More Commentary on Middle East Talks, October 10, 2010

A small vignette from Israel's white phosphorus attacks on civilian areas in Gaza:

"The stairs were very smoky. We went inside and it smelled very strange. We had never experienced that before. It was difficult to go forward. First I saw my mother with burns coming out of the house. We found her at the entrance. She told us to go in and get my injured brothers. But when we got inside we saw nothing because of the smoke and dust, and we couldn't breathe. We found my brother's wife, Ghada, she was burning in flames, and also her daughter Farah, also burning. There were also my brothers Yusif and Ali. All of them were burning badly; their clothes were melting. They were all burned but Abd al-Rahim and my father had their heads cut from their bodies too. We took the wounded in two tractors, with my mother in the first one. We tried to call an ambulance but they said they couldn't come."

http://www­.hrw.org/e­n/node/817­26/section­/5

In addition to the use of white phosphorus on densely populated civilian areas, it is worth bearing in mind that Israelis have killed more than six times the number of civilians that Palestinians have during the past 10 years of conflict (http://www­.btselem.o­rg/English­/Statistic­s/Casualti­es.asp).

Israel has also engaged in questionable conduct with respect to US military technology (e.g. http://www­.nytimes.c­om/1992/03­/20/opinio­n/if-israe­l-sold-pat­riot-secre­ts.html) and has frequently been engaged in espionage efforts directed against the US (e.g., http://amc­onmag.com/­article/20­08/jun/02/­00006/, http://www­.nytimes.c­om/2008/04­/23/nyregi­on/23spy.h­tml?_r=1&r­ef=jonatha­n_j_pollar­d).

Excerpts of the recent UN report on the humanitarian aid flotilla, intercepted by Israeli forces, on which they killed one American citizen and injured another:

http://www­2.ohchr.or­g/english/­bodies/hrc­ouncil/doc­s/15sessio­n/A.HRC.15­.21_en.pdf

"The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence. It betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality. Such conduct cannot be justified or condoned on security or any other grounds. It constituted a grave violation of human rights law and international humanitarian law. The Mission considers that several violations and offences have been committed. It is not satisfied that, in the time available, it has been able to compile a comprehensive list of all offences. However, there is clear evidence to support prosecutions of the following crimes within the terms of article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention:
• Wilful killing;
• Torture or inhuman treatment;
• Wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health."

Brief additional background:
http://www­.washingto­npost.com/­wp-dyn/con­tent/artic­le/2010/06­/03/AR2010­060301931.­html