tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88249219796528043682023-06-20T06:32:25.242-07:00CPS - VancouverJohn Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-39538949331072118482014-07-05T12:57:00.006-07:002014-07-05T12:57:49.370-07:00Abandoned:<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #3f3f43; font-family: Arial;">ABANDONED:</span></b><span style="color: #3f3f43; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f43; font-family: Arial;">Abandoned: Deserted <i>leave without intending to return</i> </span><span style="color: #3f3f43; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Oxford Dictionary. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f43; font-family: Arial;">That is precisely what happened to</span><span style="color: #3f3f43; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="color: #3f3f43; font-family: Arial;">Elizabeth Beeching on a HandyDART trip to Women’s Health Centre on her electric scooter. For her return trip and a bus did not come she managed to call and was told by Handydart you can take a cab. After about one hour waiting she began the trip home on her scooter. A difficult trip for someone who had a fractured vertebra and still has intense pain. She made it but was very tired. That evening we got a nasty we felt threatening phone call from HandyDART to say we were “no shows” and that this was a serious matter to them. We have sent a letter to the TransLink Board and Mayors Council as well as copies to the major media. We do not get much more than TV, radio or the Courier now so are not aware of any publicity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f43; font-family: Arial;">Transportation, able and disable bodied is essential to business and riders in South coast BC. It should then be of concern to all who live in the area. Since former Premier Campbell’s inept meddling Transportation has been going down hill.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f43; font-family: Arial;">According to a posting by Eric Doherty in “Get On Board” Facebook the increase in people with disabilities and seniors trip denials jumped from 5,075 in 2009 to 42,418 in 2013. The Globe and Mail had an item, “Cash-strapped TransLink can’t keep up with growth”. The Vancouver Sun said “TransLink is committing $1 million to provide more than 30,000 additional taxi rides for Handydart customers this year”. TransLink claims the taxi drivers are adequately trains. Our and other clients experience say this is not true. All indicate serious transit problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f43; font-family: Arial;">Your readers should look these items up and ask themselves isn’t this also abandonment – abandonment of customers and their business contacts? TransLink has been concentrating on the automobile at the expense of its riders and programs for numerous years. Business needs to consider without adequate transit its many of its workers would not be able to come to work, purchasers would not be able to come to malls or stores or other markets. Business then needs to pay into TransLink and/or government something either through taxation or some other means its fair share of the transportation operating cost. Financing shortage is at the root of many social problems in particular public transit, it needs government and public remedial action.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f43; font-family: Arial;">John Beeching<br />V5N 3R9<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-88165965348040387642014-05-20T09:49:00.001-07:002014-05-20T09:49:24.433-07:00Tell Israel - "Stop shooting at Gaza Civilians<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt 36.0pt; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
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</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">العربية</span></a><span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/04/24/israel-stop-shooting-gaza-civilians"><span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; letter-spacing: -1.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Israel: Stop Shooting at Gaza Civilians</span></a><span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; letter-spacing: -1.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 24.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Kill, Wound Farmers, Demonstrators, Journalists<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Palestinians carry the body of 16-year-old Adnan Abu
Khater, who, according to Palestinian medics, was shot by Israeli troops near
the border with Israel, during his funeral in the Gaza Strip on January 3,
2014.
© 2014 Reuters </span><span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Bilal Oweidah, 19, was taking photographs of deer with
friends when he was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers near the perimeter
fence in the Gaza Strip.
Photo courtesy of the Oweidah family </span><span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Amina Qdeih, a 58-year-old woman with an intellectual
disability, was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers on February 28, 2014, after
getting lost walking home from a wedding party near the perimeter fence in the
Gaza Strip.
Photo courtesy of the Qdeih family </span><span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/media/images/photographs/2014MENA_IsraelPalestine_IbrahimMansour.JPG"><span style="color: #878787; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Enlarge</span></a><span style="color: #878787; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">
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Ibrahim Mansour, 35, was shot in the head and killed by
Israeli soldiers on February 13, 2014, while he and others collected rubble for
building materials near the perimeter fence in the Gaza Strip.
Photo courtesy
of the Mansour family </span><span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #e5431a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Month after month, Israeli forces have wounded and killed unarmed
Palestinians who did nothing but cross an invisible, shifting line that Israel
has drawn inside Gaza’s perimeter. It’s appalling that soldiers have shot men,
women, and children apparently for simply crossing a line.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #878836; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">(Jerusalem)
– The Israeli military should immediately stop shooting at Palestinian
civilians inside Gaza. Israeli military forces have killed 4 and wounded more
than 60 civilians near the perimeter fence with Gaza since the beginning of
2014, according to UN figures. There have been no reports of armed Palestinian
fighters shot in the same areas this year.
Human Rights Watch investigated
seven incidents between January 2 and March 1, in which Israeli forces shot
civilians in the vicinity of the fence. Four were killed, including a high
school student on a picnic and a woman with an intellectual disability who was
lost. Five others were wounded, including two journalists and two demonstrators
planting olive trees, none of whom posed a threat to the soldiers or others.
The Israeli military has not claimed that any of the victims in the seven cases
were engaged in military operations or that armed groups were in the area when
the shooting occurred.
“Month after month, Israeli forces have wounded and
killed unarmed Palestinians who did nothing but cross an invisible, shifting
line that </span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/middle-eastn-africa/israel-palestine"><span style="color: #3287c3; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Israel</span></a><span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"> has drawn inside Gaza’s perimeter,” said </span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/bios/sarah-leah-whitson"><span style="color: #3287c3; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Sarah Leah Whitson</span></a><span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s appalling that
soldiers have shot men, women, and children apparently for simply crossing a
line.”
The Israeli military has issued directives prohibiting any Palestinian
presence on land within Gaza abutting the territory’s perimeter fence,
currently up to 300 meters from the fence, but Israeli forces have frequently shot
at Palestinians beyond that distance. The United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that Israeli forces’ use of live
ammunition has placed up to 35 percent of Gaza’s agricultural land off-limits
to farmers. Palestinians living in the densely inhabited Gaza Strip use land
near the fence with Israel for agriculture, collecting rubble, scrap metal, and
other reusable materials, and recreation.
