{"article":{"id":253811,"heading":"Gaza Blockade's Fifth Anniversary","author":"Stephen Lendman","created":"2012-06-17 03:33:54","modified":"2013-11-11 01:10:53","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 08:10:53","article":"

Gaza Blockade’s Fifth Anniversary

by Stephen Lendman

Gaza's blockade is illegal. Collective punishment is prohibited. Fourth Geneva's Article 33 states:

\"No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.\"

\"Pillage is prohibited.\"

\"Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.\"

Israel spurns all international laws and its own. It commits crimes of war and against humanity with impunity.

Isolating Gaza is a war crime. June 14 marked the blockade's fifth anniversary. Around 50 international human rights and organizations, as well as six UN bodies called for immediately lifting it.

A joint appeal said:

\"For over five years in Gaza, more than 1.6 million people have been under blockade in violation of international law. More than half of these people are children. We the undersigned say with one voice: 'end the blockade now.\"

\"More than 80 percent of families in Gaza are dependent on humanitarian aid.\"

\"This amounts to a collective punishment of all those living in Gaza and is a denial of basic human rights in contravention of international law.\"

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) marked the anniversary with a report titled \"5 Years and Counting: International Organizations and Donors Continue to Fund Israel's Illegal Closure on the Gaza Strip.\"

In mid-June 2007, total isolation was illegally imposed. World leaders yawned and did nothing. They're still silent. They're complicit in crimes of war and against humanity.

Since 1991, Israel imposed severe hardships on Gaza. At issue was curtailing political and economic freedom. Free movement was also restricted.

Despite a November 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access, Israel enforced severe restrictions on people and goods movement.

Five years ago this month, total closure was imposed. Israel calls Gaza a \"hostile entity.\" As a result, 1.7 million Palestinians are lawlessly collectively punished.

Free movement is denied. Imports and exports of goods are restricted. Essential food, fuel, medical supplies and construction materials are affected.

Virtually all essentials face severe shortages. Redeveloping Gaza is prevented. Unemployment and poverty grow. Without aid, survival is at issue. With it, humanitarian crisis conditions exist.

Unless closure is lifted, \"it will be impossible for (Gazans) to rebuild their lives, and (be able) to secure their fundamental human rights.\"

By continuing to fund the closure, donors relieve Israel's responsibility as an occupying power to observe inviolable international law. Collective punishment continues to be policy.

Blockade conditions exist behind \"a security apparatus consisting of a fence, concrete wall, and military installations....\"

Israel controls Gaza's coast and air space. Fishermen are attacked at sea. Farmers are shot in their fields. So are children. Israeli border guards use them for target practice.

Pre-mid 2007, five border crossings operated. Karni provided 75% of Gaza imports. Around 600 truckloads got daily access. Another 400 carried exports.

In May 2012, two border crossings operated - Karm abu Salem for goods and Erez for pedestrians. Both face severe restrictions. Traffic is curtailed. Karm abu Salem operates at a fraction of its capacity.

About 570 truckloads daily are required to supply basic needs. In April, Israel allowed only 149 passage rights. Around one-fourth of what's needed got through.

Exports are greatly restricted. Amounts fluctuate monthly. In January, around 3% of pre-2007 levels were permitted. February, March, and April amounts dropped.

Longer waiting times were imposed for goods and pedestrians. Perishable goods are affected. Costs increase. Bureaucratic red tape harms humanitarian efforts.

Permit permission takes more time for approval. International organizations can't function properly. Costs are excessively high. The UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) said it's paying an extra $4 million.

Moreover, goods must be placed on pallets. Containers aren't allowed. Amounts shipped are affected. When emergencies arise, aid groups can't respond properly. Approvals take months to arrange.

Around 19% of UN projects wait on average 17 months for approval. Moreover, since September 2011, no UNOPS ones were approved. Humanitarian efforts are challenged.

The World Food Program also reported difficulties supplying Gaza's essential needs. Israel's closure policy bears full responsibility. Agencies say cost issues and inordinate delays impede them.

UNRWA saw its emergency aid budget increase from about $52 million in 2006 to around $64 million in 2010. OCHA is severely strapped. Its $2.8 million 2006 budget ballooned to $7 million in 2011.

Around 80% of Gazans are aid dependent. Over 40% are impoverished or severely so. Nearly two-thirds of Gazans are refugees. Over 80% of Gazan factories remain closed or operate at a fraction of full capacity.

With limited ability to import and severe export restrictions, Israel suffocates Gaza. Moreover, Its lawless buffer zone prohibits access to about 30% of total agriculture on land considered most arable.

Families can't support themselves. Fishermen can't make a living. The impact on civilian lives is scandalous. Virtually nothing is done to relieve it.

Occupying powers are responsible for the welfare of people they control. Article 43 of the Hague Regulations obligate them with regard to health, education, quality of life, public works, other essential infrastructure, and overall material conditions.

Fourth Geneva Articles 55 and 56 require occupying powers to provide food and health care. Under Article 69 of Additional Protocol I, provision for clothing, bedding and shelter must be provided.

In addition, progressive development of education, health systems, infrastructure, power, and telecommunications capability is required.

Israel spurns its obligations. Homes, factories, infrastructure, commercial and government buildings, and other facilities have been destroyed and not rebuilt.

Fundamental human rights are denied, including to life, health, and adequate food, clothing and housing. Health, of course, includes physical and mental well-being.

UN Charter Articles 55 and 56 require Israel to promote higher living standards, and conditions of economic and social progress and development.

Israel violates all its obligations under international law. Gazans suffer enormously. Blockade was imposed for political and economic reasons. Israel admitted it wasn't for security reasons.

It claimed justification for economic warfare, saying:

\"(D)amaging the enemy's economy is in and of itself a legitimate means in warfare and a relevant consideration even while deciding to allow the entry of relief consignments.\"

International law prohibits collective punishment. Israeli aggression violates UN Charter provisions. Gaza's blockade was institutionalized. Doing so constitutes criminally assaulting a civilian population for purposes of control and denying it fundamental rights.

A new Save the Children Foundation\/Medical Aid Foundation report called Gaza's water unfit for human consumption. It's contaminated with chemical manure and waste water.

Children are gravely impacted. Water related illness, including diarrhea and dysentery, doubled in the last five years. Israel bears full responsibility.

Israel bombed coastal area sewage systems and denies construction materials, equipment, and parts to rebuild them properly.

