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| 7/8 |
| 2006/7/14-19 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Others, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Israel] UID:43673 Activity:nil |
7/14 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060714/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_israel_62 "The level of damage inflicted by Israel appeared finely calibrated. For example, a missile punched a hole in a major suspension bridge on the Beirut-Damascus road but did not destroy it, unlike less expensive bridges on the road that were brought down. An Israeli strike hit fuel depots at one of Beirut's two power stations sending massive fireballs and smoke into the sky but avoided the station itself." \_ Israel's attack is always "pinpointed." But the past record showed pinpointed attack often result in death of, let say, 7 month old terrorist, or entire terrorist's family age from 9-17. Some would argue that "unjustified death" from those Israel attack validates sucide bombing tactics in the middle of crowded buses. You know, those Arab has such twisted sense of what is justifiable what is not... those 7 month old, future terrorist, and those 1 year old future terrorist *DESERVED* to be bombed or shelled; ANY reasonable person from the Western world would agree with that. \_ the goal of a terrorist bomber is to kill as many civilians as possible. this speaks for itself. \_ the goal of terrorist bomber is to make the cost of occupation as high as possible. \_ The goal of a terrorist bomber is not something for a modern democracy to measure its actions by. There is a very big line between civilian casualties incurred from hitting a military or paramilitary target, and indiscriminately killed women or children. The former is tragic and to be avoided whenever possible, but before judging, what would _you_ do? -John \_ remember, more Iraqi civilians died of US bombing during the invasion than those killed by suicide bombers. (iraqibodycount) are you saying that as long as we kill civilians via arial bombing, that will be ok? \_ What would I do? Get the fuck out. I'd move to America or Europe and not look back, if I were either Israeli or Arab. -!pp \_ To them it's home. By this logic, I don't think anyone would stay where they're from (because no matter where you are, it's get-the-fuck-outtable in someone else's view... -John \_ this is great. Those Arabs who live there for 1800 years doesn't belong there. those who migrate to there in 1948 consider that "home" and have the right to defend itself... \_ Israel has no problems with allowing Arabs in the country and holding government posts. Arabs seem to have a problem with Israelis being there. \_ Why won't they let the 1948 refugees back in then? Isreal only allows a very few Arabs in their country and the ones that they do allow are 2nd class citizens, ala apartheid. \_ They left. Why should they be allowed back in? Can the Jews who got kicked out of the Arab countries in the Middle East return home and get their stuff back, too? No. There are Arabs in the Israeli government. They were elected to office just like in any democracy. If you have a specific example of second classness, please share. \_ http://www.csua.org/u/gg7 http://www.csua.org/u/gg6 45% of Isreali Arabs live in poverty, compared to 15% of Isreali Jews. Okay, I step back from my apartheid statement though, that is going too far. But they are second class citizens. Unlike the Palestinians stuck in the occupied territory, who are not even citizens at all. \_ So there is evidence that Israeli Arabs are being oppressed by the government and lack the full rights of Israeli Jews and this explains the higher poverty rates? \_ how about this kind of turkey shoot? these guys are 1. civilian and 2. trying to get out: http://tinyurl.com/lwxtj according to your logic, bus bombing from the air or artillery shell is perfectly ok? I am sorry, I ain't no Hezbollah or Hamas, but I don't find this convincing. \_ No, according to my logic its okay if you're not \_ No, according to my logic its tragic, but maybe very regrettably unavoidable, if you're not blatantly trying to whack civilians (and trying to avoid doing so whenever possible.) Which, as far as I'm aware, is usually the case. And as for who's lived there longer, let's see, I think most Arabs (and most Israelis) were probably born there after 1948? They're both there now, and bitching about whose grandparents were where first won't solve it. -Johnj won't solve it. -John j \_ bombing a civilian bus call it "tragic?" The differences is that I don't believe every thing Israeli says, you do. I sincerely don't think Israeli care too much about civilian casualties, or collateral damage involves MASSIVE number of women and children. Number talk, John. Arabic civilian casualties is at least one order of magnitude than Israeli civilian in the past conflict. You really think the 18,000 casualties in Lebanon back in 1982 were all Hezbollah fighters? How about Israeli-backed Christian groups who slaughter every Sunni and Shiite in sight? The truth is, Israeli doesn't care. They felt they need to defend itself. If it means 20 civilians or 9 family members going to die along with that one terrorist, they will drop the bomb, fire the missile. There is no differences between Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and IDF. While American media covers virtually every sucide bombers attack, there is virtually no photographs, video footage or any kind of media coverage of Arabic civilian fleeing Southern Lebanon and being mow down by IDF machine guns. IDF reminds me a lot of the behavior of Imperial Japanese Army in China backed in the WW2 days. |
