Not sure this is true but I like this claim by Israeli side:
"The army said it telephoned warnings in advance to urge residents to leave combat zones. The army statement rejected the charges it had set out to intentionally harm civilians calling the allegations "absurd and false."
Final Gaza toll shows 960 civilians killed:group
GAZA (Reuters) - Israel's 22-day offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip killed 1,434 people, including 960 civilians, 239 police officers and 235 fighters, a Palestinian human rights group said Thursday.
Israel carried out attacks by air, land and sea from December 27 to January 18 in a bid, it said, to force Hamas and other militant Islamist groups to stop firing rockets and mortars at southern Israeli towns across their border.
"The Palestinian Center for Human Rights' investigations reveal that throughout the course of the assault, Israeli Occupation Forces used excessive, indiscriminate force, in violation of the principle of distinction," the group said in a report (www.pchrgaza.org).
The principle of distinction "obliges all parties to the conflict to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants."
An Israeli military spokesman said the army had "made every effort to minimize harm to the civilian population" during the fighting.
The army said it telephoned warnings in advance to urge residents to leave combat zones. The army statement rejected the charges it had set out to intentionally harm civilians calling the allegations "absurd and false."
The group said it would publish a list of the identities of those killed next week and would post them on its website in Arabic, with an English version to follow.
It said the "disproportionately high rate of death amongst the civilian population, when compared to that of resistance fighters" was evidence that Israeli forces had not respected this principle.
The rights group said 288 children and 121 women were among civilians killed in the bombing and shelling.
"The Ministry of Health have also confirmed that a total of 5,303 Palestinians were injured in the assault, including 1,606 children and 828 women," it said.
It called for an international investigation into "crimes committed by the Israeli forces and Israel's conduct of hostilities" and "prosecution of all political and military officials" accused.
The Israeli military statement questioned why the rights group had not made references to Israeli charges that Hamas had used civilians as human shields.
During the offensive, 13 Israelis were killed, including 3 by rockets fired into Israel.
Israeli media have quoted officers as saying there was far less resistance from Islamist gunmen than they had expected. A Palestinian opinion poll this week showed Hamas had gained significantly in popularity since the war.
(Writing by Douglas Hamilton; Editing by Matthew Jones)
Read more...
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Assad: US could mediate Syria-Israel talks (Ynetnews)
Will this be "The sparks at the end of dark tunnel" - Peace truce between Israel & Palestinian?
Assad: US could mediate Syria-Israel talks
Syrian president tells Japanese daily direct peace talks with Israel possible if US acts as arbitrator in move from indirect negotiations. Assad stresses willingness to work toward regional peace, saying, 'Changes do not happen overnight'
(AFP Published: 03.11.09, 11:59 )
Syrian President Bashar Assad said his country could hold direct peace talks with Israel if the United States acted as an arbitrator, according to an interview published on Wednesday.
Assad also told Japan's Asahi Shimbun that he welcomed US President Barack Obama's new administration and wants to engage in dialogue for regional peace, but he also insisted on the return of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
"We need the United States to act as an arbitrator when we move from the current indirect negotiations to direct negotiations (with Israel)," he was quoted as saying in an interview with the Japanese-language newspaper.
Syria held exploratory contacts with Israel through Turkish mediators last year about resuming peace negotiations that broke off in 2000 over the fate of the strategic Golan plateau. Assad cautioned that possible progress of such talks would "depend on the next Israeli administration," the Asahi said.
US-Syrian ties were especially tense under former president George W. Bush, who accused Damascus of supporting terrorism, helping Iran and of turning a blind eye to the flow of arms and supplies to insurgents in Iraq.
Washington has not yet taken a decision about returning its ambassador to Syria, a senior US envoy said this month after visiting Damascus to mend ties.
Assad harshly criticised the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and hit out at Bush for putting pressure on Syria, the Asahi said. But he also stressed his willingness to help work toward regional peace.
"Changes do not happen overnight," Assad was quoted saying. "We must first start dialogue to clarify the shared interest, which is to achieve peace. The administration of Bush did not do that, and it only cared about the benefit of his own country."