Israel promised to ease Gaza restrictions. No meaningful improvement of life followed. Fundamental rights are denied. Blockade conditions are enforced.

Air and ground assaults occur regularly. A new study said drone attacks terrorize Gazans. They patrol night and day. Their engine noise is audible on the ground.

Gazans call them \"zanana\" because of their distinctive buzz. They affect sleep. Children are traumatized. Gazans are attacked and killed. No one knows who next will be harmed.

A state of war exists. Crimes are committed. Civilians suffer. Nothing changes. Gazans blogger Rawan Yaghi explained her angst as follows:

\"Hi droning drone,

you know what: you've become a real friend of mine. I swore at you. I spit at you. You keep me awake. You have actually been talking to me all day long.\"

\"Well, to be honest my friend, I tried to ignore you by using my headphones and watching TV. But you wouldn't quit, would you? Well, congratulations you've broke the record you've made more than one million friends in less than two days. Take good buzz of yourself.\"

A Final Comment

On June 14, a Civil Peace Service Gaza press release said an Israeli warship attacked international observers, a journalist, and CPSGAZA's Palestinian Oliva vessel captain \"in an attempt to harm the crew members and threaten them with arrest.\"

Italian observer Rosa Schiano said:

\"We were behind the buoy that Israel put out at sea to mark the three mile limit and they attacked us with heavy water cannons for half an hour, chasing us towards the northen nautical border.\"

\"Then they accused us of crossing the border, when they had forcibly chased us in that direction.\"

Oliva was within three nautical miles of Gaza's coast. Israel's warship circled, chased, and attacked it with heavy water cannon fire. The vessel filled dangerously. It could have sunk. The crew said it posed no danger. A soldier replied \"(s)hut up.\"

Israelis ordered Oliva to shut its motor. Crew members were told to stand in the front of the boat. They asked if they were being arrested. In reply, they were told \"(w)e'll take all of you.\"

Finally, they were allowed to leave with a warning, saying \"(n)ext time we won't be as nice, if you know what I mean.\"

CPSGAZA's land team said Israel's navy attacked Palestinian fishermen at the same time Oliva was assaulted. They \"were targeted with live gunfire and wake washed.\"

Israel does it regularly. Contempt for human rights and safety is policy. Life in Occupation Palestine is brutish, harsh and unsafe.

In Gaza, no one knows from day to day who'll live or die. Nothing is done to end human suffering. When will it end, people ask?

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net<\/a>.

His new book is titled \"How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War\"

