Caracas. Die Mitgliedstaaten des linksgerichteten Bündnisses ALBA (Bolivarische Allianz für Amerika) haben gegen das Vorgehen der israelischen Streitkräfte im Gaza-Streifen protestiert. In einer Erklärung vom 10. Juli heißt es, die „neue israelische Offensive“ verletze durch „wahllose Angriffe auf die Zivilbevölkerung selbst die Mindeststandards des humanitären Völkerrechts“.

1. President Abbas will present a letter to the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, addressed to UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, to officially put the State of Palestine under the UN international protection system and to form a legal committee for immediate follow-up.

2. At the Arab foreign ministers’ meeting taking place tomorrow, July 14, the State of Palestine will ask all parties present to adopt a draft resolution at the ministerial level to be presented at the next UNSC meeting and to follow-up on this matter accordingly at the UN.

3. The Palestinian leadership will follow-up on convening the High Contracting Parties and urge Switzerland as the depository of the Conventions to speed up consultations and convene the Parties immediately as a matter of urgency.

4. In its annual meeting in August, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) will be asked to add Israel and its policies and measures against Palestine on its agenda and designate Israel as an apartheid state.

5. The Palestinian leadership will ask for an emergency meeting of the UN Human Rights Council to deal with the grave conditions in Gaza and hold Israel to account for its violations of international law and international humanitarian law.

6. The Political committee discussed the matter of acceding to additional international treaties and conventions.

7. The Committee also explored various ways in which to pursue judicial accountability for Israel’s war crimes.

Since the first Lebanon war, more than 30 years ago, the killing of Arabs has become Israel’s primary strategic instrument. The IDF doesn’t wage war against armies, and its main target is civilian populations. Arabs are born only to kill and to be killed, as everyone knows. They have no other goal in life, and Israel kills them.

One must, of course, be outraged by the modus operandi of Hamas: Not only does it aim its rockets at civilian population centers in Israel, not only does it position itself within population centers — it may not have an alternative, given the crowded conditions in the Strip — but it also leaves the Gazan civilian population vulnerable to Israel’s brutal attacks, without seeing to a single siren, shelter or protected space. That is criminal. But the barrages of the Israel Air Force are no less criminal, on account of both the result and the intent: There isn’t a single residential building in the Gaza Strip that is not home to dozens of women and children; the IDF cannot, therefore, claim that it does not mean to hurt innocent civilians.

The Palestine Liberation Movement said Abbas also wants a commission of inquiry into Israel‘s relentless air bombardment of the Gaza Strip aimed at halting militant rocket fire into the Jewish state.

Abbas is „undertaking several steps and measures to deal with the horrific situation in Gaza,“ senior PLO member Hanan Ashrawi said in a statement after a meeting of the PLO executive.

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“This is against UN laws but the UN is not doing anything about it … That’s why we are here – to make the world aware that injustice is happening and you cannot sit there and just ignore it,” said Al-Tobi, from Liverpool.

The photo was posted online by a Danish journalist, Allan Sørensen, the Middle East Correspondent for a Danish newspaper.

Sørensen captioned the photo; ‚Sderot cinema: Israelis bringing chairs 2 hilltop in sderot 2 watch latest from Gaza. Clapping when blasts are heard‘.

The photo has been retweeted more than 9,000 times on social media network Twitter which journalist Sørensen has been updating frequently.

Local Jewish community demands apology after ANC claims Israel turning Palestinian areas into ‘permanent death camps‘

Officials in Lebanon from the Palestinian militant group Hamas said it had nothing to do with a statement reportedly from its armed wing, the the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, which claimed responsibility for the attack late on Saturday, Reuters reports. Three rockets were fired from Lebanon and hit open areas in northern Israel near Nahariya on Saturday evening. T

Disturbing images of young Israelis in a border town eating popcorn and cheering as bombs fall on neighbouring Gaza have evoked widespread condemnation as they were shared on social media.

The pictures were taken in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, frequently the target of Hamas rocket attacks, by Danish journalist Allan Sørensen who works for Kristeligt Dagblad.

In a Hebrew language letter to his troops published by Israel’s NRG news website and laden with bibilical references, Colonel Ofer Winter writes, “History has chosen us to be the sharp edge of the bayonet of fighting the terrorist enemy ‘from Gaza’ which curses, defames and abuses the God of Israel’s battles.”

In an official dispatch sent to battalion and company commanders on July 9, Givati Brigade commander Colonel Ofer Winter told his subordinates that “History has chosen us to spearhead the fighting (against) the terrorist ‘Gazan’ enemy which abuses, blasphemes and curses the God of Israel’s (defense) forces.”

The letter came to light as Israel gears up for possible ground operations against Hamas in the Palestinian territory.

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Abby Martin talks to Maya Yechieli Wind, an Israeli activist and dissenter, who advocates against Israeli aggression toward occupied Palestine

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Thousands of Australians mostly from Islamic Arab community gathered near Sydney Town Hall protested against the brutal killing of civilians of Gaza by Israeli military.

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The police chief, Tayseer al-Batsh, was moderately injured. He underwent surgery and was reportedly in stable condition on Sunday morning. Most of the dead were members of his family.