You may already have seen the carnage being carried out, Guernica style on
Gaza, on the pretext of Palestinian rockets being fired on southern Israel.

Yet it was Israel that violated the Gaza ceasefire back in early November,
killing six Palestinians and wounding four. These killings are part of
Israel¹s ongoing campaign of collective punishment against the 1.5 million
residents of the Gaza Strip, which Israel has put under siege since June
2007.

This is precisely Israel's historic tactic of provoking the Palestinians
with assassinations and killings, right through declared ceasefires, and
when there is a response, blaming the escalation on, as in this case, Hamas,
who are acting in justified self-defence as an occupied people, under
international law.The Geneva Convention bans military action that harms
civilians, in this case an inevitability since the infrastructure attacked
is in the heart of dense city centres, using deadlly F16s, and heavy war
machinery against a defenceless population that has been crippled by a
strangulating three year siege.This is basically a one-sided war.

The huge casualty toll, including many civilians and children, also includes
a terribly damaging destruction of civilian infrastructure, including all
police stations and security compounds, that were not Hamas rocket bases but
necessary to hold civilian life together.

Please try and support these protests. Also please write to your MPs,the
Foreign Secretary Bill Rammell, and the Prime Minister, using the above,
urging the UK and the Quartet to put pressure on Israel to end the siege and
deadly attacks on Gaza, to implement international law, and to bring all
Palestinians into the negotiations including the democratically elected
Hamas government.

====================================================


Emergency Protests

Sunday 28 December 2.00 pm - 4.00 pm and Monday 29 December 4.00pm ­ 6.00pm

Both protests opposite Israeli Embassy - Kensington High Street

Nearest tube: High Street Kensington

Protests organised by PSC, Palestine Return Centre (PRC), Palestinian Forum
of Britain (PFB), British Muslim Initiative (BMI), Stop the War, Friends of
al Aqsa, Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), Respect, Islamic Human Rights
Commission.

=======================================

 http://www.alternativenews.org/news/english/aic-condemns-deadly-attacks-on-g
aza-calls-for-civil-society-mobilization-international-sanctions-20081227.ht
ml

The Alternative Information Center (AIC) condemns today¹s deadly attack by
the Israeli Air Force on the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the killing of
(at this moment) over 200 Palestinians, with hundreds more injured. The AIC
calls on social movements throughout the world to mobilize against these
Israeli war crimes and demands that the international community implement
sanctions against Israel and indict Tzipi Livni, Ehud Barak and other
Israeli political and military leadership for these blatant war crimes,
committed as part of Israel¹s election process.

Israel¹s military attack on the Gaza Strip is not, as Israel is attempting
to claim today, retaliation against Gazan resistance to the Israeli
occupation and ongoing siege of the Gaza Strip, but part of a publicly
admitted political goal of eliminating the Hamas government in Gaza. Israel
is exploiting the last moments of the Bush administration to implement the
deadly but ineffective neoconservative policies of utilizing military force
to effect political change.

Demonstrations against the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip are planned for
the major cities of the West Bank, and a joint Palestinian-Israeli
demonstration will be conducted tonight in Tel Aviv.

===========================================

BACKGROUND TO THE GAZA SIEGE AND EMERGENCY


 http://www.alternativenews.org/news/english/israel-planning-military-assault
-on-gaza-strip-20081225.html


Written by Bryan Atinsky and Connie Hackbarth, Alternative Information
Center (AIC)

Thursday, 25 December 2008


The Israel military is currently preparing a detailed plan of assault on the
Gaza Strip, with Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi stating that Israel ³must use
its full force to damage the terror infrastructures and create a different
security situation.²

The Israeli military and government see a small window of opportunity and
are likely to use it. Christmas has passed, and therefore the end of the big
tourist season; the US elections are over; President Bush is on his way out
and President-Elect Obama has not yet taken over control; and while the
Israeli election cycle is in full swing, an attack on Gaza seems about the
only thing all major parties agree on. Even the Zionist-Left party Meretz
publicly stated today that ³The time has come to act without compromise and
without narrow political considerations to protect the residents of
Gaza-area communities and Sderot. [Š] Strike Hamas in a targeted manner and
work for a new cease-fire.²

Yet, while Israeli politicians and generals are largely of one mind in
support of a large scale military operation in Gaza, the same is not true
for the Israeli citizenry. Today, Haaretz published the results of a poll it
commissioned, which reveal that ³46 percent of Israelis said they do not
support a massive Israel Defense Forces invasion into the Gaza Strip, with
40 percent saying they would favor such an operation.² Public opinion,
however, has little effect on government policy or proclamations of wide
popular support for its actions. For instance, polls in Israel have long
shown majority support for dialogue with Hamas, but not only has the Israeli
government rejected any dialogue, but it commonly argues that it would be
antithetical to the desires of the Israeli people.

