Above: Armed Palestinian masked militants push back a crowd of worshippers
outside a mosque in Gaza City on August 22, 2014, before executing more
than a dozen men for allegedly helping Israel during its six-week
assault on the Palestinian enclave. Amnesty International
released a report saying that Hamas was responsible for these and other
killings.
Saudi Journalist: Hamas Is Sacrificing The People Of Gaza
GAZANS ROBBED BY HAMAS, ARAB NEWS REPORT
The Asharq Al-Awsat (Middle East) newspaper, one of the most
prestigious in the Arab world, recently reported that at least 600
millionaires were living in the Gaza Strip - the same people sitting on
the money pipelines there. Saudi Journalist: Hamas Is Sacrificing The People Of Gaza
GAZANS ROBBED BY HAMAS, ARAB NEWS REPORT
The newspaper report also refutes the claim that the Gaza Strip has been facing a humanitarian crisis because of an Israeli blockade.
Another source of wealth for Hamas leaders was taking over land.
"They took over land mainly near the sea in good areas, such as the former Gush Katif, then sold it. In effect, they are the cat guarding the cream - the land - so they were able to take over land and loot it for themselves."
In addition, there is a system in the Gaza Strip of fictitious recruitment of workers for Hamas for the purpose of obtaining pay slips from people overseas paying for it.
"They get the payments from overseas according to the workers' names. It has recently been discovered that there are hundreds of fictitious names of soldiers and officials supposedly in Hamas. Actually, the leaders and officials put the money in their own pockets."
HAMAS LEADER LIVING IN LUXURY IN QATAR
The Current Gaza Conflict: Arab World Losing Patience With Hamas
"The offensive waged by Hamas against Israel from the Gaza Strip has sparked intense criticism in the Arab media, reflecting the movement's deteriorating status in the Arab world.Alongside condemnations of the Israeli counterattack and international calls to end it, Arab media voiced sharp and extensive criticism of the Hamas leadership's handling of the crisis. Such reactions came both from Hamas' natural rivals and from its former allies in the resistance axis, from which it has been expelled – reflecting Hamas' isolation in the Arab world.
Media in Saudi Arabia and in Al-Sisi's Egypt – the countries considered to be the leaders of the Arab world's moderate axis and the main rivals of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) movement, to which Hamas belongs – accused Hamas of taking unreasonable and irresponsible steps, of trading in the blood of the people of Gaza, and of exposing them to inevitable attacks.
The Egyptian press was particularly vociferous in its criticism of Hamas and especially of the head of its political bureau, Khaled Mash'al, who recently called on the Egyptian army to come to the Palestinians' aid.
An Egyptian pro-MB journalist even wrote that the Egyptian army has local problems to deal with, more pressing than the liberation of Jerusalem.
The media in Syria, which is likewise resentful of Hamas and its leaders due to their support for the rebellion against President Bashar Al-Assad, also slammed this movement, saying that it has abandoned the resistance in favor of a Western plan to destroy the Arab world, and that Mash'al has chosen to manage the war not from Gaza but rather from Doha, the capital of Qatar, a country known for its support for the MB and "in whose palaces the Israeli and Western intelligence cells nest."
Egyptian Columnist To Khaled Mash'al: Leave Your Hotel In Qatar And Come Fight From Gaza
"In an article titled "Why Isn't Khaled Mash'al Giving His Life In Gaza?", columnist Hamdi Razaq argued that, while Egypt is defending the Palestinian cause, Hamas has "sold" it to the MB, and Mash'al himself is enjoying a life of luxury in Qatar. He wrote: "Where is your spirit of heroism, Abu Walid [i.e., Khaled Mash'al]? Join your brothers. Leave Doha's hotels, which you have enjoyed, and go down into the trenches and fight..."Egyptian Writer Compares Hamas, MB, Hizbullah To Hitler
In a July 14, 2014 article on the liberal website Elaph.com, Egyptian writer and journalist Kamal Gabriel compared Hamas to Hitler, saying that not only has it caused significant damage to the Palestinian people and their cause, it has damaged them more than Israel has.
He wrote:
"It is indeed tragic when a dictator or a criminal gang takes over a people and makes it a hostage and a tool for antagonism towards the [entire] world. Hitler in Germany and Saddam [Hussein] in Iraq did this [in the past]; Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza are doing it now; and the 'Destructive Brotherhood' [i.e. the MB] almost did it in Egypt.
"These Palestinian gangs plunder the cause of the oppressed Palestinian people by repeatedly reenacting the story of Samson, who brought down the [Philistine] temple on his and everyone else's heads. They do this in their own country and in every country that hosts them – in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Kuwait. These organizations have become a curse on the Palestinian people..."
Salman Al-Dosari, editor of the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, claimed that Hamas trades in the blood of its people:
". [Hamas considers it] more important to encourage the voices [calling out] the slogan of resistance, which sounds nice but does not take into account the horrible consequences.
"[The story of Hamas] is the story of Hassan Nasrallah and his resistance to Israel, which ended in the destruction of half of Lebanon [in 2006]... When has Hamas ever stopped trading in the blood of its people?!"
VOICES OF GRIEVING GAZAN FAMILIES
"Under Cover Of Conflict, Hamas Killed Palestinians, Amnesty Alleges"
During the upheaval of the 2014 war between Hamas and Israel, at
least 23 Gazans were deliberately killed by fellow Palestinians, according to a report out from Amnesty International.
Amnesty
blames the killings on Hamas, which runs Gaza.
It says those killed were accused of being collaborators — spies for Israel — and many were awaiting trial.