In areas near the Gaza perimeter,
Israeli forceskilled 5 Palestinian civilians and wounded 60 others in 2013,
according to the UN Office of the HighCommissioner for Human Rights. So far in
2014, Israeli forces have killed 4 civilians and wounded more than 60 in those
areas, mostly protesters demonstrating against Israel’s restrictions on access
to farmland near the perimeter fence.
In situations in which military forces
are playing a policing or law-enforcement role, international human rights law
applies; in such circumstances, lethal force may only be used when strictly
necessary to prevent an imminent threat to life. Israeli soldiers do not face
an imminent lethal threat from unarmed Palestinian civilians in areas of Gaza
near the perimeter fence.
In violation of international humanitarian law (or
the laws of war) which prohibits attacks on civilians, Israeli soldiers have
repeatedly shot at civilians near the fence on the Palestinian side.
Under the
laws of war, attacks may only be directed at military objectives, such as enemy
combatants. Forces must do everything feasible to verify that targets are
military objectives, and if there is doubt, must cancel the attack. While
civilians who take a direct part in hostilities are subject to attack, merely
entering a prohibited area does not meet that requirement. Military personnel who
willfully kill civilians are committing a war crime.
On February 28, Israeli
soldiers shot Amina Qdeih, a 58-year-old woman with an intellectual disability,
who got lost while walking home from a wedding party. Her relatives heard
shooting near the perimeter fence late at night, but because of fears of attack
by Israeli drones overhead, they did not find her body until 6 a.m. the next
morning. A hospital report said she had a gunshot wound to her abdomen and died
of blood loss.
On February 13, Israeli forces fatally shot 35-year-old Ibrahim
Mansour in the head while he and others collected rubble for building material
several hundred meters from the perimeter fence. A witness told Human Rights
Watch that an Israeli military vehicle fired teargas at four apparently unarmed
men, who then fled. When Mansour and others who had taken cover resumed
working, Israeli forces fired at them with live ammunition, killing Mansour and
wounding another worker as they tried to run away.
Israeli forces shot and
killed Bilal Oweidah, 19, on January 24, near the perimeter fence when he was
taking photographs of deer while on an outing with friends. On January 2,
Israeli forces shot and killed Adnan Abu Khater, 16, while he was picnicking
about 600 meters from the fence with a group of high school friends to
celebrate finishing their exams. Witnesses in both cases told Human Rights
Watch that all the men and students were unarmed.
In other cases, Israeli
forces shot and wounded Palestinian civilians taking part in protests inside
Gaza against Israeli restrictions on Palestinian access to farmland near the
perimeter, and journalists covering the protests. On February 25, Israeli
forces wounded Nasser Rahman, a 24-year-old journalist covering a
demonstration, hitting him in the kneecap. On January 17, Israeli forces shot
and wounded two Palestinian men attempting to plant olive trees, and a
journalist, during a protest near the fence. The three men told Human Rights
Watch that some young people at the demonstration threw stones toward Israeli
forces but that they were not near the stone throwers at the time.
After a
truce in November 2012, the Israeli military stated that it would allow
Palestinians to approach up to 100 meters of the perimeter. But in April 2013,
an Israeli military spokesperson responded to a freedom of information request
from Gisha, an Israeli rights group, saying that the no-go area extended to 300
meters from the fence. In the past several years, Israeli forces have often
fired at Palestinians at greater distances.
From 2005 through 2013, the
Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), a nongovernmental group,
submitted about two dozen complaints to the Israeli military asking officials
to conduct criminal investigations into alleged killings and injuries in areas
near Gaza’s land perimeter. The Israeli navy also imposes a blockade and limits
Gazan boats to traveling no more than six nautical miles from shore.
The
military has not opened any criminal investigations into their complaints, PCHR
reported. As of December 31, “responses received from the [military] stated
that the cases were closed because the victim had violated the access
restrictions, or because the use of lethal force by the Israeli military was
within its rules of engagement,” the UN Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights reported.
Palestinian armed groups in Gaza have frequently
launched rockets into Israel from areas near the perimeter fence – when
directed at Israeli population centers, such attacks violate the laws of war
prohibition against indiscriminate attacks. Israeli forces say they have
discovered tunnels that armed Palestinian groups constructed from Gaza into
Israel.
In February 2014, an Israeli military spokesperson told <i>Ma’an News</i>,
a Palestinian news website, that Palestinian armed groups had detonated three
explosive devices near Israeli soldiers patrolling the security fence since the
beginning of the year; no one was injured. In December, members of a
Palestinian armed group shot and killed an Israeli civilian contractor with the
Israeli military while he was repairing the perimeter fence.
The Israeli
security rationale of using lethal force to prevent Palestinian armed groups
from engaging in military operations near the perimeter does not justify shooting
civilians who are not taking active part in the hostilities, Human Rights Watch
said. Many have been farmers on their land. The UN Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights reported that in December 2013 Israeli forces
opened fire 20 times from a watchtower on farmers from Beit Hanoun, in the
northern Gaza Strip, as they tried to reach their agricultural lands. In the
second half of 2013, Israeli forces shot and wounded six farmers while they
were working at distances further than 300 meters from the perimeter fence, the
UN office said.
The economy of the Gaza Strip has been severely harmed by
Israel’s and Egypt’s border closures, with unemployment at almost 40 percent
and more than 70 percent of the population receiving humanitarian assistance. Apart
from the deaths and injuries, the practice of firing shots, including warning
shots, at Gaza residents who approach the perimeter has deprived farmers of
access to their agricultural lands, harming livelihoods.