Assad welcomed the Obama administration's active engagement with Syria through sending envoys and US senators for meetings, the Asahi said.
"It is important that we first begin dialogue and both take part in resolving problems," he told the newspaper. "It is not us who have changed. It is the Americans who have changed."
To achieve regional peace, the Syrian president emphasised the importance of including major parties in the peace process, adding that he would work to bring Islamist groups Hamas and Hizbullah to the table.
Read more...
Assad: US could mediate Syria-Israel talks
Syrian president tells Japanese daily direct peace talks with Israel possible if US acts as arbitrator in move from indirect negotiations. Assad stresses willingness to work toward regional peace, saying, 'Changes do not happen overnight'
(AFP Published: 03.11.09, 11:59 )
Syrian President Bashar Assad said his country could hold direct peace talks with Israel if the United States acted as an arbitrator, according to an interview published on Wednesday.
Assad also told Japan's Asahi Shimbun that he welcomed US President Barack Obama's new administration and wants to engage in dialogue for regional peace, but he also insisted on the return of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
"We need the United States to act as an arbitrator when we move from the current indirect negotiations to direct negotiations (with Israel)," he was quoted as saying in an interview with the Japanese-language newspaper.
Syria held exploratory contacts with Israel through Turkish mediators last year about resuming peace negotiations that broke off in 2000 over the fate of the strategic Golan plateau. Assad cautioned that possible progress of such talks would "depend on the next Israeli administration," the Asahi said.
US-Syrian ties were especially tense under former president George W. Bush, who accused Damascus of supporting terrorism, helping Iran and of turning a blind eye to the flow of arms and supplies to insurgents in Iraq.
Washington has not yet taken a decision about returning its ambassador to Syria, a senior US envoy said this month after visiting Damascus to mend ties.
Assad harshly criticised the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and hit out at Bush for putting pressure on Syria, the Asahi said. But he also stressed his willingness to help work toward regional peace.
"Changes do not happen overnight," Assad was quoted saying. "We must first start dialogue to clarify the shared interest, which is to achieve peace. The administration of Bush did not do that, and it only cared about the benefit of his own country."
Assad welcomed the Obama administration's active engagement with Syria through sending envoys and US senators for meetings, the Asahi said.
"It is important that we first begin dialogue and both take part in resolving problems," he told the newspaper. "It is not us who have changed. It is the Americans who have changed."
To achieve regional peace, the Syrian president emphasised the importance of including major parties in the peace process, adding that he would work to bring Islamist groups Hamas and Hizbullah to the table.
Read more...
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Malaysia Christians battle with Muslims over Allah (Reuters)
Who is confusing who in this matter? is the claim valid while RPK claimed Allah has 99 names?
Malaysia Christians battle with Muslims over Allah (Reuters)
By Niluksi Koswanage
KENINGAU, Malaysia (Reuters) - Reciting the Catholic Creed, the 1,800-strong congregation attending mass at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral on Borneo island intones in Malay: "We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of Allah."
These Malaysian Catholics, like their brethren in Indonesia, have used the word "Allah" in place of "God" since converting to Christianity in the 19th century.
But now the government in this mostly Muslim Southeast Asian nation of 27 million people wants to prevent "Allah" being used by Christians, saying it is subversive and aims to convert Muslims.
Christians fear this is just the thin edge of the wedge.
"The government of West Malaysia has an infection of religious hatred. We have to fight back so it does not spread," said Bishop Cornelius Piong after Sunday Mass at the cathedral in the heart of a rice-growing district in eastern Sabah state.
Christianity is practiced by 9.1 percent of the Malaysian population, according to the 2000 census, the most recently available figures. Many of them, like Bishop Piong, come from ethnic groups such as the Kadazandusun, Dayaks, Ibans and Bidayuh who live in the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak.
"Our worship of Allah is so natural, it is part and parcel of the Kadazandusun people here," Piong said.