It says those killed were accused of being collaborators — spies for Israel — and many were awaiting trial.
Hamas denies responsibility for the killings.
But human rights groups, family members and prisoners agree there are
dangers for Palestinians who are accused — perhaps falsely — of
collaboration.
'Internal Security Can Take Anybody, Anytime'
Summer, 2014, during the chaos of war, Waheb Wadiya buried his 34-year-old son Adli.
"We took him to the cemetery and buried him next to my father. He had been shot about a hundred times," Waheb says. "One shot in the eye."
Wadiya's son wasn't killed by an Israeli tank or bomb.
He had been serving time in a Hamas-run prison inside the Gaza Strip since 2010.
Amer Wadiya, Adli's brother, says he tried to find out who was responsible for his death.
"After
Adli was killed, I went to the prison and asked an official, 'Where is
my brother?' He said, 'Internal security came and took him,' " Amer
Wadiya says.
"I said, 'He was in your custody. How can others come and take him?'
He said, 'Internal security can take anybody, anytime.' "
He said, 'Internal security can take anybody, anytime.' "
Adli Wadiya was among a group of 11 men Amnesty International says were taken from prison and shot at a police station a few days before the war ended in August, 2014.
Another six men were executed in public that same day.
All were accused of collaborating with Israel.
Among Palestinians, collaborators are widely seen as traitors.
They're subject to trial, and if their actions led to the deaths of Palestinians, they can face the death penalty themselves.
But human rights groups say the accusation is also used to settle political scores.
Waheb Wadiya believes Hamas labeled his son a collaborator because he was active in a rival political-military group.
"His lawyer proved he had never killed or turned in any Palestinian.
Plus, my son told me he was innocent, but tortured into giving a confession," he says.
"They tied his arms behind his back and hung him in the air. He would have even signed a paper saying God doesn't exist."
Voices From Inside Katiba Prison
Amnesty International says these executions under the cover of conflict could amount to war crimes.
Hamas said it wasn't responsible for the executions detailed by Amnesty and suggested vigilantes may have taken the law into their own hands.
But accused collaborators still in prison in Gaza say they've seen this happen before.
September, 2014, with permission from Hamas authorities, I visited Katiba Prison in Gaza City — specifically, the section where accused collaborators are kept.
I spoke with inmates, unsupervised, in a dim, out-of-the-way room.
One, who gave his name as Naim, said he was arrested in 2008 and, after being physically and emotionally abused in prison, confessed to helping Israel.
In 2012, during an eight-day war between Hamas and Israel, he says Hamas security forces took several accused collaborators, including him, out of the prison, and kept them elsewhere for five days.
"On the sixth day they took some men with them. They left me and another man. They executed the men they took away," Naim says. "Then they drove me back to prison. I said, 'Why are you putting me back in jail? Am I accused of anything?' "
Naim believes the fact Hamas didn't kill him at that time proves his innocence. In fact, he was released two months ago, after a new judge was assigned to his case. But in this murky world of collaboration there are always questions about who is really serving whom.
As I spoke with a second inmate, a guard started beating a prisoner nearby.
The prisoner pled for mercy as the guard accused him of lying.
The inmate I was interviewing said this wasn't torture for a confession; just a guard mad at a prisoner for something.
"Don't panic," he said. "This happens all the time."
This inmate asked that his name not be made public. He is also accused of collaboration, which he denies.
During the 2014 war, he says he saw more than a dozen men taken from this prison, where they were awaiting charges or appealing sentences. They were among those Amnesty says were shot and killed.
"These are people I lived with, I ate with. I knew them," the inmate says. "I think one or two were collaborators. The rest had made a lot of mistakes, but weren't collaborators."
Whether they were or were not, human rights advocates say someone needs to answer for killing them."
Gazan youth issue manifesto to vent their anger with all sides in the conflict
"An anonymous group of students has created a document to express their frustration born of Hamas's violent crackdowns on 'western decadence', the destruction wreaked by Israel's attacks and the political games played by Fatah and the UN
It goes on to detail the daily humiliations and frustrations that constitute everyday life in the Gaza Strip.
"Here in Gaza we are scared of being incarcerated, interrogated, hit, tortured, bombed, killed," reads the extraordinary document.
"We are afraid of living, because every single step we take has to be considered and well-thought, there are limitations everywhere, we cannot move as we want, say what we want, do what we want, sometimes we even can't think what we want because the occupation has occupied our brains and hearts so terrible that it hurts and it makes us want to shed endless tears of frustration and rage!"
The text ends with a triple demand:
"We want three things.
We want to be free.
We want to be able to live a normal life.
We want peace.
Is that too much to ask?"
On Facebook, the group calls itself 'Gaza Youth Breaks Out'.
All declare themselves to be non-political and disgusted with the tensions and rivalries that divide Palestinians between Hamas, the rulers of Gaza, and Fatah, the more secular party which governs the Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank.
"Politics is bollocks, it is screwing our lives up," said one member of the group. "Politicians only care about money and about their supporters. The Israelis are the only ones benefiting from the division."
Two of the group have been detained by the Gazan authorities several times, accused among other crimes of "immoral" behaviour.
They say that they have been abused in jail and claim that physical and psychological punishment is commonplace in Gaza's detention centres.
"We are supposed to be the engine of change in this society, but our voices are muted. In the press, at university, there is no room in our society to talk freely, out of the frame, without putting yourself and your family at risk," says one, who wants to be called Abu Yazan.
He adds: "In Gaza, you feel watched at school, in the streets, everywhere. You can be thrown into jail at any time. [Hamas] will threaten you with ruining your family reputation and that would be it."
