"Crisis" In Israel/Palestine/Lebanon/Syria

[Lucy]

Here's a video showing the the horror and truth of Israel's brutality through their use of vacuum bombs. This is the fruit of Israel.

Thanks for the link, Shane.

While I was over there on YouTube to watch that video, I also came across this:

BBC Documentary
Israel's Secret Weapon
March 16, 2003
video in five parts (approx. total 40 minutes)
1/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGQmTyJ3SKo
2/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sfIh3poEDc
3/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WShqGnXcooY
4/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE66rLASeho
5/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udrdP7mCDSc

The program starts out by asking...

*Which country in the Middle East has undeclared nuclear weapons?

*Which country in the Middle East has undeclared biological and chemical capabilities?

*Which country in the Middle East has no outside inspections?

*Which country jailed its nuclear whistleblower for 18 years?

The answer to all of these questions is, of course, Israel.

This documentary uses the case of Vanunu.as a central point to connect several aspects of the subject. (For some basic background on Vanunu you can go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanunu)

As I've also mentioned at http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=2007.msg16312#msg16312 --
An interesting aspect of Vanunu's story that's explained in part 1 is the 'bait' that 'lured' Vanunu to his abduction....a classic 'honey trap'. Falling into that 'trap' was a mistake in judgement on Vanunu's part that held grave consequences for him.

In part 2 we find out that Kennedy was the one and only, first and last, US president to put pressure on Israel. With his death Israel became an inspection free zone, due to a policy of nuclear ambiguity (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Policy_of_deliberate_ambiguity and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_ambiguity). Starting with President Johnson the United States agreed to turn a blind eye, as long as Israel's nuclear program remained unofficial and secret. Each and every president since has 'renewed' that 'contract'...upholding that policy.

BTW, this seems to provide at least one logical answer to the question: Who would benefit from Kennedy's death?

The video goes on to discuss Israel's nuclear reactor, accidents, coverups, etc., working its way back to Vanunu's plight just before the latest Iraq invasion..

An interesting video...provides a quick primer on Israel's "secret weapons" of mass destruction and Vanunu's story.

For those interested, here's the Sunday Times articles from 1986 where Vanunu 'outed' Israel's nuclear program: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 68,00.html

 

[Ben]

Rare Event: CNN Interviewer Actually Asking Israelis Hard Questions on the Bombing!

Here's the 4 minute video of an interview of Miri Eisen, Israeli spokesperson, by Rosemary of CNN. (I saw this on AOL but could not find it on the CNN website to get more details, so I have emailed CNN to get Rosemary's full name and when she comes on.)

http://journals.aol.com/thefeedblog...video-tensions-overflow-during-interview/1972

If you can stomach it read some of the comments posted about this video. One can't be sure how serious some of these racist remarks are but its generally a depressing read, reality is generally completely twisted to support one side of the 'Democrat - Rebublican' false dichotomy.

 

[Alana]

This Rosemary reporter is like the new Legally Blonde! :)

 

[Cyre2067]

Wow i had no idea Vanunu existed. From the brief bit i read he seems like a true patriot. Thanks Lucy.

 

[Ryan]

Yep, Vanunu is a true hero all right. A living example that the Israeli people are capable of a great good, if they can work out how to break free from their pathocratic government.

 

[Joe]

So true Don and Keit about how people can change with a blink of an eye.All that is need is a catch phrase and(with alot of repetiotion) humans will do a complete 180.Perfect example is what is being used for the "phrase of the minute" is "Israel has a right to defend itself"and Voila the zombies of the American populace chant it right back.

Encapsulated within the claim that "Israel has a right to defend itself" is the idea that this "defence" is a righteous defence. However, according to the general understanding of righteousness and morality, it is not possible to righteously defend something that you have stolen from another. To be righteous, you must give back what you have stolen and make amends.

What Israel is defending is its illegal occupation of Palestinan lands and its self-proclaimed right to continue its oppression and murder of Palestinian civilians.