http:\/\/www.claritypress.com\/Lendman.html<\/a>

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http:\/\/www.progressiveradionetwork.com\/the-progressive-news-hour<\/a>\t<\/p>\n","contact":"lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net","link":"sjlendman.blogspot.com","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"Gaza","numcomment":79,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2012\/06\/253811.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":253814,"heading":"the beatdown goes on","article":"Israel wants one thing. Everything.\r\nAmong the items it wants is the elimination of what the zionist rat state considers vermin. The people who were living there before these European invaders began the genocide against them. Everything resolves in perfect focus as viewed in this aspect.","author":"Isn't it Obvious?","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-06-17 09:27:18","modified":"2012-06-17 09:27:18","fileurl":""},{"id":254071,"heading":"Some snapshots from gaza","article":"Just some snapshots from gaza, the worlds's largest open air concentration camp","author":"ALAH","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-02 17:03:05","modified":"2012-07-02 17:03:05","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza_coity_5.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza_coity_5.jpg"}},{"id":254072,"heading":"more snapshots from gaza","article":"Some snapshots from gaza. ","author":"ALAH","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-02 17:04:24","modified":"2012-07-03 13:21:54","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza_city_7.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza_city_7.jpg"}},{"id":254073,"heading":"More snapshots from gaza","article":"Snapshots from Gaza","author":"ALAH","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-02 17:08:06","modified":"2012-07-02 17:08:06","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza_harbor.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza_harbor.jpg"}},{"id":254074,"heading":"more BS from our 'friends'","article":"We don't know where or when these photos were taken. ?They certainly weren't taken after Operation Cast Lead.\r\nIsrael must be planning another 'incursion' and must plaster their propaganda in hopes that anyone would believe it.","author":"israeli hogwash","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-03 00:43:30","modified":"2012-07-03 00:43:30","fileurl":""},{"id":254075,"heading":"Copyright:pauline beugnies","article":"Gaza from a different view","author":"3Dec2009 Gaza","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/gif","created":"2012-07-03 01:08:38","modified":"2012-07-03 01:08:38","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza-view-on-east-gaza-beit-lahia3dec2009.gif","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza-view-on-east-gaza-beit-lahia3dec2009.gif"}},{"id":254076,"heading":"Photos taken June 2012","article":"This photos were taken this month and appeared in on an Arab website promoting tourism in aza.\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/ashams.com\/artn.php?ID=9349\r\n\r\nThere have been several 5 star resorts built in Gaza, and they are actively attempting to fil them up.","author":"Nihaya","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-03 01:51:07","modified":"2012-07-03 01:51:07","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/al_mashtal_gaza_resort.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/al_mashtal_gaza_resort.jpg"}},{"id":254077,"heading":"Views from gaza","article":"More views from Gaza from http:\/\/ashams.com\/artn.php?ID=9349","author":"Views from gaza","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-03 01:53:49","modified":"2012-07-03 13:21:45","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza_city.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza_city.jpg"}},{"id":254078,"heading":"photos from gaza","article":"More views from Gaza from http:\/\/ashams.com\/artn.php?ID=9349","author":"photos from gaza","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-03 01:54:56","modified":"2012-07-03 01:54:56","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza_city_2.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza_city_2.jpg"}},{"id":254079,"heading":"more photos from gaza","article":"More views from Gaza \r\nhttp:\/\/ashams.com\/artn.php?ID=9349","author":"more photos from gaza","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-03 01:57:10","modified":"2012-07-03 01:57:10","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza_city_3.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza_city_3.jpg"}},{"id":254080,"heading":"just like the others...","article":"\r\n\r\nA Palestinian Hamas policeman inspects the destroyed former office of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.\r\n","author":"No Date Stamp on Google Earth?","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-03 02:29:32","modified":"2012-07-03 02:29:32","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/g-massacro23.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/g-massacro23.jpg"}},{"id":254090,"heading":"got to be kidding","article":"These individuals think we'll believe anything...","author":"Another pic","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-03 09:06:46","modified":"2012-07-03 09:06:46","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/university-in-gaza.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/university-in-gaza.jpg"}},{"id":254166,"heading":"five years of resistance and survival","article":"The colonial enterprise known as 'Israel' can only exist as such with the world's eyes blinded or twisted with prestidigitation with the control of the commercial media and the political gaggle of trained seals where AIPAC snaps the whip.\r\nThe laughable attempt to paint Gaza as a playground of running water, green gardens and "5 star hotels" brings to mind the Potemkin solution of carefully vectored viewpoints.\r\nWhile the people who had been there when these European invaders came into this land, live under constant fear of yet another 'incursion' [ the patty-cake word the controlled media uses instead of massacre ] at the hands of a full and modern military, their own defenses limited to smuggled and kludged weaponry. As they die by the thousands as in Operation Cast Lead.\r\nBuilding supplies are cashed, food left to rot and projects such as solar power stations are destroyed.\r\nTiny glimmers of real life in occupied Palestine show IDF goons kicking children at check points, incidental murder and total disregard to the life liberty or welfare of this captive population.\r\nIt's very difficult not to be reminded of Warsaw. ","author":"Deathcamp Palestine","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-07 17:19:36","modified":"2012-07-07 17:19:36","fileurl":""},{"id":254168,"heading":"Yea,really.....","article":" ...especially when you consider that over 50% of the so called "Palestinians" who live there have internet access.TV dishes,and cell phones.....just like the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto!","author":"Lord Locksley","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-07 19:52:45","modified":"2012-07-07 19:52:45","fileurl":""},{"id":254169,"heading":"sure they do","article":"another foundation-less comment from one of our resident zionist psychopaths.\r\nHow about the 50% [ if one was actually to take the word of pathological liars ] who don't have "internet access.TV dishes,and cell phones" or clean water, enough food, power or any chance of life under the IDF and the goons they station at the innumerable checkpoints?