Israeli shelling which follows the launching of rockets into Israel by Palestinian militants is part of their everyday life.
Power cuts and ruinous sanitary conditions are among the side-effects of the embargo suffered by Gaza's inhabitants.
With high unemployment in the Strip and little access to other job markets after graduation, many feel that they have reached a dead end.
Some keep studying and accumulating degrees and foreign languages, which they learn via the internet, hoping for better days to come.
Others kill their time smoking hookahs with their friends day after day.
Going out, meeting friends in cafés – let alone clubs or discotheques – or attending cultural events has become an increasingly complicated task as Hamas cracks down on western "decadence".
In Gaza there are no theatres and few concerts aside from the Islamic musical performances organised by the Hamas authorities.
In the places where young men and women are allowed to meet, considered an "oasis" by the less conservative youth, the police are quick to interrogate mixed couples suspected of not being married or engaged.
The "last straw" for the writers of the Gaza manifesto came a month ago, when Hamas closed Sharek, an internationally financed organisation offering training and summer activities for thousands of adolescents and young people.
Sharek had also became a hang-out place for the more liberal-minded in Gaza.
Human Rights Watch recently issued a statement condemning its closure.
"Hamas authorities in Gaza should allow an organisation that helps children and youth to reopen, and penalise officials who have harassed its workers," it said.
According to Ihab Al Ghusain, a spokesman for the Hamas Ministry of the Interior, "There are no laws prohibiting men and women sitting together in public places in Gaza," he said. "But some policemen, at their own initiative, interrogate the couples."
VOICES OF THE CHILDREN.....SILENCED
THEY WERE FRONT PAGE NEWS IN THE UK...FROM THE DAILY MAIL NEWS:
HAMAS DID USE SCHOOLS AND HOSPITALS IN GAZA AS "HUMAN SHIELDS"March 26 2015
A rocket salvo that killed 11 Gazan children and hit a hospital on a Muslim religious holiday was the work of Palestinian militants hitting their own people, a report has found, in a damning indictment of Hamas’s conduct during last summer’s war with Israel.
HAMAS HAS ADMITTED USING CHILDREN TO DIG TUNNELS, BUT CALLS THIS PRACTICE "NECESSARY TO DEFEAT ISRAEL".
FROM BREITBART, JULY 27, 2014, HAMAS ADMISSION TO USING CHILDREN...
Hamas killed hundreds of children in the construction of its extensive tunnel network, built partly to carry out attacks on children across the Gaza border in Israel.
That report–confirmed by Hamas itself–emerged in 2012, not from the Israeli government, but the sympathetic Journal of Palestine Studies, in an article that otherwise celebrated the secret tunnel system as a symbol of Palestinian resistance to the Israeli “siege” of the Gaza Strip.
The article, “Gaza’s Tunnel Phenomenon: The Unintended Dynamics of Israel’s Siege,” was published in the Summer 2012 edition of the Journal by Nicholas Pelham, who writes for the Economist and the New York Review of Books, according to his bio. It is receiving new attention thanks to Myer Freimann of Tablet, whose post about Hamas’s use of child labor has gone viral in social media.Pelham wrote that despite the economic success of the tunnels underneath the Egyptian border, which enriched Hamas through a thriving black market as well as arming it with new weapons, there were a few drawbacks.
One of these was a “cavalier approach to child labor and tunnel fatalities,” he noted. “During a police patrol that the author was permitted to accompany in December 2011, nothing was done to impede the use of children in the tunnels, where, much as in Victorian coal mines, they are prized for their nimble bodies.
At least 160 children have been killed in the tunnels, according to Hamas officials”
"Though some children likely worked voluntarily, the fact that there were public complaints about child deaths, to which Hamas felt compelled to respond at least superficially, is evidence of some amount of coercion.
The number of deaths since 2012 has yet to be reported, but almost certainly exceeds the number Pelham reported.
To sum up: Hamas is not only using child labor, but likely child slavery, in building its terror tunnel network. While the world worries obsessively over the child casualties of Israeli attacks on Hamas targets in Gaza, it has ignored Hamas’s deliberate killing of hundreds of Palestinian children, over the objections of the local populace."
THE WASHINGTON POST WAS OUTRAGED OVER THIS FINDING.
"Hamas is responsible not only for the deaths of the children sent to dig tunnels, but also those who could have been healed and educated if the cement from Israel had been used for schools, clinics and housing rather than to create a subterranean military apparatus.
Professor Gerald Steinberg, who heads NGO Monitor (a group that tracks the NGO entities devoted to delegitimizing Israel under the guise of “human rights”), tells Right Turn:
“Hamas has been abusing children for years with impunity, with the silent cooperation of ‘watchdogs’ such as Human Rights Watch, UNRWA, Amnesty and many others claiming moral agendas.
In addition to sending them to die building Gaza’s terror tunnels, hundreds of Palestinian children are used as human shields to protect deadly missiles, and as suicide bombers in the war machine.”
He concludes, “Public documentation of these abuses from Hamas and its accomplices, particularly officials of UNRWA, Defense for Children International, HRW, Al-Mezan, B’Tselem, and Save the Children, as well as their funder-enablers, is essential in restoring the tattered moral principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
HAMAS GUILTY OF HUMAN SACRIFICE
This pattern of human sacrifice (what else should we call it?) is one more reason that there cannot be a cease-fire unless and until Gaza can be demilitarized, its rockets and tunnels destroyed.