Joe

 

[Keit]

From Brazilian newspaper:

 

[Ruth]

What Israel is defending is its illegal occupation of Palestinan lands and its self-proclaimed right to continue its oppression and murder of Palestinian civilians.

This act should probably be added to the list of things that Isael needs to 'defend' itself against, in the eyes of the international public. They have no respect for anything, do they? I've heard of countries doing this to their own disidents, but never one country doing it to another's elected officials.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/08/05/gaza-israel.html

Israel arrests speaker of Palestinian parliament
Last Updated Sat, 05 Aug 2006 21:40:03 EDT
CBC News
Israeli forces have arrested the speaker of the Palestinian parliament at his house, Palestinian officials said early Sunday.

Officials said about 20 Israeli army vehicles surrounded the house of Abdel Aziz Duaik and took him into custody.

The Israeli military said that Duaik, as a Hamas leader, was a target for arrest.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas called the arrest "another crime of piracy by the [Israeli] occupation against the elected representatives of our people," and demanded international action to secure the release of Duaik and other Hamas officials.

On June 29, Israeli forces arrested dozens of Hamas officials, including eight cabinet ministers. One was released earlier this week.

Earlier in the weekend, Israel continued its incursion into the region, launching deadly air strikes and rolling its tanks into the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday.

A mother and her two children were killed in the first Israeli air strike, officials said. Four other people were seriously wounded in the attack.

The Israeli army defended the air strike, saying that its aircraft was targeting several armed Palestinians.

A 19-year-old militant with the Islamic Jihad group was killed in a second air strike.

Tanks move in

Israeli tanks moved into the town of Rafah early Saturday, laying claim to a deserted Palestinian security training camp.

Palestinian security officials said the Israeli forces also closed roads on the eastern edge of the town. On Friday, Israeli troops conducted house-to-house searches in the area.

Israel began a military offensive in the Gaza Strip after Palestinian militants attacked an Israeli army outpost on June 25 and killed two soldiers. A third soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, was captured in the raid.

Israel responded by shutting down the border to Gaza and moving forces into Palestinian territory.

More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in the violence in Gaza since the incursion began.

Gaza-Egypt border reopens, supplies arrive

The Gaza-Egypt border crossing was expected to open for the second time since the recent fighting began, allowing one-way traffic into Egypt on Saturday and Sunday. Palestinian and Israeli officials along with European monitors reached an agreement to open the border on Friday.

Israeli officials also announced that it opened a border checkpoint to allow 160 truckloads of food, medical supplies, gasoline and diesel into Gaza.

The United Nations on Thursday said both Israelis and Palestinians must protect civilians as the fighting continues. Israel, in particular, was singled out for creating a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Israel continues to fight on two fronts: against Palestinian militants in Gaza and against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

 

[noise]

Just touching base with todays news. www .msnbc .msn .com/id/14196226/ and it looks like Hezbollah has done some attacks in Israel and I was curious about how Keit is doing. Are you safe? This was the first thing that came to my mind. I know I haven't really participated in the thread but I have been following it for the most part for a couple/few weeks now. I hope your in a position to be able to reply Keit as well as safe.

 

[Anders]

It is so rare that we hear anything about the amount of Israeli missiles, that I was surprised to hear something on ABC NEWS Australia last night. I have this morning tried to find a transcript of it but without luck.
The reporter said that Israel in a couple of hours had launched 4000 shells and 200 ( I think he said) of missiles. He then mentioned that Hizbollah had launched 3000 Katyusha rockets since the beginning of the conflict.

In order to compare the above apart from the huge difference in numbers I looked up Katuysha and found this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyusha

Compared to other types of artillery, they are fragile but inexpensive. Katyushas of World War Two, the first self-propelled artillery mass-produced by the Soviet Union, were usually mounted on trucks.

It can also refer to Katyusha artillery rockets used individually, a mode of attack sometimes used in guerrilla warfare, military harassing fire, or attacks against population, for example by the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam, Hezbollah, the Iraqi insurgency, and the Taliban.

