Ehud Barak Blames Victims For Making Him Kill Them

(AFP) – Israeli forces killed more than 50 Palestinians in a land and air blitz in the Hamas-held Gaza Strip on Saturday, medics said, amid warnings that the violence had “buried” the peace process. It was the deadliest day since Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in September 2005 and one of the deadliest Israeli operations since the Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000.Fifty-two Palestinians were killed in northern Gaza, and two others in an air strike in the south of the territory which is ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas, medics said. At least 13 civilians, seven of them women, were among the dead and more than 150 people were wounded, several of them critically, Dr Muawiya Hassanein, the head of Gaza emergency services, told AFP.

Two Israeli soldiers were also killed on Saturday in Gaza, and another seven soldiers, including one officer, were wounded, the army said, as it battled to halt Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel. Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the Middle East peace talks formally revived in November at a US conference had been “buried” under the rubble of the Israeli incursion.

“The negotiations are buried under the houses that were destroyed in Gaza,” Erakat told AFP. “The peace process has been destroyed because of the aggressions and the crimes that have been committed.”

Israel’s Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Hamas which seized power in Gaza in June bore “full responsibility” for the deaths.

Nooz note: Tediously one has to add, not seized power. Given the US build up I think perhaps (call me cynical) this ‘holocaust’ was discussed and planned at the ‘peace’ talks. But this is deranged, saying your actions are the responsibility of someone else is delusional, James @ Mahatma X-Files was ahead of me-

The eighth stage of genocide: denial

They deny that they committed any crimes, and often blame what happened on the victims.

In scale this is not as yet occurring, but the siege of Gaza and attitudes among some Zionists towards the Palestinians are in keeping with the process and with US backing Israel the asymmetrical violence will not end and will necessarily mean massive death tolls for the Palestinians.

Chest Doc in Palestine is worth reading if you haven’t already.

The eight stages of Genocide are also worth reading about.

Classification Symbolization Dehumanization Organization
Polarization Preparation Extermination Denial

Genocide is a process that develops in eight stages that are predictable but not inexorable. At each stage, preventive measures can stop it. The later stages must be preceded by the earlier stages, though earlier stages continue to operate throughout the process.

Ben Griffin Banned Speech Video

This speech is from the World Against War rally the night before the UK government obtained an injunction gagging him and is in addition to the statement he had previously made. Then Stop the War posted the video and this statement-

“As of 1940hrs 29/02/08 I have been placed under an injunction preventing me from speaking publicly and publishing material gained as a result of my service in UKSF (SAS). I will be continuing to collect evidence and opinion on British Involvement in extraordinary rendition, torture, secret detentions, extra judicial detention, use of evidence gained through torture, breaches of the Geneva Conventions, breaches of International Law and failure to abide by our obligations as per UN Convention Against Torture. I am carrying on regardless ”
Ben Griffin, Former UK Special forces trooper

Text of Statement posted previously click here.

Tesco Buys Up Hack

And the irony, given the mostly unreported tax swindling schemes–

The BBC’s Wall Street correspondent, Dharshini David, has quit the corporation to join Tesco’s communications team.

During her tenure, she covered the slump in global economic markets after September 11, the Worldcom and Enron scandals, and the collapse of the Argentinian economy.

So she won’t be reporting on any Tesco related scandals, back in the arms of the inner sanctum of the Church of the Free Market (not that mainstream corporate financial reporters are objective about capitalism). While Tesco’s dirty dealings are mostly verboten (why credit The Guardian -a competitor- while simultaneously pissing off a very major advertiser & cornerstone -unfortunately- of British life?) at least some MP’s paid attention-

MPs and Lords called for a crackdown on tax avoidance yesterday following the Guardian’s revelation that Tesco was using an elaborate corporate structure involving offshore tax havens which enables it to avoid paying what could be up to £1bn of tax on profits from sale of its UK properties.