News Archive
Israeli Soldiers admit to random killings of civilians in Gaza
I’m sure you have all seen articles in the newspapers quoting the testimony of Israeli soldiers about the random shooting of civilians durin g the invasion of Gaza. Below is the original article in Ha’aretz giving more details of what the soldiers actually said.
I think there is a danger that we will underestimate the importance of this testimony. It confirms what we already knew – that there was a lot of indiscriminate killing of civilians and wanton destruction of buildings during the three weeks (and before).
But of course many people – including many politicians – have been reluctant to believe that the Israelis could have been guilty of indiscriminate killing of civilians or random destruction of buildings or were prepared to believe that these were isolated incidents.
Those of us who went to Gaza in February have seen it with our own eyes and we have heard first-hand evidence from Gazans and we have reported back to our colleagues and anyone who would listen, but there will be some who discount what we say because they see us as pro-Palestinian and therefore less objective.
Now they have testimony from Israeli soldiers confirming everything the Gazans themselves have been saying so they will have to believe it. It is important to make sure people are aware of this and remain aware of this.
Apart from the specific incidents where civilians were killed, I think it is equally important to draw attention to the comments of the squadron leader that show how the Israelis attach less value to Palestinian lives – surely the root of the problem – and how this has corrupted the morality of the Israeli army.
“The lives of Palestinians, let’s say, is something very, very less important than the lives of our soldiers. So as far as they are concerned they can justify it that way . “
“To write ‘death to the Arabs’ on the walls, to take family pictures and spit on them, just because you can. I think this is the main thing: To understand how much the IDF has fallen in the realm of ethics, really. “
Martin Linton MP – Chair, Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East
IDF killed civilians in Gaza under loose rules of engagement
By Amos Harel
During Operation Cast Lead, Israeli forces killed Palestinian civilians under permissive rules of engagement and intentionally destroyed their property, say soldiers who fought in the offensive.
The soldiers are graduates of the Yitzhak Rabin pre-military preparatory course at Oranim Academic College in Tivon. Some of their statements made on Feb. 13 will appear today and tomorrow in Haaretz. Dozens of graduates of the course who took part in the discussion fought in the Gaza operation.
The speakers included combat pilots and infantry soldiers. Their testimony runs counter to the Israel Defense Forces’ claims that Israeli troops observed a high level of moral behavior during the operation. The session’s transcript was published this week in the newsletter for the course’s graduates.
The testimonies include a description by an infantry squad leader of an incident where an IDF sharpshooter mistakenly shot a Palestinian mother and her two children. “There was a house with a family inside …. We put them in a room. Later we left the house and another platoon entered it, and a few days after that there was an order to release the family. They had set up positions upstairs. There was a sniper position on the roof,” the soldier said.
“The platoon commander let the family go and told them to go to the right. One mother and her two children didn’t understand and went to the left, but they forgot to tell the sharpshooter on the roof they had let them go and it was okay, and he should hold his fire and he … he did what he was supposed to, like he was following his orders.”
According to the squad leader: “The sharpshooter saw a woman and children approaching him, closer than the lines he was told no one should pass. He shot them straight away. In any case, what happened is that in the end he killed them.
“I don’t think he felt too bad about it, because after all, as far as he was concerned, he did his job according to the orders he was given. And the atmosphere in general, from what I understood from most of my men who I talked to … I don’t know how to describe it …. The lives of Palestinians, let’s say, is something very, very less important than the lives of our soldiers. So as far as they are concerned they can justify it that way,” he said.
Another squad leader from the same brigade told of an incident where the company commander ordered that an elderly Palestinian woman be shot and killed; she was walking on a road about 100 meters from a house the company had commandeered.
The squad leader said he argued with his commander over the permissive rules of engagement that allowed the clearing out of houses by shooting without warning the residents beforehand. After the orders were changed, the squad leader’s soldiers complained that “we should kill everyone there [in the center of Gaza]. Everyone there is a terrorist.”
The squad leader said: “You do not get the impression from the officers that there is any logic to it, but they won’t say anything. To write ‘death to the Arabs’ on the walls, to take family pictures and spit on them, just because you can. I think this is the main thing: To understand how much the IDF has fallen in the realm of ethics, really. It’s what I’ll remember the most.”
The head of the pe-military course, Danny Zamir, told Haaretz yesterday that he did not know in advance what the soldiers would say at the gathering, and what they said “shocked us.” He said that after hearing the soldiers, he told IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi about his fears of a serious moral failure in the IDF.
