Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday an Israeli strike on Syria would be considered an attack on the whole Islamic world that would bring a "fierce response", state television reported.

"If the Zionist regime commits another stupid move and attacks Syria, this will be considered like attacking the whole Islamic world and this regime will receive a very fierce response," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying in a telephone conversation with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The president made the comments after Israel struck Beirut airport and military airbases and blockaded Lebanese ports in reprisals that have killed 55 civilians in Lebanon since Hezbollah gunmen captured two Israeli soldiers a day earlier.

"He (Ahmadinejad) also said it was a must for the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to become more active regarding the new crisis created by the Zionist regime," state television reported.

Riyadh faults Hezbollah for current crisis

Saudi Arabia on Thursday blamed "elements" inside Lebanon for the violence with Israel, in unusually frank language directed at guerrilla group Hezbollah and its Iranian backers.

"A distinction must be made between legitimate resistance and uncalculated adventures undertaken by elements inside (Lebanon) and those behind them without recourse to the legal authorities and consulting and coordinating with Arab nations," a statement carried by the official news agency SPA said.

"These elements should bear the responsibility for their irresponsible actions and they alone should end the crisis they have created."

Israel struck Beirut airport and military airbases and blockaded Lebanese ports on Thursday, intensifying reprisals that have killed 55 civilians in Lebanon since Hizbollah captured two Israel Defense Forces soldiers a day earlier.

More

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/738315.html

Will Israel continue to terrorize its neighbors and provoke them? If so, Iran may have to cut them down to size.

Hundreds showed up in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Israel. Beautiful showing of peace and fellowship, compared with the screaming jihadis across the street.

UN CERD Committee to Review Israel�s Compliance with Human Rights Treaty on 2-3 August 2006: Committee Poses Tough Questions to Israel on Racial Discrimination Against Palestinian Citizens of Israel

In the run-up to its full review of Israel�s compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), scheduled to take place on 2-3 August 2006 in Geneva, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (the Committee) published its list of questions to Israel in June 2006. The Committee�s questions featured numerous inquiries regarding Israel�s violations of the CERD against Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel raised by Adalah in its NGO Report which was submitted to the Committee on 15 December 2005.

The publication of the list of questions follows the Committee�s initial review of Israel's 10th and 13th Periodic Reports, submitted by the state in May 2005, as well as reports submitted by Adalah and several other Palestinian, Israeli, and international human rights NGOs in response. In its report, Adalah presented data and analysis of the status of and discrimination against the Arab minority in Israel and challenged several contentions made by Israel in its reports. Among the issues raised by Adalah were the lack of a constitutional protection for the principle of equality; the lack of transparency surrounding and failure to fully implement the Multi-Year Plan; judicial and political under-representation; the lack of recognition and protection of non-Jewish holy sites; the no-compensation law; the ban on family unification; the criminal procedures bill; violations of the right to personal security; and discriminatory violations of the rights of Palestinian citizens to housing and education.

The Committee's List of Questions for Israel included the following issues, discussed in Adalah�s NGO Report:

The Right to Equality: The Committee asked Israel to provide information on how the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty safeguards against racial discrimination. The Committee also asked how the implementation of the CERD has been reflected in domestic legislation and the Supreme Court�s jurisprudence. Other questions sought more information on the distinction between �Jewish nationality� and �Israeli citizenship,� and the implications of this distinction for the enjoyment of human rights.

Benefits from Military Service: The Committee asked Israel to indicate how the state grants housing and educational benefits to military and reserve soldiers and how this policy conforms with the CERD vis-?-vis Arab citizens of Israel, who are largely exempt from or choose not to perform military service.

The Multi-Year Plan: The Committee requested that Israel provide additional information on how funds for the Multi-Year Plan for Arab Development were allocated. The Committee further asked Israel to address concerns regarding how this plan has been funded and implemented as compared to development projects for Jewish communities in Israel.

The Criminal Law Procedure Bill and Discrimination in Criminal Conviction and Imprisonment: The Committee asked Israel to respond regarding how citizenship and residency criteria stipulated in the bill are related to the rights of the individuals suspected of committing security offences. Additionally, the Committee asked Israel to comment on data provided to it demonstrating �significant disparities in conviction and imprisonment rates for criminal offences between Arab and Jewish citizens.�

The Right to Security of Person and the Or Commission: The Committee asked Israel to respond to concerns raised by Adalah in its report that complaints of police brutality against Palestinian citizens are routinely investigated in an improper and ineffective manner, as well as concerns that the Ministry of Justice�s Police Investigations Unit (Mahash) lacks independence. The Committee further asked Israel to provide information on the prosecution of individuals responsible for the deaths of Palestinian citizens of Israel during the October 2000 demonstrations.

Ban on Family Unification: The Committee inquired whether its concerns over the Nationality and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) � 2003 were taken into account by the Supreme Court in its decision of 14 May 2006 to uphold the law. In 2003 and 2004, the CERD Committee called upon Israel to revoke the law as it violated CERD.

