WHAT AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL (AI) FOUND IN GAZA

I am on the AI e-mailing list and receive many e-mails from them. I really feel that it's necessary to share this one with you.

Dear Harinder,

Hours before Israel announced a ceasefire, an Amnesty International fact finding mission gained access to Gaza. Their initial reports are disturbing: the team found first hand evidence of war crimes, serious violations of international law and possible crimes against humanity by all parties to the conflict.

AI researchers continue investigating attacks against southern Israel and are currently documenting the true scale of devastation wrought on civilians in Gaza. The stories they report are harrowing.

In the early afternoon of January 4th, three young paramedics walked through a field on a rescue mission to save a group of wounded men in a nearby orchard. A 12-year-old boy, standing by his house, assisted the operation by pointing to where the men could be found. An Israeli air strike on the area killed all four.

The bodies of the four victims could not be retrieved for two days. Ambulance crews who tried to approach the site came under fire from Israeli forces.

Our researchers later traveled to the scene of the strike with the two ambulance drivers who witnessed the attack. They met with the boy’s distraught mother and found the remains of the missile. The label of the missile read, “guided missile, surface attack” and cited the United States as the country of origin.

US Weapons Used in Attacks





Label on the remains of a US-made missile that killed three paramedics and a child. The U.S. has to support investigations about misuse of US weapons in attacks against civilians. Tell Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Susan Rice to support an independent investigation. © AI

This is just one of many similar stories.

Under the Geneva Conventions, medical personnel searching, collecting, transporting or treating the wounded must be protected and respected in all circumstances. Clearly, this was not the case on Jan. 4th.

Since we last emailed you, more than 87,000 of you have written Congress and former administration officials. These emails, along with the massive outpouring of letters from around the world from other Amnesty sections, are making an impact. Just this week:

• the United Nations pledged $613 million in aid for Gaza


• 60 members of Congress signed a letter to Secretary of State Hillary of Clinton calling for humanitarian support for Gaza


• And hours ago, the US pledged $20 million in aid (1-2)
  

We have a small window of opportunity to build on this momentum: urge Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Susan Rice to push for a full-fledged independent investigation.

This investigation is critical for many reasons, not the least of which is the clear evidence of the use of white phosphorous, as well as the mounting evidence of the misuse of US arms3. As you read this, Amnesty researchers continue documenting the use of arms, and we expect an action specifically calling on Congress to investigate the misuse of US weapons in this conflict in the coming weeks.

Everyone is responsible for the protection of international law. The US government must not turn a blind eye to possible war crimes and crimes against humanity. It should support an independent international inquiry by the United Nations into allegations of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law - by all groups participating in the conflict.

The story of the paramedics and the young boy is not an anomaly. Write Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Rice today and urge accountability for abuses in Gaza and southern Israel now.

Thank you for your continuing support,

Zahir Janmohamed
Advocacy Director
Middle East and North Africa

P.S. For comprehensive information on the conflict, go to www.amnestyusa.org/gaza. For late breaking updates, visit our blog, Human Rights Now. For organizing resources on the conflict, visit the Gaza Resources page

THINKING ABOUT THE NEW PRESIDENT

As the readers of this blog well know, I have been a supporter of Barack Obama for what has been called "the worst job in the world. I am glad he won, not only because the alternative choice completely lost my respect, but also because I think he is a good man with a lot of potential.

He has started out OK, I think. He has ordered an end to torture as a questioning tool (India, are you listening?), he has ordered Gitmo closed within a year (a year is too long) and he now permits states to be tougher on auto pollution than the federal standards (HURRAY!).

If he can maintain a modicum of humility and keep his integrity intact, I believe he will be a great leader and one of the greatest presidents. If not, I fear he will become a demagogue and maybe, a dictator.

Time will tell.

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WHY TRY TO FIT IN? YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT!

SHAME AND PROGRESS

I have lectured you long and hard about the evil of female foeticide. Today, no lectures, just two articles and a few pictures.

