ISRAELI
forces are pounding the Palestinians as their deadly ground, sea
and air assault on the Gaza Strip enters its second week. Over 600
Arabs have been killed and thousands more wounded, mostly civilians
like the 42 killed when a UN school was shelled by Israeli artillery on
Tuesday.
Palestinian doctors say many families are in need of ambulances, but
medical workers were struggling to reach casualties because they were
being shot at by the Israelis. Iyad Nasr of the Red Cross in Gaza City
said that the military operation has worsened the hardships created by
the Israeli blockade over the last 18 months.
The United Nations says 13,000 people, over 2,000 families, have now
been internally displaced because of the fighting, and that is just in
the north of the Strip.
Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, says that there is no crisis
and that aid is getting through, but Christopher Gunness, the UN Relief
and Works Agency (UNRWA) spokesman, said her denials were absurd. “The
organisation for which I work – UNRWA– has approximately 9,000 to
10,000 workers on the ground. They are speaking with the ordinary
civilians in Gaza... people are suffering,” he said. “A quarter of all
those being killed now are civilians. So when I hear people say we’re
doing our best to avoid civilian casualties that rings very hollow
indeed.”
terror
Israel commandos backed by tanks and helicopter gunships are spreading
terror across the towns and refugees camps in the enclave that shelters
over a million and a half Palestinians but there’s no real plan to this
invasion and their troops are acting in chaos and confusion. Hamas
militiamen and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
commandos are putting up a fierce resistance in the streets and they
say their fighters now control the agenda on the battlefield.
Palestinian partisans are trying to inflict as many casualties as they
can on the Zionists while hoping to take some Israelis prisoner to use
as bargaining chips when the guns eventually fall silent.
PFLP officer Abu Jamal said that the resistance movements are in a high
state of unity and close communication and they are operating in full
confidence of victory.
The resistance say they have taken two Israeli soldiers captive and
Hamas fighters claim to have destroyed seven tanks and downed one
helicopter gunship.
They put Israeli losses at 11 dead and 48 wounded in the fighting so
far. Palestinian rockets are continuing to land deep into Israel
hitting Israeli military bases and towns including Gedera, just 30 km
south of Tel Aviv.
The resistance warn that others will be aimed at the Israeli nuclear
research establishment in Dimona if the fighting continues.
The Israelis put their losses at six soldiers dead and 31 wounded
including Colonel Avi Peled, the commander of the crack Golani Brigade
who was seriously injured in fighting Monday night. They say nothing
about prisoners but they admit that they have “lost contact” with one
of their men.
The Americans blocked a Libyan-backed ceasefire proposal at the UN
Security Council last weekend. But international efforts to stop the
war are growing following the latest Israeli atrocities. Israel has
agreed to halt the fighting for three hours a day to allow humanitarian
aid into the Gaza Strip and Hamas is now studying an Egyptian proposal
for a ceasefire backed by the Americans and the European Union.
deep
concern
But most Arabs believe that the Israelis will carry on fighting until
the new American president is sworn in later in the month and Barak
Obama is saying nothing apart from expressing his “deep concern” until
he enters the Oval Office on 20th January.
Once again the world sees the true face of Zionism in action against
the heroic and long-suffering Palestinian masses. In Britain and
throughout the world people are taking to the streets to demand an
immediate end to the slaughter in Gaza and for the complete restoration
of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian Arabs. Only then will the
peace return to the Middle East.
DEMONSTRATE
Stop the massacre - Israel out of Gaza
Saturday 10 January 12.30 Speakers Corner to march to the Israeli
Embassy.
Stop the War Coalition, BMI, PSC, CND.
New Worker supporters meet at the Party banner, Hyde Park Corner.
.
Write to us for more information