http://www.liveleak.com/browse?channel_token=85a_1302954005 Items in channel 'ReadyRock2008' Thu, 23 May 2013 06:40:08 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?channel_token=85a_1302954005 Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:13:15 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=eb0_1234922818 ReadyRock2008 Stephen C. Webster Published: Monday February 16, 2009 Print This Email This The US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), the Army's criminal Investigation Command and the Justice Department are investigating US soldiers and officials in the alleged misuse of a portion of the $125 billion initially sent to Iraq for reconstruction shortly after the fall of Saddam. Monday, The Independent's Iraq correspondent Patrick Cockburn reported the inspectors believe misuse may account for over $50 billion, exceeding the scope of Bernie Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme and making it potentially the "greatest fraud in US history." "In one case, auditors working for SIGIR discovered that $57.8m was sent in 'pallet upon pallet of hundred-dollar bills' to the US comptroller for south-central Iraq, Robert J Stein Jr, who had himself photographed standing with the mound of money," wrote Cockburn. "He is among the few US officials who were in Iraq to be convicted of fraud and money-laundering. "Despite the vast sums expended on rebuilding by the US since 2003, there have been no cranes visible on the Baghdad skyline except those at work building a new US embassy and others rusting beside a half-built giant mosque that Saddam was constructing when he was overthrown." The SIGIR auditor's report, entitled "Hard Lessons," was published in early February. "'Hard Lessons,' a draft of which was leaked to the news media in December, concludes that the U.S. reconstruction effort in Iraq was a failure, largely because there was no overall strategy behind it," reported the Washington Post. "Goals shifted from 'liberation' and an early military exit to massive, ill-conceived and expensive building projects under the Coalition Provisional Authority of 2003 and 2004. Many of those projects -- over budget, poorly executed or, often, barely begun -- were abandoned as security worsened. "In a preface to the 456-page book, Bowen writes that he knew the reconstruction was in trouble when he first visited Iraq in January 2004 and saw duffel bags full of cash being carried out of the Republican Palace, which housed the U.S. occupation government." "As part of the inquiry, the authorities are taking a fresh look at information given to them by Dale Stoffel, an American arms dealer and contractor who was killed in Iraq in late 2004," reported the International Herald Tribune on Sunday. "Before he was shot on a road north of Baghdad, Stoffel drew a portrait worthy of a pulp crime novel: tens of thousands of dollars stuffed into pizza boxes and delivered surreptitiously to the American contracting offices in Baghdad, and payoffs made in paper bags that were scattered in 'dead drops' around the Green Zone, the nerve center of the United States government's presence in Iraq, two senior federal officials said." "Prosecutors have won 35 convictions on cases related to reconstruction in Iraq, yet most of them involved private contractors or midlevel officials. The current inquiry is aiming at higher-level officials, according to investigators involved in the case, and is also trying to determine if there are connections between those officials and figures in the other cases. Although Bell and Hirtle were military officers, they worked in a civilian contracting office." So far, there have been just 35 convictions for the misuse of government funds during the reconstruction of Iraq. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=eb0_1234922818 ReadyRock2008 Missing Iraq billions could be 'greatest fraud in US history' Iraq,Billions,Lost,War, Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:58:32 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=bd5_1234813599 ReadyRock2008 February 2009 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=bd5_1234813599 ReadyRock2008 New York Jews -USA NewYork,Jews,USA, Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:17:49 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1d6_1233616553 ReadyRock2008 By John Tirman February 02, 2009 "The Nation" -- We are now able to estimate the number of Iraqis who have died in the war instigated by the Bush administration. Looking at the empirical evidence of Bush's war legacy will put his claims of victory in perspective. Of course, even by his standards -- "stability" -- the jury is out. Most independent analysts would say it's too soon to judge the political outcome. Nearly six years after the invasion, the country remains riven by sectarian politics and major unresolved issues, like the status of Kirkuk. We have a better grasp of the human costs of the war. For example, the United Nations estimates that there are about 4.5 million displaced Iraqis -- more than half of them refugees -- or about one in every six citizens. Only 5 percent have chosen to return to their homes over the past year, a period of reduced violence from the high levels of 2005-07. The availability of healthcare, clean water, functioning