First the Shame (from The Sikh Times):

Sikhs gave women equality but still abort female babies

Whilst the initiative to have a National Day to save Girl Child is to
be applauded, one cannot help but be saddened that today's modern
Sikhs who were given equality for women over 500 years ago should
have to be reminded of their evil actions.

In the last decade of 10 million girls have been aborted, shamefully
the ratio of girl boy is declining in Punjab the home for Sikh is
declining as we speak.

Even though the practices of scans that are to determine the sex of
the child are illegal*, they still are able to perform these activities openly.

Some Sikh media even today carry adverts encouraging parents to have
scans that allow the parents to know what the sex of their unborn child is.

And if it is a girl then the parents without a second thought visit
an abortion clinic and this baby just becomes another statistic.

A school in Punjab organised a rally where students and Teachers of
Govt. High School Machhli Kalan, District Mohali in Punjab, took part
in a rally in favour of the girls rights on the eve of National Day
to save girl child.

Boys and Girls carrying banners and posters about girls rights,
condemning girl feticide and other discrimination related to girls,
took out procession the village streets. They were raising slogans to
protect girls right.

Villagers curiously viewed, supported and praised the initiative of the school.
>
Indian Govt. decided to observe 24th January as National Day to save
Girl Child as 2000 girl feticide take place daily.

*illegal in India only. Legal in Canada, UK, USA, Australia and elsewhere where abortion-on-demand is legal

And the Progress: from Tribune India

Residents of Daad village vow to boycott 'kuri maars'
Mahesh Sharma

Mandi Ahmedgarh, January 9, 2009
The age-old method of social boycott as punishment will now be adopted by residents of Daad village, who today took a lead in fighting a battle against female foeticide.

The villagers, in a function organised by the Guru Gobind Singh Circle, today vowed to socially boycott those supporting female foeticide in any form.

After taking the vow, the villagers announced to boycott families forcing their women carrying the female foetus to terminate pregnancies and their facilitators on the conclusion of a seminar held at Gurdwara Sangat Patti Daad today.

Sarpanch Gurdev Singh presided over the seminar and Satnam Singh Sallopuri, director, Youth Services of the organisation, was the chief guest.

Addressing the gathering, various speakers regretted that a large number of families had been going for termination of pregnancies by exploiting medical technologies which were invented for knowing disorders of foetuses.

Members of the elite class, including physicians, were among the facilitators of sinners better known as "kuri maars" (daughter killers), rued the speakers. Though there was a provision for punishment for violators of the PNDT Act, the administration had failed to implement the act in letter and spirit.
>

According to Dr Varinder Singh, director, Bhai Gurdas Archives and Research wing, and Dr Pushpinder Singh, the organisation had decided to involve office-bearers and activists of other social and religious organisations so that the evil of female foeticide could be eradicated from the root.

Claiming that residents of this part of Malwa were enthusiastic to curb the menace, Varinder asserted that identification and isolation of the sinners was the need of the hour.

The organisation has drafted an extensive programme for educating masses in general and Sikhs in particular about the deleterious effects of gender imbalance.

Besides organising seminars at public places, special teams of experts will arrange workshops for couples and their parents separately.

Note: I gleaned these pictures from various sources. None appeared in the original articles.

A Thought On Republic Day.

First, I am not an Indian. I am a Canadian. So maybe I should just be quiet and let you guys have your holiday. OK, but I do have a question.

What do Sikhs have to celebrate about a Constitution that defines us as Hindus?

Just asking.

As for the picture, I find it both ironic and amusing. I have no idea what the Hindi says. I thought about cutting it off and then decided to keep it. Would someone please enlighten this illiterate-in-Hindi Canadian?

And, oh, yeah, KHALISTAN ZINDABAD!

Sikh track worker Jasmir Singh faces severe racial attack

Sorry to bring a sad note into this happy day, but we can't ignore another vicious attack upon a brother. Welcome to Post-Racist Amerika, er, I mean America. Is it really a new day? Maybe. This has a date of 20 December 2008, although it was in today's WSN. Please read on.