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| news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060714/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_israel_62 AP Hezbollah drone batters Israeli warship By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 39 minutes ago BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah rammed an Israeli warship with an unmanned aircraft rigged with explosives Friday, setting it ablaze after Israeli warplanes smashed Lebanon's links to the world one by one and destroyed the headquarters of the Islamic guerrilla group's leader. ADVERTISEMENT The attack on the warship off Beirut's Mediterranean coast was the most dramatic incident on a violent day in the conflict that erupted suddenly Wednesday and appeared to be careening out of control despite pleas from world leaders for restraint on both sides. Israel again bombarded Lebanon's airport and main roads in the most intensive offensive against the country in 24 years. For the first time it struck the crowded Shiite neighborhood of south Beirut around Hezbollah's headquarters, toppling overpasses and sheering facades off apartment buildings. Concrete from balconies smashed into parked cars, and car alarms set off by the blasts blared for hours. The toll in three days of clashes rose to 73 killed in Lebanon and at least 12 Israelis, as international alarm grew over the fighting and oil prices rose to above $78 a barrel. Gaza Strip against Hamas, striking the Palestinian economy ministry offices early Saturday. The ramming of the Israeli warship indicated Hezbollah has added a new weapon to the arsenal of rockets and mortars it has used against Israel. The Israeli army said the ship suffered severe damage and was on fire hours later as it headed home. There were no details on the ship's crew, though Al-Jazeera TV said the Israeli military was searching for four missing sailors. "You wanted an open war and we are ready for an open war," Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said in a taped statement. He vowed to strike even deeper into Israel with rockets. Kofi Annan to allow UN mediation for a cease-fire -- but only if the terms include the disarming of Hezbollah and the return of two Israeli soldiers whose capture by the Muslim guerrillas Wednesday triggered the fighting. Hezbollah rained dozens of rockets on towns in northern Israel. One rocket hit a home in Meron, killing a woman and her grandson. Some 220,000 people in northern towns hunkered down in bomb shelters. Nasrallah was not hurt after the Israeli missiles demolished his headquarters among two buildings in Beirut's southern neighborhoods, the militant group said. The attack on the warship was apparently timed to coincide with Nasrallah's message on the militant group's television station. Now in the middle of the sea, facing Beirut, the Israeli warship ... Israeli military officials said the drone apparently was developed by Hezbollah. The Lebanese guerrilla group has managed to fly unmanned spy drones over northern Israel at least twice in recent years. "If they kill us all, we will still not give them back the prisoners," said one resident, Nasser Ali Nasser, as palls of smoke rose from fuel depots hit farther south. President Bush , who has backed Israel's right to defend itself, spoke by phone with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora from a G-8 summit in Russia and "reiterated his position" that the Israeli attacks should limit any impact on civilians, White House spokesman Tony Snow said. But the promise fell short of the Lebanese leader's request for pressure for a cease-fire. One was to batter Hezbollah and end its near control of the south on Israel's borders. "We know it's going to be a long and continuous campaign and operation, but it's very clear. The other goal was to seal off Lebanon by repeatedly striking its airport and main roads -- including the coastal highway from north to south and the Beirut-Damascus highway, Lebanon's main land link to the outside world. At the same time, Israel was gradually escalating the damage to the country's infrastructure, painstakingly rebuilt since the civil war ended in 1990. Israel holds Lebanon responsible for the capture of its two soldiers in a surprise Hezbollah raid; the Lebanese government insists it had nothing to do with the attack. However, Israel wants it to rein in the guerrillas, a move Lebanon has long resisted. The level of damage inflicted by Israel appeared finely calibrated. For