Unjust Land and Planning Policies: The Committee issued several questions relating to discrimination in the state�s land and planning policies. The Committee questioned Israel over measures to ensure the equal and full participation of Palestinian citizens of Israel in the planning of Arab towns and villages, and specifically requested data on the proportion of Arab members to the National Council for Planning and Building, and whether or not Jewish and Arab villages are allocated equal funds by the government. The Committee also requested an update on the implementation of the Qa�dan v. The Israel Land Administration ruling from 2000 and additional information on the selection committees of Jewish towns and villages, including the criteria they employ for refusing applicants.

The Unrecognized Arab Bedouin Villages: The Committee asked Israel to explain why the state plans to relocate Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel from the unrecognized villages in the Naqab rather than to recognize their villages. The Committee further requested information from the state on the legal and planning criteria governing the recognition of localities, and whether these are equally applied.

Discrimination in Education: The Committee asked for data on the resources allocated to each Arab and each Jewish child in the field of education, and asked Israel to respond to concerns that �psychometric examinations used to test aptitudes, abilities and personality, indirectly discriminate against Arabs in accessing higher education.�

The Protection of non-Jewish Holy Sites: The Committee requested more information on the petition filed to Supreme Court by Adalah demanding that the Ministry or Religious Affairs issue regulations to protect Muslim holy sites in Israel. The Committee further asked Israel to respond to the fact that, at the time of submitting its periodic reports, all of the 120 locations in Israel which the Minister has declared holy sites are Jewish.

The No-Compensation Law: The Committee asked Israel to explain how the Civil Torts (Liability of the State) Law � 2005, which almost completely blocks the ability of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to obtain compensation for damage or injury caused by the Israeli security forces, is compatible with the principle of non-discrimination.

For more information, please see:

NGO Report of Adalah to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 15 December 2005

Questions Put by the Rapporteur in Connection with the Consideration of the 10th to 13th Periodic

The developments we have witnessed in Gaza and Lebanon over the past few days merely serve to confirm, in the most dramatic fashion, that the maxim “might is right” still applies. It has become quite clear that Israel is much more than a small state armed to the teeth. Not even the US enjoys such tolerance.

The governments of the West and those who shape its public opinion are, as a rule, extremely cautious in their criticism of Tel Aviv. Evidently this is not merely due to the legacy of the Holocaust. It is also attributable to the creation of an entire industry of ideological terrorism and to the exploitation of the Holocaust for political ends, which insults the memory of the victims.

It is hardly irrelevant that the media refer to Israeli soldiers being “abducted” rather than “taken captive” - the term “abduction” suggests terrorism while soldiers are “taken captive” after armed conflicts. However, both captures, of two Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and another in Gaza earlier this month, followed armed conflict. Generally Israel describes such conflicts as terrorist acts. But this time it referred to the unjustified attack of one sovereign state against another. Tel Aviv does not regard Hezbollah as less of a terrorist organization than Hamas. It just needed a political excuse for its attack on Lebanon.

The attacks on Gaza and Lebanon were not carried out to free the three Israeli soldiers, nor because of Israel’s penchant for multiple reprisals. There is also an acute problem with rocket attacks targeting Israeli settlements. But these attacks are just the flipside of Israel’s offensives in this unbalanced war.

Israel’s mistake is not that it is exercising its right to defend itself but that it has been carried away by an arrogance of power that has extinguished any political farsightedness. Hence its attempt to impose a military solution upon a political problem.

If the soldiers were "taken captive"- they would be afforded the same Geneva convention rights as other prisioners of war (visits from the Red Cross, etc). Clearly they are not being given these protections, in direct violation of the Geneva Conventiod

The Devil (George Warmonger Bush): "Sorry to Oil the Arming of Irgun Zvai Leumi / Likud Extremist in IsraOil and the War Crimes in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon but Oil comes First. Fill her Up ???????"

2 July 2006: 42 Palestinians and 3 Israelis killed in June

B'Tselem's Web site today published the fatality figures for June 2006 in the Occupied Territories and Israel .

Forty-two Palestinians, six of them minors, were killed by Israeli armed forces. Twenty-four of the fatalities did not participate in the hostilities, but were bystanders who were killed in attacks by Israel 's air force. The figures do not include the seven members of the Ghaliya family, the cause of whose deaths B'Tselem can not determine at this time.

One Israeli civilian and two Israeli soldiers were killed by Palestinians.

B'Tselem calls on the government of Israel to distinguish between civilians and civilian objects, on the one hand, and combatants and military objects, on the other hand, and to refrain from attacking military objects if the attack will cause excessive injury to civilians.

B'Tselem calls on the Palestinian militant organizations to release the abducted soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, and until that time, ensure that he remains healthy and safe. B'Tselem also calls on the organizations not to direct attacks against civilians.

By way of comparison, in May 2006, 36 Palestinians were killed by Israel security forces, one Israeli civilian died from injuries he sustained the previous month. In June last year, five Palestinians, three Israeli civilians, and one member of Israel 's armed forces were killed by Palestinians.