HAMAS USES CHILDREN AND THEY DIE, YET HAMAS HIDES IN HOSPITAL AND SCHOOL BASEMENTS, IN THEIR UNDERGROUND BUNKERS WHILE FORCING CIVILIANS TO REMAIN ABOVE GROUND IN THEIR HOUSES DURING ISRAEL;I COUNTER-ATTACKS.
DURING THE WORST OF THE FIGHTING IN 2014, SOME GAZANS WERE ENRAGED TO LEARN THAT THE UPPER ECHELON OF HAMAS HAD RETREATED TO QATAR AND KUWAIT.
HAMAS PROSPERS FROM SHOWING DEAD GAZANS
LINKEDIN REPORTED ON HAMAS CORRUPTION IN ITS DOCUMENTARY:
"In recent days, various media have been publishing photographs of Hamas leaders in luxurious homes with fitness equipment, at luxury hotels around the world, etc.
On the other hand, distressing pictures are being shown of the suffering of the Palestinian people in their rundown houses, whom Hamas says it represents.
Their [HAMAS'] phenomenal wealth started accumulating when they decided to disassociate themselves from Israel and search for alternative financing sources. Legacies from the deceased; money from charity funds; a donation called zaka, one of the six pillars of Islam; and donations from various countries.
It started with Syria and Saudi Arabia, with Iran added later and becoming one of Hamas's biggest supporters, and ended with Qatar, which has now taken Iran's place.
Together with the donations from various countries, fundraisers began operating in the US to collect money for Hamas.
Here, the Hamas leaders began to get their hands on some really big money.
One of those fundraisers was Dr. Musa Abu Marzook, the number 2 man in Hamas . At the beginning of the 1990s, he began a fundraising campaign in the US among wealthy Muslims, while at the same time founding several banking enterprises.
He himself became a conglomerate of 10 financial enterprises giving loans and making financial investments.
SOME HAMAS MEMBERS BECAME MILLIONAIRES, EVEN BILLIONAIRES WHILE THOUSANDS DIED FROM POVERTY...THOUSANDS WHO NEVER GOT ANY BENEFIT FROM FUNDS DONATED FOR THEIR 'RELIEF'.
Today, Marzook is considered one of Hamas's wealthiest billionaires. "Arab sources estimate his wealth at $2-3 billion .
Another Hamas leader-turned-tycoon is Khaled Mashaal. "Estimates around the world are that Mashaal is currently worth $2.6 billion, but the numbers mentioned by the Arab commentators (based on their many sources) are much higher, varying from $2-5 billion invested in Egyptian and Persian Gulf banks, and some in real estate projects in the Persian Gulf countries .
The next tycoon on the list is Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. "He is a scion of a family from the Al-Shati refugee camp, and his capital is estimated at $4 million . He registered most of his assets in the Gaza Strip in the name of his son-in-law, Nabil, and in the name of a dozen of his sons and daughters and a few less well known Hamas leaders.
They all have homes in good neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip, where the value of every home is at least $1 million.
Another wealthy Hamas official - Iman Taha - is not on the organization's highest levels, but he, too, (and other junior managers) is feeding from the trough.
The question of where these officials got their money exposes the corrupt system used by Hamas through its control of the money pipelines in the Gaza Strip. They treated the money as their own personal possession.
IN ONE INSTANCE, THE REPORT SPEAKS OF A SCHOOL THAT WAS USED BY HAMAS FOR THESE MISSILE LAUNCHES IN WHICH HAMAS UNLOCKED THE GATES TO ALLOW CHILDREN INSIDE TO PLAY IN THE SCHOOLYARD.
FROM THE NEW YORK POST:
"As it happens, the three schools-turned-arsenals were empty at the time Israel struck — but there’s no suggestion Hamas just took advantage of the students’ absence.
And in at least one school where weapons were stored, the report found, Hamas unlocked the gate “to allow children access to the schoolyard.”
In fact, Hamas has long used UN facilities as a staging grounds and observation posts for attacks on Israel. And the United Nations barely raised an objection — unless and until Hamas was caught and called out."
THE U.N. HAS NOW ISSUED A SECOND "OBJECTION" TO ITS SCHOOLS BEING USED BY HAMAS AS SITES FROM WHICH TO LAUNCH MISSILES.
READ THAT <HERE>.
HOW DOES HAMAS USE CHILDREN?
LET THE VIDEO BELOW SHOW YOU....
FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS:
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (TheBlaze/AP) — While Thousands of Palestinian residents of the northern Gaza Strip fled their homes on Sunday and sought safety in U.N. shelters, heeding warnings from the Israeli military about impending plans to bomb the area, a defiant Hamas is urging them to stay.
THE ABOVE STATES THAT ISRAEL GIVES ADVANCE WARNINGS BEFORE A COUNTER-ATTACK AFTER HAMAS MISSILES ARE FIRED INTO ISRAEL.
THE GAZAN YOUTH MANIFESTO ALSO CITES THIS ISRAELI PRACTICE AND THAT HAMAS WILL THREATEN CIVILIANS WHO TRY TO LEAVE AREAS THAT WILL BE TARGETS OF ISRAELI COUNTER-STRIKES.
Hamas, an Islamic militant group sworn to Israel’s destruction, continued to fire rockets into Israel throughout the day. It urged people in northern Gaza to stay in their homes and has so far rejected proposals for a cease-fire as unsatisfactory.
“They want us to put down our arms and leave the resistance,” said Moussa Abu Marzouk, a top Hamas official, on his Facebook page. “They started the battle, and we will stay on our land and fight to protect our future.”