example, a missile punched a hole in a major suspension bridge on the Beirut-Damascus road but did not destroy it, unlike less expensive bridges on the road that were brought down. An Israeli strike hit fuel depots at one of Beirut's two power stations -- sending massive fireballs and smoke into the sky -- but avoided the station itself. Throughout the morning, Israeli fighter-bombers pounded runways at Beirut's airport for a second day, apparently trying to ensure its closure after the Lebanese national carrier, Middle East Airlines, managed to evacuate its last five planes to Jordan. Civilian casualties were mounting faster than during Israel's last major offensive in Lebanon, in 1996, an assault also sparked by Hezbollah attacks. In that campaign, 165 people were killed over 17 days, including 100 in the shelling of a UN base. "We are on the right and we shall avenge every attack we endure," said Fadi Haidar, an American-Lebanese who swept up the shattered glass outside his store in south Beirut. But as time goes by, they will all realize that Sayyed Nasrallah is right and is working in the interest of Muslims." There was some resentment that Hezbollah had dragged the Lebanese into another bloody fight with Israel. "As long as Hezbollah has its weapons and acts according to its leader's whims, there is pretext for Israel to keep on destroying Lebanon," said Ibrahim al-Hajj, a Christian shop owner in the southern village of Qleia. An Israeli gunner covers his ears as an artillery piece prepares to fire into southern Lebanon from a position near Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, Friday, July 14, 2006. Israel Makes Personal Appeal to Lebanon at UN Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman made a personal appeal to his Lebanese counterparts to stop the violence between the two nations. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. |
| www.csua.org/u/gg7 -> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_Arab#Discrimination edit Muslim Arabs Muslim Arabs, excluding Bedouins, comprise about 70% of the Israeli Arab population. They live predominantly in the north, although a sizable number reside in East Jerusalem and some towns in the south. They are not required to serve in the Israeli military, and few volunteer. In addition, of all Israeli Arab subgroups, they have probably the largest portion of people who identify themselves as Palestinian, often as well as Israeli. This means that around 25% of the children born in Israel today are Muslim, and as a result, the Muslim population is mostly young: 42% of Muslims are children under the age of 15, compared with 26% of the Jewish population, with the median age of Muslim Israelis 18, while the median age of Jewish Israelis is 30. The percentage of people over 65 is less than 3% for Muslims, compared with 12% for the Jewish population. According to forecasts, the Muslim population will rise to over 2,000,000 people, or 24-26% of the population within the next 15 years. The increasing population of Muslim Arabs within Israel has become a point of political contention in recent years. The Arabs of 1948 (ie Israeli Arabs) may become a majority in Israel in 2035, and they will certainly be the majority in 2048." According to an article published in "Child Abuse and Neglect: The International Journal" nearly 90 % of teenage girls who took part in the first research project to analyze the abuse of girls in Bedouin society reported that they had either been physically abused or had undergone corporal punishment at least once in the year preceding the study. Most of the girls said the abuse was carried out by family members or teachers. The Israeli Druze, like all Druze, follow a unique Druze religion which stemmed from Islam, although unlike Syrian Druze for instance, Israeli Druze generally resent being referred to as Muslim. Many of them do not even identify as Arabs and claim to have nothing in common with Arabs other than language. edit Spatial distribution In total, 71% of the Arab population lives in 116 different localities throughout Israel. The other localities are ruled by an Arab local authority or else they are strictly rural areas. This is considerably lower than for Jewish Israelis (including "others") at 57%. For the men the participation is equal at 60%, with a higher participation in the labor market at 15 through 34 years but lower at 45 through 64. Arab women participate much less in the labor market (17% as compared to 55% for Jews). Personal preferences, social pressures, a lack of opportunites and differences in education (especially for the older generation) contribute to the variances among the genders and ethnicities. Moreover the Arab sector has been hit harder by the current recession in Israel; in 1989 68% of the Arab men particpated in the labor market compared to 62% for the Jewish men (now both are equal at 60%). The main branch of occupation for Arab men is building (25%) and for women education (38%). The mean hourly rate of the Arab Israelis is 69% of what the Jewish Israelis earned, 63% for the men and 82% for the women (Jewish women