schools, jobs and so forth remains elusive. According to Unicef, many provinces report that less than 40 percent of households have access to clean water. More than 40 percent of children in Basra, and more than 70 percent in Baghdad, cannot attend school. The mortality caused by the war is also high. Several household surveys were conducted between 2004 and 2007. While there are differences among them, the range suggests a congruence of estimates. But none have been conducted for eighteen months, and the two most reliable surveys were completed in mid-2006. The higher of those found 650,000 "excess deaths" (mortality attributable to war); the other yielded 400,000. The war remained ferocious for twelve to fifteen months after those surveys were finished and then began to subside. Iraq Body Count, a London NGO that uses English-language press reports from Iraq to count civilian deaths, provides a means to update the 2006 estimates. While it is known to be an undercount, because press reports are incomplete and Baghdad-centric, IBC nonetheless provides useful trends, which are striking. Its estimates are nearing 100,000, more than double its June 2006 figure of 45,000. (It does not count nonviolent excess deaths -- from health emergencies, for example -- or insurgent deaths.) If this is an acceptable marker, a plausible estimate of total deaths can be calculated by doubling the totals of the 2006 household surveys, which used a much more reliable and sophisticated method for estimates that draws on long experience in epidemiology. So we have, at present, between 800,000 and 1.3 million "excess deaths" as we approach the six-year anniversary of this war. This gruesome figure makes sense when reading of claims by Iraqi officials that there are 1-2 million war widows and 5 million orphans. This constitutes direct empirical evidence of total excess mortality and indirect, though confirming, evidence of the displaced and the bereaved and of general insecurity. The overall figures are stunning: 4.5 million displaced, 1-2 million widows, 5 million orphans, about 1 million dead -- in one way or another, affecting nearly one in two Iraqis. By any sensible measure, it would be difficult to describe this as a victory of any kind. It speaks volumes about the repair work we must do for Iraqis, and it should caution us against the savage wars we are prone to. Now that Bush is gone, perhaps the United States can honestly face the damage we have wrought and the responsibilities we must accept from it. John Tirman is Executive Director of MIT's Center for International Studies. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1d6_1233616553 ReadyRock2008 Iraq's Shocking Human Toll: About 1 Million Killed, 4.5 Million Displaced, 1-2 Million Widows, 5 Million Orphans Iraq,Death,Iraqis,American troops,dead babies,dead,adults,Shiite,Shia,Shi'ah, Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:46:21 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6a3_1233010829 ReadyRock2008 John Pilger Documentary http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6a3_1233010829 ReadyRock2008 The New Rulers Of The World globazation,American Might,Military,Police State,Seattle,Protest,IMF,World Bank,usury,debit,WTO,Indonesia,Suharto Regime,Hard Ship,Death,Deaths,Holocaust,Genocide,World Trade,Lies, Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:38:28 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d6f_1232588166 ReadyRock2008 Bombs to 'send Gaza back decades' by Jonathan Cook Global Research, January 21, 2009 In the last days before Israel imposed a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza to avoid embarrassing the incoming Obama administration, it upped its assault, driving troops deeper into Gaza City, intensifying its artillery bombardment and creating thousands more displaced people. Israel's military strategy in Gaza, even in what its officials were calling the "final act", followed a blueprint laid down during the Lebanon war more than two years ago. Then, Israel destroyed much of Lebanon's infrastructure in a month of intensive air strikes. Even in the war's last few hours, as a ceasefire was being finalised, Israel fired more than a million cluster bombs over south Lebanon, apparently in the hope that the area could be made as uninhabitable as possible. Similarly, Israel's destruction of Gaza continued with unrelenting vigour to the very last moment, even though according to reports in the Israeli media the air force exhausted what it called its "bank of Hamas targets" in the first few days of fighting. The military sidestepped the problem by widening its definition of Hamas-affiliated buildings. Or as one senior official explained: "There are many aspects of Hamas, and we are trying to hit the whole spectrum because everything is connected and everything supports terrorism against Israel." That included mosques, universities, most government buildings, the courts, 25 schools, 20 ambulances and several hospitals, as well as bridges, roads, 10 electricity generating stations, sewage lines, and 1,500 factories, workshops and shops. Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah estimate the damage so far at $1.9 billion, pointing out that at least 21,000 residential apartment buildings need repairing or rebuilding, forcing 100,000 Palestinians into refugeedom once again. In addition, 80 per cent of all agricultural infrastructure and crops were destroyed. The PA has described its estimate as "conservative". None of this will be regretted by Israel. In fact the general devastation, far from being unfortunate collateral damage, has been the offensive's unstated goal. Israel has sought the political, as well as military, emasculation of Hamas through the widespread destruction of Gaza's infrastructure and economy. This is known as the "Dahiya Doctrine", named after a suburb of Beirut that was almost levelled during Israel's attack on Lebanon in summer 2006. The doctrine was encapsulated in a phrase used by Dan Halutz, Israel's chief of staff, at the time. He said Lebanon's bombardment would "turn back the clock 20 years". The commanding officer in Israel's south, Yoav Galant, echoed those sentiments on the Gaza offensive's first day: the aim, he said, was to "send Gaza decades into the past". Beyond these soundbites, Gadi Eisenkot, the head of Israel's northern command, clarified in October the practical aspects of the strategy: "What happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on. We will apply disproportionate force on it and cause great damage and destruction there. From our standpoint, these are not civilian villages, they are military bases. This is not a recommendation. This is a plan." In the interview, Gen Eisenkot was discussing the next round of hostilities with Hizbollah. However, the doctrine was intended for use in Gaza, too. Gabriel Siboni, a colonel in the reserves, set out the new "security concept" in an article published by Tel Aviv University's Institute of National Security Studies two months before the assault on Gaza. Conventional military strategies for waging war against states and armies, he wrote, could not defeat sub-national resistance movements, such as Hizbollah and Hamas, that have deep roots in the local population. The goal instead was to use "disproportionate force", thereby "inflicting damage and meting out punishment to an extent that will demand long and expensive reconstruction processes". Col Siboni identified the chief target of Israel's rampages as "decision makers and the power elite", including "economic interests and the centres of civilian power that support the organisation". The best Israel could hope for against Hamas and Hizbollah, Col Siboni conceded, was a ceasefire on improved terms for Israel and delaying the next confrontation by leaving "the enemy floundering in expensive, long-term processes of reconstruction". In the case of Gaza's lengthy reconstruction, however, Israel says it hopes not to repeat the mistakes of Lebanon. Then, Hizbollah, aided by Iranian funds, further bolstered its reputation among the local population by quickly moving to finance the rebuilding of Lebanese homes destroyed by Israel. According to the Israeli media, the foreign ministry has already assembled a task force for "the day after" to ensure neither Hamas nor Iran take the credit for Gaza's reconstruction. Israel wants all aid to be be channelled either through the Palestinian Authority or international bodies. Sealing off Gaza, by preventing smuggling through tunnels under the border with Egypt, is an integral part of this strategy. Much to Israel's satisfaction, the rebuilding of Gaza is likely to be even slower than might have been expected. Diplomats point out that, even if western aid flows to the Palestinian Authority, it will make little effect if Israel maintains the blockade, curbing imports of steel, cement and money. And international donors are already reported to be tired of funding building projects in Gaza only to see them destroyed by Israel a short time later. With more than a hint of exasperation, Norway's foreign minister, Jonas Gahr Stoere, summed up the general view of donors last week: "Shall we give once more for the construction of something which is being destroyed, re-constructed and destroyed?" Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest book is "Disappearing Palestine: Israel's Experiments in Human Despair" (Zed Books). His website is http://www.jcook.net. A version ofJ this article originally appeared in The National (www.thenational.ae), published in Abu Dhabi. Jonathan Cook is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Jonathan Cook http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d6f_1232588166 ReadyRock2008 Israel's Doctrine of Destruction Gaza,War,Israel,crimes Sun, 18 Jan 2009 21:02:44 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=13f_1232330433 ReadyRock2008 Jason Koutsoukis in Jerusalem January 19, 2009 ISRAEL deliberately blocked the United Nations from building up vital food supplies in Gaza that feed a million people daily before the launch of its war against Hamas, according to a senior UN official in Jerusalem. In a scathing critique of Israeli actions leading up to the conflict, the UN's chief humanitarian co-ordinator in Israel, the former Australian diplomat Maxwell Gaylard, accused Israel of failing to honour its commitments to open its border with Gaza during several months of truce from June 19 last year. "The Israelis would not let us facilitate a regular and sufficient flow of supplies into the Strip," Mr Gaylard