Israeli
military spokespeople and Palestinian witnesses both say that Israeli forces
often fire warning shots in the air and then fire at the legs of people in Gaza
near the perimeter fence before shooting to kill. While firing warning shots
may reduce the likelihood of shooting a civilian, a failure to heed warning
shots does not turn a civilian into a lawful military target. Civilians may not
be targeted, even by shooting to wound. While law enforcement rules encourage
warning shots and non-lethal use of force, it must be in proportion to the
imminent risk faced.
“Shooting at civilians is not a lawful policy near Gaza’s
perimeter fence or anywhere else,” Whitson said. “Israeli commanders need to
change their policies and practices to abide by international law, not flaunt
it.”
<b>For more information on Israeli shootings near the perimeter fence
with Gaza, please see below.</b>
<b>Gaza Perimeter Shooting Incidents</b>
<b>Fatalities</b>
<b><i>Amina
Qdeih </i></b>
Amina Qdeih, about 58, whose family said she had an intellectual
disability and had difficulty speaking, lived in Khuza’a, a town close to the
Israeli perimeter fence in southeastern Gaza, east of Khan Yunis. On February
28, 2014, she and her relatives attended a cousin’s wedding party about 500
meters from home. “She left the wedding by herself, and must have got confused
and lost,” her brother Mahmud, 63, told Human Rights Watch. “About two years
ago she walked into town but people brought her back to us, but this was the
first time she walked toward the fence.”
Her brother said that he became
worried when it was getting late and she had not returned home. He and other
family members alerted residents of Khuza’a that she was missing. “Then we
heard shots fired, around 10 shots or maybe more, in a row. I wasn’t
hopeful.”
Qdeih’s nephew, Ismail, told Human Rights Watch that about an
hour after the family heard the gunfire, he got a phone call from someone who
said he had seen a woman walking toward the fence, who might have been Qdeih,
and that shots were fired and she might have been hit:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Then the [Palestinian] Red
Crescent [ambulance] arrived and we could hear that they were calling on the
radio to get coordination [with Israel for permission] to search the area.
Eventually they searched and we joined the search, until around 2 a.m., but
then we heard [Israeli] drones overhead and decided to leave. We took it as a
warning [of a potential airstrike]. The next morning, at 6 a.m., a few of us
went out and retraced the tracks of the ambulance, and got as close as we could
to the fence. We found her [body] and brought her out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Qdeih’s
body was found near a small barbed-wire fence 30 meters on the Gaza side of the
larger Israeli military perimeter fence, residents said.
</span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/07/28/gaza-let-media-offices-reopen"><i><span style="color: #3287c3; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Ma’an
News</span></i></a><span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"> reported
that an Israeli army spokesperson confirmed that ”Israeli forces fired toward
the lower extremities” of a person who approached the border fence east of Khan
Younis on the night of February 28, after ordering the suspect to stop and
firing warning shots into the air.
“She bled to death while we were searching
for her,” her nephew said. A death certificate from a Gaza hospital, dated
March 1, states that Qdeih, born in 1956, died from “bleeding due to a vein
ruptured in her abdomen by one bullet.”
Residents of Khuza’a said that Israeli
forces often fired at people who approached closer than 500 meters to the
perimeter fence. “We are afraid to get even that close, though, because they
will shoot at distances beyond 500 meters,” Ismail Qdeih said.
<b><i>Ibrahim
Mansour</i></b>
Israeli forces shot Ibrahim Mansour, 35, on February 13,
when he was at least 200 meters from the Israeli perimeter fence in a former
industrial area in the Homra neighborhood of Shajai’ya, east of Gaza City.
Mansour’s family said he had been working each day for two months in the area,
where he and other workers collected rubble and loaded it onto donkey carts to
sell as building material.
“The money Ibrahim made from collecting rubble was
his only income, enough to pay for our food,” his wife, Reem, 36, told Human
Rights Watch. Mansour is survived by Reem and their seven children, ages 2
through 11. She and other family members had been to the area to cultivate land
they rented, she said. “The Israeli soldiers know we’re there,” she said.
“Sometimes the soldiers would drive by,” on a perimeter road on the other side
of the fence, “and the workers run away and hide, then return later.”Mansour’s
cousin Mohannad Mansour said. “The last time when the soldiers fired and the
workers took it as a warning, was in late January. They would always leave
before dusk anyway, to avoid suspicion. Usually if the soldiers did anything,
it was firing teargas.”
There were scores of men working in the area, as
usual, on the day soldiers shot Mansour,Rafeeq Khorkli, 21, a worker, told
Human Rights Watch. Khorkli said he had been working in the area for six weeks
because there were no other jobs: “[Israeli military vehicles] would sometimes
drive by and shoot a warning shot or fire teargas, but then leave.”
Khorkli said that on February 13 at about 2:30 p.m. he saw four unarmed men in
their mid-20s, who were not workers, approach the fence:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">That’s when the [Israeli miltary
vehicle] arrived. The [four] guys left, and we thought the army had left too,
and so we returned to work. Ibrahim was behind me, and my brother was in front
of us, closer to the fence. There were shots around our feet, and I turned to
run, and I got shot in the leg, but it was not a bad wound. That’s when
Ibrahim was hit. When I got hit, I turned around to look for Ibrahim and didn’t
see him, but I thought he had hidden. My brother saw him. We turned him over
and there was blood on the ground. He was far away from the fence, a few
hundred meters. I called my dad, and the ambulance. My dad sent two cars for
us, and we drove and met up with the ambulance. He died in al-Shifa [hospital,
in Gaza City]. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">An
Israeli military spokesperson said that soldiers fired on the “main instigator”
of a group of men who had approached and tampered with the perimeter fence,
after first using other unspecified means to disperse them, according to a <i>Ma’an
News</i> report on February 13.
A hospital autopsy report conducted on
the date of his death stated that Mansour’s head had a serrated bullet entry
wound, brain tissue damage, and multiple fractures of the skull at the bullet’s
exit point.