Katyushas have also been used outside of Russia and the former Soviet republics, in particular by the Hezbollah Lebanese militia in bombardment of northern Israel before and especially during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. The equipment used included BM-21-derived launchers and, notably, longer-ranged Fajr-3 rockets were directed towards many northern Israeli towns, including Haifa and Nazareth.

I am aware that Wikepedia is not necessarily acurate or objective, but it was a place to start.
Looking up BM-21 I found the likely rocket used by Hizbollah http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BM-21

9K132 Grad-P: Single-round man-portable launcher, which can be reloaded and used again. The rocket itself is a 122 mm fin-stabilized rocket, armed with any of the warheads used on BM-21 rockets. The weapon is not often used by the Russian military, but is popular with paramilitary and guerrilla forces.

It appears to weight around 66 kg, with a payload of approx 17kg of explosives and a range of about 20-25km, according to this IDF pro site http://www.weaponsurvey.com/missilesrockets.htm

The Israeli army uses artillery shells, which most likely is the 155mm artillery shell. Try and google "artillery shells israeli" and the most common search reply is 155mm. To see a picture of these shells see this blog http://alertandalarmed.blogspot.com/2006/07/no-civilians-in-lebanon.html Another site http://www.mideastdaily.org/entry/israel-using-lethal-cluster-ammunition-in-lebanon/ with a close up of the same munition revealing one of the types: M483A1

Looking this up I found this description http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/m483.htm

M483, 155-mm howitzer shell

The 155mm M483A1 Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munition (DPICM) is an early technology cargo round. It delivers 88 dual-purpose grenades to defeat armor and personnel targets.

This is but one of many different types of munition that a 155mm artillery shell can deliver. Apart from cluster bombs, it can also carry single bombs, chemical bombs such as phosphorous and much more. It can be fired from tanks and from mobile artillery launchers. For a detailed list of 155 projectiles and usage see http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/155.htm Horrifying indeed.! The weight of one shell is about 45-47 kg, though the weight of the 'payload is not specified. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-Purpose_Improved_Conventional_Munition
As for the range of the shells, then I read on one site 30km and with a design goal of 87km+. But there are many manufacturers and so this probably varies greatly. http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNGER_61-52_MONARC.htm


From looking into the two types of munition that we hear most of in the news, it appears to me that the artillery shells are more precise and lethal than the Katuysha, which do not appear to be a precision weapon at all, which is mirrored by the news of damage inflicted by them.

I initially just wanted to post the news item about the 4000 artillery shells in the spate of a couple of hours compared to 3000 Katyusha rockets over almost 4 weeks, and ended up researching a bit about the weapons used. It was not my intent to say that Katyusha rockets are nice and shells are bad, and knowing the type of munition does little for the ones whose lives are shattered by them. Yet from the news it often sounds as though the Katyusha rockets are far more deadly and accurate than the Israeli shells, which I found no evidence of.

Maybe somebody can add more specific information regarding the above and also verify the news item.

Anders

edit: While researching the above i found this regarding the shelling of the beach in Gaza earlier in the year.
http://bbsnews.net/article.php/20060621120915758

During the two-and-a-half hour meeting with Kalifi, the IDF agreed with Human Rights Watch that it is possible that unexploded ordnance from a 155mm artillery shell fired earlier in the day could have caused the fatal injuries. The IDF fired more than 80 155mm shells in the area of the beach on the morning of the incident. Sand would increase the possibility of a fuse malfunction leading to a dud shell that may have sat in the sand waiting to be set off. The shelling between 4:31 p.m. and 4:50 p.m. could have triggered a dud shell, as could the human traffic on the beach that afternoon.

The IDF has fired more than 7,700 shells at northern Gaza since the Israeli withdrawal in September 2005, creating a problem of unexploded ordnance in heavily populated areas.

Had these been katyusha rockets falling in Israel, then we would surely have heard quite a bit about it, not to mention UN resolutions, sanctions and world condemnation.

