Truer than you realize. There are 350 miles of tunnels under Gaza (150 square miles). The Hamas terrorists hide their major bunkers under almost every hospital, school, mosque & civilian neighborhood. The Fourth Geneva Convention makes it a war crime to use civilians as shields for legitimate military targets & makes it legitimate to attack these military targets. It is Hamas that is in violation of the Geneva Conventions by using their own citizens as human shields. And why does nobody point the real violations of the Geneva Convention Common Article 3, Hamas.
rticle 3 (duplicated in each of the 4 Conventions) pertains to attacks SPECIFICALLY targeting civilians, as Hamas' invasion was. In part, it reads:
"...the parties must as a minimum adhere to minimal protections described as: non-combatants, members of armed forces who have laid down their arms, and combatants who are hors de combat (out of the fight) due to wounds, detention or any other cause shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, with the following prohibitions:
(a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
(b) taking of hostages;
(c) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;
(d) the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples."
By this standard, Hamas is guilty on every count. But, then, it is perception, bias & world-wide anti-Semitism that determines peoples' position today. Even "progressive Jews" perceive Israel as a surrogate for the hated US 'Imperialism' and the Palestinian Arabs as surrogates for the third-world's oppressed sufferers. Gaza civilians suffer at the hands of their own government. Israel has made water available to Gaza but the civil authorities can't pump it because they don't have fuel for the generators to run the pumps. Hamas has tens of thousands of gallons of fuel hidden in their tunnels, along with food & medical facilities to serve the terrorists for months. But they bar their own civilians from entering the tunnels. Hamas knows that either they can attack Israel without reprisals or they will have plenty of videos of dead & suffering civilians to use as propaganda.
It's interesting that, while in the years after WW II, tens of millions of refugees were forced to flee to other countries, where they became citizens. Former Poles who came to England are not now called 'Polish refugees,' but English. Alone among those refugees, only the descendants of the original Palestinian Arab refugees are still considered refugees - and NO Arab country will allow them to emigrate, denying even birthright citizenship solely to Palestinian Arab descendants even if they are third-generation residents of other Arab countries. The Arab World, with all of its empty land & trillions in oil revenues doesn't want the Palestinian Arab refugees any more than Israel does (remember, Egypt keeps its own fence & locked gate at the southern end of Gaza so Palestinians can't get out into the Sinai). 22 Arab countries refuse to accept refugees from Gaza so they have no choice but to remain there or destroy Israel.
Truer than you realize. There are 350 miles of tunnels under Gaza (150 square miles). The Hamas terrorists hide their major bunkers under almost every hospital, school, mosque & civilian neighborhood. The Fourth Geneva Convention makes it a war crime to use civilians as shields for legitimate military targets & makes it legitimate to attack these military targets. It is Hamas that is in violation of the Geneva Conventions by using their own citizens as human shields. And why does nobody point the real violations of the Geneva Convention Common Article 3, Hamas.
rticle 3 (duplicated in each of the 4 Conventions) pertains to attacks SPECIFICALLY targeting civilians, as Hamas' invasion was. In part, it reads:
"...the parties must as a minimum adhere to minimal protections described as: non-combatants, members of armed forces who have laid down their arms, and combatants who are hors de combat (out of the fight) due to wounds, detention or any other cause shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, with the following prohibitions:
(a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
(b) taking of hostages;
(c) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;
(d) the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples."
By this standard, Hamas is guilty on every count. But, then, it is perception, bias & world-wide anti-Semitism that determines peoples' position today. Even "progressive Jews" perceive Israel as a surrogate for the hated US 'Imperialism' and the Palestinian Arabs as surrogates for the third-world's oppressed sufferers. Gaza civilians suffer at the hands of their own government. Israel has made water available to Gaza but the civil authorities can't pump it because they don't have fuel for the generators to run the pumps. Hamas has tens of thousands of gallons of fuel hidden in their tunnels, along with food & medical facilities to serve the terrorists for months. But they bar their own civilians from entering the tunnels. Hamas knows that either they can attack Israel without reprisals or they will have plenty of videos of dead & suffering civilians to use as propaganda.
It's interesting that, while in the years after WW II, tens of millions of refugees were forced to flee to other countries, where they became citizens. Former Poles who came to England are not now called 'Polish refugees,' but English. Alone among those refugees, only the descendants of the original Palestinian Arab refugees are still considered refugees - and NO Arab country will allow them to emigrate, denying even birthright citizenship solely to Palestinian Arab descendants even if they are third-generation residents of other Arab countries. The Arab World, with all of its empty land & trillions in oil revenues doesn't want the Palestinian Arab refugees any more than Israel does (remember, Egypt keeps its own fence & locked gate at the southern end of Gaza so Palestinians can't get out into the Sinai). 22 Arab countries refuse to accept refugees from Gaza so they have no choice but to remain there or destroy Israel.
So heart stopping. Thanks for the clarity. Ceasefire!