The row over the use of Allah to describe the Christian God feeds into a long-running feud over conversions between the government of a country where all Malays must be Muslims and other faiths, such as Hinduism and Buddhism that are practiced by ethnic Indians and Chinese.
MALAYS FRET OVER CONVERSION
It is illegal in Malaysia to convert from Islam to any other religion although conversions to Islam are allowed.
One of the biggest cases involved Lina Joy, a woman who wanted to convert to Christianity to marry her partner, who was baptized and applied to have her conversion legally recognized by the Malaysian state.
She lost a court battle two years ago to have the word "Islam" removed from her identity card. All Malaysian identity cards carry a person's race and religion.
It is cases such as these that worry Malaysian Muslim activists and officials and they see using the word Allah in Christian publications including bibles as attempts to proselytize.
Those concerns led to the ban on the Catholic Herald newspaper's use of "Allah" to denote God. The Herald is now suing the government to overturn the ruling, made after it appeared the paper would be allowed to use "Allah" provided it stamped "For Christians" on the front page of the paper.
"Allowing Christians to use the word is dangerous because it's attacking the sole religion of the Malays," said Yusri Mohamad, president of the influential Muslim Youth Movement.
"We have to question Christians' motive for wanting to use this obviously Muslim word. It appears to be for conversions. All Muslim Malays in Malaysia are against this."
Some leading Muslim scholars here say the issue is being blown out of proportion and that the risk of conversions among the 60 percent Muslim population is tiny.
They see it as an attempt by the government that has ruled Malaysia uninterrupted for 51 years since independence from Britain to hold on to power by identifying ethnicity with religion.
The main ruling party in Malaysia is called the United Malay National Organization, and like its allies from Chinese and Indian parties, it is ethnically based.
"It is an irrational fear (of conversions) but a very powerful one," said Osman Bakar, the deputy head of the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia. "Now the government has moved to setting up demarcations around the national language."
SPILLING INTO POLITICS
While the Kadazandusun and other indigenous people on Borneo hold the same privileges as Malays in preferential access to areas such education, loans and housing, the resource-rich states of Sabah and Sarawak are far poorer than peninsular Malaysia.
Sabah and Sarawak have voted solidly for parties from the governing National Front coalition since the start of democratic rule in Malaysia.
That hegemony is now under threat after the opposition scored its best-ever election result in 2008 when it deprived the government of its two-thirds parliamentary majority and ended up in control of five of Malaysia's 13 states.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is now targeting the voters of Borneo in an effort to keep up pressure on the government and the first test will come in a state assembly by-election in Sarawak in early April.
There may also be a chance for voters in a constituency near to St Francis Xavier to flex their muscles depending on a court decision on whether a move to disqualify three non-government parliamentary candidates was valid.
For the people of Bishop Piong's congregation what happens in the battle over the use of "Allah" will certainly be an issue if the election is re-run.
"If the government wants to be nasty and stop people from using Allah, it can. But it may not work here. It's God's country here," said 28-year-old Teresa Palikat, a tailor, after attending Sunday Mass in Keningau district.
"If the elections happen, we will show them (the government) we are serious about Allah."
(Editing by David Chance and Bill Tarrant)
Read more...
Malaysia Christians battle with Muslims over Allah (Reuters)
By Niluksi Koswanage
KENINGAU, Malaysia (Reuters) - Reciting the Catholic Creed, the 1,800-strong congregation attending mass at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral on Borneo island intones in Malay: "We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of Allah."
These Malaysian Catholics, like their brethren in Indonesia, have used the word "Allah" in place of "God" since converting to Christianity in the 19th century.
But now the government in this mostly Muslim Southeast Asian nation of 27 million people wants to prevent "Allah" being used by Christians, saying it is subversive and aims to convert Muslims.
Christians fear this is just the thin edge of the wedge.
"The government of West Malaysia has an infection of religious hatred. We have to fight back so it does not spread," said Bishop Cornelius Piong after Sunday Mass at the cathedral in the heart of a rice-growing district in eastern Sabah state.