\r\n","author":"Deathcamp Palestine","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-07 20:03:28","modified":"2012-07-07 20:03:28","fileurl":""},{"id":254177,"heading":"Potemkin concentration camp","article":"" Hitler, the world was to be told, had built a city for the Jews, to protect them from the vagaries and stresses of the war... The Red Cross was allowed to visit Terezin once. The village of Terezin was spruced up for the occasion...Even the candy shop window overflowed with bon bons creating a fantastic illusion... There were so many musicians in Terezin, there could have been two full symphony orchestras performing simultaneously daily. In addition, there were a number of chamber orchestras playing at various times. A number of distinguished composers created works at Terezin... "\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org\/jsource\/Holocaust\/terezin.html","author":"just like the nazis","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-08 19:14:16","modified":"2012-07-08 19:14:16","fileurl":""},{"id":254178,"heading":"thank you, "just like the nazis"","article":"The prospect of yet another massacre, ever present in the mind of the people, in that wired in strip of land, is all too real.\r\nIt's also evident that the attention paid to plaster over the misery of occupation and blockade in that land, is a portent of future abominable actions by the IDF as the grinding oppression and casual murder of the Christian and Muslim community native population needs [ in the megaphone zionist media ] a whole lot of powered sugar to cover over.\r\nLike I've said a hundred times, it's very difficult to cover a turd the size of israel in powered sugar.\r\nBDS and let the 'isreali' state shrivel up and blow away.\r\nA Free Palestine with EQUAL JUSTICE for all.","author":"Spoink-Deathcamp Palestine","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-08 20:53:01","modified":"2012-07-08 20:53:01","fileurl":""},{"id":254187,"heading":"This is the real gaza","article":"This is a Gaza kindergarten graduation. This is the real gaza","author":"This is the real gaza","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-09 17:56:03","modified":"2012-07-09 17:56:03","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/_gaza_kindergarten_graduation__6_.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/_gaza_kindergarten_graduation__6_.jpg"}},{"id":254188,"heading":"real gaza","article":"This is a Gaza kindergarten graduation. This is the real gaza\r\n","author":"real gaza","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-09 17:57:31","modified":"2012-07-09 17:57:31","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza_kindergaten.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza_kindergaten.jpg"}},{"id":254189,"heading":"it's amazing how stupid they think we are","article":"I am always amazed just how gullible the zionist worm-minds believe we are, to believe any caption at all to these israeli youth, playing 'jahadist'.\r\nThis is REAL bullshit.","author":"beyond photoshop!","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-09 18:46:27","modified":"2012-07-09 18:46:27","fileurl":""},{"id":254190,"heading":"more children gone wrong","article":"they have learned to read and write on 155mm rounds, love notes...","author":"Israeli elementry school","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-09 18:49:46","modified":"2012-07-09 18:49:46","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/192642683_915cc8eda3_o.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/192642683_915cc8eda3_o.jpg"}},{"id":254191,"heading":"more 'proof'","article":"or this one, where you can see the knee of an israeli uniform propping up a rifle for a photo-shoot of this terrified child.","author":"Another terrorist!","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-09 19:03:14","modified":"2012-07-09 19:03:14","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/infant-__terrorist__.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/infant-__terrorist__.jpg"}},{"id":254192,"heading":"House demolitions BY HAMAS","article":"GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Gaza government on Sunday began the demolition of several homes in Gaza City, saying they are built on government land.\r\n\r\nAbu Al-Abed Abu Omra, whose house is threatened with demolition, told Ma'an that police officers arrived late Saturday night and told residents to evacuate their homes in order to facilitate the demolition.\r\n\r\nHe said that there are more than 120 families living in the 15-dunams area under threat, near Gaza's Al-Azhar University, and they have been there since 1948.\r\n\r\nHe called on the Gaza cabinet to provide the families with homes in neighboring area al-Sheikh Ijleen in exchange, which he said had been promised to them.\r\n\r\nThe families had rejected an offer to move to the southern areas of Deir al-Balah and Karni as they are too close to Israel's dangerous no-go zone surrounding the barrier, he said. \r\n\r\nIn February after authorities demolished a number of homes in the Hamami neighborhood in Gaza City, a municipality engineer told the US-based Electronic Intifada website that the authorities intended to widen a 40-km coastal road to and install a sewage and water network.\r\n\r\nThe engineer, Hatem al-Sheikh Khaleil, said the project was in cooperation with the Lands Authority and the Palestine Telecommunication Company, funded by a German grant. \r\n\r\nThe website quoted municipal officials as saying the al-Rashid coastal road was too narrow to absorb the amount of traffic it receives, especially the in summer. \r\n\r\n","author":"free Gaza from Hamas","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-09 21:31:55","modified":"2012-07-09 21:31:55","fileurl":""},{"id":254193,"heading":"something here is Questionable","article":"I wonder why the israeli count of home demolitions, up-rooting of orchards and settlement incursions aren't mentioned.\r\nHell, we don't even know if the reports coming from a brutal military lockdown are even close to reality. Observers are blockaded from reporting. We only get official reports that mean nothing.\r\nBut it does mean something.\r\nIsrael is [preparing another massacre to rid the land of its native inhabitants.","author":"Home Demo","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-09 21:40:14","modified":"2012-07-09 21:40:14","fileurl":""},{"id":254203,"heading":"NOT EVEN FROM ISRAEL","article":"http:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/sol\/homepage\/news\/campaigns\/our_boys\/2756197\/Young-girl-holds-AK-47-rifle-in-sick-propaganda-stunt.html\r\n\r\nA TINY girl aged barely two sucks her fingers in childish innocence \u2014 while grasping an AK-47 assault rifle almost as big as her. \r\n\r\nThe tot, in full Muslim dress, was made to pose with the weapon dubbed the \u201cWidowmaker\u201d as part of a sickening propaganda stunt staged by extremists of the Islamic Jihad Union, linked to al-Qaeda. \r\n\r\n","author":"LIARS","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-11 03:12:51","modified":"2013-11-11 01:11:01","fileurl":""},{"id":254207,"heading":"oh brother!","article":"As explained earlier, the child in question, being photographed by an IDF soldier; the same soldier who's dun colored uniform props up this rifle, is nothing more than an incredibly stupid and blown propaganda stunt.\r\nFor thinking they're too damn smart, they sure act like morons.\r\nIf the photo had been cropped just a bit more to exclude the knee of this IDF goon, it may not have been so ridiculously obvious what assholes these individuals are and how stupid...","author":"Are U Stupid?","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-11 06:31:11","modified":"2012-07-11 06:31:11","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/infant-__terrorist__.jpg9v3gsj.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/infant-__terrorist__.jpg9v3gsj.jpg"}},{"id":254211,"heading":"Wrong","article":"Except this photo was taken at the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. What are The idf doing thee?","author":"Wrong","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-11 12:04:23","modified":"2012-07-11 12:04:23","fileurl":""},{"id":254212,"heading":"water soup, huh?","article":"Actually it doesn't matter where...it only matters that some idiot IDF [ the combat uniform is unique in color ] asshole thought it could use a terrified child to further the myth of 'infant terrorists' while the idiot media unquestioningly ran with the fraud.