In 2006, the world watched as the Palestinian Authority held its first ever elections. The competing parties were Fatah, the incumbent, and Hamas. The elections were monitored by former US President Jimmy Carter and declared free and fair despite Israel's attempts to disrupt them. In a region where incumbent presidents hold make-believe elections and "win" 99.9% of the vote, the Palestinian elections were a remarkable achievement. There was one problem with the elections: the party that won, Hamas.

As soon as the votes were tallied and the results announced, Israel and the West decided that they would isolate the new Palestinian government. Canada, for its part, terminated its funding of projects in the Palestinian territories. When it was apparent the Fatah was not able to strong-arm Hamas in the Palestinian parliament, the West pushed Fatah to take on Hamas militarily. In 2007, there were bloody battles on the streets of Gaza and, in the end, Hamas was able to oust Fatah from Gaza.

Following Hamas's victory, Israel declared a siege on Gaza which, for all intents and purposes, turned Gaza into an open air prison.

Israel's siege of Gaza was not just a military siege; it was a humanitarian siege of the worst kind. Palestinian patients who required medical attention whether inside Israel or the West Bank were barred from seeking such care. Students from Gaza who were studying in West Bank universities, some of whom were in their year of graduation, were expelled back to Gaza by force. This siege was declared by the UN as collective punishment and, hence, a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Even so, in June 2008, Hamas agreed to a ceasefire with Israel.

By late 2008, almost a full two years after the choking siege of Gaza began, in an aim to restore its military deterrence after suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of the lightly armed Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel decided to flex its muscle against the even more lightly armed Hamas. On November 4th, 2008, Israel broke the ceasefire by killing 6 Hamas operatives inside Gaza. Hamas which had, upto this point, fully honoured the ceasefire, responded by firing rockets at Israel. For 22 days, Israel mercilessly bombed everything in sight. It illegally used weapons such as white phosphorus against civilians and destroyed Gaza's infrastructure to "teach" Hamas a lesson. After the assault on Gaza ended, Israel tightened the siege even more, if that was possible.

The combined effects of the siege and the military assault against Gaza left the territory in virtual ruins with no prospects of rebuilding anytime in the near future. There are reports from the United Nations that indicate that the siege, which prohibits the importation of the basic needs of life, is having a very negative effect on the health of the population of Gaza. The tunnels, which are the remaining lifeline to Gaza, are bombed periodically and Egypt, the big sister in the Arab world whose behaviour towards the Palestinians is anything but sisterly, is building an iron barrier on its border with Gaza to choke off the population even more.

The tragedy that is unfolding in Gaza demands an international outcry, condemnation, and sanctions against both Israel and the Egyptian government for their criminal abuse of 1.5 million defenseless civilians, half of whom are children, and whose only crime was to take part in free and fair elections.

Please note that the views expressed by the author of this blog are his/hers alone, and do not necessarily represent the positions of CJPME.

On December 15, 2009, it was reported that Tzipi Livni, former foreign minister and current leader of the Kadima party of Israel, cancelled a planned trip to Britain out of concern that an arrest warrant that was issued by a British court for war crimes committed under her watch in Gaza last winter may be enforced. The war crimes charges include the killings of 1,400 civilians as well as a number of rapes that were committed by the Israeli army against the defenceless civilian population of Gaza in contravention of UN resolutions and the Fourth Geneva Convention. The arrest warrant was issued because the United Kingdom is a signatory to the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court. It affirms that "most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole must not go unpunished and that their effective prosecution must be ensured by taking measures at the national level and by enhancing international cooperation". It was determined imperative "to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes and thus to contribute to the prevention of such crimes." The warrant was rescinded shortly thereafter when the court determined that Livni would not be visiting Britain.

An earlier failed attempt was made to issue an arrest warrant for Ehud Barak for war crimes in Gaza but the British court refused to hear the case on the grounds that Barak enjoyed diplomatic immunity. More recently, Ynet News reported that an arrest warrant was issued against Barak in Vienna, Austria on suspicion of committing war crimes.

In response to the British case, the British government made contrite apologies to Israel. Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, made calls to Livni just to tell her that she is still welcome in Britain. British Foreign Secretary, David Milliband, went as far as to suggest that the British criminal code may be amended to remove the power of courts to issue such arrest warrants without the attorney-general's approval. No attempts to change the law have succeeded so far.

It is very encouraging that the crimes committed by Israel with absolute impunity - thanks to the US veto - are starting to generate some long overdue legal repercussions against the perpetrators, whether they are Israeli military leaders or Israeli politicians. Israel has long used its underdog status and global sympathy due to the Holocaust to avoid rebuke. The world is starting to wake up and see that Israel, which has the fourth largest army in the world, is far from being the underdog and is, in fact, a regional superpower. The world is also finally coming to its senses and realising that wrongs, however grave, committed against any group of people, do not, by any means, give them the right to violate the human rights of others.

CJPME calls for the arrest and prosecution of all individuals who are suspected of war crimes whether they are members of Hamas or the Israeli government.

Please note that the views expressed by the author of this blog are his/hers alone, and do not necessarily represent the positions of CJPME.

Richard Goldstone, a South African judge with extensive experience in investigating and prosecuting war crimes was commissioned to investigate allegations against Israel during it's most recent offensive on the Gaza Strip. Goldstone, also a Zionist who has very close ties with Israel, agreed to take on the task on condition that he also investigate war crimes allegations against the other party to the Gaza conflict, namely Hamas.