11 July 2006: Human rights groups to Israeli High Court: Stop the harm to the civilian population in Gaza

Today, July 11, 2006, six human rights groups petitioned the Israeli High Court demanding that the crossings in Gaza be opened to allow for the steady and regular supply of fuel, food, medicine, and equipment, including spare parts needed to operate generators.

The groups – The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Hamoked: Center for Defence of the Individual, B’tselem, The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and Gisha - Center for the Legal Protection of Freedom of Movement also asked for an urgent hearing in order to prevent serious harm to the health of the civilian population, especially patients in hospital, and to prevent the breakdown of the water and sewage system in Gaza.

During the current military operation in the Gaza Strip the Israeli military has interrupted the supply of fuel to Gaza and kept Gaza's crossings mostly closed to supply of food and other humanitarian goods. The uninterrupted supply of fuel and equipment is necessary for the functioning of Gaza's health and sanitation systems, and Gaza requires a steady supply of food and medicine.

Since Gaza's power station was destroyed on June 28, there is an increased need for fuel to power the generators in Gaza and for spare parts to keep the generators running at such a high capacity. The closure of Karni Crossing has led to shortages in food at a time when, given the difficulty of obtaining electricity to prepare and refrigerate foodstuffs, Gaza requires increased shipments of dairy products, meat, flour, and other goods.

Without a steady supply of fuel and parts, hospitals cannot perform life-saving surgery and treatment plants cannot pump and treat sewage in Gaza. Gaza hospitals have reduced their activities to life-saving procedures. Since the bombing of the power plant, Gaza's water utility has been dumping 60,000 cubic meters of raw sewage into the sea each day, for lack of power and equipment to run the treatment plants, and there is concern that untreated sewage will pollute the aquifer or spill into the streets.

Because of the electricity shortages, stores in Gaza have stopped selling meat and dairy products. Trucks laden with food and medicine have been stuck at Karni Crossing, which has been closed since July 6, including 230 containers from international aid organizations.

Withholding fuel, food, and equipment from Gaza residents constitutes collective punishment, in violation of international law. The petition argues that Israel is not fulfilling its legal obligations to provide for the needs of the civilian population and to distinguish between military and civilian targets.

According to Faysal Shawa, a businessman and Gaza resident: "We have been thrown back to the way people lived 100 years ago ... We don't have water, we don't have milk for our kids."

According to Maher Najer, Deputy Director of Gaza's Water Company: "We face severe shortages in the electricity, fuel, and spare parts needed to operate Gaza's water and sewage systems. These shortages threaten to create a public health catastrophe."

11 July 2006: Human rights groups to Israeli High Court: Stop the harm to the civilian population in Gaza

Today, July 11, 2006, six human rights groups petitioned the Israeli High Court demanding that the crossings in Gaza be opened to allow for the steady and regular supply of fuel, food, medicine, and equipment, including spare parts needed to operate generators.

The groups – The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Hamoked: Center for Defence of the Individual, B’tselem, The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and Gisha - Center for the Legal Protection of Freedom of Movement also asked for an urgent hearing in order to prevent serious harm to the health of the civilian population, especially patients in hospital, and to prevent the breakdown of the water and sewage system in Gaza.

During the current military operation in the Gaza Strip the Israeli military has interrupted the supply of fuel to Gaza and kept Gaza's crossings mostly closed to supply of food and other humanitarian goods. The uninterrupted supply of fuel and equipment is necessary for the functioning of Gaza's health and sanitation systems, and Gaza requires a steady supply of food and medicine.

Since Gaza's power station was destroyed on June 28, there is an increased need for fuel to power the generators in Gaza and for spare parts to keep the generators running at such a high capacity. The closure of Karni Crossing has led to shortages in food at a time when, given the difficulty of obtaining electricity to prepare and refrigerate foodstuffs, Gaza requires increased shipments of dairy products, meat, flour, and other goods.

Without a steady supply of fuel and parts, hospitals cannot perform life-saving surgery and treatment plants cannot pump and treat sewage in Gaza. Gaza hospitals have reduced their activities to life-saving procedures. Since the bombing of the power plant, Gaza's water utility has been dumping 60,000 cubic meters of raw sewage into the sea each day, for lack of power and equipment to run the treatment plants, and there is concern that untreated sewage will pollute the aquifer or spill into the streets.

Because of the electricity shortages, stores in Gaza have stopped selling meat and dairy products. Trucks laden with food and medicine have been stuck at Karni Crossing, which has been closed since July 6, including 230 containers from international aid organizations.

Withholding fuel, food, and equipment from Gaza residents constitutes collective punishment, in violation of international law. The petition argues that Israel is not fulfilling its legal obligations to provide for the needs of the civilian population and to distinguish between military and civilian targets.

According to Faysal Shawa, a businessman and Gaza resident: "We have been thrown back to the way people lived 100 years ago ... We don't have water, we don't have milk for our kids."

According to Maher Najer, Deputy Director of Gaza's Water Company: "We face severe shortages in the electricity, fuel, and spare parts needed to operate Gaza's water and sewage systems. These shortages threaten to create a public health catastrophe."