 

[Ruth]

I suppose people should ask themselves which one of the 'occupiers' left the bigger mess - the Syrians or the Israelis? Its good to see the Syrians are actually wanting to help rebuild some Lebanese villages. Maybe they are getting a bit more media 'savy'.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CD9E8DCB-F274-4C30-9565-21D3DED6DC41.htm

Syria offers to rebuild Lebanon villages

Monday 04 September 2006, 9:43 Makka Time, 6:43 GMT

Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, has pledged to rebuild three southern Lebanese villages destroyed by Israeli bombardments during Israel-Hezbollah fighting, according to state-run news agencies in Syria and Lebanon.

Syria's official news agency SANA said on Sunday that al-Assad "directed concerned parties" to rebuild Qana, Siddiqine and Qlaileh, three overwhelmingly Shia villages in the western sector of south Lebanon.

The SANA agency quoted al-Assad as saying his move was an expression of "support for the steadfastness of the brotherly Lebanese people and a contribution toward erasing traces of the savage Israeli aggression on Lebanon".

Lebanon's National News Agency said Fuad Siniora, the Lebanese prime minister, and Nabih Berri, speaker of the Lebanese parliament, were informed on Sunday of al-Assad's pledge to rebuild the villages.

There was no immediate comment from the government in Lebanon.

Syria pulled its troops out of Lebanon last year, after the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister. The withdrawal of Syrian troops marked the end of a 29-year military presence in Lebanon.

Pledges of cash and assistance are pouring in to help Lebanon rebuild after the devastation inflicted by Israel's air and ground bombardment in its 34-day offensive against Hezbollah.

 

[Ruth]

\

I'm getting confused... this land belongs to whom?

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-09-08T080746Z_01_L08635206_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST-ISRAEL-SHEBAA.xml&WTmodLoc=Home-C2-TopNews-newsOne-7

Israel could discuss Shebaa Farms
Fri Sep 8, 2006 4:08am ET
Top News
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would be willing to discuss the status of the disputed Shebaa Farms if Lebanon disarms the Hizbollah guerrilla group, Israeli media reported on Friday.

The Haaretz newspaper said Olmert made the comments about the Shebaa Farms to visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday.

The Shebaa Farms is a small patch of land claimed by Lebanon, but occupied by Israel since it captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.

The United Nations deems the territory Syrian until such time as Syria cedes it to Lebanon.

"If it is decided that the area is Lebanese, not Syrian as the U.N. secretary general said in the past, and if Lebanon implements resolutions 1559 and 1701 fully, including disarming Hizbollah, we'll agree to discuss it," Haaretz quoted Olmert as saying.

U.N. Resolution 1701 governs the August 14 ceasefire that ended 34 days of war between Israel and Hizbollah, sparked when the guerrillas abducted two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid. It contains no explicit call for Hizbollah to disarm.

The other U.N. resolution, adopted in 2004, called on all Lebanese militias to be disbanded and disarmed. Hizbollah has said it would not give up its weapons.


©Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

 

[Joe]

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1335622006

Earthquake shakes Israel, no injuries reported

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.4 shook Israel and the occupied West Bank on Saturday but caused no injuries, Israeli media reported.

The quake's epicentre was in the Jordan Valley and was felt across Israel and the West Bank. The magnitude was initially estimated at 4.9.

Minor earthquakes are not uncommon in Israel and surrounding countries.

Notice the last sentence. You'd think Israel had a 4.4 every other day. Fact is, in the last 6 years the three largest earthquakes in the region of Israel have been two 4.9s and a 5.1, with four other 4.4s out of a total of 67 quakes above 4.0

http://www.gii.co.il/html/seis/seis_search.html

Joe

 

[Keit]

Notice the last sentence. You'd think Israel had a 4.4 every other day. Fact is, in the last 6 years the three largest earthquakes in the region of Israel have been two 4.9s and a 5.1, with four other 4.4s out of a total of 67 quakes above 4.0

http://www.gii.co.il/html/seis/seis_search.html

It's not common. I live in this country long enough to know that this is something new. Scientists say that this is all part of some cycle. That we suppose to get a large earthquake very soon, on the other hand you get opinions like this:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3301503,00.html

...Dr. Yoav Serana, Chairman of the Engineers Union, then told Ynet that the quake was "wonderful for two reasons: First, every earthquake releases energy. If there are small earthquakes frequently, the chances of a large one decrease. If no damage is caused in minor quakes, we are better off. The energy is focused in the ground, and the larger the quakes, the more energy is released."