In a similar incident, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem reported
that Israeli forces shot `Odeh Hamad in the head at about 3:20 p.m. on December
20, 2013, while he was working with his brother at the Beit Hanoun garbage
dump, near the perimeter fence, to collect scraps of plastic and metal for
resale. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that
Hamad was within 100 meters of the fence, on open ground, at the time.
<b><i>Adnan
Abu Khater</i></b>
Israeli forces shot Adnan Abu Khater, 16, on January 2 near
the perimeter fence east of Jabalia, in the Masaha area, where he and nine
classmates from his secondary school went on a picnic after finishing their
exams. One of the students, Abu Khater’s cousin Muhammad, 17, told Human Rights
Watch that they chose to go “for a trip there, because there is nice scenery.
We brought some food: falafel, avocados, and eggs.” The shooting occurred about
11:30 a.m.:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">We were on a hill, hundreds of
meters away from the fence. We weren’t throwing stones or anything, and there
were no “jeeps” [a common term for military Hummers] or drones in the area. A
[military] Hummer drove up to the fence, a soldier stepped out, and shot at us.
He shot four times. I knew he was shooting at us because the sand flew up
around us. We hid behind the hill. The Hummer left, the shooting stopped, and
we broke up into smaller groups and started to leave. I was walking in front.
Adnan was in a group with two others, behind me, when he was shot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Ayman
Abu Sido, a truck driver who was delivering cooking gas tanks to homes in the
area, told Human Rights Watch that he was sitting down to eat lunch nearby when
Abu Khater was shot:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">I had arrived before the kids did.
Kids often go to that area for fun, but we heard the shots and we took it as a
warning. After the [Israeli military] jeep left, they were leaving too – we all
were starting to leave. Adnan was walking last in the group, and then he was
shot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Muhammad
Abu Khater said that he and one of their classmates went back and dragged his
cousin for several hundred meters further away from the fence, “moving in a
zig-zag because they kept shooting at us.” Muhammad said Adnan, shot above the
hip, was bleeding. “It took a long time for the ambulance to arrive,” he said.
“They tried to remove the bullet immediately but one of the doctors said it had
fragmented and wounded his pelvis, stomach, and colon.”
The ambulance arrived
at Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya at about 12:30 p.m., and from there Abu
Khater was transferred to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, his family said.
After operating on him, doctors obtained Israeli military approval to transfer
Abu Khater to an Israeli hospital via the Erez border crossing, his family
said. His mother, Um Muhammad, told Human Rights Watch:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">He needed 18 blood bags during the
operation, the bullet had severed an artery and [damaged] his colon. The doctor
said we needed to send him to an Israeli hospital and I was chosen to go with
him. We left in an ambulance with a doctor and a nurse. At the [Erez] crossing
they moved him onto a stretcher and an open flatbed jeep, with a man from the
Red Cross holding his IV [drip]. The guards searched me and Adnan was taken to
a clinic. Fifteen minutes later they told me he was in an operation, and then
another 15 and they told me he was dead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">According
to a medical report from al-Shifa hospital, Abu Khater was dead on arrival when
he was returned from Erez at 5 a.m. on January 3, from a gunshot wound. A death
certificate, dated January 6, states that he died as a result of a ruptured
vein in the abdomen, due to a bullet that also damaged his pelvis.
<b><i>Bilal
Oweidah </i></b>
Bilal Oweidah, 20, an unemployed carpenter, went to property
owned by a relative near the Gaza perimeter fence north of Beit Lahia at about
3 p.m. on January 24, along with a family friend and his cousin, Akram Oweidah,
21. Akram told Human Rights Watch that the friends “usually go there
every other Friday. It’s a beautiful area, and comparatively calm, unlike some
other places” near the perimeter where Palestinians occasionally hold protests.
The group rarely approached the perimeter fence because ”there are usually
[Israeli military] patrols in the area, tanks, or jeeps,” he said. “But this
time it was empty.We did not see any forces.”
He said that when he and Bilal
arrived in the area, they saw four Palestinians about seven meters from
the perimeter fence on the Gaza side, taking photographs of deer on the Israeli
side of the fence:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">We saw the deer and Bilal called
to me to come closer and take pictures with him. We weren’t carrying anything,
just our cell phones that we took pictures with. Bilal, I, and our friend,
Nour, walked down toward the fence where the other four people were, and
nothing happened. Suddenly we heard a shot, and all of us ran. I ran with
Bilal, for maybe five meters, and then he called out, “I’m hit!” I said, “Are
you joking?” and then saw him start falling over, slowly. I went back and
turned him over. His chest and the ground were bloody. It was one shot to the
chest, he had no other injuries. He blinked twice, three times, and his soul
left him. It must have been a sniper, someone shooting from far away, because
we didn’t see any soldiers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Witnesses
told Human Rights Watch that there were no Palestinian armed groups in the
area, and the bullets appeared to have been fired from the Israeli side of the
fence. Bilal Oweidahwas shot at about 3:45 p.m., Akram Oweidahsaid. Akram and
two others carried Bilal away from the border area to a car and drove him to a
hospital. A medical report from Kamal Odwan hospital states that Bilal Oweidah
was dead on arrival from a bullet entry wound to the chest, with no exit
wound.
The Israeli military did not comment on the shooting of Oweidah. In a
separate incident on January 24, the military said its forces shot at two
Palestinians protesting near the perimeter fence north of Jabalia, a different
area in northern Gaza, according to news reports.
