a closed idf session were, strangely, they found the evidence they needed ...

... to justify the continual shelling and actual bombardment with very expense hi tech weaponry that land exactly where it has been PRE-PROGRAMMED TO LAND ...

... after all those pesky Palestinian militants (oohh, how dare they get upperty with the master race) and their democratically elected govenment maybe permitted to legally (under international law) to resist ILLEGAL occupation and ex-judicial execution (pre-meditated murder) of elected officials ... but racist zionist law says that all resistance will be crushed and that israel will unilaterally - even in the face of international indignation and opposition - decide on the fate of Palestine, land and people.

If israel has decided that it doesn't like the Palestinian police cheif it's people have elected, then israel will kill him. If israel wants bits of land that don't belong to it, than israel will take it and kill all who stand in their way. If israel decides that only israeli owned goods will be permitted to cross the border and be sold on the international market, then israel 'business men' will buy the Palestinian crop (for a pittance) or goods and sell it labled as 'made in israel' ... a very good reason for not buying anything made in israel.

Kill a few kids, provoke a reaction and then whine that 'israel doesn't have a partner for peace - look at the way these alligators on two legs, these crocadile waiting to be thrown meat, these untermenchen act ... they hate our freedoms'

And then twats like 'voice of reason' 'j&p' 'arthur kennady' will jump from the zionist observation platforms and scurry around the internet crying '... we are the victims, but blame those other victims for hating us for making them victims' bullshit - as if sensible people can't spot those times when the horse is put befor the cart!

But that is the art of the big lie ... tell it loud and proud and make sure it represents the exact opposite of reality to provoke maximum outrage and then dine out on the outrage rather than address the falsehood ... a variation of shoot the messenger, always drawing attention away from the facts which will slaughter them.

It doesn't work very well now chaps, time is running out for zionism ... hope it runs fast!

its their choice, both Israeli and Palestinian, that they cannot find a solution to their situation. when the rest of the world turns its backs, they will have to sit down with each other. deny them both airtime/presstime, facilities for propaganda. no side is right or wrong, both are infected by violence. leave them all to it. european involvement will only prolong the misery.

"arthur kennady' will jump from the zionist observation platforms and scurry around the internet crying '... we are the victims"

You miss the point. Israelis (particularly Jewish israelis) will not be victims again.
Let the palestinians fire missiles. For every action there is an opposite (and in this case) an UNEQUAL reaction.
In recent days the "freedom fighters" of PaliLand have changed tactics. Instead of firing their missiles from open fields, they're now firing them from populated areas among women and children.
In a war (I know it's not fair to the "palestinians") both sides get to shoot.
The "palestinians" have opted for eternal war instead of peace.
Too bad they don't spend as much time, energy and hard cash improving their infrasturcture and economy, as they do trying to murder Israelis.

You miss the point.

israelis are not victims because the Palestinian people want back what was stolen from them, nor are they victims when they display all the disgusting vestigages of fascistic overlords - deciding who gets killed, who gets fed, who gets jailed, who sells their good and who forfeits them.

it would be hard to find many unpopulated areas in gaza, being as it is the most densly populated area on earth - one large prison ... or charnel house?

I expect you can 'prove' your wild assersion that "Instead of firing their missiles from open fields, they're now firing them from populated areas among women and children" with reference (endlessly self referential no doubt) to the extensive collection of articles prepared in hasbara classes around the world ... don't cut it though w/ tecnologically equiped parties willing to prod around a bit.

and it is nice[sic] to see such open xenophobic aggression verbalised as ex-post facto rationalisation for the barbarity of the oppression of the Palestinian people, vis a vis:

"For every action there is an opposite (and in this case) an UNEQUAL reaction."

then again, with everything to lose (in terms of the goals of zionism), perhaps such cornered thinking is no suprise.

reap what you sow.