NO, THIS, BELOW, IS WHAT STARTED THE BATTLE, BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER 3 ISRAELI STUDENTS WERE KIDNAPPED AND MURDERED BY "PALESTINIANS", THESE REPEATED, DOCUMENTED, VIDEO-RECORDED MISSILE LAUNCHES FROM INSIDE THE GAZA STRIP:
Early Sunday, the Israeli air force dropped leaflets around the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahia ordering people to evacuate their homes. Israel says much of the rocket fire has come from the area, and overnight Sunday, the military carried out a brief ground operation on what it said was a rocket-launching site that could not be struck from the air.
THERE IS ALSO A VIDEO ON THAT WEBSITE WHICH SHOWS GAZANS LEAVING THE AREA AFTER THE ISRAELI WARNING.
HAMAS GIVES NO WARNING BEFORE ITS MISSILE STRIKES.
VOICES OF VICTIMS OF HAMAS
September 19, 2014
While the world's media has been blaming Israel for the death of Gazan civilians during Operation Protective Edge, this correspondent decided to speak with Gazans themselves to hear what they had to say.
They spoke of Hamas atrocities and war crimes implicating Hamas in the civilian deaths of its own people.
Although Gazans, fearful of Hamas's revenge against them, were afraid to speak to the media, friends in the West Bank offered introductions to relatives in Gaza.
One, a renowned Gazan academic, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that as soon as someone talked to a Western journalist, he was immediately questioned by Hamas and accused of "communicating with the Mossad".
"Hamas makes sure that the average Gazan will not talk to Western journalists -- or actually any journalists at all," he said, continuing:
"Hamas does not want the truth about Gaza to come out. Hamas terrorizes and kills us just like Daesh [ISIS] terrorizes kills Iraqis. Hamas is a dictatorship that kills us. The Gazans you see praising Hamas on TV are either Hamas members or too afraid to speak against Hamas. Few foreign [Western] journalists were probably able to report what Gazans think of Hamas."When asked what Gazans did think of Hamas, he said:
"The same as Iraqis thought of Saddam before he was toppled. He still won by 90-something percent in the presidential elections. If Hamas falls today in Gaza, people here will do what Iraqis did to Saddam's statue after he fell. But even though Western journalists may not have been able to speak freely with Gazans, they still need a story to send to their editor by the end of the day. So it is just easier and safer for them to stick to the official line.""What was that," I asked: "'Blame Israel'?"
"I don't know about that," he said. "More like, 'Never blame Hamas!'
Hamas was making a 'statement': Opposing Hamas Means Death. Hamas is a dictatorship that kills us."
M., a journalist, confirmed his view. "I do not believe any of the people Hamas killed in the last weeks were Israeli spies," he said. "Hamas has killed many people for criticizing it, and claimed they were traitors working for Israel during the war."
That conversation took place four weeks before Hamas killed 21 alleged "Israeli Mossad agents."
D, a store owner, said:
"There were two major protests against Hamas during the third week of the war. When Hamas fighters opened fire at the protesters in the Bait Hanoun area and the Shijaiya, five were killed instantly. I saw that with my own eyes. Many were injured. A doctor at Shifa hospital told me that 35 were killed at both protests. He went and saw their bodies at the morgue."To verify those reports, I spoke to a second Gazan academic, who holds a PhD. from a Western university, who stated:
"Hamas did kill protesters, no doubt about that. But we could not confirm how many were actually killed. If I have to guess, the number was more than reported. I am confident that not all of the 21 men Hamas killed on August 22 were collaborating with Israel. Hamas killed those men because it was weakened by Israel's attacks and felt endangered. So it went on a 'Salem Witch-Hunt.' They arrested everyone who opposed them and had to make a few examples to scare people from standing against Hamas. Hamas's tactic worked. Now Gazans are afraid to talk against Hamas even in front of their own family members. Gazans are probably afraid to criticize Hamas even in their sleep!"
As already reported by the award-winning journalist, Khaled Abu Toameh, Hamas killed one of its leaders, Ayman Taha, and blamed Israel for it.
Asked about Abu Toameh's report, S., a Gazan political activist said:
"Taha was already in Hamas's jail before Israeli operations started. Hamas imprisoned him and tortured him because he was critical of its radical policies. He had warned Hamas not to cooperate with Qatar and Iran. Eye-witnesses said they saw Hamas militants bring him alive into the yard of Shifa hospital in Gaza and shoot him dead. They kept mutilating his body in front of viewers and little children and left it on the hospital's yard for a few hours before allowing the staff to take it to the morgue."A., a Fatah member in Gaza, spoke over Skype -- fearful that Hamas was intercepting phone lines:
"Even before the Israeli operation began, Hamas rounded up 400 of our members and other political-opposition figures. I would not be surprised if Hamas kills them all and then claims they were killed in an Israeli bombing. Hamas already beheaded a man known for opposing its views on the 22nd day of the war, then reported on its Facebook page that he was caught sending intelligence information to Israel. If Hamas does not like you for any reason, all they have to do now is claim you are a Mossad agent and kill you."S. a medical worker, said:
"The Israeli army sends warnings to people [Gazans] to evacuate buildings before an attack. The Israelis either call or send a text message. Sometimes they call several times to make sure everyone has been evacuated. Hamas's strict policy, though, was not to allow us to evacuate. Many people got killed, locked inside their homes by Hamas militants. Hamas's official Al-Quds TV regularly issued warnings to Gazans not to evacuate their homes. Hamas militants would block the exits to the places residents were asked to evacuate.Another Gazan journalist, D., said:
In the Shijaiya area, people received warnings from the Israelis and tried to evacuate the area, but Hamas militants blocked the exits and ordered people to return to their homes. Some of the people had no choice but to run towards the Israelis and ask for protection for their families.
