newsgroupaddress

Please Note before reading this report.... President Bush Supports
this country with billions of dollars every year. If you doubt the
authenticity of this report you can visit the amnesty international
web site (the worlds largest and most respected human rights
organization) and find this press release which is labeled "05/10/2004
Israel/Occupied Territories: Excessive use of force"...Go to Amnestys
site and click on the library tab, then select "Israel" from the
country drop down list and you will find the link above listed on the
page.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE


AI Index: MDE 15/095/2004 (Public)
News Service No: 247
5 October 2004

Israel/Occupied Territories: Excessive use of force
Amnesty International is concerned about the deterioration of the
human rights and humanitarian situation as a result of the Israeli
army incursion in the Jabaliya refugee camp and surrounding areas in
the northern Gaza Strip (including sectors in the nearby towns of Beit
Hanoun and Beit Lahiya).

In the past week (since the evening of Tuesday 28 September) more than
70 Palestinians have been killed, more than a third of whom were
unarmed and including some 20 children. Hundreds of others have been
injured.

The Israeli army has repeatedly used excessive force, including heavy
shelling from tanks and helicopter gunships. Experience has shown that
the use of such weapons and the manner in which they have been
deployed by the army in densely populated residential areas (the
Jabaliya refugee camp is one of the most densely populated places in
the world, with more than 100,000 Palestinians living in less than two
square kilometres), invariably results in a high rate of death and
injury of bystanders and people who are not involved in armed
confrontation. These tactics betray a lack of respect for fundamental
human rights principles, including the right to life.

In certain areas the Israeli army has also unlawfully destroyed or
damaged homes, schools, water and electricity networks, roads, and
other crucial infrastructure. Israeli forces have hindered access to
medical services -- not only for those injured in the military
operation but also those who need medical care for other reasons,
including women who need to give birth. When able to reach those in
need (they often cannot reach those in need of medical treatment)
ambulances have on several occasions come under Israeli army fire.

Strict closures have also been imposed throughout the Gaza Strip in
the past week, cutting the Gaza Strip into four isolated sections,
paralyzing all aspects of life, with people unable to reach their
workplace and students unable to reach the universities. In addition
schools in the area besieged by the Israeli army in the northern Gaza
Strip are closed. Thousands of people living in the besieged areas are
also experiencing shortages of food and other essential goods.

Amnesty International is calling on the Israeli authority to:
· put an immediate end to the use of excessive lethal force
· put an immediate end to unlawful destruction and damage of
Palestinian homes and properties, roads and other infrastructure
· allow immediate access to medical care and other essential services
for the Palestinian population in the affected areas
· respect the right to freedom of movement for the Palestinian
population elsewhere in the Gaza Strip

Amnesty International also calls on Palestinian armed groups not to
initiate attacks and armed confrontation with Israeli troops from
amongst residential areas, as this puts the local residents at risk of
return fire and retaliation from the Israeli army, and reiterates its
call on Palestinian armed groups to put an end to attacks directed
against Israeli civilians in Israel or in the Occupied Territories.

(Notice how Amnesty International (which is the worlds largest and
most respected human rights investigation group) deliberately refuses
to condemn Palestinians from attacking Israeli military or government
targets because they are fully aware of the true situation the
Palestinians are in).

That's it Mr Bush...Turn your blind eye again (50 years in a row
now)...tell the Israeli's they are being a bit too naughty and pay the
Palestinian state idea a bit of lip service and sit on the fence...and
people wont notice you are actually supporting a real terrorist state.

Is it any wonder why America is being targeted by terrorists when
America gives around 50% $Billions of its annual foreign aid to this
country that has one of the worst human rights records on the planet.

Fact!...The real reason America supports Israel is because the
Evangelical Christian Movements belief is that Israels existence is
clearing the way for the second coming of Jesus in the holy land..
Politicians want their votes because they are a huge percentage of
voters in America, and upsetting this group would mean risking loosing
the presidency....it all comes down to supporting whoever wins you the
election and nothing what so ever to do with supporting human rights
and justice in the world..