The chief of staff’s bureau requested a copy of the transcript of the discussion, and Zamir provided it. This week Zamir met with the IDF’s chief education officer, Brig. Gen. Eli Shermeister, to discuss the matter. Zamir said he believed the army would take the matter seriously. “They do not intend to avoid responsibility,” he said.
The IDF Spokesman’s Office said: “As a result of the request of the head of the Rabin pre-military course, Mr. Danny Zamir, to the chief of staff’s bureau, a meeting was held between Zamir and the chief education officer, Brig. Gen. Eli Shermeister. The chief education officer described to the head of the preparatory course the processes of the operational and ethical inquiries being conducted by the IDF and the chief education officer’s staff at all levels.”
The chief education officer also described “the actions taken before during and after the operation to inculcate the soldiers and commanders with the moral aspects of the fighting.”
The spokesman said that “Brig. Gen. Shermeister also made it clear that the IDF is now conducting intensive and comprehensive inquiries, and that commanders are encouraging discussion of these matters. The IDF has no supporting or prior information about these events. The IDF will check their veracity and investigate as required. The head of the preparatory course was also asked to pass on to the IDF any information he has so we can deal with it and investigate it in depth.”
Published in Ha’aretz 19/03/2009
“We must continue to fight Hamas just like the United States did with the Japanese in World War II. Then, too, the occupation of the country was unnecessary.”
(Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, January 2009)
Picture by Sameh Habeeb, Bait Hanoun Massacre Nov. 2006
Gaza Report Back Meeting 11th March
Wednesday 11th March
7 – 9pm in Committee Room 9, House of Commons
LFPME members Sara Apps, Richard Burden MP, Martin Linton MP, Tony Lloyd MP and Andy Slaughter MP recently visited Gaza with the Britain—Palestine all-Party Parliamentary Group. They are holding a meeting to share their experiences, describing the devastation to homes, infrastructure and lives and the real cost of the Israeli attack. There will then be a question and answer session to discuss what should happen next and what we can all do to promote justice for the Palestinians.
The event is open to all and no booking is needed.
View the slideshow presentation here
‘The EU Trade Agreement with Israel’
Mark McDonald, Labour Friends of Palestine & Middle East, & Claude Moraes MEP
@ South Woodford Muslim Community Centre,
10-14 Mulbery Way, London, E18 1ED
Friday 13th March,
6:30 – 7:30
Open to all, refreshments provided
EDM 981 UK POLICY ON ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS IN PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
Please contact your local MP and ask them to support the following EDM tabled by LFPME’s Phyllis Starkey MP. You can find your local MP here.
For those who can sign EDMs, please consider adding your support to the following motion tabled by Phyllis Starkey MP. Please contact the Table Office directly.
EDM 981 UK POLICY ON ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS IN PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES:
That this House notes the Foreign Secretary’s repeated statements that Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the demolition of Palestinian homes and expropriation of Palestinian land for settlement infrastructure and the so-called security wall are illegal and an obstacle to peace; welcomes the steps the British Government has taken to stop settlements goods imported into the EU from benefiting from the preferences of the EU-Israel Trade Agreement; and congratulates the British Embassy in Tel Aviv for ending negotiations to move to new premises in the development company Africa-Israel’s Kirya Tower because of that company’s involvement in construction projects in three illegal settlements at Matityahu East, Har Homa and Ma’aleh Adumim.
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March for Palestine
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LFPME chair Martin Linton MP be speaking at the South London march for Palestine on Saturday the 28th February. See here for more details.
Martin Linton MP, Chair of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East on the announcement made by the BBC Trust regarding their decision not to air the DEC appeal.
“Having just spent three days in Gaza and having seen the devastation left by the Israeli assault, I am deeply depressed by the BBC decision.
At a time when there are still well over 1872 injured children in Gaza and hospitals are desperately overstretched because all of the crossings are still closed, it is inhumane not to let the DEC broadcast their appeal on the BBC.
Thousands of children in Gaza are deeply traumatized by living through three weeks of bombardment and I think one has to be heartless to refuse them help in the name of impartiality.
We met children in Gaza who had suffered horrendously, including a thirteen year old girl who had seen her father killed in front of her and we met hospital consultants who were thankful for the emergency aid that had reached them so far but were desperate for more.”
LFPME in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel
LFPME is well represented in the Britain-Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group that is on a six day visit to Gaza and the West Bank. LFPME will be blogging here throughout the visit. Photos can be found here.