Serana added that "the country is simply not ready for a large quake. There are all kinds of program but nothing has been done. Buildings built after 1995 are ready for earthquakes because the standard has been changed, and in a large earthquake they will be damaged, but they will not topple. But most of the buildings were built before then, and they would not stand up to a big earthquake. The State must invest money in protecting hospitals and public buildings needed during an emergency."

We also had our mini-tornado last winter. Since when Israel get tornadoes, hah?
So, either it's an Iran nuke or large earthquake, this portal is open and kicking.

 

[Horizon_Technical_Team]

Re: Why is a US defense contractor hosting a known terrorist website?

Dear Host master,

This is to clarify our position in regards to the posting on your website(http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=2282.msg14581#msg14581)
and thereby to neutralize any plausible implications that may be construed thereof.

At the outset, it will be logical to start with the relationship between the three companies mentioned in your post, Al Hejailan Projects Engineering, Horizon Communication Services and Horizon Satellite Services.

Al Hejailan Projects Engineering Co. is a reputed company established in Saudi Arabia way back in the 80s and as a holding company, it offers a diverse range of services and products through many of its subsidiaries. The activities of these subsidiary companies range from construction, telecoms, manufacturing and other services. Al Hejailan Projects Engineering Co. supports its subsidiaries with Management and Financial Support services.

Both, Horizon Communication Services, registered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Horizon Satellite Services, registered in Dubai, UAE are fully owned subsidiaries of Al Hejailan Projects Engineering Co.

Horizon Communication Services (HCS) provides IT infrastructure implementation and maintenance support to Al Hejailan Projects Engineering Co. Whereas Horizon Satellite Services (HSS) provides internet-via-satellite connectivity solutions for the Middle East region.

As an Internet Service Provider, HSS is a member of RIPE (_http://www.ripe.net) and conducts business in strict adherence to regulations stipulated by RIPE including those related to issuing of IP addresses to clients. Accordingly, we are required to specify the usage and update the RIPE database to reflect our customers’ details as and when new IP addresses are issued.

IP address 82.205.138.35 was assigned to Horizon Communication Services (HCS) in May-06. In due course, when HCS requested more IP addresses, we (HSS) assigned them with a new set of IP addresses and gave their old IP address 82.205.138.35 to one of our customers in Lebanon. However, we did not update this information on the RIPE database to reflect the new change, since it is a standard practice to do this periodically and not as soon as an IP address is changed. This explains why the search to _www.nazrolla.org led to the fact that it was hosted on 82.205.138.35 and why the RIPE database was still showing Horizon Communication Services’ name.

Further, Al Hejailan’s name was not registered to that IP address but the address of one of the persons registered in the RIPE database, Karthikeyan K which mentioned Al Hejailan Projects Engineering’s name.

As an Internet Service Provider, these kinds of issues are common and whenever HSS receives inquiries related to usage of its services, in the larger interest of all concerned and that of the society we live in and contribute to, it is our policy to disclose all necessary information, within our means and knowledge, on the person or company using our Internet services, including IP addresses that have been issued by us. However, when it comes to content, understandably, we do not have control over the content hosted by customers using our services.

I hope this explains the situation and trust you will be kind enough to use this clarification to clear up this issue with the owner of the blog. Also, kindly remove this posting from your website.

Please feel free to revert back to us in case you need any more details or clarifications.

Thank you & kind regards,
Horizon Technical Team
Horizon Satellite Services
Email:technical@horizon-satellite.com
Contact no: +971-4-391-5122