People who get their Middle East news coverage from headlines (long textual stories are so boring, so confusing) a brief tip-off. Israeli insensitivity and genocidal ambitions are in evidence again today.Israeli army fire kills two children in northern Gaza (People's Daily Online, China)
Israeli army shell kills two Palestinian children (Malaysian Sun)
Israeli troops 'kill two Gaza children' (Irish Times)
Gaza boys 'shot dead by Israelis' (BBC World)
Things of significance you might not know from reading only those headlines...
- The children were killed close to the ruins of an Israel community, Dugit, in the northern Gaza Strip, abandoned by the government of Israel two summers ago in a failed attempt to improve the chances for peaceful co-existence in the area.
- The two children were with another child, aged 16, when the Israelis "struck".
- At the time, the three were in the midst of placing a bomb next to the border fence, opposite the long-suffering Kibbutz Zikim.
- According to Haaretz' correspondent, "The army believes that they had been paid by one of the militant groups to place an explosive device."
- Haaretz: "We know that a number of Palestinians crawled towards the border fence. They know that it is a dangerous area but they did not heed repeated calls to stop and they planted a suspicious device close to the fence," the spokeswoman said.
- The 16-year-old Pal-Arab child was taken to an Israeli hospital for treatment. He's there now.
- Yediot: "Since IDF forces left the Gaza Strip, more than 100 terrorists have been killed near the border fence in dozens of incidents in which cells attempted to plant explosive devices, infiltrate Israel or carry out terror attacks. In many incidents in the past youths had been sent to examine the forces' alertness or prepare for terror attacks in exchange for money.
- Yediot: "Military officials said that the entire Israel was banned for movement as it is very close to Israel, and this has been made clear once again recently, after IDF forces entered the Palestinian territory, in messages conveyed on Palestinian media."
What's even worse is the ridiculous spin put into the AP article by the stringers who live in Gaza. According to the article, these fine young lads were "on their way to the beach." I'm pretty sure this border fence is nowhere near the beach, but maybe they were taking a leisurely detour?
ReplyDeleteIn the first draft of the article, I believe it was reported as a fact that they were going to the beach, whereas now it says "The boys had told their families they were going to the beach." But the damage is already done. I don't give any credence to stories that have a dateline from Gaza or the West Bank.
I don't understand why this story tragic as it is, made headlines in Israel and much of the rest of the world's newsmedia,yet the story of the disabled Jewish child dying from the injuries he received when his schoolbus was hit by the Kassam missle has barely been mentioned at all.
ReplyDeleteIt's increasingly the case that hate messages, written by a person called "Anonymous", are submitted to our blog for inclusion in the comments section. We just want to make clear, as we have numerous times in the past, that hate messages are extremely popular on the web, particularly hate messages against Jews, Israel and Zionists. We decided some time ago that the very creepy folk who write such racist garbage have so many places to send them, we don't need to add to their platform. So here's the deal: if it's hate-filled, prejudiced, racist - we need your name and email address. And then we'll think about it.
ReplyDeleteApart from that clarification, comments on our blog-writing are always welcome.
From Palestine Center Human Rights, Gaza e-mail: Since the beginning of this latest IOF offensive on the Gaza Strip, 55 Palestinians, including 23 civilians, have been killed and dozens of others, mostly civilians, have been wounded. PCHR is deeply concerned over the policy of retaliation practiced against Palestinian civilians, which threatens their lives, especially as IOF have continued to attack targets in civilian populated areas.