<b>Injuries</b>
<b><i>Nasser
Rahman</i></b>
Nasser Rahman, 24, a journalist and photographer, told Human
Rights Watch that Israeli forces shot him on February 25 while he was covering
a demonstration, organized by a group called Intifada Youth to commemorate the
20th anniversary of the killing by an Israeli settler of 29 Palestinians in
Hebron in 1994. The demonstration began at around 1 p.m. in an area near Nahal
Oz, a former crossing point in the Israeli perimeter fence for imports and
exports, which Israel has closed. Rahman said he was about 50 or 60 meters away
from the fence when soldiers shot him, at about 1:30 p.m.:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">I was there to take photos of the
event. I didn’t have a flak jacket with ”PRESS” markings, but I had my camera,
so it was obvious that I was not throwing anything. I had deliberately
positioned myself on the side of the group, away from the stone throwing, so as
not to be shot. A soldier had left his [military vehicle], and I saw him take
aim at a group of youths.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Rahman
said he was holding a small mirror and tried to shine light at the soldier’s
eyes to distract him and prevent him from shooting at the group:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">I saw him look at me. He must have
thought I was taunting him, and he shot. There was no warning shot, no
gas canister, no rubber bullet. A first shot missed me, and then just seconds
later a bullet hit me in the knee. I didn’t have time to run, but I had started
to turn around to run away, so the second bullet hit my knee from the side, not
straight on. I fell down, and as the others tried to reach me, [the soldiers]
started shooting a lot of [tear] gas canisters toward us. One of the canisters
landed near my head. Finally two guys came and carried me away. I was taken to
the Wafa hospital and immediately transferred in an ambulance to al-Shifa
[hospital, in Gaza City]. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Rahman,
who was wearing a cast when Human Rights Watch spoke with him on March 24, said
the bullet caused a 5-centimeter-wide exit wound.
<b><i>Moaz Abu Ghbeit</i></b>
On
the afternoon of January 24, several dozen Palestinian men and children
participated in a protest against Israeli restrictions on access to land close
to the perimeter fence in an area east of a cemetery outside Jabalya, in the
northern Gaza Strip. An Israeli military spokesperson’s statement and
Palestinian witnesses said that protesters threw rocks at Israeli soldiers on
the other side. The Israeli military spokesperson told <i>Ma’an News</i> that
Israeli forces fired warning shots in the air before shooting “toward the main
two instigators.”
Moaz Abu Ghbeit, 18, said he was not near the perimeter
fence when Israeli forces shot him. Abu Ghbeit told Human Rights Watch that,
being unemployed, he was “bored and decided to go see the protest” that
afternoon:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">There were some guys who were
right next to the fence, but I was standing on a hill at least 200 meters away with
some of my friends. I wasn’t carrying anything. We didn’t see any soldiers, so
I don’t know who shot me, maybe a sniper or a gun in a watchtower. There were
no obstructions. It was open ground, so they could see me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">The
bullet entered Abu Ghbeit’s right knee and exited through his hip, causing a
five-centimeter-wide exit wound and nerve damage. “I fainted and woke up
in the hospital,” he said. “I had lost lots of blood. The doctor said part of
the bullet had fragmented inside me. I was operated on for nerve damage and was
in the hospital for nine days.” He said he would need a second operation to
remove the other fragments.
The Palestinian rights group al-Mezan reported
that during the incident, Israeli forces also injured four men with
rubber-coated metal bullets, and that doctors treated a 22-year-old man and a
17-year-old boy for teargas inhalation.
<b><i>Majed Abu Salama, Hammad Ashour,
and Khaled al-Sabbah</i></b>
On the afternoon of January 19, Israeli forces
shot and wounded three Gaza residents near the perimeter fence east of Gaza
City during a protest against the Israeli military’s perimeter fence policies.
The three men were part of a group of several hundred people who met at 12:30
p.m. in the Shaja’iya neighborhood and walked east, past the neighborhood
police station, toward the former Nahal Oz crossing-point in the perimeter
fence.
At about 3 p.m., Israeli forces shot Majed Abu Salama, a youth activist
who had helped organize the demonstration. He told Human Rights Watch:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">We had brought more than 100 small
olive trees with us, one per person, to plant on the land. The land there
belongs to Ismail al-Arayir, a farmer, who gave us permission to plant on it,
since he can’t access it due to the [Israeli] army. We planted about 50 of the
olive trees when I was shot. I was the first to be shot, in my right lower leg,
when I was about 100 meters from the fence. I went to plant an olive tree and
they planted a bullet in my leg. People carried me away and I went to the
hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">The
three men, interviewed separately, said that the demonstration posed no threat
to Israeli forces. “Some guys managed to put the Palestinian flag on the fence,
and there were a few kids throwing stones at the fence but they were far away
from us, maybe 150 meters, when we were shot,” Abu Salama said.
Hammad Ashour,
21, a student at al-Azhar University in Gaza City, said that Israeli forces
shot him soon after Abu Salama was shot:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">We didn’t expect live fire, at
most we thought there would be teargas, but even that – there was so much more
gas than we expected. We stopped walking toward the fence when they started
firing [teargas], and then there was a pause, so we moved forward again, and
they started shooting [live ammunition]. The bullets were striking by our feet.
I was about 100 meters from the fence when I heard someone had been shot. It
was Majed [Abu Salama]. I turned around to look, and then I was shot and I fell
in a hole. People picked me up and carried me for about 400 meters to a tuk-tuk
[a three-wheel motor vehicle]. There was so much gas, from the canisters, that
the people carrying me fell down. The gas canisters were falling up to 500
meters from the fence. I was hit twice, in my right knee. The bullets
went right through. At the hospital they took arteries from my left leg and
replaced those in my right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Khaled
al-Sabbah, 20, a freelance photojournalist, was taking photographs of Ashour
when he came under fire. He told Human Rights Watch:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">I was there to cover the event.
None of the demonstrators had weapons of any kind. I was wearing a Kevlar vest,
with “PRESS” printed on it. The teargas [canisters] started landing at 400
meters from the fence, and I remember one canister reached the ambulance, which
was 500 meters away. They started shooting live fire at the guys planting olive
trees a few hundred meters from the fence. There was a lot of firing [of
bullets], aimed around our feet, and the [tear] gas shelling was continuous. I
was taking pictures of Ashour, who had been shot and fallen into a hole. They
were firing gas intensely while people were trying to carry Ashour away. I was
on the ground taking pictures, not standing up, when I was shot in the chest.