\r\nJust how many times must you get kicked in the balls [ tiny shriveled up raisins as appropriate for fighting children ] with your idiot propaganda before you realize just how stupid you prove yourselves to be?","author":"Where?","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-11 13:22:09","modified":"2012-07-11 13:22:09","fileurl":""},{"id":254214,"heading":"propaganda photos","article":"http:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/sol\/homepage\/news\/campaigns\/our_boys\/2756197\/Young-girl-holds-AK-47-rifle-in-sick-propaganda-stunt.html \r\n\r\nYou can see the rest of the propaganda photos here","author":"propaganda photos","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-11 14:32:28","modified":"2012-07-11 14:32:28","fileurl":""},{"id":254215,"heading":"Gaza kindergarten graduation","article":"Whats interested about these photos of a Gaza kindergarten graduation is that there were proudly displayed on a Gaza website in Arabic, and were clearly not for Western consumption.\r\n\r\nUsing Google translate on the Arabic it says\r\nhttp:\/\/saraya.ps\/index.php?act=Show&id=21479\r\n\r\n\u201cIt is our obligation to educate the children to love the resistance, Palestine and Jerusalem, so they will recognize the importance of Palestine and who its enemy is,\u201d the kindergarten\u2019s director said.\r\n\r\nThe children were dressed up in uniforms of Jihad\u2019s armed-wing, the al-Quds Brigades, and each of them received a toy rifle [...]\r\n\r\nOne child, Hamza, said \u201cWhen I grow up I\u2019ll join Islamic Jihad and the al-Quds Brigades. I\u2019ll fight the Zionist enemy and fire missiles at it until I die as a shahid [martyr] and join my father in heaven.\r\n\r\n\u201cI love the resistance and the martyrs and Palestine, and I want to blow myself up on Zionists and kill them on a bus in a suicide bombing,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\n","author":"Gaza Kindergarten graduation","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-11 14:42:51","modified":"2013-11-11 01:11:01","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/islamic_jihad_8.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/islamic_jihad_8.jpg"}},{"id":254216,"heading":"haw","article":"why on Earth do you think we believe this clumsy staged photo?\r\nIs that all you have, the same stupid staged photos?\r\nThese israeli kids playing 'Jahadist' are about as convincing as this staged photo of 'infant terrorists'...\r\n","author":"beyond photoshop!","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-11 16:06:19","modified":"2012-07-11 16:06:19","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/infant_terrorist.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/infant_terrorist.jpg"}},{"id":254231,"heading":"no "photoshop" in 1970","article":"The palestinians have been training and using child soldiers for at least 2 generations, as this Life magazine article attests","author":"Palestinian child soldiers","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-13 00:55:26","modified":"2012-07-13 00:55:26","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/life_magazine_child_combatents.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/life_magazine_child_combatents.jpg"}},{"id":254236,"heading":"seen it before","article":"Israeli elementary school kids writing love notes on artillery shells","author":"how about this?","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-13 09:08:21","modified":"2012-07-13 09:08:21","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/192642683_915cc8eda3_o.jpgy5z4i8.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/192642683_915cc8eda3_o.jpgy5z4i8.jpg"}},{"id":254237,"heading":"Propaganda 101","article":"Let's go through this here, at this point.\r\nA comment about the obvious "beatdown goes on" and the israeli ministry of truth begins to plaster very questionable post card views of what it says is everyday Gaza. Quite a few of them. None having any stipulated verification but labeled as '5 star Gaza hotels' to attempt to show a thriving Gaza despite five years of blockade after a murderous Operation Cast Lead.\r\nThen a few shots of real life destruction and waste.\r\nThen the theme shifts to a ' this is why we need to do this' mode by more very questionable scenes of young 'Jahadists" with toy weapons to imply a threat from this prisoner population accompanied by the usual scree of 'quotes' to reenforce this idea.\r\nSo a few shots of obvious clumsy 'infant terrorist' photos [ here I visualize the spooks in the ministry of truth scratching their heads, thinking "what is he laughing at?" ] causes the now thoroughly confused spooks to post a Life Magazine [ VERY reputable after the Lee Harvey Oswald JFK piece, ha ha ha so you can really appreciate the impartial professional journalism there... ] over 40 years old.\r\nWould not it be simply a whole lot easier to just have a society with equal rights for all instead of a religious extremest racist apartheid society that has to be defended on all fronts, along with the murderous history it represents?\r\nAnd the murderous criminal actions it now continues?","author":"Israeeli S.O.P.","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-13 15:48:21","modified":"2012-07-13 15:48:21","fileurl":""},{"id":254238,"heading":"Let's review, shall we ?","article":"parallels between izzraelis and nazis:\r\n\r\nnazis- "we are the Master Race;"\r\nizzraelis- "we are the Chosen People;"\r\n\r\nnazis used concepts as Lebensraum and Heimlat as an excuse to conquer and destroy their neighbors;\r\nizzraelis used concepts such as Right of Return and Jewish Homeland as an excuse to conquer and destroy its neighbors;\r\n\r\nnazis used Potemkin concentration camps like Terezin to cover up genocide;\r\nizzraelis use Potemkin coffee shops and internet cafes to cover up ethnocide in Gaza.\r\n\r\nthus, izzraelis are " the new nazis."","author":"izzraelis are the new nazis","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-13 20:48:05","modified":"2012-07-13 20:48:05","fileurl":""},{"id":254240,"heading":"forgot one thing","article":"The nazis slaughtered two thirds of the jews in europr. And unnder Israel, the palestinians population quadrupled.\r\n\r\nFrom half a million "palestinians" in 1948 to 4 million in 2012. thats some genocide","author":"Nihaya","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-13 21:14:49","modified":"2012-07-13 21:14:49","fileurl":""},{"id":254241,"heading":""thats some genocide"","article":"actually, the only thing it proves is this:\r\ndespite the real Genocide [ look it up as the occupation qualifies as such according to definition ] the people of Palestine have managed to endure and survive under the terrorism of their occupier.\r\nIt must really piss the rabid racists in israel who have stolen their lands.","author":"people of iron","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-13 22:53:22","modified":"2012-07-13 22:53:22","fileurl":""},{"id":254243,"heading":"Nonsense","article":"palestinians are among the healthiest and best educated in the Arab Middle east BECAUSE of Israel. ","author":"nonsense","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-14 03:08:45","modified":"2012-07-14 03:08:45","fileurl":""},{"id":254247,"heading":"the previous statement by the ministry of truth","article":"This is what irritates me, a reflex denial having nothing to do with reality but everything to do with pathology.\r\nI'm certain the nazis said the same thing...\r\nBut wait, these individuals ARE the nazis...which explains everything.","author":"Over Flowing Denial","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-14 08:57:16","modified":"2012-07-14 08:57:16","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/star_swastica.jpeg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/star_swastica.jpeg"}},{"id":254257,"heading":"Gaza Obesity rate hovers between 30 and 40%","article":"According to the World health orgnaization, obesity rates in Gaza are approaching epidemic levels","author":"Its israel's fault","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/png","created":"2012-07-15 01:56:14","modified":"2012-07-16 13:27:45","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza_obesity_rate.png","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza_obesity_rate.png"}},{"id":254263,"heading":"UNbelievable","article":"http:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/content\/hunger-and-poverty-worsen-gaza\/9050\r\n\r\n"Development\r\nHunger and poverty worsen in Gaza\r\nEva Bartlett\r\nThe Electronic Intifada\r\n30 September 2010\r\n\r\nGAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - \u201cSometimes, for a day or two we don\u2019t even have bread, nor flour to make bread. There\u2019s a store nearby that, when we are truly desperate, lets us take a bag of bread or something simple, on credit. I owe them a lot of money for the food I\u2019ve brought from them, but I still can\u2019t pay them.