In recent weeks Israeli officials have been busy meeting with governments
around the world, in an attempt to obtain international approval for actions
against Hamas. This time around, they are reported to have even received
tacit approval from the Egyptian government, which may be open to a little
payback for what they see as the arrogance of Hamas in rejecting
Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah.

The London-based newspaper, al-Quds al-Arabi reported on 24 December that
the Egyptian government rejected an Israeli request that it use its
influence to attempt and persuade Hamas to renew its truce with Israel. On
the contrary, Egyptian Intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, reportedly told
Israel that Egypt had no objection to an Israeli military operation in the
Gaza Strip aimed at removing the Hamas government.

While Israel claims to desire quiet on the Gaza front, it was Israel that
violated the Gaza ceasefire back in early November, killing six Palestinians
and wounding four. These killings are part of Israel¹s ongoing campaign of
collective punishment against the 1.5 million residents of the Gaza Strip,
which Israel has put under siege since June 2007. Israel hermetically closes
the Gaza borders to the free passage of people and essential goods,
resulting in a critical humanitarian situation in which dependency on food
assistance is at an all-time high, fuel shortages have disrupted regular
running water and electricity, and hospitals are short on life-saving
medicines. Mass casualties are prevented solely through the humanitarian
assistance of the international community.

While the Israeli government has repeatedly professed the intransigence of
Hamas, acting as if there is no reasonable way out of the situation except
through military action, a Hamas spokesperson stated on 23 December that
they would consider a renewal of the ceasefire if Israel would guarantee
that border crossings will remain open for supplies of aid and fuel, and
halt incursions.

The Israeli government has backed itself into a corner and potentially faces
a lose-lose political and military situation. Israel¹s goal of toppling the
Hamas government, most recently promoted by Prime Minister Olmert in a
direct appeal to Gaza residents to reject their rulers, cannot be realized
through the siege or limited military actions. However, Israel has escalated
its internal and external public rhetoric such that doing ³nothing² in the
wake of resistance to the siege is not possible. Yet any substantial Israeli
military assault on Gaza would result in a high number of Palestinian
causalities, along with a heavy increase in the number of rockets launched
from Gaza into Israeli populated areas and the likely death of numerous
Israeli soldiers.

And what would be Israel¹s stated goal of such military actions? Although
the Israeli public would support a toppling of the Hamas government, this
would be impossible without a massive Israeli invasion and permanent
deployment of troops inside the Gaza Strip, a price the Israeli public is
unwilling to pay. Any other military action would result in casualities but
not the end of Palestinian resistance to the occupation of Gaza. Moreover,
Palestinian resistance to such an assault would also not be limited to the
Gaza Strip, as public protests would occur throughout the West Bank and
perhaps even East Jerusalem. Moreover, large-scale Israeli action against
Hamas in the Gaza Strip has the potential to spiral beyond the borders and
spark violence to the north between Israel and the Hezbollah in Lebanon.

However, could it be that Israeli electoral considerations will delay a
military assault on the Gaza Strip? Could memories of Israel¹s 2006 war
against Lebanon, considered today by a majority of the Israeli public as an
unnecessary and unrealistic campaign that weakened Israel¹s deterrence power
and resulted in unnecessary Israeli causalities, discourage the hawkish, but
struggling in the polls (Labor) Defense Minister Barak, from ordering an
attack? On the other hand, could the Israeli military and government see the
launching of a large scale offensive in Gaza as a potential way to cure the
Israeli public of its ³Lebanon Syndrome,² making an attack more likely?

In light of this situation, the international community must act immediately
to protect the residents of Gaza and prevent a dangerous escalation in
regional violence. Israel must be held accountable for its ongoing
occupation of the Gaza Strip, and parties to the Fourth Geneva Conventions
must meet their own international obligations to protect the Palestinian
people.