Posted on 12/06/2001 5:33:50 AM PST by RCW2001
Amnesty International to Israel: Stop killing kids
By The Associated Press
LONDON - Amnesty International called yesterday for an end to the killing of civilians in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, and for international observers to monitor the human rights situation.
"A policy of reprisals against the entire population for attacks by armed groups violates international human rights and humanitarian law standards", the London-based human rights organization said after two days of Israeli airstrikes on Palestinian targets in Gaza and the West Bank. Two Palestinians were killed and more than 100 were wounded.
The airstrikes followed Palestinian suicide attacks that killed 25 in Jerusalem and Haifa and injured about 200.
"The international community must not stand by while the cycle of abuses continues to escalate," Amnesty said.
"International observers with a strong, transparent and public mandate to monitor the respect of international humanitarian law and human rights should be sent to the Occupied Territories immediately," the organization said.
The appropriate response to suicide bombings, Amnesty said, should be to bring to justice "anyone reasonably suspected of having committed or ordered them, in proceedings which meet international fair trial standards."
It said Israel's bombing undermined the Palestinian Authority's ability "to carry out its duty to bring to justice any perpetrators of human rights abuses or violations under its jurisdiction."
This looks like nothing more than a push for an International Criminal Court.
For a second there I thought that Amnesty International was taking a stance on abortion.
Gag me. Its the Palestinians targeting civilians and children, not the Israelis.
THE ARAB "PALESTINIAN" REFUGEES So Much Time... So Little Learned! The conflict between Israel and the Arab world is not about the borders of the Jewish State. Simply put, the core of the conflict is about Israel's existence itself! If you look throughout the Middle East, Israel is the ONLY non-Moslem nation. It is also the only democracy! Sure, Lebanon functioned somewhat as a bi-national Christian/Moslem nation until Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian thugs of his Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO] went there. Soon after their arrival, they instigated a 15 year civil war (1970-85) which was soon encouraged and abetted by their Syrian backers. As a direct result of this rape of the the once beautiful "Land of the Cedars," Lebanon has essentially become just another Moslem nation... in fact, a terrorist Moslem nation. If THIS is what happens when Christians try to share power with Moslems, one can only imagine Jews trying the same! And having Arafat and his Palestinian State alongside Israel's belly is also not such a pleasant thought! So much for the "poor suffering Palestinians!" Throughout most of the Arab Moslem world, hatred toward the Jews is preached in mosques where the "Zionist entity" is portrayed as a diabolical threat. This characterization of the Jews is taught in refugee camps where Israelis are known as the "usurpers and barbarians" who have expelled the "poor Palestinian Arabs" from their homes. It is taught in all Arab schools, spoken over the television and radio waves and written in books and newspaper editorials. The latest "fashionable" spread of Arab propaganda and lies is via the Internet. Even a whole new non-Moslem audience is now being brainwashed with patently untrue tales of Arab suffering at the hands of the Jews. It is important to note that the world has seen hundreds of millions of REFUGEES. It's a natural and expected end result of wars. The Palestinian refugee problem is rooted in the 1948-49 Arab-Israeli War. In 1947, realizing that the Jewish and Arab communities of Palestine could not live together in one state, the U.N. General Assembly adopted Resolution 181, which recommended partitioning Palestine into two states... one Jewish and one Arab. While the Jews accepted this plan, the Arabs rejected it, claiming that all of Palestine belonged to them. When Israel declared its independence in 1948, all neighboring Arab states attacked it in an attempt to prevent its creation. In the wake of this war, 860,000 Jewish refugees fled from Arab countries to Israel, and, at about the same time, between 600,000 and 750,000 Palestinians fled to Arab states from the portion of Palestine that is now Israel. This population exchange mirrored far larger population movements following the end of World War II, which involved millions of Hindus and Muslims in India and Pakistan, as well as Poles, Germans and MANY other nationalities in Central and East Europe. These population exchanges were resolved through the integration of all refugees into the host states. While Israel absorbed the Jewish refugees, the Arab states refused to allow such resettlement and integration of their Palestinian brethren, preferring instead to exploit the Palestinian refugees to serve their own political agendas. Over the 53 years since 1948, many of the so-called "refugee camps" now have double and triple level homes inside which one can find computers and Internet connections However, they STILL guard their "refugee status" so as appeal to "suckers" around the world! We don't hear about any Jewish refugees who were thrown out of many Arab countries in 1948 for most of them were absorbed by their fellow Jews within Israel. The children and grandchildren of these Jewish refugees are now free and productive citizens. Yet, while the Arabs throughout the Middle East cry crocodile tears for their poor suffering Palestinian brothers and sisters, none of the 24 Arab countries has opened their arms to embrace them as new citizens. Instead, these refugees and their descendants were dumped into camps of poverty and degradation for the world to see, further fanning the flames of hatred. Ironically, the Arabs who remained in Israel and became Israeli-Arab citizens have fared far better than those in Arab countries! The Arab armies did not give up trying to destroy Israel after their failure in 1948-9. They tried again in June 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Once