From the outset, Israel refused to cooperate with the UN Commission which had to enter Gaza through the territory's border with Egypt. From there, the group documented the carnage that was wrought on the tiny enclave by Israel's criminal war machine. They saw the hospitals and the UN buildings that were targeted, the houses, the schools, and mosques that were demolished. They also heard the testimony of the the victims of Israel's assault as well as the residents of Israeli towns such as Sderot that are within range of Hamas's Qassam rockets.

On September 15, 2009, Judge Richard Goldstone and his team of investigators released their findings in a document titled "Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict." The report contains multiple accounts of both Israel and Hamas committing acts that qualify as war crimes. Some of the acts may even qualify as crimes against humanity.

Israel rejected the report as completely biased and accused Goldstone, himself a Zionist Jew with multiple ties to Israel, of being an anti-Semite. President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, caving to pressure from the US and Israel, first requested that discussion of the findings be postponed a few months. The public outcry from the Palestinians and the supporters of justice around the world caused Abbas to reverse his decision. Thereafter, the US has voted against the report at every chance. The US Congress even passed a resolution calling on President Obama to continue blocking the report. It is widely expected that when and if the report reaches the UN Security Council, the US, which has used its veto countless times to shield Israel from the consequences of its actions, will, once again, use its veto to finally kill the report.

Considering the fact that Judge Goldstone is well-respected and highly regarded in the field of war crimes investigation, it is highly unlikely that the Goldstone Report is flawed. The additional fact that Judge Goldstone is a known Zionist who is a staunch supporter of Israel and who has accepted this undertaking only on condition of investigating Hamas as well makes any possibility of an anti-Israel bias even less likely. It therefore stands to reason that Israel's stonewalling of the initial investigation and its smear campaign against Judge Goldstone are a clear admission of guilt.

If the US does indeed veto the Goldstone Report, it will be the ultimate proof that the US only cares about its strategic allies, friends, and client regimes around the world, however undemocratic, despotic, or criminal, without any regard for peace, justice, or the rule of law.

Please note that the views expressed by the author of this blog are his/hers alone, and do not necessarily represent the positions of CJPME.

Israel's illegal siege of Gaza, now in its third year, is still causing severe suffering to the civilian residents of the strip. The deprivation, a direct and intentional consequence of Israel's strategy, has reached such levels that there are reports of shortages in the basic staples of life. These staples include such mundane items as bread. The suffering of the Palestinians was further compounded by the illegal assault of Israel on Gaza on December 27, 2008 which targeted the infrastructure of the territory including schools, hospitals, farmland, factories, and shops. Even places of worship and UN buildings were not spared from Israel's assualt.

According to the Sabbah Blog - an excellent site run by a Palestinian activist who is the co-founder of the Palestine Think Tank, as of December 31, 2007, 6 months into the siege and one year before Israel's assault on Gaza, the outcome included 67 thousand factory employees and 25 thousand textile workers losing their jobs, and 85% of citizens living under the poverty line. On the medical front, 136 medical instruments are in various states of disrepair, 97 classes of medicines are on the verge of depletion, and 107 classes of basic medicines are depleted from Gaza Strip. This has resulted in 322 patients being in serious danger and in need of urgent treatment, and 1562 patients in need of treatment outside the Gaza Strip.

One can only imagine the level of suffering being felt by the Gazans almost three years into the siege and nine months after Israel's assault which illegally targeted Gaza's vital institutions and infrastructure in an attempt to break the Gazans' will. It is a shame that, to this day, Israel is not internationally condemned for the inhumane and cruel siege that is nothing more than the collective punishment of innocent civilians.

Join CJPME in mobilizing support for the Gaza Freedom March on January 1st, 2010.

Please note that the views expressed by the author of this blog are his/hers alone, and do not necessarily represent the positions of CJPME.

The Middle East peace process between Israel and its Arab neighbours is based on the principle of land-for-peace: Israel concedes land on which the Palestinians can create a viable state of their own and the Arabs rescind their declaration of war against Israel and normalize relations with the Jewish State with full diplomatic recognition and exchange of ambassadors. While neither Israel nor the Arabs have fulfilled their obligations under the signed peace treaties, the overwhelming focus of the world has been on the Arabs while completely ignoring the blatant violations of Israel against the indigenous Palestinian population.

In its recent push to jumpstart the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, the current US administration has done something that no other administration in recent history has even attempted to do. It decided to forgo the stereotypical story of the poor Israelis who are besieged by millions of bloodthirsty Arabs and focus on the reason behind the whole conflict in the Middle East, namely the unending usurpation of Palestinian and Arab land (the Golan from Syria and the Shebaa farms from Lebanon) by Israel.

The most recent instance of Israel's continuing theft of internationally recognized Palestinian land is the eviction of 53 people from their East Jerusalem homes which they have owned since 1956 and the allowing of Jewish settlers to move in with no questions asked. It was refreshing to see that the whole world including the US who, until recently, has been a willing partner in crime with Israel, condemn the Israeli actions as counterproductive to the comatose peace process.

Israel wants to have its cake and eat it too. It gives unending lip service to the peace process and demands peace while continuously violating its responsibility of ending its illegal occupation of Arab lands.

Please note that the views expressed by the author of this blog are his/hers alone, and do not necessarily represent the positions of CJPME.