\u201d\r\n\r\nUmm Khamis Khattab, 52, lives in a single, bare-bones room in central Gaza\u2019s Bureij refugee camp. Khamis, her disabled son, 30, is married but has no source of income.\r\n\r\n\u201cOur situation is very bad. We used to receive financial support because my son is disabled. Now, we get nothing. After my husband died five years ago, his family tried to help us, for a short while. But they can\u2019t take care of themselves, let alone us,\u201d says the widow. \u201cSo we get by on hand-outs from neighbors now and then.\u201d\r\n\r\nUmm Khamis tries to generate an income selling eggs from the handful of chickens she tends. \u201cWe are three people living off 20 shekels (roughly $5) per week from the eggs.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) define food insecurity as people not having \u201cadequate physical, social or economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs.\u201d\r\n\r\nPalestinians vulnerable to food insecurity are further defined as \u201chouseholds with both income and consumption below 5.6 dollars per adult equivalent per day.\u201d Actual food insecure households are defined as having \u201can income and consumption below 4.7 dollars per adult equivalent per day.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn the Gaza Strip, where unemployment levels soar up to 65 percent, and more than 80 percent people are food aid dependent, the average income per day per person is just two dollars. According to the WFP and FAO, the food insecure in Gaza are an alarming 61 percent, with another 16 percent vulnerable to food insecurity.\r\n\r\n\u201cI\u2019d be happy just selling things on the street if it brought five shekels per day,\u201d says Abu Suleiman, 51, father of four. He, his wife and their young children live in Sheik Radwan, north of Gaza City, in a windowless, concrete block room, the kind that is ordinarily used as a space for small shops.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe all sleep together in this room, which is our kitchen and bathroom as well,\u201d he says.\r\n\r\nThe building owner uses the room next door for his sheep and chickens. \u201cThe stench is incredible, we can\u2019t escape it. And I worry about my children\u2019s health, but there\u2019s nowhere better we can go.\u201d\r\n\r\nAbu Suleiman works making tea and coffee and cleaning the office of a media group in Gaza. \u201cI work from 7am to 4:30pm and earn just 350 shekels per month,\u201d he says. \u201cThe rent for our room is 150 shekels per month, so that leaves just 200 shekels to get by on.\u201d He says he walks the hour both ways to work in order to avoid taxi fares.\r\n\r\n\u201cBut 200 shekels isn\u2019t enough for five people and a baby. If I even thought about buying meat, the money would be gone quickly. So we buy cheaper food: rice, lentils, pasta. Never meat.\u201d\r\n\r\nWith food prices highly inflated under the siege Israel has imposed on Gaza since shortly after Hamas\u2019s election in 2006, few families can afford meats, fish, or fresh produce. The 2008-2009 Israeli assault on Gaza further destroyed meat and poultry production besides devastating the agricultural sector.\r\n\r\nTen percent of poultry and 17 percent of cattle and ruminants were killed. Eighteen percent of Gaza\u2019s productive agricultural lands were destroyed, along with another 17 percent of greenhouse-grown vegetables, says the UN.\r\n\r\nThe combination of this agricultural destruction and the mortal Israeli imposition of a no-go zone on Gaza\u2019s border lands, encompassing roughly one-third of Gaza\u2019s arable land means that as of June 2009, 46 percent of agricultural land in Gaza was either inaccessible or out of production, impacting on the availability of fresh and nutritious produce in the Strip and affecting over 60,000 people earning a living from agriculture alone.\r\n\r\nAt the same time, fishers are no longer able to breach more than miles, most usually staying within less than a mile of Gaza\u2019s shores. While the Oslo accords granted Gazan fishermen the right to fish twenty nautical miles off Gaza \u2018s coast, Israel has incrementally and violently reduced the fishing limits.\r\n\r\nThe FAO reports a decline in total fishing catch by 47 percent between 2008 and 2009, with fishers subject to daily shooting from Israeli gunboats in Gazan water.\r\n\r\n\u201cEvery day in Gaza, more and more people become hungry, more new people come for help,\u201d says Dr. al-Wahaidi, Director of Health for Ard al-Insan, Gaza\u2019s prime center for the hungry and malnourished. \u201cAnd there\u2019s no difference between city dwellers and camp residents, except that maybe camp families have more of a social network to rely on, and country residents have more possibilities for growing produce for themselves.\u201d\r\n\r\nAccording to Amani Jouda, Nutrition Officer for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Gaza, 74 percent of children aged 9-12 months are anemic, up from 65 percent in 2009, as are another 32 percent of children aged 7-15 years, and 45 percent of pregnant women in their first months of pregnancy.\r\n\r\nThe UN Millennium Project Hunger Task Force cites the importance of local agriculture and livestock in reducing hunger.\r\n\r\nArd al-Insan\u2019s Dr. al-Wahaidi sees it clearly. \u201cThe main reason for hunger in Gaza is Israeli politics on the people Gaza. Gaza is different than other places. When we have a disaster, we cannot leave our small piece of land to find work or safety elsewhere. We are trapped inside.\u201d","author":"haw","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-15 10:29:19","modified":"2013-11-11 01:11:01","fileurl":""},{"id":254264,"heading":"Seriously?","article":"A biased discredited source vs the world health organization, printed in a peer reviewed medical journal. Oh, yes. I'd listen to the biased discredited source, right....","author":"The electronic intifada?","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-15 12:17:10","modified":"2012-07-15 12:17:10","fileurl":""},{"id":254267,"heading":"yes, and the WHO","article":"apparently, the spooks from the israeli ministry can't read they can only C & P the latest talking point\r\nhere, let me help you out\r\n"\r\nAccording to Amani Jouda, Nutrition Officer for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Gaza, 74 percent of children aged 9-12 months are anemic, up from 65 percent in 2009, as are another 32 percent of children aged 7-15 years, and 45 percent of pregnant women in their first months of pregnancy. "\r\n[ circa 2010 ]\r\n a more recent report than the pitiful propaganda about obesity.","author":"can't read?","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-15 12:54:22","modified":"2012-07-15 12:54:22","fileurl":""},{"id":254312,"heading":"UNICEF paints a different picture","article":"http:\/\/www.unicef.pt\/docs\/Progress_on_Child_and_Maternal_Nutrition_EN_110309.pdf\r\n\r\n\r\nAccording to UNICEF, the rates of stunting and malnutrition among palestinian children are the secound lowest in the Arab middle east- after Qatar\r\n\r\nQatar 8% \r\nPalestinian Territories- 10% \r\nLebanon - 11 \r\nJordan - 12 \r\nOman - 13 \r\nUAE - 17 \r\nSaudi Arabia - 20 \r\nKuwait - 24 \r\nIraq - 26 \r\nSyria - 28 \r\nEgypt - 29 \r\nYemen \u2013 58 \r\n\r\nAn estimated 200 million children aged under five in the developing world suffer from stunted growth due to maternal and childhood malnutrition, according to the report. \r\n\r\nYet groups remain silent on the plight of the children of Yemen and Egypt and throughout the Arab world. With approximately 10% of Palestininian children experiencing stunting between the disputed territories are on equal footing with Turkey, Tuvalu and Bahrain, which at last glance, did not suffer from Israel's "brutal and genocidal" occupation. \r\n\r\n","author":"UNICEF","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-16 13:26:00","modified":"2013-11-11 01:11:01","fileurl":""},{"id":254313,"heading":"Oh, really...","article":"Gee...Palestine isn't even listed in the PDF you gave a URL to.