Hamas shot some of those people as they were running; the rest were forced to return to their homes and get bombed. This is how the Shijaiya massacre happened. More than 100 people were killed."
"Hamas fired rockets from next to homes. Hamas was running from one home to another.
Hamas lied when it claimed it was shooting from non-populated areas.
To make things even worse for us, Hamas would fire from the balconies of homes and try to drag the Israelis into door-to-door battles and street-to-street fights -- a death sentence for all the civilians here.
They would fire rockets and then run away quickly, leaving us to face Israeli bombs for what they did.
They are cowards.
If Hamas militants are not afraid of dying, why do they run after they fire rockets from our homes?
Why don't they stay and die with us?
Are they afraid to die and go to heaven?
Isn't that what they claim they wish?"
"When people stopped listening to Hamas orders not to evacuate and began leaving their homes anyway, Hamas imposed a curfew: anyone walking out in the street was shot without being asked any questions. That way Hamas made sure people had to stay in their homes even if they were about to get bombed. God will ask Hamas on judgment day for those killers' blood."I asked him if Hamas used people as "human shields."
He said: "Hamas held the entire Gazan population as a human shield. My answer to you is yes."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told the press on September 6 that Hamas had killed 120 Fatah members who broke the curfew.
T., a former Hamas Ministry officer, said:
"Hamas fires from civilian areas for a good reason: The Israelis call the civilians and give them ten minutes to evacuate. This gives Hamas time to fire another rocket and run away."
Why, I asked, did Hamas not allow people to evacuate?
"Some people say Hamas wants civilians killed in order to gain global sympathy, but I believe this is not the main reason. I think the reason is that if all the people were allowed to evacuate their homes, they all would have ended up in a certain area in Gaza. If that happened, it would have made the rest of Gaza empty of civilians, and the Israelis would have been able to hit Hamas without worrying about civilians in all those empty areas. Hamas wanted civilians all over the place to confuse the Israelis and make their operations more difficult."S., a Gazan businessman, said:
"The cease-fire Hamas agreed to carried the same conditions the Egyptians and the Israelis offered during the second week of the war -- after only 160 Gazans had been killed.I asked S. if other Gazans shared his view. He said,
Why did Hamas have to wait until 2,200 were killed, and then accept the very same offer?
Hamas has blackmailed the world with the killed Gazan civilians to make itself look like a freedom fighter against an evil Israel.
Hamas showed Gazans that it could not care less for their blood and their children.
And why should Hamas care?
Its leaders are either in mansions in Qatar or villas in Jordan.
Mashaal [Khaled Mashaal, the head of Hamas] is in Qatar, Mohammad Nazzal is in Jordan and Abu Marzouk is in Cairo: why should they want a ceasefire?
Everyone here in Gaza is wondering why Hamas rejected so many ceasefires. Hamas knows it will not defeat Israel's army, so why did it continue fighting?
The answer is simple: Hamas wanted us butchered so it could win the media war against Israel by showing our dead children on TV and then get money from Qatar."
"Gazans are not stupid. We are now telling Hamas: Either you bring victory and liberate Palestine as you claim, or simply leave Gaza and maybe give it back to the Palestinian Authority or even Israel -- or even Egypt! We have had enough of Hamas's hallucinations and promises that never come true."O., a researcher who lives in Gaza Strip's second largest city, Khan Younis, said:
"Most of us see Hamas as too radical and too stubborn, especially the way it was refusing ceasefires offered from Israel. They even refused a 24-hour ceasefire during the third week of the war.
They denied us even 24 hours of quiet to bury the dead.
Even some Hamas loyalists here are asking why Hamas refused several ceasefires and made us suffer. Hamas did this on purpose because Hamas is a slave to Qatar.
Qatar wants the war to go on because it is a terrorist Islamist country, and Hamas wants more of us dead to appease its masters in Qatar.
Let's be realistic, Hamas is in a bad shape now. Israel destroyed most tunnels; that is why Hamas had to join the ceasefire talks in Cairo. Were the Israelis' hits to Hamas not so painful, Hamas would not be negotiating in the first place.
At the same time, Hamas is asking Israel for the impossible, like an open seaport and an airport.
Israel would never allow that, and Hamas knows this, but Hamas might just be buying time by throwing out these demands.
You have to keep in mind that Hamas is not concerned with our conditions as Gazans.
After all it is our children who are dying, not the children of Hamas's leaders.
Hamas is weak now, and I believe it lost most of its tunnels. Israel's Iron Dome destroyed so many of their rockets before they landed in Israel; that is why Hamas is being ruthless with Gazans.
When Hamas locks people inside homes about to be bombed, when it kills people protesting against it and when it executes alleged traitors without even a trail, these are war crimes."
A report by the Washington Institute, released in July, also reports that most Gazans are not happy with Hamas's governance.
"It is true," said A., a teacher. "I do not know a single Gazan who is pro-Hamas at the moment, except for those on its payroll.
Hamas maintains its control here through a military dictatorship, just like North Korea. People will be killed if they protest.
Even Gazans living abroad fear to criticize Hamas because Hamas will take revenge on their relatives who are here."
M., a Gazan television producer, stated:
"Of course I am against Israel and I want it out of Gaza and out of the West Bank, but I still believe Hamas is more of a threat to the Palestinian people.
Hamas took over Gaza by killing us [Palestinians] and throwing our young men from high buildings. That is what Hamas is about: murder and power.