said. The chief spokesman for Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yigal Palmor, said the claims were "unqualified bullshit". "At no time was there a shortage of food in Gaza over the past three weeks," Mr Palmor said. Mr Gaylard, who is the UN Special Co-ordinator's Office's most senior representative in Israel, told the Herald that when Israel launched its surprise attack on Gaza on December 27, the UN's warehouses in Gaza were nearly empty, with all food and equipment sitting in nearby port facilities. "The food was in Israel but we couldn't get it in. This is before. The blockade was very tight." As the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, halted the attacks, declaring Israel had attained its goals in the lethal assault on Gaza that has killed more than 1240 Palestinians - a third of them children - Hamas militants continued to fire rockets into Israel. Thirteen Israelis have also been killed. A 20-year-old Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli troops in the south of the Strip yesterday. He died after being shot in the chest in a vehicle near the town of Khan Yunis, near the border crossing and was the first fatality since Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire. Five Qassam rockets hit the Israeli city of Sderot yesterday, with no reported injuries, hours after Mr Olmert said the ceasefire would be maintained as long as Hamas stopped firing rockets. He said Israel would continue to occupy Gaza and was working with several international partners including the US to prevent Hamas re-arming by putting an end to its smuggling operations. "Hamas was hit hard," Mr Olmert said. "Both its military capabilities and its governing infrastructure." Operation Cast Lead erupted after Hamas declared it would not extend a six-month truce with Israel that had expired on December 19. Hamas argued it had no incentive to renew the truce because conditions had not improved during the months of calm. According to Hamas, in return for stopping the rocket fire, Israel had promised to ease its blockade of Gaza and allow the passage of more food and commercial supplies. "I think the expectation on the Israeli side was that the rockets would stop. Well, they nearly did. I think there were 40-odd rockets fired over four months roughly," Mr Gaylard said. Before the truce there was a monthly average of several hundred rockets and mortar shells being fired into Israel. "The expectation on the Gazan side . . . was that more supplies would be allowed in, and it didn't happen," Mr Gaylard said. "In fact, we noticed, I think from 19 June for the next four or five months, or up to even 19 December, less of our supplies and spare parts and items of equipment, less got in than before the 19th of June." Mr Gaylard slammed Israel's siege policy towards Gaza, which he said had strengthened the popularity of Hamas. "It's difficult to understand the mentality of firing these rockets . . . it is equally hard to understand why the Israelis are strangling this place,' Mr Gaylard said. "It is to cause Hamas to fall, but my experience of the last year of going in and out of Gaza and staying there, was that it had exactly the opposite effect. "Hamas did not keep its commitments during the truce, they maintained the rocket fire and continued to attack Israeli technicians who were sent in to Gaza to repair various facilities." Mr Gaylard, who is also the UN's deputy special co-ordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said it would require several billion dollars and at least five years to repair the physical damage caused by the last three weeks of fighting. As for the long-term goal of resolving the 60-year Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said that had been dealt a severe setback. Mr Gaylard urged the world to put more pressure on Israel to stop the growth of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which he said Israel had pledged to do several times, most recently at the Annapolis Middle East Peace conference in November 2007. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=13f_1232330433 ReadyRock2008 Israel kept out aid for Gaza Gaza,Israel Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:30:37 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=599_1232152026 ReadyRock2008 TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad joined Arab leaders at an emergency meeting on the Gaza crisis in Qatar on Friday. Iran has several times called for a unified, strong stance by Muslim states against the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip, which has so far claimed over 1100 lives, many of whom are women and children. Both Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the region's political heavyweights, had rejected calls from Qatar to hold an emergency Arab League summit. But leaders from Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, as well as Khaled Meshaal, Hamas's Damascus-based leader, joined others in attending the meeting in Doha. Meshaal said the Islamist group would not accept Israeli demands for a ceasefire, insisting that Gaza's borders had to be reopened before Hamas stopped firing rockets into southern Israel. Both he and Bashar al-Assad, Syria's president, also called on Arab states to cut all ties with Israeli as the meeting adopted a strong tone. On Thursday, the leaders of the six-nation Persian Gulf Cooperation Council - which includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar - met in Riyadh and deferred holding the Arab League summit. Instead, they agreed that the Gaza crisis would be discussed at a meeting in Kuwait later this month. Observers saw Thursday's meeting as an attempt by Saudi Arabia to pre-empt Qatar's efforts to hold its summit. "This is not just about the venue of the summit, but rather, the outcome," Prince Saud al-Faesal, the Saudi foreign minister, said after the Riyadh meeting. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Qatar's ruler, had called for a summit in Doha to "freeze the Arab peace initiative and suspend all forms of normalization with Israel, including the reconsideration of diplomatic ties." The Arab peace initiative is a Saudi proposal presented during 2002 under which the Arab states offered full diplomatic ties with Israel in exchange for withdrawal to Israel's 1967 borders. Qatar is the only Persian Gulf Arab state to have formal commercial ties with Israel and an Israeli representative office in Doha, but also hosts Hamas leaders. Qatar, which pursues what is regarded as a maverick foreign policy had been using Al-Jazeera TV to lambast opponents of the gathering by suggesting that they are failing the Palestinians. Sheikh Hamad said earlier this week that Qatar was not trying to sabotage efforts to secure a truce. "We think that it is our duty to take a unified position and we can take effective measures," he said. The Israeli attacks on Gaza has sparked a wave of anger across the Muslim world and many of the tens of thousands of demonstrators that have taken to the streets have lambasted Arab leaders for failing to take a stronger stance against the Zionist regime. Arab foreign ministers were also scheduled to meet in Kuwait on Friday. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=599_1232152026 ReadyRock2008 Ahmadinejad Joins Arab Leaders for Gaza Talks Iran,Ahmadinejad,Gaza Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:42:30 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=db0_1232066093 ReadyRock2008 by Anna Baltzer Global Research, January 16, 2009 Anna Baltzer, a young Jewish American, went to the West Bank to discover the realities of daily life for Palestinians under the occupation. What she found would change her outlook on the conflict forever. She wrote this book to give voice to the stories of the people who welcomed her with open arms as their lives crumbled around them. For five months, Baltzer lived and worked with farmers, Palestinian and Israeli activists, and the families of political prisoners, traveling with them across endless checkpoints and roadblocks to reach hospitals, universities, and olive groves. Baltzer witnessed firsthand the environmental devastation brought on by expanding settlements and outposts and the destruction wrought by Israels Security Fence, which separates many families from each other, their communities, their land, and basic human services. What emerges from Baltzers journal is not a sensationalist tale of suicide bombers and conspiracies, but a compelling and inspiring description of the trials of daily life under the occupation. Anna Baltzer is a Jewish American graduate of Columbia University, Fulbright scholar, and two-time volunteer with the International Womens Peace Service in the West Bank, where she documented human rights abuses and supported the nonviolent resistance movement to the occupation. Extracts of Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories, written by Anna Baltzer. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=db0_1232066093 ReadyRock2008 What You Need To Know About Israel's "Colonies" Israel,Colonies,IDF,Israeli,Palesitine Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:22:51 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=093_1231989680 ReadyRock2008 Fishermen's Rights versus the Development of Natural Gas by David K. Schermerhorn BACKGROUND: There is an historical connection between the Gazan community and the off shore fishery. In recent times some 3000 fishermen in over 700 boats made their livelihood in the waters off the shores of Gaza. Before 1978 when the fishing area included the sea off the Sinai coastline the area covered some 75,000 square kilometers. The larger boats are about 20 meters in length and usually carry a crew of 7. They are typically trawlers using downriggers to lower their nets to the ocean bed. Currently their main catch is bream or sardines that average between 8 and 14 inches. The smallest craft are rowboats normally used to deploy nets a few hundred meters off shore. The nets are then hauled in by hand from the beach. These catches are very modest. After the 1994 GAZA-JERICHO AGREEMENT the fishermen were free to use a corridor extending 20 nautical miles from the Gaza shore bounded by restricted zones to the north and south abutting Israeli and Egyptian waters. After the UN's 2002 Bertini proposal the approved location was reduced to an area within 12 nautical miles of the coast. More recently the area available has been reduced to 300 square kilometers. Beginning in late 2000 the Israeli military began a campaign of intimidation