\r\nIf I'm in error please provide the page # in the above file to reference your 'facts'.","author":"where is it?","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-16 15:16:06","modified":"2012-07-16 15:16:06","fileurl":""},{"id":254314,"heading":"Here we go","article":"At least you admit the problem is that you dont know how to do research.\r\n\r\nIts on the statistical tables on page 103. I made it easy for you. I took a screen shot.\r\n\r\nYou can see that the Palestinian rate of stunting is on par with Bosnia Hersegovia and Bahrain Lebanon and Moldovia (just on this page) Its particularly low compared to other nations in the Middle east. Lower than Jordan. Lower than the united Arab Emirates. Lower than Kuwait","author":"Palestinians stunting","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-16 16:07:08","modified":"2012-07-17 13:45:30","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/stunting.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/stunting.jpg"}},{"id":254317,"heading":"one small problem","article":"funny thing about the stats you use....they're all before Operation Cast Lead and the embargo\/lockdown.\r\nAnd I wonder if the settlements inside these enclaves are calculated into the average. You know, the zones of plenty inside the prison.","author":"circa 2008 before OCL","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-16 21:38:03","modified":"2012-07-16 21:38:03","fileurl":""},{"id":254318,"heading":"2012 is even lower.","article":"Nice try. No, UNICEF doesn't deal with Jews in Israel\r\n\r\nThe 2012 stats are even lower- the PA says stunting is at less than 5 %.\r\n\r\nYou've already indicated that you can't handle Internet research- i'll find you a citation. ","author":"still wrong","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-16 22:32:55","modified":"2012-07-16 22:32:55","fileurl":""},{"id":254319,"heading":"2005 is the year","article":"Also, the embargo began in 2005 when hamas came to power . It had nothing to do with Cast Lead. Supplies kept rolling into gaza inspite of the military operations.","author":"still wrong","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-16 22:42:41","modified":"2012-07-16 22:42:41","fileurl":""},{"id":254320,"heading":"oh yeah?","article":"Now, now...don't be foolish enough to post something w\/o references...if you had recent data why didn't you post it first?\r\n","author":"Offer of Proof? -sigh-","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-16 22:44:04","modified":"2012-07-16 22:44:04","fileurl":""},{"id":254322,"heading":"as for the SEVEN years of Blockade","article":""Also, the embargo began in 2005 when hamas came to power . It had nothing to do with Cast Lead ..blah blah, "supplies 'flowing' " blah blah.."\r\nPerhaps the readers should know that Operation Cast Lead had everything to do with the embargo, not the other way around; it's still about driving the people who had lived there before these psychopathic racists came in with nazi weapons, into the sea or into the ground.\r\nAnd of course, lying about it.","author":"Backwards Again?","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-16 23:56:27","modified":"2012-07-16 23:56:27","fileurl":""},{"id":254323,"heading":"It was from 2011","article":"Page 4- stunting is at 4.7 %\r\n\r\nAccording to last years National Nutrition Surveillance Report from the Ministry of Health Nutrition department using WHO statistics in the Palestinian territories:\r\n\r\n"The surveillance system shows that major nutrition indicators of underweight (weight for age); wasting (low weight for length); stunting (short for age), tallness, overweight and obesity among children 9-12 months are all within the acceptable national and regional levels.\r\nHowever, the prevalence of overweight (weight for length) of 26.6 per cent among children 9-12 months is high, and has increased by 2.2 per cent from the 2008 rate (24.4 per cent in 2008). ","author":"here we go","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-17 01:55:39","modified":"2012-07-17 01:55:39","fileurl":""},{"id":254329,"heading":"reporters are allowed into Gaza","article":"\r\nhttp:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/middle_east\/7766509.stm\r\nJohn Ging, head of the UN's Gaza relief operations, met me in one of his empty warehouses.\r\n\r\nHe reminded me that more than a million people in Gaza depended on UN for their next meal.\r\n\r\n"Daily life is a struggle to survive. People were hungry, literally. There was a shortage of everything here, including food, and we actually ran out for a couple of days," he said, looking back over the past month.\r\n\r\nHe went on: "The fact that it continues to get worse and worse adds to the despair\u2026 so we're searching desperately for reasons to have realistic hope." \r\n\r\n[ as for the problem of obesity ]\r\nThe family's diet is heavy in bread, rice and vegetable oil. Earlier this month, a leaked report from the International Committee of the Red Cross found that this kind of diet - carbohydrate-rich, but lacking in vitamins - was causing malnutrition among Gaza's children. ","author":"from the UN","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-17 08:46:29","modified":"2013-11-11 01:11:02","fileurl":""},{"id":254331,"heading":"2008.","article":"That's 5 years old. Can't address what I've presented to you? Can't be bothered with the facts? Hopeless.","author":"2008.","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-17 11:23:35","modified":"2012-07-17 11:23:35","fileurl":""},{"id":254332,"heading":"my my, how four years changes things","article":"oh yeah, the only things that change are the amount of israeli BS and the number of spooks from their ministry of truth they need to use.\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2009\/01\/02\/gazans-face-humanitarian_n_154870.html\r\nUpdated 16 Jul 2012\r\n"After six days of Israeli bombardment, aid agencies say that Gazans are facing a humanitarian crisis with air strikes causing severe problems in getting food, medicine and fuel supplies to the besieged civilian population.\r\n\r\nThe assessment, by several international relief organisations, contradicts the statement by the Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, during a visit to Paris yesterday that "there is no humanitarian crisis in the Strip, and therefore there is no need for a humanitarian truce". While relief shipments were allowed into Gaza by the Israeli authorities in the days before the start of the offensive, they came after weeks of virtually no supplies getting through, the agencies point out.\r\n\r\nThe biggest difficulty is that many people are too frightened by bombing to venture out to collect food rations. Gaza officials are also unwilling to take part in food distribution because they could be considered legitimate targets by the Israeli military for working for the Hamas-run administration. Chris Gunness of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which looks after 750,000 refugees in Gaza, said: "How can one carry out proper relief work in these conditions of violence? The people of Gaza have already suffered the most stringent economic sanctions. There are obviously problems with giving out aid. Even when people want to get food for their hungry family, they are very aware of the dangers they are facing in going out."\r\n","author":"huge improvement from 2008!","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-17 14:21:55","modified":"2012-07-17 14:21:55","fileurl":""},{"id":254333,"heading":" Thats from 2009","article":"Sorry, even the anti-Israel activists have given up on the starving Gaza meme.\r\nCheck out the new Gaza Metro Mart, btw, It just opened last year\r\nhttp:\/\/www.paldf.net\/forum\/showthread.php?t=843277\r\n\r\n(you can use Google translate if you dont read Arabic)\r\n\r\nBTW, I'm a public health professional- and I spent 6 months in Gaza several years ago, so you can't fool me!","author":"still wrong","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-17 15:18:48","modified":"2012-07-17 15:18:48","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/new_gaza_supermarket_3.