Gaza victims describe being used as human shields by Hamas

hello, found this and searched ats and didn't see it anywhere so...

Members of a Gaza family whose farm was turned into a "fortress" by Hamas fighters have reported that they were helpless to stop Hamas from using them as human shields. They told the official Palestinian Authority daily newspaper that for years Hamas has used their property and homes for military installations from which to launch rockets into Israel, dig tunnels and store arms. According to the victims, those who tried to object were shot in the legs by Hamas.

The following are excerpts from the article from the official Palestinian
Authority daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida:

"The Abd Rabbo family kept quiet while Hamas fighters turned their farm in the Gaza strip into a fortress. Right now they are waiting for the aid
promised by the [Hamas] movement after Israel bombed the farm and turned it
into ruins...

The hill on which the Abd Rabbo family lives overlooks the Israeli town
Sderot, a fact that turned it into an ideal military position for the
Palestinian fighters, from which they have launched hundreds of rockets into southern Israel during the last few years. Several of the Abd Rabbo family members described how the fighters dug tunnels under their houses, stored arms in the fields and launched rockets from the yard of their farm during the nights.

The Abd Rabbo family members emphasize that they are not [Hamas] activists and that they are still loyal to the Fatah movement, but that they were unable to prevent the armed squads from entering their neighborhood at night. One family member, Hadi (age 22) said: "You can't say anything to the resistance [fighters], or they will accuse you of collaborating [with Israel] and shoot you in the legs."

Full Article Here

i decided to post this here ... I'm not for or against either side so don't bash me for posting this ... i just posted this for everyone to see ... what do you think of it?

[edit on 19-2-2009 by baseball101]

You ask what members think. Well Israel conducted a siege on the whole of Gaza. The governing authority mobilised and mounted defences in an area that is all civilian. As for Hamas using householders as human shields, I doubt they would use their own people in this manner and it would not work because Israel would kill both civilian and non-civilian.

Furthermore, the links leads to a site with little credibility since they describe themselves as;

IMRA, Independent Media Review and Analysis, was founded in 1992, by Drs. Aaron and Joseph Lerner, as an ongoing analysis of developments in Arab-Israeli relations. Awarded credentials by the Government of Israel as a news organization, IMRA provides an extensive digest of media, polls and significant interviews and events.

To go to an Israeli government licensed body to get news of Palestinian issues especially after the recent slaughter of 1300 Palestinians by Israel is peculiar to say the least.

[edit on 012828p://pm2856 by masonwatcher]

reply to post by masonwatcher


true, but this was not published by them, they just re-posted it ... it was originally published by the Palestinian Media Watch

Palestinian Media Watch was established in 1996 to gain an understanding of Palestinian society through the monitoring of the Palestinian Arabic language media and schoolbooks. Palestinian Media Watch analyzes Palestinian Authority culture and society from numerous perspectives, including studies on summer camps, poetry, schoolbooks, religious ideology, crossword puzzles, and more.

Palestinian Media Watch has been playing the critical role of documenting the contradictions between the image the Palestinians present to the world in English and the messages to their own people in Arabic. The world’s view of the Palestinian Authority, to a significant degree, is the result of Palestinian Media Watch research.

[edit on 19-2-2009 by baseball101]

Israel and Scientology must use the same publicists. They create their own "Independent" media organisations that prove that they are the victims of an international conspiracy.

Shame on them for using propaganda!

You keep scratching for help in the garbage can.

Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) is an Israel-based pro-Israel media watchdog organization established by Itamar Marcus in 1996 that monitors Palestinian Arabic media and schoolbooks.[1] It seeks to analyze Palestinian society in relationship to terrorism and radical Islam.

[edit on 19-2-2009 by Mynaeris]

I think it is tragic however the Palestinians freely elected the terrorist organization called Hamas to govern their lands. They knew full well they were terrorists. It's called making your bed now gotta sleep in it.

I want to quote Norman Finkelstein first . But first let's see who he is.

"His mother, Maryla Husyt Finkelstein, daughter of an Orthodox Jewish father, grew up in Warsaw, Poland, and survived the Warsaw Ghetto and the Majdanek concentration camp, as well as two slave labor camps.Norman's father, Zacharias Finkelstein, was a survivor of both the Warsaw Ghetto and the Auschwitz concentration camp."

Now for the quote:

Q: There are Jewish intellectuals who now call Israel a “terrorist state.” Is that a correct naming?

A: I am not sure how you cannot agree with that. The goal of the operation was to terrorize the civilian population so that Palestinians would be afraid of Israel. This is the dictionary definition of terrorism. The dictionary definition of terrorism is targeting a civilian population to achieve a political goal. The goal of this operation or rather massacre was to terrorize the civilian population and to wreck and destroy as much civilian infrastructure such that the Palestinians would submit. When you attack schools, mosques, ambulances, hospitals, UN relief organizations, what is that? If this is not terrorism, then what is terrorism?

reply to post by Mynaeris


Palestinian Media Watch is exactly like MEMRI setting themselves up as a translation clearing house 'processing' Palestinian news.

This is weird to an extreme. If I were a journalist or a foreign government policy maker, I would consider myself incompetent if I relied on these Israeli government fronts for information on Palestinian media.

reply to post by baseball101

Can't you see? All your sources are untrustworthy because they are tainted by Jews! Jews! Jews! Nothing that a Jew touches can be true, valid or sincere.