and harassment against the fishing boats that ventured near or beyond a 6 nautical mile limit. No formal notice or explanation was ever given to the Palestinians. Instead the regulation was written and enforced by Israeli machine guns and water cannons. At least 14 fishermen have been killed by the Israelis, over 200 injured and numerous boats damaged or impounded. WHY? In the late 1990's the British Gas Group (BG Group) discovered a vast deposit of natural gas under the waters off Gaza: Over 1 trillion cubic feet equal to 150 million barrels of oil was estimated to be there. A significantly smaller deposit was also found in nearby Israeli waters. On 11/8/99 Chairman Yasser Arafat signed an agreement giving BG Group 90 percent interest and 10 per cent to Consolidated Contractors Company, an Athens based Palestinian entity connected to the PLO. A final allocation of the rights continues to be contested between BG Group, Israel, Egypt and the Palestinians in obscured ongoing negotiations. The Israelis began their program of killing and harassing the Gazan fishermen only after the discovery of the natural gas deposits. It is a reasonable assumption that the two events are linked: That the Israelis are asserting control over this resource valued at over 4 billion dollars; And that they are intent on denying any benefit to the Palestinians regardless of who controls Gaza. TIMELINE: -May 4, 1994: PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed The Gaza-Jericho Agreement. Article XI established three Maritime Activity Zones that extended out to sea 20 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza. Two narrow Zones running parallel to the boundaries of Egyptian and Israeli waters were designated No Fishing Areas. Under the terms of the Agreement the larger remaining Zone "will be open for fishing, recreation and economic activities." The Gazan fishermen operated freely for the next 6 years within this Zone with no major confrontations with the Israelis. - Late 1990's: The British Gas Group (later BG Group) began explorations off the Israeli and Gazan coasts for natural gas. A modest deposit was found in Israeli waters close to the Gaza Marine Activity Zone. A significantly larger deposit was found in a section of this Zone centered some 10 to 15 nautical miles offshore. It was estimated that there were sufficient reserves to generate electric power for all Palestinian needs for a decade and still have surplus to export. - July 25, 2000: Yasser Arafat walked out on the Camp David meeting. - September 27, 2000: Yasser Arafat traveled 19 miles off the Gaza coast to light the first flare stack flowing from the natural gas. An Israeli oil consortium had contested the Palestinian rights to the gas but was overturned in an Israeli court. The initial agreement with the BG Group gave them 90 percent interest and 10 percent to Consolidated Contractors Company, an Athens based Palestinian group. They and the Palestinian Investment Fund (PIF) had the option to later assume up to 40 per cent interest. Initially BG Group negotiated with Egypt to run an undersea pipeline designed to import the gas. Under pressure from Tony Blair BG Group was forced to negotiate with the Israelis instead. Those discussions, which centered over price, have been so long and contentious that BG Group closed their Israel office and again began dealing with Egypt. - September 28, 2000: Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount despite warnings by Arafat and other leading Palestinians. The predictable riots and deaths following this provocation marked the beginning of 2nd Intafada. Sharon was elected Prime Minister in February 2001. He vowed that Israel would never buy gas from the Palestinians. After the outbreak of the 2nd Intafada the Israelis began an ever-tightening blockade of Gaza with fewer and fewer trucks allowed to enter. - Late 2000: Attacks by Israeli patrol boats against Gazan fishing boats began and have continued to this day. These attacks began 5 years before Hamas freely won the legislative elections on January 25, 2006. It is apparent that these assaults on the fishermen had nothing to do with security or with Hamas. Instead it had everything to do with a 4 billion dollar resource belonging to the Palestinians. - August, 2002: In response to a request from Prime Minister Sharon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations appointed Ms. Catherine Bertini as his Personal Humanitarian Envoy to asses humanitarian needs of the Palestinians. At the end of her visit to the area she made numerous recommendations including one that dealt with the fishing boats. In her report she included a list of "Previous Commitments Made by Israel". Item 2 states: "The fishing zone for Palestinian fishing boats off the Gaza coast is 12 nautical miles. This policy needs to be fully implemented." But never was! - Although the attacks occurred throughout the Maritime Activity Zone they were more common once a boat had passed the 6-mile limit. Most boats now carry GPS's in order to know their exact positions. Some captains are intimidated by the Israeli threat and turn back before crossing the line. Others go further despite the increased danger from the Israelis. The fishery closer to shore has collapsed after so many boats were forced to operate in such a limited area. In addition the waters near shore are polluted due to sewage pouring in from broken pipes. One more consequence of an infrastructure crippled by the Israelis. Since the outset of these assaults at least 14 fishermen have been killed and over 200 injured. Boats continue to be damaged or impounded. 