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/new_gaza_supermarket_3.jpg"}},{"id":254337,"heading":"so much better now","article":"http:\/\/www.globalresearch.ca\/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=MUR20120617&articleId=31461\r\n\r\nMonday, July 16, 2012 Tammuz 26, 5772\r\nPalestinians inspect a boat after it was destroyed by Israeli shelling off the coast of Gaza, August 2009.\r\n(Mohammed Asad \/ APA images)\r\n\r\nAs Israel\u2019s blockade on Gaza enters its sixth year, warnings about the increasingly dire conditions in Gaza grow louder.\r\n\r\nReports by international agencies on the impact of five years of siege paint a grim picture showing how Israel\u2019s blockade is not just a policy of collective punishment imposed after the elected Hamas government began its rule, but also a policy of de-developing Gaza.\r\n\r\nIsrael\u2019s siege impacts every aspect of life in Gaza. An entire generation of children suffer from malnutrition-related deficiencies such as stunted growth and anemia \u2014 in addition to the psychological trauma incurred as a result of Israel\u2019s military attacks on the Gaza Strip.\r\n\r\nUniversity-age young people are severely limited in their higher education options, further contributing to the de-development of Gaza\u2019s economy.\r\n\r\nThe siege on Gaza will have an impact for years to come. History will not judge kindly the role played by the self-declared \u201cinternational community\u201d in aiding and abetting Israel\u2019s cruel policy of managed humanitarian crisis in Gaza.","author":"food flowing in","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-17 18:01:23","modified":"2013-11-11 01:11:02","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/120615-gaza-siege.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/120615-gaza-siege.jpg"}},{"id":254338,"heading":"so much change in 5 star Gaza","article":"http:\/\/wallwritings.me\/2012\/06\/16\/five-years-and-counting-israel-creates-and-manages-its-humanitarian-crisis-in-gaza\/\r\n\r\nHere is just a part of the Gaza report from Brtitish-based Save the Children. The report has gathered statistics on the effect of the blockade. These statistics reveal what we would rather not know:\r\n\r\n Stunting, or long-term exposure to chronic malnutrition, remains high, found among 10% of children under five. Anaemia, usually caused by dietary iron deficiency, affects most children in Gaza (58.6% of schoolchildren, 68.1% of children 9-12 months) and one-third (36.8%) of pregnant women. If untreated, iron-deficiency anaemia adversely affects child development and pregnancy outcome.\r\n\r\n Sanitation-related diseases with serious implications for child mortality, such as typhoid fever and watery diarrhoea in children under three years of age, have increased at clinics serving refugees in the Gaza Strip. Gaza\u2019s polluted water supply will have long-term health implications, but current monitoring is insufficient to measure the impact of untreated sewage and poor water quality.Here is just a part of the Gaza report from Brtitish-based Save the Children. The report has gathered statistics on the effect of the blockade. These statistics reveal what we would rather not know:\r\n","author":"even better now","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-17 18:13:14","modified":"2013-11-11 01:11:02","fileurl":""},{"id":254342,"heading":"The new Gaza Metro mart","article":"Some photos from the new gaza metro mart\r\nhttp:\/\/www.paldf.net\/forum\/showthread.php?t=843277","author":"The New Gaza metro mart","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-17 21:55:09","modified":"2012-07-17 21:55:09","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/new_gaza_supermarket_4.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/new_gaza_supermarket_4.jpg"}},{"id":254343,"heading":"more photos from the new Gaza metro mart","article":"Some photos from the new gaza metro mart \r\n","author":"gaza metro mart","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-17 21:57:22","modified":"2012-07-17 21:57:22","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/new_gaza_supermarket_1.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/new_gaza_supermarket_1.jpg"}},{"id":254344,"heading":"Still more photos from the Gaza metro mart","article":"Some photos from the new Gaza metro mart \r\n\r\nwww.paldf.net\/forum\/showthread.php?t=843277\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","author":"Gaza metro mart","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-17 21:59:50","modified":"2012-07-17 21:59:50","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza_grocery_6.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/gaza_grocery_6.jpg"}},{"id":254345,"heading":"OMG! more ambiguous photos","article":"ha ha more ambiguous photos of something, somewhere captioned to imply something...\r\nthat's what we've become used to.\r\noh, and all from the same website!\r\nhow terribly special.\r\nI know I *BELIEVE* you....\r\n'food flowing' blah blah, '5 star hotels, blah blah, infant 'terrorists', blah blah....\r\nYou individuals are pathetic..","author":"israel sez....","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-17 22:26:22","modified":"2012-07-17 22:26:22","fileurl":""},{"id":254376,"heading":"Visit Gaza","article":"Google gaza hotels, and you'll see some lovely websites extolling tourist opportunities in Gaza. Some fine restaurants there, too. It makes a nice place to visit. Check it out","author":"Sun sea and Hamas","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-19 12:04:13","modified":"2012-07-19 12:04:13","fileurl":""},{"id":254381,"heading":"visit Gaza but keep your head down","article":"Palestinians stand atop the rubble of a building damaged after an Israeli air strike in Gaza City March 14, 2012.A group of 50 international aid and human rights organizations called on Israel Thursday to end its blockade of the Gaza Strip, saying the siege goes against international law. REUTERS\/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa\r\nhttp:\/\/www.iol.co.za\/news\/world\/israel-urged-to-end-gaza-blockade-1.1319318","author":"Visit Gaza","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-07-19 17:26:00","modified":"2012-07-19 17:26:00","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/603058487.jpg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/603058487.jpg"}},{"id":254413,"heading":"gaza stores filled with Sweets and toys","article":"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ruqaya\/sets\/72157630671679128\/\r\n\r\n\r\nThe stores in Gaza are filled to the brim with candy and toys.","author":"The real Gaza","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-22 13:43:21","modified":"2012-07-22 13:43:21","fileurl":""},{"id":254414,"heading":"so much sugar","article":"I guess with all this candy { from a special website photo series } the idea of food and medicine coming into Gaza was just too much.\r\nIs that why you assholes killed the unarmed activists on the Mavi Marmara? To keep the 'food flowing in'?","author":"Sugar Glazed Turds?","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-07-22 14:43:27","modified":"2012-07-22 14:43:27","fileurl":""},{"id":254590,"heading":"In pictures: Ramadan in Gaza's old quarter","article":"In pictures: Ramadan in Gaza's old quarter\r\n\r\nFrom the very anti-israel BBC- shops overflowing with food in gaza","author":"from the BBC","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2012-08-01 00:37:47","modified":"2012-08-01 00:37:47","fileurl":""},{"id":254598,"heading":"" From the very anti-israel BBC"","article":"saying that Britain is "anti-israel" is like saying the nazis were anti-israel.\r\nSure they are,,,,\r\n"overflowing with food"","author":"A good one","parent_id":253811,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2012-08-01 05:35:29","modified":"2012-08-01 05:35:29","fileurl":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/star_swastica.jpegtkxvjh.jpeg","image":{"original":"http:\/\/la.indymedia.org\/\/uploads\/2012\/07\/star_swastica.jpegtkxvjh.jpeg"}}]}