LFPME Chair Martin Linton MP visits a kindergarten in the Gaza Strip
Support for LFPME grows
Ninety two Labour MPs have now pledged their support for Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East. The list includes prominent Ministers as well as MPs who are known for their interest in the Middle East. LFPME have now written to the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, asking him to meet a group of MPs involved in the group, so they can raise their concerns about the deteriorating situation in Gaza and the West Bank. An update on that meeting will be provided here.
‘BBC lost in own moral maze’ says LFPME Chair
Comment from Martin Linton MP on the BBC’s decision not to air a TV fund-raising appeal for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza:
It is difficult to believe that the BBC is seriously defending its decision not to air a TV fund-raising appeal for Gaza.
In what way does it compromise public confidence in the BBC’s impartiality to screen an appeal to help the 5,500 children injured in Gaza or the relatives of the 300 children who died?
Is it because there were no Israeli children who died? Would the Gazan children who are suffering terrible injuries including phosphorous burns have been somehow more deserving if they had been matched by Israeli children?
What kind of strange even-handedness is this that cannot allow an appeal for horribly injured children on one side of a conflict because there are none on the other?
Is the BBC lost in its own moral maze if it cannot allow impeccably non-political organisations such as Action Aid, British Red Cross, Cafod, Care International and Christian Aid to make a humanitarian appeal for help?
Is it so pusillanimous that it would take refuge in the argument that decision was taken “with other broadcasters” – as though collective cowardice were somehow less shameful?
I am the chair of an organisation called Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East which is supported by more than 60 members of Parliament and I urge the BBC to find its moral compass and stop standing in the way of this humanitarian appeal. I am sure many members of our counterpart organisation, Labour Friends of Israel, would say the same.
One does not have to lay the blame to recognise that there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. I would seriously question whether there is anyone in the Israeli Embassy who would complain if you were to allow this appeal to be aired.
Launch of Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East
MPs, other representatives and Jocelyn Hurndall at the launch of LFPME
Martin Linton MP hosted an event to launch Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East, of which he is chairman, in the House of Commons on Tuesday 13th January 2009.
The key speakers were Rt Hon Bill Rammell MP, Minister of State at the Foreign Office, Jocelyn Hurndall, campaigner and mother of Tom Hurndall who was killed in Gaza, and Sadiq Khan MP, Minister for the Communities. Cherie Blair who had intended to speak, but had been called away to the States gave a message of support (see below). Eighty one MPs have signed the Early Day Motion tabled by Martin to welcome the new organisation.
A minute’s silence was held for the people who have died as a result of the conflict in Gaza and southern Israel, including Tom Hurndall who on the same day – 13th January – five years ago. The event was attended by over forty Labour MPs, organisations such as Jews for Justice for Palestinians, the Welfare Association UK, the Muslim Labour Movement, Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, Labour Friends of Israel and many others. The event was hugely oversubscribed so the organisers will be holding another event shortly.
Martin said: “I have had a huge amount of mail from people in my constituency who were deeply shocked by the ferocity of the Israeli assault on Gaza and many people have welcomed this new organisation which will help us to influence Government policy on the Middle East.
“I am glad we have got such a broad sweep of supporters, including several who are also members of Labour Friends of Israel but are joining us to express their feeling that the Israeli action was excessive and disproportionate and may well be counterproductive even from Israel’s point of view because it sows the seeds of future conflicts.
“As an organisation we are committed to a two-state solution with an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. That is also the official policy of the Israeli government but we don’t think they are doing anything like enough to move the peace process forward. Our priority is to persuade the Israelis to stop confiscating Palestinian land, to stop expanding Israeli settlements in Palestine and to lift the blockade of Gaza as a first step towards a peaceful solution of the conflict.”
Statement of support from Cherie Blair
Thank you so much for asking me to join you today and I am so sorry that I can’t be with you. This evening in Washington, my husband is to receive the Presidents Medal of Freedom from President Bush, and I am accompanying him. At this traumatic time, particularly in Gaza but also southern Israel, we are reminded now more than ever of the need for Israelis and Palestinians to build dialogue, later trust and in the future friendship so that they can develop as two separate, viable states living together side by side, on their own land. I am really glad that there will now be a Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East, working with Labour Party members and supporters to make the case for Palestine and Palestinians, and helping to build that dialogue within the UK. There is a need for groups that understand the need for peace, but also the need for justice. I wish Martin and Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East all the best for the challenging times ahead.