Christianity is practiced by 9.1 percent of the Malaysian population, according to the 2000 census, the most recently available figures. Many of them, like Bishop Piong, come from ethnic groups such as the Kadazandusun, Dayaks, Ibans and Bidayuh who live in the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak.
"Our worship of Allah is so natural, it is part and parcel of the Kadazandusun people here," Piong said.
The row over the use of Allah to describe the Christian God feeds into a long-running feud over conversions between the government of a country where all Malays must be Muslims and other faiths, such as Hinduism and Buddhism that are practiced by ethnic Indians and Chinese.
MALAYS FRET OVER CONVERSION
It is illegal in Malaysia to convert from Islam to any other religion although conversions to Islam are allowed.
One of the biggest cases involved Lina Joy, a woman who wanted to convert to Christianity to marry her partner, who was baptized and applied to have her conversion legally recognized by the Malaysian state.
She lost a court battle two years ago to have the word "Islam" removed from her identity card. All Malaysian identity cards carry a person's race and religion.
It is cases such as these that worry Malaysian Muslim activists and officials and they see using the word Allah in Christian publications including bibles as attempts to proselytize.
Those concerns led to the ban on the Catholic Herald newspaper's use of "Allah" to denote God. The Herald is now suing the government to overturn the ruling, made after it appeared the paper would be allowed to use "Allah" provided it stamped "For Christians" on the front page of the paper.
"Allowing Christians to use the word is dangerous because it's attacking the sole religion of the Malays," said Yusri Mohamad, president of the influential Muslim Youth Movement.
"We have to question Christians' motive for wanting to use this obviously Muslim word. It appears to be for conversions. All Muslim Malays in Malaysia are against this."
Some leading Muslim scholars here say the issue is being blown out of proportion and that the risk of conversions among the 60 percent Muslim population is tiny.
They see it as an attempt by the government that has ruled Malaysia uninterrupted for 51 years since independence from Britain to hold on to power by identifying ethnicity with religion.
The main ruling party in Malaysia is called the United Malay National Organization, and like its allies from Chinese and Indian parties, it is ethnically based.
"It is an irrational fear (of conversions) but a very powerful one," said Osman Bakar, the deputy head of the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia. "Now the government has moved to setting up demarcations around the national language."
SPILLING INTO POLITICS
While the Kadazandusun and other indigenous people on Borneo hold the same privileges as Malays in preferential access to areas such education, loans and housing, the resource-rich states of Sabah and Sarawak are far poorer than peninsular Malaysia.
Sabah and Sarawak have voted solidly for parties from the governing National Front coalition since the start of democratic rule in Malaysia.
That hegemony is now under threat after the opposition scored its best-ever election result in 2008 when it deprived the government of its two-thirds parliamentary majority and ended up in control of five of Malaysia's 13 states.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is now targeting the voters of Borneo in an effort to keep up pressure on the government and the first test will come in a state assembly by-election in Sarawak in early April.
There may also be a chance for voters in a constituency near to St Francis Xavier to flex their muscles depending on a court decision on whether a move to disqualify three non-government parliamentary candidates was valid.
For the people of Bishop Piong's congregation what happens in the battle over the use of "Allah" will certainly be an issue if the election is re-run.
"If the government wants to be nasty and stop people from using Allah, it can. But it may not work here. It's God's country here," said 28-year-old Teresa Palikat, a tailor, after attending Sunday Mass in Keningau district.
"If the elections happen, we will show them (the government) we are serious about Allah."
(Editing by David Chance and Bill Tarrant)
Read more...
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Gaza family files $200M suit against Israel (Ynetnews)
Saw this interesting news posted where Israeli Government were being sued over the deceased of the Palestinian family members during war time. It will be interesting if IS side can sue Palestinian side over the random Qassam rocket fired into the region that caused death & damaged of buildings. Just to be fair for both sides...