earn on average less than Jewish men). The reasons for the atypical gender distribution within the Arab Israeli population can be found in the lower female participation in the labor market (it is mostly the women who can earn a decent salary that work) and the higher proportion of Arab women versus Arab men in government jobs, such as in education. This difference is related to the lower income and higher ownership of housing for the Arab Israeli households (87% as compared to 68% for the Jews). edit Health Improvements in healthcare, environmental conditions, and improved education have led to a lower infant mortality rate for Arabs, from 32 deaths per thousand births in 1970 to 86 per thousand in 2000. The most common health-related causes of death are heart disease and cancer. Around half of all Arab men smoke, and roughly 14% were diagnosed with diabetes in 2000. In the 2002 budget, Israel's health ministry allocated 16m shekels (-L-200,000) to Arab communities out of its 277m-shekel (-L-35m) budget to develop healthcare facilities. Human Rights Watch issued a report in 2001, which stated: "Government-run Arab schools are a world apart from government-run Jewish schools. In virtually every respect, Palestinian Arab children get an education inferior to that of Jewish children, and their relatively poor performance in school reflects this." The report found striking differences in virtually every aspect of the education system. It found that the Education Ministry did not allocate as much money per Palestinian Arab child as it did for Jewish children. edit Legal and political status Israeli Arabs are full citizens of the State of Israel, with equal protection under the law, and full rights of due process. Unlike Jewish citizens, they cannot be drafted into the Israeli army, but they may serve voluntarily. Salim Jubran was selected as the first Arab to hold a permanent appointment as a Supreme Court Justice. Jubran, 57, is a native of Haifa, born to a Christian family with roots among the Maronites in Lebanon. Bishara has been a critic of what he feels is the lack of democracy in Israel, as he champions a state for "all of its citizens" and believes the Israeli state provides only democracy for certain favored groups. Israeli Communist Party played a major role in mobilising the Israeli Arab community throughout these years and in demanding full equality for Arab citizens. Its newspapers and journals were important outlets for Arab Israeli expression and cultural production. Six Day War the following year was a turning point in the political development of the Israeli Arab community, as it appeared to prove the durability of the state of Israel. The 1970s saw a number of major developments in the political history of the Israeli Arab community. To combat what they call "violent elements in Arab society" Israeli Arab leaders urge police action against weapons in Arab sector, this was after "over 20 Arab municipality heads have been attacked in recent months as part of an attempt to change their positions or in response to decisions they made". Times notes: "Liberman plans to strengthen Israel's status as a Jewish state by transferring 500,000 of its minority Arab population to the West Bank, by the simple expedient of redrawing the West Bank to include several Arab Israeli towns in northern Israel. edit Economic development of the Israeli Arab community The predominant feature of the Israeli Arab community's economic development after 1949 was its transformation from a predominantly peasant farming population to, in large degree, a proletarian industrial workforce. It has been suggested that the economic development of the community was marked by distinct stages. edit Discrimination On July 2006 Israeli Government decides to brand all Arab communities in country as 'class A' development areas, thus making them eligible for tax benefits. Examples of what the State Department report found include the following: * According to the report, Muslims enjoy full freedom of religion and government "did not affect the rights of Muslims to practice their faith" according to "Legislation enacted in 1961 afforded the Muslim courts exclusive jurisdiction to rule in matters of personal status concerning Muslims. Secular courts have primacy over questions of inheritance, but parties, by mutual agreement, may bring cases to religious courts. Muslims, since 2001, also have the right to bring matters such as alimony and property division associated with divorce cases to civil courts in family-status matters." Human rights advocates claimed that Arab citizens were more likely to be convicted of murder and to have been denied bail." According to the Government's February 2002 report to the UN, government investment per Arab pupil was approximately 60 percent of investment per Jewish pupil. al-Sarafand mosque episode, with Muslims' attempts to restore the mosque and Jewish attempts to stop them, as an example of the 'shifting of dynamics' of the relationship between M... |
