Israeli Apartheid

By Ilham Rawoot & Jazmin Acunna

(source: Mail & Guardian, pg16, 28/01/2011)

The only South African passenger on the Mavi Marmara, one of the Gaza-bound ships intercepted at sea by the Israelis in May last year, has laid a formal complaint with the national director of public prosecutions about her alleged suffering at the hands of the Israeli army.

If the National Prosecuting Authority acts on the complaint of Gadija Davids, a Cape Town-based journalist, top Israeli politicians and soldiers could face arrest if they visit South Africa.

This is the second attempt by locals in two weeks to call members of the Israeli executive to account in South Africa. Two local organisations called for the arrest of former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni, who was due to arrive in the country last week. Her trip was cancelled at the last minute, although the South African Jewish Board of Deputies ascribed this to a strike by diplomats at the Israeli embassy.

Davids alleges that she was assaulted and that fellow passengers were subjected to inhumane treatment and torture after Israeli soldiers boarded the Mavi Marmara, which was carrying supplies to blockaded Gaza. She wants the perpetrators prosecuted. Nine Turkish nationals were killed in the raid. Israel said the killings occurred in self-defence and an Israeli inquiry found that the raid did not breach international law.

Read More »Sa journo takes on Isaraeli authorities

Israeli War Crimes Against
Children During
Operation Cast Lead

By Stephen Lendman
 
Following Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) documented the toll on Gaza’s children and published it in May. It did so "in response to the unprecedented number of children who were killed (and injured) by (the Israeli Defense Forces) during the offensive on Gaza." According to international standards, the Convention on the Rights of the Child’s (CRC) definition was used to apply to anyone under age 18.
PCHR reviewed IDF killing of Gaza’s children since the beginning of the Second Intifada in September 2000, then focused on the 313 youth deaths during the recent conflict. Its evidence comes from eye-witness accounts of the willful targeting of civilians, including women and children. Also covered are the psychological scars and "alarming scale of physical injuries" leaving some children blind and many others (as well as adults) permanently disabled by the loss of limbs and psychological trauma.
PCHR’s report bears testimony to Israel’s contempt for international laws, its imperial agenda, culture of violence, disdain for peace, genocidal intentions, disparagement of Arabs and Islam, and its scorn for Palestinian lives and welfare.
PCHR presented 13 case studies in its report. Briefly discussed below, they represent a small fraction of the many hundreds killed and thousands more grievously harmed.

Introduction
Since the September 2000 Second Intifada, Israeli forces killed 1179 children, including 865 in Gaza as part of a decades-long policy of collectively punishing millions of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, mostly civilian men, women, and children.
Israel calls self-defense "terrorism" and justifies its actions as responses to militant missile or other attacks. PCHR’s investigations "have consistently undermined these claims," and condemns all killing, especially of children.
In September 2006, the London Independent’s Donald Macintyre headlined his story: "Gaza: The children killed in a war the world doesn’t want to know about." He wrote about more than 37 children under 18 killed since June 25 during Israel’s Operation Summer Rain, according to PCHR figures, out of an overall 228 total, mostly civilians.
He highlighted a "forgotten war in the Middle East" with young boys, girls and adults blown apart by Israeli shells and missiles, but who notices. He said the IDF attacks heavily populated areas indiscriminately on the pretext of fighting a "terrorist infrastructure." He stressed that "attention (was) diverted from Gaza as Israel launch(ed) a full military invasion of southern Lebanon" yet civilian deaths mounted in both areas. He listed by name Gazan children under 18 killed and by what means – from airstrikes, while playing football, missiles, shrapnel, tank or artillery shells, and shot in the head or chest at close range. Khitam Mohammed Rebhi Tayey was one – age 11. Aya Salmeya another – age 9.
Israel rarely responds to public outrage or investigates its crimes, including against children. The few times it does turn into whitewashes. After 11 days on March 30, 2009, military advocate general Avichai Mandelblit closed the IDF’s inquiry into Israeli soldiers’ accounts of Operation Cast Lead crimes and dismissed them as unfounded.

Read More »Israeli war crimes against children