Details of the next event will be issued shortly.
March in support of Gaza, 10th January 2009
Martin speaking to the thousands who attended the march from Speaker’s corner to the Israeli embassy in Kensington
On Saturday 10th January 2009, Martin Linton MP, Chair of Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East, spoke at the London demonstration against Israel’s military action in Gaza.
Martin said
“This has been the most immoral war in the history of recent warfare. A country with massive military superiority attacking a population that is in a prison, unable to escape. ”
He said that Gordon Brown and David Miliband had taken the right action by calling for a ceasefire, but said “they must go further and condemn the Israeli conduct of this war.”
YouTube: Martin speaking at the demonstration
Letter to the Foreign Secretary
Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East have written a letter to Foreign Secretary David Miliband calling for action to stop the bombing of civilians in Palestine. The letter, signed by Labour representatives including 53 MPs, MEPs, peers and members of the Welsh Assembly, London Assembly and Scottish Parliament, is below:
Dear David
Re: Gaza crisis
Three hundred people have lost their lives in Gaza over the last three days. In any conflict and any battle in today’s world such a wide scale loss of life would be met with deep despair and a sense of failure.
We are writing together with the new organisation, Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East, to thank you for your clear statement that the number of lives lost in Gaza over the last few days is unacceptable. We fully support your call for a cessation of violence and ask that you also make a statement as soon as Parliament resumes. We will be calling for an urgent debate, which I hope you will support, to enable the voice of the House of Commons to be heard.
The Israeli Defence Force has entered Gaza with extreme force and without apparent concern or apology for the loss of civilian life. We urge you to endorse the statement by the UN Secretary General that the Israeli government’s actions are “excessive”. On Monday the UN estimated the number of deaths at 320, of whom 62 were women and children, against two deaths on the Israeli side. More recent estimates have put the death toll at 347 with more than 800 wounded.
This development is deeply concerning both in itself and in the longer term. We believe that there can be no military solution and would further suggest that excessive military force of this kind is bound to be counterproductive and will inevitably sharpen the sense of injustice in the region.
The conflict in Gaza should not be seen in isolation. We are concerned by the continuing expansion of settlements in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem , by the confiscation of Palestinian land, by the proliferation of checkpoints and by other restrictions on Palestinian movement. In relative terms, the West Bank is peaceful at present, but further tensıons are being stoked up which could foreseeably overspill into violence.
As we enter this bleak period, probably the most dangerous since 1967, we ask you to continue to send a clear signal from this country that excessive military force is counterproductive and will not resolve the conflict. We also ask you to do all in your power to bring about an immediate ceasefire and to ensure that humanitarian aid is urgently allowed into Gaza. As a High Contracting Party to the Geneva Convention we also ask you to ensure that the UK takes a leading role in requiring international law to be upheld.
Yours sincerely,
Martin Linton MP, Chair, Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East (LFPME)
Diane Abbot MP Janet Anderson MP John Austin MP Roger Berry MP Roberta Blackman-Woods MP Lyn Brown MP Karen Buck MP David Chaytor MP Katy Clark MP Harry Cohen MP Frank Cook MP Michael Connarty MP Parmjit Dhanda MP Jim Dobbin MP Jim Dowd MP David Drew MP Paul Flynn MP Hywel Francis MP Roger Godsiff MP Nia Griffith MP Brian Iddon MP Eric Illsley MP Peter Kilfoyle MP Mark Lazarowicz MP Tom Levitt MP Andy Love MP Judy Mallaber MP Christine McCafferty MP Andrew MacKinlay MP Rob Marris MP Michael Meacher MP Anne Moffat MP
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| Nick Palmer MPMartin Salter MP
Jim Sheridan MP Andrew Slaughter MP Sir Peter Soulsby MP Dr Howard Stoate MP David Taylor MP Joan Walley MP Tony Wright MP Mike Wood MP Jim Devine MP Hywel Francis MP John McDonnell MP Neil Gerrard MP Virendra Sharma MP Alan Whitehead MP Lord Alf Dubs Baroness Anne Gibson Lord David Lipsey Baroness Brenda Dean Lord Andrew McIntosh Baroness Rosalie Wilkins Richard Simpson MSP Frank McAveety MSP Marlyn Glen MSP Christine Chapman AM John Griffiths AM Alan Davies AM Murad Qureshi GLA John Biggs GLA Sara Apps, LFPME Michelle Harris, LFPME Mark McDonald, LFPME |