"Too bad they don't spend as much time, energy and hard cash improving their infrasturcture and economy, as they do trying to murder Israelis"

so when they build infrastructure with the money that the international community of bankers allow to filter through to the legitimate national aspirations of the Palestinian people and the democratically elected officials ... israel destroys it.

when Palestinian farmers grow crops - if they reach maturity without assult by settler, bulldozer or 'closed military zones' - they are stolen from them by a system designed to strangle the economic viability of their efforts, or left to rot in a poignant humiliating gesture and life destroying meme, at crossroads illegally set up by armed thugs from moscow, new york and elsewhere in the ashkanzi dispora.

nice to have all those relatives sending ya a couple of dozen $billion each year innit?

to bad zionists had to go for ethno/tribal/religious manifest destiny and all the baggage of supremacist cult cruelty and selfishness rather than seek peace

... if it eternal war you seek, don't hold yor breath, with a minute manufacturing base - heavily skewed in servicing 'donated' military equipment - israel can not survive on its own ... when your ability to renew your tritium based nuclear warheads becomes to expensive, difficult or technically impossible, and you need to produce your next generation of weapons and delivery systems ... you will be on yer tod ... some eternity!

I give israel another decade at best, before demographics and the growing sense of alienation from the zionist agenda by jews, christians, muslims and lefty athesists sees an end to the confrontational two state solution and israel/Palestine becomes a reality ... or else the area becomes uninhabital through total warfare.

But you no Mr.kennedy, maybe they don´t spend all that money on infrastructure because the IDF will just knock it down again. They build a road, and the Israeli´s block it. They start a business, and the Israeli´s knock down the house. Or just go try and employ some people for your business, and you find they can´t get to work because they have to wait all day at a checkpoint, or they get arrested and held for years without even being charged. How about the infrastructure farmers worked for centuries to build up, with fields of olive and orange trees? I´ve seen the Israeli diggers come and dig it all up, to build a wall to steal all that fertile land away.

In the refugee camps, a lot of people don´t see the point in trying to start anything ´constructive´, because the Israelis simply come and knock it down, destroy lives and families. So, they come to the conclusion that they will only be able to build their lives, peacefully, when the Israelis have gone. And so they channel their energy into destruction instead. Why can´t you just leave them alone? What does it accomplish, to shell their beaches and murder their children?

'Oh, we never deliberately target civilians´, bullshit. Then the IDF soliders must be really crap shooters. Maybe they´re all completely stoned like the soldier who killed Tom Hurndall, and they don´t know where to point their guns.

But I see your opinions becoming more and more blatantly violent. ´Yeah, it´s a disproportionate response, so what´. Well, because of that disproportionate response, children have been murdered, families bereaved. And you don´t give a shit, because they are not the same ethnicity as you. How can you hold those opinions, and call yourself Jewish? How can you transform those human beings into animals in your mind, in the same way the Germans did to the Jews? How can you slaughter the children with such cold, effective, efficient technology?

´We will never be victims again´, therefore you will turn into the oppressors instead? Is it better to be the murderer, than the one who is murdered?

"But you no Mr.kennedy, maybe they don´t spend all that money on infrastructure because the IDF will just knock it down again."

Yeah , maybe...but, Hamas controls Gaza. The only ones knocking down buildings in PaliLand these days are the palestinians.
They also control the southern border with Egypt....some prison hey, where the inmates have the keys.
The idiots continue to smuggle weapons through tunnels, when they could drive them across the border (which the also do).

Hey, here's a novel idea: Why not smuggle food and medical supplies. A bit of timber and brick for rebuilding their homes. Smuggle in some teachers who will teach the kids something else beside murder and death.
Maybe smuggle in some condoms too. Gaza has the highest population growth on the planet.

Continuing to fire missles at israelis will only get more palestinians killed.

Now come on, is that the best you can retort? You have had plenty of time, I don't think you are trying hard enough ...

... hint: if you are going to veer wildly off into fantasy and pull 'facts' from the air, try and make them consistant!

If as you say, Palestine controls its southern border with Eygypt, why would they need to 'smuggle' food - let alone weapons?

The fact is that israel controls all input and output from Gaza - the largest prison camp in the world (incidently, stick to the demographic reality: Gaza is the most densly populated area on earth, it does not have the highest population growth, but it does have a very high birth rate, followed swiftly by one of the highest infant death mortalities and one of the lowest per capita access to health care, adequate nutrition and post-natal response ...).

But I can understand that you do not have the capacity to imagine that you may be wrong and biased, and therefore will not burdon you too much w/ the reality of your ignorance, but advice you that you make yourself look monumentally stupid and idiotic when you try and use the poor quality arguments that have satisfied[sic] your non-existant thirst for truth and justice on the rest of us here!

I'm putting you in the useful idiot class, where I will subtly encourage you to rant freely and thus expose the lack of depth of [your] position ...