From World Sikh News:

RICHMOND HILL: As millions across the US await the much-hyped and most-expensive oath taking ceremony of president-elect Barack Obama, 21 year old Jasmir Singh, a Sikh track worker has been dubbed "Osama" and has been attacked a third time, this time more viciously than the previous two occasions. He may lose vision in the left eye, which has been stabbed badly, while his hair and beard were also pulled.

Sending shockwaves to the hundreds of Sikhs who live in this area, Jasmir Singh said that it was a racial attack and that his friend who was not a Sikh, was left unharmed.

Recovering at the Elmhurst Hospital Center with a score of stitches on his left eye, Jasmir Singh, who was attacked near a grocery store at Jackson Heights said that he was taunted and abused.

According to last reports, two of the suspected attackers have been detained and the police is on the lookout for a third one.

Jasmir's father, Jiwan Singh summed it all, "We voted for Obama, but we are being dubbed Osama. Surely, we did not expect this."

20 December 2008

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WHY TRY TO FIT IN? YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT!

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WHY TRY TO FIT IN? YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT!

The Other Side of the Story!

I promised to post pictures of the destruction Hamas has rained on the civilians in Israel. I didn't get any pictures of dead children, but I did get these. Lest I be accused of picking and choosing, I am posting all of them. I still await pictures of Israeli civilian casualties.

This is from a posting to IHRO yesterday. It reproduced many grueling pictures from Gaza such as I published in the previous post and then these pictures from the Qassam rocket attack(s) . I needed to look up Qassam; here's the definition:

Qassam rocket, Kassam rocket, primitive home-made rocket produced by the Palestinian Hamas made of iron (2.5 to 3 millimeters thick) filled with explosives

Now on to these pictures of the carnage in Israel:

We have heard the Palestinian side of the story, as you can see from the images below:

followed by gruesome pictures like those I posted last time, followed by:

Now, let's see the other side of the story, shall we?
The carnage, the destruction, the annihilation, the pain, and the (the next word is cut off).

m

This is from a posting to IHRO yesterday. It reproduced many grueling pictures from Gaza such as I published in the previous post and then these pictures from the Qassam rocket attack(s) . I needed to look up Qassam; here's the definition:

Qassam rocket, Kassam rocket, primitive home-made rocket produced by the Palestinian Hamas made of iron (2.5 to 3 millimeters thick) filled with explosives

Now on to these pictures of the carnage in Israel:

We have heard the Palestinian side of the story, as you can see from the images below:

followed by gruesome pictures like those posted last time, followed by:

Now, let's see the other side of the story, shall we?
The carnage, the destruction, the annihilation, the pain, and the (the next word is cut off).

War has no mercy on innocents - more photographs from Gaza

WARNING!! SOME OF THESE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE VERY GRAPHIC. IF YOU CAN'T TAKE IT, PLEASE SKIP THIS POST.

Sent to IHRO on Monday 20 Jamuary 2009:

Unbelievable .... slaughter animals are even treated more humanly than this.....more shocking thing is, that Egypt has closed its boards to Gaza so those poor people can not even run away from the bombs that is raining down on them……….cornered, helpless and being slaughtered like animals……….so sad!!!

USA and Israel think that we are stupid to believe them when they bomb the innocent lives and say it is the fault of Hamas! The have already destroyed all the infrastructure and its mind-boggling to imagine the suffering of the Palestinians.

by the way these are no different than all the other battles that Israel raged against the Palestinians; except at that time no such reports and cameras were available to document and spread so fast; within hours literally.

They will agree to cease-fire only dealing such deadly devastation including committing horrible war crimes; and only because staying here would put their soldiers in real danger.

Warning please note this email contains horrible images
If you are weak hearted; Please don't see all images in the email it is truely gruesome death scenes.

As always, I am willing to post photos of similar damage that Hamas rockets have done to Israeli civilians, if someone will send them to me.