To the passerby it seems as though the Palestine/Israel conflict is a
conflict of two sides.......at least that's the way the media always
portrays it. This is true to some extent....you can always find war
criminals on both sides of any world conflict.....I myself have in the
past lived and worked in many parts of the west bank, Palestine, and
Israel for a number of years and felt compelled to write this article
for the benefit of all those concerned.

The reason i am posting this letter is that i hope somebody of
influence reading it will take my advice and act on it.

There is no doubt that when watching the news on the conflict most
viewers are left with the impression "It's a war of two
sides"......and this is
the problem......giving the general public a TRUE picture of what is
happening is impossible due to both sides continually playing the
blame game in the media refusing to see the sufferings of the other
side.....result:...people are left with the impression, "I
guess they are probably as bad as each other"...This statement is not
completely untrue….nobody can justify the murder of Israeli children
by the use of a suicide bomber nor can Israel justify the state murder
of hundreds of Palestinian children each year and call it self defense
against terrorists. Like I said before, there are always crimes on
both sides of every conflict. But what stands out the most about this
conflict is the disturbingly unbalanced body count figures published
annually by the UN.

Instead of Palestinian organizations putting up posters and flyers
stating "apartied - bring down the wall etc"......why not focus PR
campaigns to include the most UNARGUABLE FACTS!.....This and only this
will turn heads and
change public opinion for the better...forget the injustices and
sentiment for a minute and focus on what will win the hearts and minds
of the masses…UNARGUABLE FACTS that relate to the values of all
people.

I am not up to date with the latest body count figures but i am
informed that UN recent figures state a ratio of aprox 3-5 dead
Palestinians to every Israeli, and year after year this ratio
continues.

When you consider that Israel is as well armed technologically as
the Americans, and that the Palestinians are....well lets just
say....slingshots made out of coca cola cans and the odd AK47 and home
made mortar don't do too much damage to a squadron of apache
helicopter gunships supplied by America.

With the above in mind, a rational person will tell you that if two
Unequally armed armies clash in a battle: The WORST CASE SENARIO is
that the most well armed side will suffer equal losses to that which
it inflicts....In such a scenario, at best a case of "SELF DEFENCE"
and "Minimum Force Necessary" might be claimed…but this scenario is
very rare and unlikely in warfare and only comes about when the
dominant army makes a serious strategic error.

When Israel is killing Palestinians at a ratio of approximately for
times as many and they are far better armed how can they seriously
claim self defense against terrorism???.....I was always taught that
in order to take the moral high ground and claim self defense you must
use the "Minimum Force Necessary"..Do these figures speak "Minimum
Force Necessary"???

In the civilized world, when a government is faced with a hostile
army the police are called in to form a barricade, if this proves
insufficient to keep the peace water cannons are used, then onto tear
gas, and if this still is not enough to control rioters the police may
use rubber bullets to disable there targets. In the extreme case
police may resort to live bullets and shoot at the legs…and in the
extremely rare case when this may fail to stop the most determined
opponent…shoot to kill if life is directly threatened. (This is the
definition of "Minimum force Necessary"

In one recent year there were around 400 Israelis killed by
Palestinian militants. This is indeed a tragedy, however it is
dwarfed by the fact that an equal number of Palestinians were killed
by Israeli forces in the same period all of whom were children under
the age of ten. (catagorised as terrorists by Isreal) and guilty of
nothing more than throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers.

I'm not sure how to put the above argument all in one nicely
Designed poster and flyer, but if you can I think it would have a real
impact, my proposal is this:

1. State UNARGUABLE unbiased reputable source figures (like the UN),
2. 2. State a worst case scenario argument,

3. Close with the question: "Are these the figures of a country in
self
defense against terrorism or is this genocide?"

The above ingrediance address the issues in a simplistic easy to
understand way for those with no background knowledge of the conflict
and also leaves little room for a counter argument response from pro
Israel groups. The truth always hurts the most.

Stating Logic & Truth, and backing it up with UN Statistics is the
way to turn heads.....post it up in every tube station and rail
station north to south, and give out thousands of flyers with this
argument in print ....i believe it will not fail to win the hearts and
minds of the masses.