Gaza family files $200M suit against Israel
Sharon Roffe-Ofir Published: 03.10.09, 10:38
Al-Samoni family from Strip's Zeitoun neighborhood, which lost 29 of its members in Operation Cast Lead, demands compensation from Olmert, Barak and Ashkenazi for 'the criminal negligence of the military force, which murdered innocent people who were simply present at their homes'
A Gazan family has filed an NIS 851 million (about $200.5 million) lawsuit with the Nazareth District Court against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi.
The claim was filed with the Nazareth District Court by Attorney Mohammad Foukara, on behalf of 79 members of the al-Samoni family from the Gaza Strip's Zeitoun neighborhood, which lost 29 of its members in Operation Cast Lead. Forty-five of the family members were injured in the Israeli offensive.
In the past, Israeli courts have consistently rejected similar lawsuits filed by Palestinians demanding compensation for injuries caused to them and damage caused to their property as a result of the Israel Defense Forces' activity in the territories.
The claims were denied with the argument that the damage was caused at a time of war and that the forces had acted in accordance with "a military need".
According to the latest lawsuit, the family members resided in a three-story building north of the former settlement of Netzarim. A week after the operation was launched, on the morning of January 4, IDF forces fired a shell which hit the family members' apartment on the third floor, burning it completely.
Seven of the family members were killed in the incident and several others were injured. The remaining family members were removed from their home and gathered in a place resembling a shelter, which housed a total of 97 people.
A day after arriving at the shelter, in the morning hours, the "catastrophe" began, according to the lawsuit. An IDF shell killed one person and injured three others, and additional shells were fired several minutes later.
"The plaintiffs didn't even know, and the security forces did not inform them or warn them, as customary before firing," Attorney Foukara wrote.
The statement of claim went on to say that 22 people were killed at the shelter incident, and that 45 people were injured in total in both events, most of them children aged eight to 14.
'More lawsuits to come'
The attorney said in the claim for punitive damages that the al-Samoni family members were simply sitting in their house without bothering anyone.
"They were sitting at home, in a place meant to provide them with quiet, peace and rest – far from the firing. There is no disagreement over the fact that this was criminal negligence on the part of the military force, which murdered and injured innocent people who were simply present at their home.
The lawsuit accuses Olmert, Barak and Ashkenazi of negligence, carelessness, and violating the duty by law on the part of the defendants or their soldiers. The IDF troops, according to the claim, fired at the plaintiffs without any justification, killed and injured them, did not take all the precautions and fired while ignoring the possibility of hurting innocent people.
"This is not the only lawsuit," said Attorney Foukara. "The al-Samoni family members approached me a week ago, and I assume that additional similar claims will be filed in the coming weeks."
About a week ago, a family from the Jabaliya refugee camp filed a similar claim for NIS 183 million ($43 million) in damages, after 11 of its children were killed and five others were injured.
Read more...
Gaza family files $200M suit against Israel
Sharon Roffe-Ofir Published: 03.10.09, 10:38
Al-Samoni family from Strip's Zeitoun neighborhood, which lost 29 of its members in Operation Cast Lead, demands compensation from Olmert, Barak and Ashkenazi for 'the criminal negligence of the military force, which murdered innocent people who were simply present at their homes'
A Gazan family has filed an NIS 851 million (about $200.5 million) lawsuit with the Nazareth District Court against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi.
The claim was filed with the Nazareth District Court by Attorney Mohammad Foukara, on behalf of 79 members of the al-Samoni family from the Gaza Strip's Zeitoun neighborhood, which lost 29 of its members in Operation Cast Lead. Forty-five of the family members were injured in the Israeli offensive.
In the past, Israeli courts have consistently rejected similar lawsuits filed by Palestinians demanding compensation for injuries caused to them and damage caused to their property as a result of the Israel Defense Forces' activity in the territories.
The claims were denied with the argument that the damage was caused at a time of war and that the forces had acted in accordance with "a military need".
According to the latest lawsuit, the family members resided in a three-story building north of the former settlement of Netzarim. A week after the operation was launched, on the morning of January 4, IDF forces fired a shell which hit the family members' apartment on the third floor, burning it completely.