The vest protected me. I saw the dent and stood up, then I felt pain in my
chest from the impact, and fell down. The pain and the gas were too much for me
and I fainted. I woke up in the hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Al-Sabbah
said that the bullet bruised his chest, and that he had been hospitalized three
times since the protest due to “difficulty breathing,” which he said was the
result of the substantial amount of teargas he inhaled.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-27088375407103664122014-05-15T13:34:00.000-07:002014-05-15T13:34:07.224-07:00'TILL VICTORY<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">WW II VE Day and V Day.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">WW II VE day May 8 1945
coincides (because of time changes?) with V Day May 9 1935 now in Russia once
the Soviet Union. As a veteran of WW II I have always considered the Soviet
Union our allies and I refuse to consider them as enemies to this day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The brave Soviet soldiers
and civilians lost approximately 50,000 lives about half of the total WW II
losses. The United States of America (USA) proudly proclaim they are
responsible for victory even though they did not enter ‘till the December 8 1941.
Canada declared war I think September 1939? According to the USA Canadian lives
did not contribute to victory?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">It all comes down to
history. All systems since, as it is called caveman age, changed as a result of
production changes. As production changed to increase or make better products
it created conditions that require a new system. The world has seen 4 and the
beginnings</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">of the 5<sup>th</sup> – primitive communal, slavery, feudalism
capitalism, socialism and communism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">All systems had an owning
class and a labouring (productive) class each with many divisions. Capitalism
produced two basic classes an owning class and a labouring class. After WW II
came a new revolution the Scientific and Technological Revolution STR. That
revolution created the fact that with STR one laborer could produce the work of
between 5 to 10 using the pre-revolution methods. Capitalists seized on the
chance to pay one wage and receive the same production as multiple employees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">That is the nub of the class
conflicts of today. The time has come to allow labour to receive a fair share
of their production. It requires a new system – a system where labour <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>becomes the owner class.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Yours, ‘till victory in the
class struggle, <br />
John Beeching<o:p></o:p></span></div>
John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-47483044358749074992014-05-14T20:47:00.002-07:002014-05-14T20:47:29.732-07:00Gaza a Target Practice?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt 36.0pt; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
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<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border: none; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 29.0pt;" width="29">
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<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span><a href="http://www.hrw.org//printmail/news/2014/04/24/israel-stop-shooting-gaza-civilians" style="text-indent: -36pt;"><b><span style="color: #535353; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> EMAIL</span></b></a></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/media/images/photographs/2014_Gaza_AdnanAbuKhater.jpg"><span style="color: #31190a; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></a></span></div>
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</span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/media/images/photographs/2014_Gaza_AdnanAbuKhater.jpg"><span style="color: #878787; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Enlarge</span></a><span style="color: #878787; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">
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Palestinians carry the body of 16-year-old Adnan Abu
Khater, who, according to Palestinian medics, was shot by Israeli troops near
the border with Israel, during his funeral in the Gaza Strip on January 3,
2014.
© 2014 Reuters </span><span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Bilal Oweidah, 19, was taking photographs of deer with
friends when he was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers near the perimeter
fence in the Gaza Strip.
Photo courtesy of the Oweidah family </span><span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Amina Qdeih, a 58-year-old woman with an intellectual
disability, was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers on February 28, 2014, after
getting lost walking home from a wedding party near the perimeter fence in the
Gaza Strip.
Photo courtesy of the Qdeih family </span><span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ibrahim Mansour, 35, was shot in the head and killed by
Israeli soldiers on February 13, 2014, while he and others collected rubble for
building materials near the perimeter fence in the Gaza Strip.
Photo courtesy
of the Mansour family </span><span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #e5431a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Month after month, Israeli forces have wounded and killed unarmed
Palestinians who did nothing but cross an invisible, shifting line that Israel
has drawn inside Gaza’s perimeter. It’s appalling that soldiers have shot men,
women, and children apparently for simply crossing a line.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #878836; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">(Jerusalem)
– The Israeli military should immediately stop shooting at Palestinian
civilians inside Gaza. Israeli military forces have killed 4 and wounded more
than 60 civilians near the perimeter fence with Gaza since the beginning of
2014, according to UN figures. There have been no reports of armed Palestinian
fighters shot in the same areas this year.
Human Rights Watch investigated
seven incidents between January 2 and March 1, in which Israeli forces shot
civilians in the vicinity of the fence. Four were killed, including a high
school student on a picnic and a woman with an intellectual disability who was
lost. Five others were wounded, including two journalists and two demonstrators
planting olive trees, none of whom posed a threat to the soldiers or others.
The Israeli military has not claimed that any of the victims in the seven cases
were engaged in military operations or that armed groups were in the area when
the shooting occurred.
“Month after month, Israeli forces have wounded and
killed unarmed Palestinians who did nothing but cross an invisible, shifting
line that </span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/middle-eastn-africa/israel-palestine"><span style="color: #3287c3; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Israel</span></a><span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"> has drawn inside Gaza’s perimeter,” said </span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/bios/sarah-leah-whitson"><span style="color: #3287c3; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Sarah Leah Whitson</span></a><span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s appalling that
soldiers have shot men, women, and children apparently for simply crossing a
line.”
The Israeli military has issued directives prohibiting any Palestinian
presence on land within Gaza abutting the territory’s perimeter fence,
currently up to 300 meters from the fence, but Israeli forces have frequently
shot at Palestinians beyond that distance. The United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that Israeli forces’ use of live
ammunition has placed up to 35 percent of Gaza’s agricultural land off-limits
to farmers. Palestinians living in the densely inhabited Gaza Strip use land
near the fence with Israel for agriculture, collecting rubble, scrap metal, and
other reusable materials, and recreation.
In areas near the Gaza perimeter,
Israeli forceskilled 5 Palestinian civilians and wounded 60 others in 2013,
according to the UN Office of the HighCommissioner for Human Rights. So far in
2014, Israeli forces have killed 4 civilians and wounded more than 60 in those
areas, mostly protesters demonstrating against Israel’s restrictions on access
to farmland near the perimeter fence.