ReplyDeleteAccording to investigations conducted by PCHR:
At approximately 12:00 on Friday, 1 June 2007, an IOF infantry unit positioned on a wooden land in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia, nearly 100 meters away from the beach, opened fire at 4 Palestinian children, who were playing with kites near the beach. Three children were wounded, whereas the fourth one was able to escape. Two of the children were left in the area bleeding to death. According to the third child who was wounded, 16-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim al-‘Atawna, from Jabalya refugee camp, a kite fell near the area where IOF soldiers were hiding, and when they went to bring it, IOF soldiers opened fire at them. Soon after, the soldiers moved towards the children. They asked al-‘Atwana, who was wounded by a gunshot to the back, about the condition of the other two children who were wounded by several gunshots throughout their bodies. He told them that the children were in a critical condition. They left the two children bleeding to death in the area and evacuated al-‘Atawna to an Israeli hospital, where he had received medical treatment before he was transferred to a hospital in Beit Lahia. The two children who were killed were identified as:
Has there been any evidence that the kids actually planted an explosive device?
ReplyDeleteOr is that just the standard IDF response when it murders unarmed Palestinian children?
The anonymous question about whether evidence has been found is not entirely out of place. But if you put it back into the context of events here, the question is a lot less reasonable than it sounds at first.
ReplyDelete1. The Pal-Arabs have a constant theme in their messages to their own people, especially their own children, and to the world. DIE for us. It's good. It's great. Nothing's better than dying for us. This is not controversial or a secret. It's not disputed by anyone. The barbarians are PROUD of it. And yet every single time a juvenile Pal-Arab dies or is injured at the hands of the IDF, he was playing with a kite, digging a sand-castle, innocently playing in the traffic.
2. Israelis are endlessly accused of genocide, well-poisoning, barbarism, child-murder, in fact ANYTHING and EVERYTHING evil that the Pal-Arab propaganda machine can come up with. Or to say it differently, anything and everything that official Palestine via its elected government itself tries to do to us Israelis. Now the complex but concrete truth at the heart of all this is that Israel could, if it wanted to, do those things and more. Israel IS powerful. Israel IS strong. Israel DOES have mighty jet planes and weaponry. Israel also controls ALL the water and ALL the electricity that runs into ALL the homes in ALL the land controlled today by Hamas. But it chooses to NOT use that leverage. The lights are mostly on in Gaza, because that's what Israeli society wants. Course, if the sandal were on the other foot, and the Pal-Arab thugocracy controlled the towns and cities of Israel and their power supply and water (Heaven forbid)... we don't need to complete the thought. It's obvious what the outcome would be. At least, obvious to anyone aware of the realities, as opposed to the feverish fantasies, of what happens here in this neighbourhood every day.
3. Israeli hospitals, and especially their pediatric units, are routinely over-populated with Arab kids - way out of proportion to their percentage. Why is a good question with multiple answers. But one of those answers is because Israeli society wants them to get the best health-care they can, and the best life they can. If they only had something to protect, something to be proud of, something valuable in their lives, they and their brothers and sisters would be far more open to the painful compromises needed in order to find a way to live in relative peace with us Israelis. And that's the greatest nightmare of their appalling, unspeakable leadership. That's why they live in unparalleled squalor, have nothing worth protecting in their miserable towns and cities (except for what their kleptocratic "leaders" have stolen from them for three generations) and have the very worst system of education in the world. No other children in the world are raised on a diet so filled with hatred, racial prejudice and sheer bile as the children of the people on the other side of the fence from here. What a tragedy.
So what you are saying is there is no evidence of a bomb.
ReplyDeleteThe IDF simply chooses to murder Palestinian children when it pleases.
Not sure how you think the question is out of place considering the article originally posted stresses;
"At the time, the three were in the midst of placing a bomb next to the border fence, opposite the long-suffering Kibbutz Zikim.
According to Haaretz' correspondent, "The army believes that they had been paid by one of the militant groups to place an explosive device.""
Keep trying your rhetoric, nobody but bigots like you are buying it.
And you wodner why the civilized world is turning its back on Israel?! LOL!
Our very clever anonymous friend who throws "bigot" at people whose viewpoints he/she can't cope with will not be getting any further free exposure here. Your choice, friend - disclose your full name and verifiable address from here on. Or find sewage-friendly sites for airing your viewpoints.
ReplyDelete