I am not in contact with any pro Palestinian organizations but would
much appreciate it if readers can forward this idea to every campaign
office they know and also to the appropriate local and national
government office and any media/newspaper/magazine/newsgroup address
you can get your hands on....i would love to see it posted from north
to
south....i would also love to receive a personal copy should anybody
take up my proposal to put this in print. (blackwoodalan@hotmail.com)

To any Americans reading this article, you should be aware that your
government supports the state of Israel with billions of dollars of
aid each year ( approximately 50% of your foreign aid budget diverted
from people truly in need) because it is claimed "Israel is the only
democracy in the middle east", Israel is a democracy only by name but
far away from it in nature, the figures speak the truth. Please write
a letter to your senator and president asking him if these are the
figures of a democratic government in the middle east, and hopefully
with a change in America's policy towards the middle east we can start
to see a reduction in the feelings of resentment towards America in
the muslim world.

When the world trade center was targeted on sept 11, America was
told the reason for it was that "These terrorists are fighting against
freedom itself", Ask yourself this…..If you were to interview any of
the sept 11th bombers do you really believe they would tell you they
hate freedom?, is there anybody in the world who will tell you they
hate freedom?….No is the simple answer…..Or is it more likely that
these people or members of there family have in someway been victims
of Americas middle east policys which have filled them with missguided
resentment and hate towards all Americans?………..Your government would
prefer you to think that these people just wake up in the morning and
feel like killing civilians for no reason other than they hate people
being free.

In my travels across the middle east prior to sept 11th , I had the
opportunity to ask many muslims why they are so angry towards America,
the response was always the same again and again…..ISRAEL IS
OPPRESSING OUR FELLOW MUSLIMS!..and America is supporting their human
rights abuses with financial and military support……..

For Fifty years now the United Nations has declared that Israel has
stolen and is illegally occupying the Palestinians land and that
Jerusalem is an illegally occupied city and the vast majority of
countries around the world support this view and call for Israel to
withdraw itself from Palestinian land year after year (accept
America). The American government has been ignoring this international
ruling by the UN for 50 years in a row despite the fact that the
largest human rights organization in the world Amnesty international
condemns Israel every year as having one of the worst human rights
records on the planet. America turns a blind eye again, fifty years in
a row now……

After the sept 11th terrorist attack the American government chose
to solve this age old dispute by launching bombs, and in the process
has killed dozens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers who were simply
obeying orders to defend there country, as would any American. And
today the body count has reached over 1000 American soldiers killed
and rising fast, just under 6000 injured, and of course you have at
least another ten thousand dead Iraqi civilians to date and that's
after the major assault on Iraq had ended.

When confronted by any problem, there are always two ways to solve
it..The intelligent way or the primitive impulsive monkey way

1) With brute force and aggression (launch operation shock and ore on
Iraq and Afghanistan)…forgetting the philosophy that every action has
a reaction and sending the message America is not taking any
responsibility for its middle east policys of support for Israel and
infuriating the muslim world even more and setting America up for even
more future sept 11 bombings and helping terrorist organizations to
recruit many more fighters.
2) Or the intelligent way, which is too look at the root cause of why
your attacker is angry and defuse the problem from its source as well
as stopping the cycle of violence.

Sadly George Bush chose the impulsive way. And has only made American
citizens even more vulnerable. How many people do you think there are
at this very moment plotting to strike American soil because of the
attack on Iraq?, The answer is plenty more than there were before Sept
11th, some will be stopped, but as in the case of Israels lesson. It's
impossible to stop them all. Especially when the bombers are prepared
to die to reach their targets.

If America is a truly democratic country, then it should respect
the views of the UN and the vast majority of the world in regard to
Israel….The world has voted in regard to Israel, Its time to listen to
the result.

Final Note……the Israel position in regards to peace is "surrender
to our will or its war" The Palestinian position is the request that
the UN resolutions that have already been voted for by the
international community are upheld…….Once again like with the iraq war
the American government has ignored these UN rulings and only follows
the rules of the UN when it suits them….A very dangerous example to
set for the international community.

If you have mass mailing software please put it to good use and mass
mail the Christian evangelical movement, pro Palestine campaign
groups, and government lobbying groups.

Regards…….A