In situations in which military forces
are playing a policing or law-enforcement role, international human rights law
applies; in such circumstances, lethal force may only be used when strictly
necessary to prevent an imminent threat to life. Israeli soldiers do not face
an imminent lethal threat from unarmed Palestinian civilians in areas of Gaza
near the perimeter fence.
In violation of international humanitarian law (or
the laws of war) which prohibits attacks on civilians, Israeli soldiers have
repeatedly shot at civilians near the fence on the Palestinian side.
Under the
laws of war, attacks may only be directed at military objectives, such as enemy
combatants. Forces must do everything feasible to verify that targets are
military objectives, and if there is doubt, must cancel the attack. While
civilians who take a direct part in hostilities are subject to attack, merely
entering a prohibited area does not meet that requirement. Military personnel
who willfully kill civilians are committing a war crime.
On February 28,
Israeli soldiers shot Amina Qdeih, a 58-year-old woman with an intellectual
disability, who got lost while walking home from a wedding party. Her relatives
heard shooting near the perimeter fence late at night, but because of fears of
attack by Israeli drones overhead, they did not find her body until 6 a.m. the
next morning. A hospital report said she had a gunshot wound to her abdomen and
died of blood loss.
On February 13, Israeli forces fatally shot 35-year-old
Ibrahim Mansour in the head while he and others collected rubble for building
material several hundred meters from the perimeter fence. A witness told Human
Rights Watch that an Israeli military vehicle fired teargas at four apparently
unarmed men, who then fled. When Mansour and others who had taken cover resumed
working, Israeli forces fired at them with live ammunition, killing Mansour and
wounding another worker as they tried to run away.
Israeli forces shot and
killed Bilal Oweidah, 19, on January 24, near the perimeter fence when he was
taking photographs of deer while on an outing with friends. On January 2,
Israeli forces shot and killed Adnan Abu Khater, 16, while he was picnicking
about 600 meters from the fence with a group of high school friends to
celebrate finishing their exams. Witnesses in both cases told Human Rights
Watch that all the men and students were unarmed.
In other cases, Israeli
forces shot and wounded Palestinian civilians taking part in protests inside
Gaza against Israeli restrictions on Palestinian access to farmland near the
perimeter, and journalists covering the protests. On February 25, Israeli
forces wounded Nasser Rahman, a 24-year-old journalist covering a
demonstration, hitting him in the kneecap. On January 17, Israeli forces shot
and wounded two Palestinian men attempting to plant olive trees, and a
journalist, during a protest near the fence. The three men told Human Rights
Watch that some young people at the demonstration threw stones toward Israeli
forces but that they were not near the stone throwers at the time.
After a
truce in November 2012, the Israeli military stated that it would allow
Palestinians to approach up to 100 meters of the perimeter. But in April 2013,
an Israeli military spokesperson responded to a freedom of information request
from Gisha, an Israeli rights group, saying that the no-go area extended to 300
meters from the fence. In the past several years, Israeli forces have often
fired at Palestinians at greater distances.
From 2005 through 2013, the
Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), a nongovernmental group,
submitted about two dozen complaints to the Israeli military asking officials
to conduct criminal investigations into alleged killings and injuries in areas
near Gaza’s land perimeter. The Israeli navy also imposes a blockade and limits
Gazan boats to traveling no more than six nautical miles from shore.
The
military has not opened any criminal investigations into their complaints, PCHR
reported. As of December 31, “responses received from the [military] stated
that the cases were closed because the victim had violated the access
restrictions, or because the use of lethal force by the Israeli military was
within its rules of engagement,” the UN Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights reported.
Palestinian armed groups in Gaza have frequently
launched rockets into Israel from areas near the perimeter fence – when
directed at Israeli population centers, such attacks violate the laws of war
prohibition against indiscriminate attacks. Israeli forces say they have
discovered tunnels that armed Palestinian groups constructed from Gaza into
Israel.
In February 2014, an Israeli military spokesperson told <i>Ma’an News</i>,
a Palestinian news website, that Palestinian armed groups had detonated three
explosive devices near Israeli soldiers patrolling the security fence since the
beginning of the year; no one was injured. In December, members of a
Palestinian armed group shot and killed an Israeli civilian contractor with the
Israeli military while he was repairing the perimeter fence.
The Israeli
security rationale of using lethal force to prevent Palestinian armed groups
from engaging in military operations near the perimeter does not justify
shooting civilians who are not taking active part in the hostilities, Human
Rights Watch said. Many have been farmers on their land. The UN Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that in December 2013 Israeli
forces opened fire 20 times from a watchtower on farmers from Beit Hanoun, in
the northern Gaza Strip, as they tried to reach their agricultural lands. In
the second half of 2013, Israeli forces shot and wounded six farmers while they
were working at distances further than 300 meters from the perimeter fence, the
UN office said.
The economy of the Gaza Strip has been severely harmed by
Israel’s and Egypt’s border closures, with unemployment at almost 40 percent
and more than 70 percent of the population receiving humanitarian assistance.
Apart from the deaths and injuries, the practice of firing shots, including
warning shots, at Gaza residents who approach the perimeter has deprived
farmers of access to their agricultural lands, harming livelihoods.
Israeli military spokespeople and Palestinian witnesses both say that
Israeli forces often fire warning shots in the air and then fire at the legs of
people in Gaza near the perimeter fence before shooting to kill. While firing warning
shots may reduce the likelihood of shooting a civilian, a failure to heed
warning shots does not turn a civilian into a lawful military target. Civilians
may not be targeted, even by shooting to wound. While law enforcement rules
encourage warning shots and non-lethal use of force, it must be in proportion
to the imminent risk faced.
“Shooting at civilians is not a lawful policy near
Gaza’s perimeter fence or anywhere else,” Whitson said. “Israeli commanders
need to change their policies and practices to abide by international law, not
flaunt it.”