Even if there is calm, and the firing stops, we are going to still be under Hamas's mercy, where all basic living standards are considered luxuries.
Hamas is just buying time by going to the ceasefire talks.
Hamas does not want a ceasefire."
He said the supplies were donated by charities in the West Bank and that their delivery was facilitated by the IDF.
He commented: "This theft angers all of us [Gazans]. The Israeli army allows supplies to come in, and Hamas steals them. It seems even the Israelis care for us more than Hamas."
Another aid worker, A., confirmed that Hamas steals the humanitarian supplies given to Gaza. "They [Hamas] take most of it, sell it to us, and just give us the stuff they do not want."
A Gazan mosque's imam said that the most precious aid item Hamas stole was water.
"Gazans are thirsty and Hamas is stealing the water bottles provided to us for free and selling them at 20 Israeli shekels [approximately $5] for the big bottle and 10 Israeli shekels for the small one."
H., who did not want his profession to be mentioned, lost one of his legs in an Israeli raid. I asked him who he thought was responsible for his injury. He stated:
"Hamas was. My father received a text-message from the Israeli army warning him that our area was going to be bombed, and Hamas prevented us from leaving. They said there was a curfew. A curfew, can you believe that?
I swear to God, we will take revenge on Hamas.
I swear to God I will stand on my other foot and fight against Hamas.
Even if Israel leaves them alone, we will not.
What had my two-year-old nephew done to be killed under the rubble of our home so Khaled Mashaal [Hamas leader based in Qatar] could be happy?
We want change at any cost. I am not claiming the Israelis are innocent, but I know Hamas has fired rockets from every residential spot in Gaza.
If that was not hiding behind civilians, then it was stupidity and recklessness.
Nobody who is normal, in his right mind, in Gaza supports Hamas.
People have lost parents, children and friends, and have nothing more to lose.
I believe if given the chance and the weapons, they will stand against Hamas."
K., a Gazan school teacher agreed:
"When Hamas starts caring for our children we will start caring for Hamas.
Hamas has one policy, to attack Israel; so Israel attacks back, and gets us killed and Hamas then gets more money from Arabs and Erdogan [Turkey's president].
My son has autism; he cannot handle the sounds of rockets and bombs landing. Why would I support Hamas, which causes this suffering to him?
Gazans have had enough of Hamas, any claims that we love Hamas is just propaganda.
M., who lost his 11 year old daughter in an Israeli bombing said:
"I will not forgive either Hamas or Israel for losing my daughter.
If you ask me if I hate Israelis, my answer would be no, but do I love them?
Of course not. There is too much blood between us, but I can only hope someday we both will move on and heal our wounds."
When asked what he would do if he were in Israel's place, being attacked non-stop by Hamas, he responded: "I do not care if both Israel and Gaza burn in hell."
"CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN THE GAZA STRIP", A SHORT DOCUMENTARY ON HOW HAMAS IMPRISONS CIVILIANS ACCUSED OF OFTEN TRUMPED-UP CHARGES...
THE FILM CREW'S REPORT CAN BE FOUND <HERE>.
AS REPORTED BY CNN, February 29, 2012:
We visited Gaza's central prison, where drug users and drug smugglers alike are locked in a communal cell, their sentences ranging anywhere from one month, to death by hanging.
Elsewhere in the same facility we met a woman who was imprisoned for the crime of having a child out of wedlock and another for helping her son escape from Gaza.
The Hamas government operates in an environment of paranoia that has them on guard not only against the outside world, but against their brothers and sisters in Fatah, and against ordinary Gazans whose poverty they fear could tempt them into spying for Israel.
An
authoritarian government operating within prison walls and under
economic siege ... it sounds like the setup for a Kurt Russell movie,
except that it's real."
THE HUFFINGTON POST WROTE,
The reality [is] that both Hamas and Israel are to blame for the civilian deaths in Gaza, something neither side wants to admit; lest they come face to face with the frightening moral consequences of their military and political objectives.
To blame one side without looking at the other is not only irresponsible, but borders on an overt attempt at circumventing the facts.
In
previous conflicts Amnesty International has documented that Palestinian
armed groups have stored munitions in and fired indiscriminate rockets
from residential areas in the Gaza Strip in violation of international
humanitarian law.
Reports have also emerged during the current conflict of Hamas urging residents to ignore Israeli warnings to evacuate.
Reports have also emerged during the current conflict of Hamas urging residents to ignore Israeli warnings to evacuate.
Furthermore, Amnesty International (while vehemently urging Israel to cease military activities) has stated Hamas
is violating international law by storing rockets in civilian areas and
urging people not to leave their homes after being warned by Israel of
impending attacks:
As
explained above, in previous conflicts Amnesty International has
documented that Palestinian armed groups have stored munitions in and
fired indiscriminate rockets from residential areas in the Gaza Strip,
and available evidence indicates that they continue to do both during
the current hostilities, in violation of international humanitarian law.
During the current hostilities, Hamas spokespeople have reportedly
urged residents in some areas of the Gaza Strip not to leave their homes
after the Israeli military dropped leaflets and made phone calls
warning people in the area to evacuate.
Amnesty International has also declared,
“Hamas has also continued to fire hundreds of indiscriminate rockets
into Israel in violation of international law, killing two Israeli
civilians and injuring others.”
In addition, UNRWA in UNRWA CONDEMNS PLACEMENT OF ROCKETS, FOR A SECOND TIME, IN ONE OF ITS SCHOOLS states unequivocally that Hamas stores rockets in civilian centers:
Today, in the
course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered
rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip.
...UNRWA
strongly and unequivocally condemns the group or groups responsible for
this flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under
international law."