The above fact is true and valid because those that hate the Jews said so. That's all you need to know.

[edit on 19-2-2009 by baseball101]

reply to post by Mynaeris


seriously? you got that from wikipedia right? if you follow the cited source nowhere does it state that it's pro-israel and what not ... sorry it's just i want to see a legitimate source where it actually states that.

never mind i found somewhat of a legitimate source i guess

[edit on 19-2-2009 by baseball101]

Originally posted by masonwatcher
You ask what members think. Well Israel conducted a siege on the whole of Gaza. The governing authority mobilised and mounted defences in an area that is all civilian. As for Hamas using householders as human shields, I doubt they would use their own people in this manner and it would not work because Israel would kill both civilian and non-civilian.

Furthermore, the links leads to a site with little credibility since they describe themselves as;

IMRA, Independent Media Review and Analysis, was founded in 1992, by Drs. Aaron and Joseph Lerner, as an ongoing analysis of developments in Arab-Israeli relations. Awarded credentials by the Government of Israel as a news organization, IMRA provides an extensive digest of media, polls and significant interviews and events.

To go to an Israeli government licensed body to get news of Palestinian issues especially after the recent slaughter of 1300 Palestinians by Israel is peculiar to say the least.

[edit on 012828p://pm2856 by masonwatcher]

You may want to read up on what Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority thinks about Hamas, and their willingness to endanger civilians, before dismissing the notion.

Originally posted by Captain Obvious
reply to post by baseball101

 

Can't you see? All your sources are untrustworthy because they are tainted by Jews! Jews! Jews! Nothing that a Jew touches can be true, valid or sincere.

The above fact is true and valid because those that hate the Jews said so. That's all you need to know.

Sorry bud, that's a cop-out. We are discussing Israel and its media filtering/black propaganda fronts. Bringing the Jewish religion in such an obtuse manner is playing the race/religion card.

Originally posted by masonwatcher
reply to post by Mynaeris

 

Palestinian Media Watch is exactly like MEMRI setting themselves up as a translation clearing house 'processing' Palestinian news.

This is weird to an extreme. If I were a journalist or a foreign government policy maker, I would consider myself incompetent if I relied on these Israeli government fronts for information on Palestinian media.

Are there any trustworthy Jewish media sources in your estimation, or are they all Israeli government fronts?

Originally posted by Captain Obvious
reply to post by baseball101

 

Can't you see? All your sources are untrustworthy because they are tainted by Jews! Jews! Jews! Nothing that a Jew touches can be true, valid or sincere.

The above fact is true and valid because those that hate the Jews said so. That's all you need to know.

I love how if someone doesn't see Gaza the same way you do, that they "hate jews".

Does that mean the entire European media which was calling the attacks appauling and showing what really happened in Gaza are all "jew haters?"

Little do you realize that you are actually helping the cause you are against by using the same old cop out.

The average person can see that not everyone who criticizes israel is a "jew hater" and have started looking into why no one defends themselves and instead call the "gentile" a "jew hater".

reply to post by masonwatcher


on the contrary, the topic is:
Gaza victims describe being used as human shields by Hamas


so, let's get back on track and discuss that please.

thank you.

reply to post by BlueRaja

Are there any trustworthy Jewish media sources in your estimation, or are they all Israeli government fronts?

We are not discussing trustworthiness but Israeli organisation putting themselves up to the task of being intermediaries between Palestinians and foreigners. How gauche and disingenuous is that!

Name one other society that does that on behalf of their enemies and paint themselves up as service providers.

All countries have their own analysts that interpret and translate another country's media. In the UK the Foreign Office has country specific desk officers that fulfil this task and feed the info up the chain. Yet the Israeli governments funds organisations like Memri and Imra to do these tasks and force 'information' it on foreign journalists and governments.


Here is a comment from Juan Cole of the Global Americana Institute who was threatened with a writ to gag him when he published his researched findings on MEMRI and its modus operandi. The individual who tried to intimidate was a 'retired' Israeli colonel running the operation.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Intimidation by Israeli-Linked Organization Aimed at US Academic MEMRI tries a SLAPP I just checked my campus mail and found a letter in it from Colonel Yigal Carmon, late of Israeli military intelligence, now an official at the Middle East Media Research Organization, or MEMRI. He threatened me with a lawsuit over blog comments I made here at Informed Comment, reprinted at anti-war.com. This technique of the SLAPP or Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation had already been pioneered by polluting industries against environmental activists, and now the pro-Likud lobby in the US has apparently decided to try it out against people like me.

www.juancole.com...

reply to post by Crakeur


I think I was making the case that the allegation is untrue based on the credibility of the source. I am not off topic by a long shot. You, however, can censor the discussion if you wish.

Palestinian Media Watch is cited by the New York Times, here, here, here . Quoted by the Washington Post here, and here. There are many many more news sites that feel this is a reliable source of news. Now with that out of the way can the actual subject be discussed?


Just to add to the discussion. Doesn't look like they deny using human shields.



[edit on 19-2-2009 by dbates]

reply to post by masonwatcher

Mason, normally your posts leave me, well let's just say angry.

I however owe you a thanks...the poster with the Jews, Jews, Jews remark had me writing one hell of a heated reply that woulld have resulted in me getting a warning.

Thank you for steering this thread away from the direction the Captian Obvious was trying to take it.