| www.csua.org/u/gg6 -> www.hrw.org/reports/2001/israel2/ISRAEL0901-01.htm Nearly one in four of Israel's 16 million schoolchildren are educated in a public school system wholly separate from the majority. The children in this parallel school system are Israeli citizens of Palestinian Arab origin. Their schools are a world apart in quality from the public schools serving Israel's majority Jewish population. Often overcrowded and understaffed, poorly built, badly maintained, or simply unavailable, schools for Palestinian Arab children offer fewer facilities and educational opportunities than are offered other Israeli children. This report is about Israel's discrimination against its Palestinian Arab children in guaranteeing the right to education. The Israeli government operates two separate school systems, one for Jewish children and one for Palestinian Arab children. Discrimination against Palestinian Arab children colors every aspect of the two systems. Education Ministry authorities have acknowledged that the ministry spends less per student in the Arab system than in the Jewish school system. The majority's schools also receive additional state and state-sponsored private funding for school construction and special programs through other government agencies. The gap is enormous--on every criterion measured by Israeli authorities. The disparities between the two systems examined in this report are identified in part through a review of official statistics. These findings are tested and complemented by the findings of Human Rights Watch's on-site visits to twenty-six schools in the two systems and our interviews with students, parents, teachers, administrators, and national education authorities. Palestinian Arab children attend schools with larger classes and fewer teachers than do those in the Jewish school system, with some children having to travel long distances to reach the nearest school. Arab schools also contrast dramatically with the larger system in their frequent lack of basic learning facilities like libraries, computers, science laboratories, and even recreation space. In no Arab school did we see specialized facilities, such as film editing studios or theater rooms that we saw as a sign of excellence in some of the Jewish schools we visited. Palestinian Arab children with disabilities are particularly marginalized, with special education teachers and facilities often unavailable in the system, despite the highly developed special education programs of the Jewish school system. The unavailability of schools for three and four-year-old children in many communities, despite legislation making such schools--and attendance--obligatory, is matched by inadequate kindergarten construction for Palestinian Arab children throughout much of the country, particularly in the Negev. A Bedouin man in a recognized Bedouin town told us, "I have a daughter five years old. Poor school facilities and schools requiring travel over long distances result in children dropping out of the education system altogether at a very high rate. The educational system has given a low priority to teacher training for the Arab school system and provides less "in-service" training to Palestinian Arab teachers already within the system than is routine within the majority system. Palestinian Arab teachers on average have lower qualifications and receive lower salaries than non-Palestinian Arab teachers. Financial incentives for teachers assigned in particularly deprived areas like parts of the Negev are lower than those made available to teachers in Jewish schools identified as hardship postings. Training in special education for teachers in the Arab school system has been largely insufficient. Despite higher rates of disability among Palestinian Arabs, in the area of special education the Ministry of Education spends less proportionately on integration ("mainstreaming"), special education services, and special schools for Palestinian Arab children than it does for Jewish children. "We have been asking for special support for many years," the father of a disabled boy explained. Palestinian Arab children who cannot attend a regular school have only a tiny handful of schools to choose from, and there is often only one Arab school in the country for children with a particular disability. Many of these children must travel long distances daily or attend a Jewish school if one happens to be available. But Jewish special education schools are not designed for Palestinian Arab pupils. For example, speech therapists in some schools with both Jewish and Palestinian Arab hearing impaired students do not speak Arabic. For some families, the only option is keep their disabled children at home. Palestinian Arab students study from a government-prescribed Arabic curriculum that is adapted second hand from the Hebrew curriculum: common subjects are developed with little or no Palestinian Arab participation and translated years after the Hebrew language material is published. The government devotes inadequate resources to developing the subjects unique to Arab education. No curricula in Arabic for special education existed until 2000, and it was not available in any of the Arab