AND IN RESPONSE, WHAT DID HAMAS SAY?
A senior spokesman for the group, Sami Abu Zuhri, gave an interview on Palestinian station al-Aqsa TV earlier this month.
He said: “This attests to the character of our noble, jihad-loving people – who defend their rights and their homes with their bare chests and their blood.
“The policy of people confronting the Israeli warplanes with their bare chests in order to protect their homes has proven effective against the occupation… we in Hamas call upon our people to adopt this policy in order to protect the Palestinian homes.”
On 10 July the UN released a situation report which deplored the civilian casualties but added: “In most cases, prior to the attacks, residents have been warned to leave, either via phone calls by the Israel military or by the firing of warning missiles.”
But the Hamas-run Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Interior has told residents not to pay attention to the IDF warnings.
It issued a directive “calling all our people not to deal or pay attention to the psychological warfare carried out by the occupation through rumours that broadcast across his media and delivering publications and communications on the phones of citizens”.
AFTER READING AND SEEING THE EVIDENCE, HOW CAN ANYONE NOT SEE THE NEED TO REMOVE HAMAS FROM CONTROL OF THE GAZA STRIP?
HAMAS DOES NOT GIVE A TINKER'S EARTHEN DAM ABOUT THE GAZAN PEOPLE, ONLY ABOUT THEMSELVES, THEIR POWER, AND THE MONEY THEY MAKE FROM THE SUFFERING OF THEIR OWN PEOPLE.
HAMAS WILL INDEED CONTINUE ITS HUMAN SACRIFICES UNLESS THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY INTERVENES AND RESCUES GAZA FROM HAMAS' CLUTCHES.
THOSE WHO WEEP FOR GAZA DON'T USUALLY KNOW HALF THE STORY, DON'T GO TO THE GAZAN PEOPLE AS MANY OF THE JOURNALISTS WHO FILMED AND WROTE ALL OF THE ABOVE.
DOES ISRAEL HAVE CLEAN HANDS IN THE DEATHS OF THE PEOPLE OF GAZA?
NO.
BUT ISRAEL DOES NOT HAVE CONTROL OF GAZA, OR ITS MISSILES, OR ITS TERRORISTS OR ITS "MARTYRS"...HAMAS DOES!
CAN'T ANYONE SEE THAT THE MAJORITY OF GAZANS WANT RID OF HAMAS?
HAMAS PROMISED ELECTIONS, BUT THEY HAVEN'T COME, AND THE LAST TIME THERE WERE ELECTIONS, THOSE WHO WENT TO VOTE WERE THREATENED AND/OR ATTACKED BY HAMAS.
WHO CRIES OUT AGAINST THAT?
WHO CRIES FOR THE SACRIFICED CHILDREN?
NOT EVEN THEIR OWN MOTHERS, IN SOME INSTANCES...
Son's death was "best day of my life," says Palestinian mother
Palestinian Mother Overjoyed Her Son Murdered Jewish Children
MAYBE THE MOTHERS DON'T GRIEVE FOR THEIR CHILDREN, BUT WE SHOULD!
WE SHOULD WANT TO STOP THIS SORT OF THING!
AS MANY GAZANS SAID IN THE ABOVE INTERVIEWS, THERE COULD BE PEACE IN GAZA WITHOUT HAMAS.
IF HAMAS DID NOT LAUNCH MISSILES AGAINST ISRAEL, IF HAMAS DID NOT SOLICIT SUICIDE BOMBERS AMONG THEIR YOUTH AND THEIR WOMEN, IF HAMAS DID NOT SACRIFICE CHILDREN IN THE DIGGING OF TUNNELS, IF HAMAS DID NOT SEND MURDERERS TO KILL SLEEPING CHILDREN AND STUDENTS AND PEOPLE AT BUS STOPS, AND IF HAMAS WAS NOT THERE TO FORCE GAZANS TO REMAIN IN THEIR HOMES AFTER ISRAEL WARNS OF COUNTER ATTACKS, THINK HOW MANY LIVES WOULD HAVE BEEN SAVED!
__________________________________
ADDENDUM:
WE SHOULD WANT TO STOP THIS SORT OF THING!
AS MANY GAZANS SAID IN THE ABOVE INTERVIEWS, THERE COULD BE PEACE IN GAZA WITHOUT HAMAS.
IF HAMAS DID NOT LAUNCH MISSILES AGAINST ISRAEL, IF HAMAS DID NOT SOLICIT SUICIDE BOMBERS AMONG THEIR YOUTH AND THEIR WOMEN, IF HAMAS DID NOT SACRIFICE CHILDREN IN THE DIGGING OF TUNNELS, IF HAMAS DID NOT SEND MURDERERS TO KILL SLEEPING CHILDREN AND STUDENTS AND PEOPLE AT BUS STOPS, AND IF HAMAS WAS NOT THERE TO FORCE GAZANS TO REMAIN IN THEIR HOMES AFTER ISRAEL WARNS OF COUNTER ATTACKS, THINK HOW MANY LIVES WOULD HAVE BEEN SAVED!
__________________________________
ADDENDUM:
THERE IS A VIDEO OF HAMAS LAUNCHING MISSILES FROM CIVILIAN SITES, ALSO POSTED BY THE DAILY MAIL, UK.
TO DO SO INVITES RETALIATION, BUT HAMAS HAS NO REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE.
"Confession: In a veiled confession that comes two weeks after the end of the Gaza war, a senior Hamas official today said the group's fighters had no choice but to use residential areas from which to launch missiles into their neighbour's territory "
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