9/12/05 - Israel announced that it had ended the occupation of Gaza and withdrew its forces. It maintained control of land and sea-lanes as well as all border crossings on land. 1/25/06 - Hamas won 76 of 132 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council in an open honest election. After a bloody battle with Fatah elements Hamas took control of Gaza. Israel and the United States branded Hamas a terrorist organization and have had no public contact with it thereafter. The restrictions at the border crossings were tightened further with severe limitations on the traffic of produce, materials, medicines and people. Anemia and malnutrition were widespread as a result. Early June 2008 - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Israel Defense Forces to covertly prepare for an invasion of Gaza to be known as operation "Cast Lead". June, 2008 -Israel contacted BG Group to propose reopening negotiations over the natural gas deposits. Actual negotiations overseen by Ehud Olmert were taking place in October, 2008. It appears that Israel wished to reach an agreement with BG Group before the secretly planned invasion began. 6/19/08 - Hamas and Israel signed a 6-month truce agreement calling for cessation of rocket firings by Hamas and military incursions by Israel. In May over 300 rockets had been fired. In September only 5 to 10 were fired. Hamas was lead to believe that significant increase in shipments would be allowed to enter Gaza. Before the truce roughly 70 trucks were allowed to bring provisions into Gaza each day compared with some 900 permitted before the Israeli clamp down in 2000. Hamas believed that a similar flow of traffic would be restored. Instead Israel allowed only an increase from the 70 to 90 trucks. 11/5/08 - IDF forces killed 6 Palestinians while supposedly searching for a tunnel passing under the border. In effect the truce was over after this provocation. During the next 5 weeks 237 rockets were fired into Israel compared with the 5 to 10 fired in September. The increase in rocket fire was Israel's public justification for launching the long planned "Cast Lead" invasion. 11/18/08 - An Egyptian court ordered the government to stop shipping natural gas to Israel. Under a 2005 agreement Egypt agreed to deliver 1.7 billion cubic meters of gas to Israel over a 15-year period. The gas began to flow in May, 2008. A lawsuit followed seeking to bar delivery since the Parliament had not given its approval. The court supported the lawsuit and its findings are being appealed. The potential cutoff of the gas from Egypt gave Israel even more incentive to take control of the Gaza Marine deposits and to deny any benefits to Palestinians whether Hamas or Fatah. 11/18/08 - Israeli naval vessels attacked three Palestinian fishing boats located seven miles off the coast of Deir Al Balah, clearly within the limits permitted in the 1994 Gaza-Jericho Agreement. Fifteen Palestinian fishermen and three international observers were kidnapped and taken with the boats to Israel. The fishermen were held for a day and then released. The boats were eventually returned but damaged. The internationals were jailed in Israel for many days and then deported. 12/27/08 - Israel began bombing Gaza as phase 1 of operation "Cast Lead". The vast natural gas deposits of Gaza Marine 1 and 2 rest a few miles offshore. To the victor the spoils one more time? Only time and perhaps the conscience of the world will determine. Although the violations of law and basic human rights to the Gazan fishermen pale in comparison to the horrors that have unfolded they should not be forgot or forgiven. Based on the limited reports coming from Gaza due to Israeli restrictions on journalists it is possible that there are no fishing boats left or even a harbor. Perhaps justice will never be served on those who initiated and perpetuated these assaults. But let us never forget that the greed and self-interest embodied in these policies are those of a country that has lost its shame. Has lost its honor. David K. Schermerhorn has traveled on humanitarian missions to Gaza on three separate occasions in recent months aboard Free Gaza (www.freegaza.org) boats. He spent spent two days aboard fishing boats that were harassed by Israeli machine gun fire and assaulted by water cannons. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=093_1231989680 ReadyRock2008 Geopolitical Time Line: War, Natural Gas and Gaza's Marine Zone Gaza,Israel Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:19:55 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7ef_1231982268 ReadyRock2008 As elections draw near the National Union party has turned to it's youth wing for the upcoming struggle. As seen on Arutz Sheva. israelnationalnews.com http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7ef_1231982268 ReadyRock2008 Israeli News-"The Youth Give Us Our Strength" Israel,Secular,Torah,Talmud, Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:14:03 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=989_1231981892 ReadyRock2008 TEHRAN -- Israel preventing Iran Red Crescent ship carrying medicines and food from reaching the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, state television reported. "We are now close to Gaza, only a few miles away, but facing prevention by the Israeli navy which will not give us permission to pass," Ahmad Navabi, the head of the relief team, told the television by telephone. "They have ordered us to return. If this continues we will have to go back to the port of Al Arish and deliver the aid through the Rafah gateway," he added. The Iranian ship, loaded with more than 2,000 tons of medicine and food, left the southern port city of Bandar Abbas in the Gulf two weeks ago. Israel's deadly offensive against the Hamas in Gaza has killed nearly 1,000 innocent Palestinians and wounded more than 4,500 since December 27. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=989_1231981892 ReadyRock2008 Israeli war ship prevented Iranian Red Crescent ship from reach to GAZA Iran,Israel,Gaza,aid,Iran Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:52:45 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fd4_1231969855 ReadyRock2008 By Nadia Hijab Wednesday, January 14, 2009 There was a music school in Gaza. It was just six months old. The 31 children aged 7 to 11 could choose one of five instruments, including the guitar, oud (lute), and piano. Most of the 19 girls gravitated to the guitar and piano, while many of the 12 boys showed a preference for the oud. The school worked out of rented premises in the Palestinian Red Crescent Society building just across the street from the Preventive Security Forces compound in Gaza City. The compound was targeted in the first wave of Israeli bombardments on December 27, and twice more the next day. The five-story building was vaporized; a flat gravel surface is all that remains. Like other buildings in the neighborhood, the Gaza Music School was shattered; window frames and doors were blown out, and holes were punched in the walls. The force of the blast imploded the four ouds, just like it had the compound. By some miracle, the children had not yet arrived for their lessons and so were spared the fate of those in other schools in the path of Israeli bombs. In the midst of all the death and destruction in Gaza, the school's short life rouses particular emotion. That there was such a school at all is astonishing, not just because of the 18-month siege that followed the decades of "de-development" of Gaza under Israeli occupation but also because one might expect it to be contrary to an Islamist social program. There is almost no musical education in Gaza. The school project was developed in response to community demand, particularly from among the 11,600 children who are members of the Qattan Center for the Child. The center provides extra-curricular activities and a library for the children. It is impressive: With its 103,000 books, it is one of the largest children's libraries in the Arab world. The children who attended the center's music workshops and concerts started asking for more. "They said, 'We want to play instruments too,'" explained Ziad Khalaf, the Ramallah-based director of the Qattan Foundation, which established the school with co-funding from the Swedish development organization SIDA. The music school provided a window on another world for the besieged Gazans."Many parents sat in on the theory lessons so they could better support their kids' homework," said Khalaf. The five music teachers include two Russian women married to Palestinian men. They refused to leave Gaza when the border was briefly opened to enable foreigners to flee. For them, Gaza with all its misery and deprivation is still home, just as it is for the 1.5 million other Palestinians living there. And what about Hamas' supposed social rigidity? Some websites did take a strong line against musical education, complaining that Hamas was allowing music to be taught under its rule instead of the Sharia. But they were ignored. Khalaf emphasizes that the Qattan Foundation has experienced full support from all authorities and communities in its different places of operation. The day after the music school was hit, its coordinator called each of the children and their parents to make sure they were safe, and also to assure them that the school would be repaired, restocked, and reopened as soon as possible. In Ramallah, the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music is planning a fundraiser soon to help rebuild the school. "Some friends from Amsterdam and London who saw the damage to Gaza music school on the Foundation's website said they will be fundraising to help," Khalaf said. These plans, too, arouse emotion: Palestinians rebuild even as the rubble rises around them. They have had 60 years to learn how to do so, and show no signs of giving up their quest for their rights - not even the right to learn how to play a musical instrument. Nadia Hijab is a senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies. She wrote this article for Agence Global http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fd4_1231969855 ReadyRock2008 Israeli bombs silence Gaza music school Gaza,Kids,Israeli,IDF,Music,bombs