special education schools that Human Rights Watch visited. The curricula's content often alienates students and teachers alike. For example, in Hebrew language class, Palestinian Arab students are required to study Jewish religious texts including Tanach (Jewish bible) and Jewish Talmudic scholars. This material is included in the mandatory subjects in the matriculation exams (bagrut) taken at the end of high school. A Hebrew language teacher in an Arab high school described her pupils' reaction: "Some children see it as imposed on them. It makes it hard for the teacher to motivate students to study. The Ministry of Education has recently made some positive reforms in Arabic curricula, including in history, geography, and civics. However, many of these changes have not been fully implemented because textbooks and other teaching materials are lacking. Discrimination at every level of the education system winnows out a progressively larger proportion of Palestinian Arab children as they progress through the school system--or channels those who persevere away from the opportunities of higher education. The hurdles Palestinian Arab students face from kindergarten to university function like a series of sieves with sequentially finer holes. At each stage, the education system filters out a higher proportion of Palestinian Arab students than Jewish students. Children denied access to kindergarten do less well in primary school. Children in dilapidated, distant, under-resourced schools have a far higher drop-out rate. Palestinian Arab students who stay in school perform less well on national examinations, especially the matriculation examinations (bagrut)--the prerequisite for a high school diploma and university application. Others are weeded out by a required "psychometric" examination--generally described as an aptitude test-which Palestinian Arab educators describe as culturally weighted, a translation of the test given students of the Jewish school system. A consequence is that Palestinian Arabs seeking admission to university are rejected at a far higher rate than are Jewish applicants. All but 57 percent of the students receiving their first university degree in the 1998-1999 school year were Jewish. The Israeli government has offered various other explanations for the gaps between Jewish and Palestinian Arab students' performance. These include poverty and cultural attitudes, especially regarding girls. Human Rights Watch found that in light of clear examples of state discrimination, neither poverty nor cultural attitudes adequately explained the existing gap. Indeed, in many instances, the data run directly contrary to the claim that these factors, and not discrimination, are at the root of the problem. Moreover, discrimination in education is cyclical and cumulative. When one generation has fewer educational opportunities of poorer quality, their children grow up in families with lower incomes and learn from less well-educated teachers. The remedial and enrichment resou... |
| tinyurl.com/lwxtj -> www.imemc.org/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20054&Itemid=1&pop=1&page=0 Image The Israeli air force shelled several buildings in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and the city of Trablus, north of Lebanon, soldiers also shelled a seaport north of Beirut, and the coastal area of Amsheet. Medical sources in Lebanon reported that 23 residents were killed when Israeli war planes bombed a bus of evacuees from southern Lebanon who had fled their homes to seek safety further north, on Saturday afternoon. The Israeli army carried four air strikes that targeted Al Dahia Al Janoubiyya area in Beirut, and targeted two vehicles transporting civilians leaving their areas fearing additional Israeli attacks. Fifteen civilians including children were killed in the attack. The air force attacked several offices for Hezbollah party in the area in addition to shelling houses of Hezbollah leaders there. Also, one Lebanese resident was killed in an Israeli air strikes that targeted an area close to the Lebanese-Syrian borders. Twenty Lebanese residents were killed in three Israeli air strikes that targeted Ba'labak city in Lebanon. The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported that 79 residents were killed and 250 were injured since Israel launched its offensive in Lebanon on Wednesday. The Israeli army used loud speakers demanding the residents to leave their cities located south of Lebanon. Dozens of residents tried to take refuge in the centers of the international forces operating in southern Lebanon but they were denied entry and forced away. Hezbollah, for its part, didn't allow the Israeli "foolishness" pass unpunished as volleys of their missiles struck the northern city of Tiberius, Israeli occupied since 1948, that is located 35 km away from the Lebanese borders with Palestine for the first time ever since the start of the Israeli aggressions, the Qatar based Al Jazeera TV reported on its website. The part fired 12 Katusha shells at Tiberius, which is only 30 km away form the vital coastal city of Haifa. |