GAZA RELIEF #40 August 14, 2024
GAZA RELIEF #40 August 14, 2024
YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS
Haitham wrote August 12 to report that, in addition to suffering critical food, water and hygiene product shortages (all reports supported by numerous NGOs and international humanitarian agencies), he, his family and the wider population are experiencing widespread skin disease. With the continuing Israeli blockade of humanitarian assistance, we have no way to send to him the necessary — and otherwise easy-to-obtain — topical medications.
Hamad and Abu Saif report that they have distributed to needy families all the funds that they had on hand, in northern Gaza and Nuseirat, respectively.
We just transmitted this week $3,000 to Haitham, and $2,000 each to Hamad and Abu Saif.
We now have on hand about $2,000.
From Haitham:
Last night was a Hill of a night.
Shilling was near
We almost left our place.
But thanks God we didn't
Just one of many deadly bombardments since our previous report — total Palestinian deaths are about to top FORTY THOUSAND
Israel-Hamas war latest: Israeli strikes kill at least 17 in Gaza overnight, Palestinians say | AP News
https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-latest-14-august-2024-050bd6ae0fe1d4694c351ae67e6c5d2d
PROSPECTS FOR A CEASEFIRE…
… are about zero. The conditions existing at the start of the war continue unchanged.
— Netanyahu wants to stay in power and out of jail; to do so, he needs to prolong the war.
— Netanyahu and the coalition of his dreams are pursuing — without international penalty — the full takeover of the West Bank, as shown clearly in this report from Boaz Karni and Shaul Arieli of the Economic Cooperation Foundation. (and a reminder that ECF does critical, unique, behind-the-scenes work to support a just peace with two states. Please consider supporting ECF.)
— Netanyahu and his coalition are prosecuting the war in Gaza with unquestioning U.S. support and an endless supply of weapons and munitions, including a new, multi-year $20 billion agreement (below) on top of the annual $3.8 billion in military aid and the more than 100 separate smaller arms transfers that were in the pipeline.
— The majority of the Israeli population support the government in denying the existence of any legitimate Palestinian grievance. If there’s no basis whatsoever for a Palestinian grievance, then the Palestinians can be treated as simply pathological Jew-haters who will never be appeased, thus there’s no reason to entertain negotiations. (Note: As late as 2019, when Pat and I were leading a tour group in Israel, our Israeli guide, a reserve lieutenant colonel in the IDF, told our group that no Arabs lived in Palestine until the surrounding Arab nations sent them into Palestine in 1947 to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state. It was the old “a land without a people for a people without a land” myth still being regurgitated.)
— Netanyahu knows that if he continues the war — and his constantly increasing demands in the negotiations demonstrate that desire clearly — until a possible Trump election victory, then he is home free. Not that he’s restrained by the U.S. now. Apart from its occasional comments about civilian casualties, the Biden administration has kept the munitions (and UNSC vetoes) flowing, with only a brief pause in the delivery of the most destructive, 2,000-pound bombs.
But what about Iran, and a broader war? Well, Netanyahu is in the driver’s seat. If Iran demonstrates restraint, as it is likely to do in the face of ever expanding U.S. military assets in the region, then he can continue prosecuting the Gaza War and continue taking over the West Bank. If Iran attacks, then Netanyahu can count on world support in what he will claim is a fight against terrorists for the very existence of Israel.
And, he will remain in power.
U.S. to sell Israel $20 billion worth of F-15s, vehicles and missiles - The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/08/13/us-israel-f15-sales/
(Note: F-15s provide the long range and weapons capacity/variability necessary attacks on distant targets, such as Iranian nuclear sites.)
MORE ON IDF ABUSE OF PALESTINIAN PRISONERS
Haaretz Investigation: Israeli Army Uses Palestinian Civilians to Inspect Potentially Booby-trapped Tunnels in Gaza - Israel News - Haaretz.com
Again, not a new IDF tactic.
THE UNREMITTING PRESSURE TO SUPPORT CONTINUATION — EVEN EXPANSION — OF THE WAR
Even as Netanyahu continues to block negotiations, stiff the United States, confound his own military commanders, and draw us into war, the U.S. continues the blank check of support.
U.S. nuclear submarines (see article below) are not defensive weapons. The fact that we have not only deployed a missile submarine to the region, but have announced its deployment there, is intended to dissuade Hezbollah and Iran from retaliation for the ongoing, repeated Israeli assassinations. But, the deployment also puts that submarine and its missiles into play, and carries a risk that could have been mitigated by the United States demanding Israeli agreement to honest peace negotiations leading to a Palestinian state. Let’s not forget that that is what this is all about.
What is the threshold for launching a U.S. missile strike on Iran? An attack that could launch a Middle East war far greater and more savage than the Iraq war?
And who makes that determination to launch (or create the circumstances requiring) a U.S. military attack? Biden, or Netanyahu?
Gulf of Tonkin? Czech abuse of ethnic Germans? Phantom bio-weapons labs?
U.S. Orders Submarine to Middle East Amid Fears of Escalation - The New York Times
This falls under the category of what I would call not good news.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/12/world/middleeast/us-submarine-israel.html
ABANDONING HUMAN RIGHTS
As we have written ad nauseam, the Israeli Occupation and the war in Gaza resonate far beyond the Gaza battlefield. The United States stands virtually alone in supporting both the Occupation and the continued unrestricted provision of munitions to the IDF, and in failing to condemn Israeli actions that contravene U.S. law and international conventions to which the U.S. is a signatory, and that elsewhere would be labeled war crimes.
The decision to resume funding to an IDF unit accused of gross violations of human rights against Palestinians in the West Bank — literally for years before the Gaza War —emasculates any prospect of enforcing Leahy standards in the scores of other countries where U.S. military forces operate and train host-government forces.
I have trained numerous Tier One and Tier Two U.S. special operations units on Leahy provisions, always stressing the criticality of maintaining the law’s standards. The U.S. decision to resume funding to the offending Israeli unit simply because it dismissed two members of that unit demonstrates that my colleagues and I wasted our breath. At the least, the Leahy provisions require the sanctioning of not only the individual offenders, but the entire unit, and the commanders of that unit. Instead, they got a free pass.
And that U.S. decision gets a massive boost in the just-announced sale of $20 billion in additional U.S. weaponry and munitions over the coming years.
Opinion | Harris Should Take Divisions Over Gaza Seriously - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/12/opinion/harris-michigan-gaza.html
From Nasser: Birth certificates of a twin who were borne 4 days ago were killed by IDF with their mother, father Mohamed Abukomsan showing the birth certificates.
AND ALWAYS WORTHWHILE TO GLANCE AT THE HEADLINES IN HAARETZ for an honest looks at what’s happening in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
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