Seven of the family members were killed in the incident and several others were injured. The remaining family members were removed from their home and gathered in a place resembling a shelter, which housed a total of 97 people.
A day after arriving at the shelter, in the morning hours, the "catastrophe" began, according to the lawsuit. An IDF shell killed one person and injured three others, and additional shells were fired several minutes later.
"The plaintiffs didn't even know, and the security forces did not inform them or warn them, as customary before firing," Attorney Foukara wrote.
The statement of claim went on to say that 22 people were killed at the shelter incident, and that 45 people were injured in total in both events, most of them children aged eight to 14.
'More lawsuits to come'
The attorney said in the claim for punitive damages that the al-Samoni family members were simply sitting in their house without bothering anyone.
"They were sitting at home, in a place meant to provide them with quiet, peace and rest – far from the firing. There is no disagreement over the fact that this was criminal negligence on the part of the military force, which murdered and injured innocent people who were simply present at their home.
The lawsuit accuses Olmert, Barak and Ashkenazi of negligence, carelessness, and violating the duty by law on the part of the defendants or their soldiers. The IDF troops, according to the claim, fired at the plaintiffs without any justification, killed and injured them, did not take all the precautions and fired while ignoring the possibility of hurting innocent people.
"This is not the only lawsuit," said Attorney Foukara. "The al-Samoni family members approached me a week ago, and I assume that additional similar claims will be filed in the coming weeks."
About a week ago, a family from the Jabaliya refugee camp filed a similar claim for NIS 183 million ($43 million) in damages, after 11 of its children were killed and five others were injured.
Read more...
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Proposal in Congress: No Gilad Shalit, no Gaza aid (Haaretz)
Gilad Shalit still is the major stake in the peace truce negotiation
Proposal in Congress: No Gilad Shalit, no Gaza aid
WASHINGTON - A new initiative by members of the United States Congress seeks to condition the transfer of the $900 million for the Palestinians on an end to rocket fire on Israel from Gaza, and the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged the $900 million during a conference in Egypt this week to raise money for Gaza reconstruction, in the wake of Israel's three-week offensive aimed at halting rocket fire on its southern communities.
Shalit has been held captive in Gaza since June 2006, when he was snatched from his army base in a cross-border raid from Gaza.
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The proposal followed a meeting on Capitol Hill between Noam Badin, the director of the communications center in Qassam-battered Sderot and several members of Congress and their advisors.
After the meeting, Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada drafted a petition to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which demanded that the financial aid be delayed for as long as the rocket fire continues and Shalit remains in captivity.
Berkley, a Jewish politician well-known in Congress for her support of Israel, backed the Israeli operation in Gaza during December and January, and even told Haaretz that maybe Israel had been too tolerant.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood said last week that $300 million of the total sum pledged by the U.S. would go to meet "urgent" humanitarian needs in Gaza.
Read more...
Proposal in Congress: No Gilad Shalit, no Gaza aid
WASHINGTON - A new initiative by members of the United States Congress seeks to condition the transfer of the $900 million for the Palestinians on an end to rocket fire on Israel from Gaza, and the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged the $900 million during a conference in Egypt this week to raise money for Gaza reconstruction, in the wake of Israel's three-week offensive aimed at halting rocket fire on its southern communities.
Shalit has been held captive in Gaza since June 2006, when he was snatched from his army base in a cross-border raid from Gaza.
Advertisement
The proposal followed a meeting on Capitol Hill between Noam Badin, the director of the communications center in Qassam-battered Sderot and several members of Congress and their advisors.
After the meeting, Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada drafted a petition to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which demanded that the financial aid be delayed for as long as the rocket fire continues and Shalit remains in captivity.
Berkley, a Jewish politician well-known in Congress for her support of Israel, backed the Israeli operation in Gaza during December and January, and even told Haaretz that maybe Israel had been too tolerant.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood said last week that $300 million of the total sum pledged by the U.S. would go to meet "urgent" humanitarian needs in Gaza.
Read more...
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