again they lost and another million Arabs... from the (Jordanian) "West Bank," (Egyptian) Gaza Strip and the (Syrian) Golan region.... added to the Arab Palestinian refugee list. It must be stressed that the Palestinian Arabs (abetted and "stirred up" by neighboring Arab nations) started BOTH the 1948 and 1967 wars leading to their refugee status! Talk about "Sore Losers!" SUMMATION... What makes the Palestinian Arabs stand out among the world's refugees is that they created their own pathetic situation or were misled by their leaders. In 1923, the Arab Palestinians were given 75% of Palestine in which to form THEIR Arab Palestinian state of Jordan. The Jewish Palestinians were supposed to be given the remainder. However, the Arabs wanted ALL. So 24 years later [1947] this remaining 25% that remained of the original "Palestine" was to be re-divided again into equal portions... the Arab Palestinians would be given their SECOND nation while the Jewish Palestinians would be given their one and ONLY state. But still as before and as ALWAYS the Arabs wanted it all ... "every last inch" as they said then and as they say now! They and their fellow Arabs in neighboring state launched an all-out war on the this newly-created Jewish Palestinian nation [Israel] and lost. God blessed the Jewish Nation... the Arabs took a chance and lost. Tough Luck for them! What was offered to these Arab Palestinians in 1947 can NOT be offered once again. The State of Israel has developed into a first class nation and sees no reason to dissect and weaken herself to the point where the Arabs can try to destroy her again! NO normal nation can be asked to do that and neither should Israel! The world has far more important things to concern itself with other than their constant belly-aching! As they say, "Get a Life, Already!" "But I Don't Wanna Get a Life!" Arab Palestinian children are suckled on their mother's milk which is then blended with large doses of anti-Semitism! BEFORE YOU START FEELING TOO SORRY FOR THEM... We hear so often about peaceful Arab villages that were overrun by "Zionist Forces" and emptied of their peaceful inhabitants. Many of these peaceful Arab villages lay along roads traveled by Jews... in particular, the roads leading into Jerusalem. As Jewish traffic passed by, some of these peaceful Arabs from the peaceful villages would slice, dice and other wise mutilate ambushed Jewish travelers. Operation Nachshon was launched on April 6, 1948 with the aim of opening up the road to Jerusalem. The village of Deir Yassin was included on the list of Arab villages to be occupied as part of that operation. Massacre of Jews on April 1, 1948... Three Days BEFORE Deir Yassin! Some woman were raped and murdered. Men often had their genitals cut off and jammed into their mouths! Most were simply dragged from their vehicles and then shot, knifed or beaten to death with rocks... EXACTLY what is happening NOW throughout Judea/Samaria (the "West Bank") and the Gaza Strip. Obviously killing Jews has been a time-honored tradition going back to the 1880s when other Jews died at the hands of these peaceful Arabs' grandparents... and going forward to the brutal massacre of Israeli reservists (click HERE for details) in late 2000 at the hands of their grandchildren! And if you add to these road massacres all the other sporadic attacks and organized "Arab Revolts" against Jews from the 1880s leading up to Jewish statehood in 1948, the peaceful Arabs of Palestine were hardly peaceful at all! Deir Yassin was one of those peaceful Arab villages that lay along the road to Jerusalem. The Jews had no choice but to remove this threat! The attack upon Deir Yassin has NEVER been forgotten by the Arabs. Even today, more than fifty years later, the Deir Yassin Memorial Committee still organizes vigils throughout the world to continue festering this wound to their pride. What makes this special to the Arabs is that it is the ONLY documented case of a Jewish massacre!!! We, however, prefer to call it was it REALLY is.... a "Pay Back!" And when other peaceful Arabs of Palestine heard that Jews were capable of paying them back in full massacre-for-massacre, there was mass panic as these peaceful Arabs fled for neighboring Arab territories. Present and future leaders of Israel should take note from this that it's sometimes better to forego formal negotiations and, instead, simply "speak THEIR language!" By the way, four days AFTER Deir Yassin, the Arabs massacred a bus convoy of 78 Jewish doctors and nurses heading up Mt. Scopus to the Hadassah Hospital. For the duration of the first Arab-Israeli War (Israel's War of Independence 1948-9), 600 Jewish noncombatants were captured by Palestinian Arabs. After the war ended, only ONE made it back alive. That was when there was a post-war prisoner exchange. All the 599 who did not make it back were slaughtered amid scenes of gang rape, sodomy, dismemberment and worse. And THESE are the same poor Palestinian refugees whom the American press corps (CNN in particular) and press coverage throughout the world hold up as innocent Palestinians being brutalized by Israel. Note: For a more detailed account of the event of Deir Yassin. click HERE Regarding the Arab-Palestinian "Right of Return" This fundamental point should be understood clearly and without illusion: When Palestinians speak of implementing their "Right of Return" into Israel, they are not speaking of peaceful accommodation with Israel. What they ARE saying refers to a well- understood code phrase for the destruction of Israel. Indeed, the several hundred thousand Palestinian refugees who actually left the area that is now Israel have multiplied into more than 3-4 million people, most of whom are not refugees, but second and third generation descendants of the original refugees. If Israel opened its gates to an additional 3-4 million Palestinians, she would quickly disappear and be transformed into the 24th Arab state! Besides, after all the past wars and organized terrorism against the Jews of Israel, the Arabs sure have a lot of nerve demanding ANYTHING! * * * Click HERE for Another brief, informative article on the Palestinian Refugees GO BACK TO HOME PAGE MENU
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.