<b>For more information on Israeli shootings near the perimeter
fence with Gaza, please see below.</b>
<b>Gaza Perimeter Shooting Incidents</b>
<b>Fatalities</b>
<b><i>Amina
Qdeih </i></b>
Amina Qdeih, about 58, whose family said she had an intellectual
disability and had difficulty speaking, lived in Khuza’a, a town close to the
Israeli perimeter fence in southeastern Gaza, east of Khan Yunis. On February
28, 2014, she and her relatives attended a cousin’s wedding party about 500
meters from home. “She left the wedding by herself, and must have got confused
and lost,” her brother Mahmud, 63, told Human Rights Watch. “About two years
ago she walked into town but people brought her back to us, but this was the
first time she walked toward the fence.”
Her brother said that he became
worried when it was getting late and she had not returned home. He and other
family members alerted residents of Khuza’a that she was missing. “Then we
heard shots fired, around 10 shots or maybe more, in a row. I wasn’t
hopeful.”
Qdeih’s nephew, Ismail, told Human Rights Watch that about an
hour after the family heard the gunfire, he got a phone call from someone who
said he had seen a woman walking toward the fence, who might have been Qdeih,
and that shots were fired and she might have been hit:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Then the [Palestinian] Red
Crescent [ambulance] arrived and we could hear that they were calling on the
radio to get coordination [with Israel for permission] to search the area.
Eventually they searched and we joined the search, until around 2 a.m., but
then we heard [Israeli] drones overhead and decided to leave. We took it as a
warning [of a potential airstrike]. The next morning, at 6 a.m., a few of us
went out and retraced the tracks of the ambulance, and got as close as we could
to the fence. We found her [body] and brought her out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Qdeih’s
body was found near a small barbed-wire fence 30 meters on the Gaza side of the
larger Israeli military perimeter fence, residents said.
</span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/07/28/gaza-let-media-offices-reopen"><i><span style="color: #3287c3; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Ma’an
News</span></i></a><span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"> reported
that an Israeli army spokesperson confirmed that ”Israeli forces fired toward
the lower extremities” of a person who approached the border fence east of Khan
Younis on the night of February 28, after ordering the suspect to stop and
firing warning shots into the air.
“She bled to death while we were searching
for her,” her nephew said. A death certificate from a Gaza hospital, dated
March 1, states that Qdeih, born in 1956, died from “bleeding due to a vein
ruptured in her abdomen by one bullet.”
Residents of Khuza’a said that Israeli
forces often fired at people who approached closer than 500 meters to the
perimeter fence. “We are afraid to get even that close, though, because they
will shoot at distances beyond 500 meters,” Ismail Qdeih said.
<b><i>Ibrahim
Mansour</i></b>
Israeli forces shot Ibrahim Mansour, 35, on February 13,
when he was at least 200 meters from the Israeli perimeter fence in a former
industrial area in the Homra neighborhood of Shajai’ya, east of Gaza City.
Mansour’s family said he had been working each day for two months in the area,
where he and other workers collected rubble and loaded it onto donkey carts to
sell as building material.
“The money Ibrahim made from collecting rubble was
his only income, enough to pay for our food,” his wife, Reem, 36, told Human
Rights Watch. Mansour is survived by Reem and their seven children, ages 2
through 11. She and other family members had been to the area to cultivate land
they rented, she said. “The Israeli soldiers know we’re there,” she said.
“Sometimes the soldiers would drive by,” on a perimeter road on the other side
of the fence, “and the workers run away and hide, then return later.”Mansour’s
cousin Mohannad Mansour said. “The last time when the soldiers fired and the
workers took it as a warning, was in late January. They would always leave
before dusk anyway, to avoid suspicion. Usually if the soldiers did anything,
it was firing teargas.”
There were scores of men working in the area, as
usual, on the day soldiers shot Mansour,Rafeeq Khorkli, 21, a worker, told
Human Rights Watch. Khorkli said he had been working in the area for six weeks
because there were no other jobs: “[Israeli military vehicles] would sometimes
drive by and shoot a warning shot or fire teargas, but then leave.”
Khorkli said that on February 13 at about 2:30 p.m. he saw four unarmed men in
their mid-20s, who were not workers, approach the fence:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">That’s when the [Israeli miltary
vehicle] arrived. The [four] guys left, and we thought the army had left too,
and so we returned to work. Ibrahim was behind me, and my brother was in front
of us, closer to the fence. There were shots around our feet, and I turned to
run, and I got shot in the leg, but it was not a bad wound. That’s when
Ibrahim was hit. When I got hit, I turned around to look for Ibrahim and didn’t
see him, but I thought he had hidden. My brother saw him. We turned him over
and there was blood on the ground. He was far away from the fence, a few
hundred meters. I called my dad, and the ambulance. My dad sent two cars for
us, and we drove and met up with the ambulance. He died in al-Shifa [hospital,
in Gaza City]. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">An
Israeli military spokesperson said that soldiers fired on the “main instigator”
of a group of men who had approached and tampered with the perimeter fence,
after first using other unspecified means to disperse them, according to a <i>Ma’an
News</i> report on February 13.
A hospital autopsy report conducted on
the date of his death stated that Mansour’s head had a serrated bullet entry
wound, brain tissue damage, and multiple fractures of the skull at the bullet’s
exit point.
In a similar incident, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem reported
that Israeli forces shot `Odeh Hamad in the head at about 3:20 p.m. on December
20, 2013, while he was working with his brother at the Beit Hanoun garbage
dump, near the perimeter fence, to collect scraps of plastic and metal for
resale. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that
Hamad was within 100 meters of the fence, on open ground, at the time.
<b><i>Adnan
Abu Khater</i></b>
Israeli forces shot Adnan Abu Khater, 16, on January 2 near
the perimeter fence east of Jabalia, in the Masaha area, where he and nine
classmates from his secondary school went on a picnic after finishing their
exams. One of the students, Abu Khater’s cousin Muhammad, 17, told Human Rights
Watch that they chose to go “for a trip there, because there is nice scenery.
We brought some food: falafel, avocados, and eggs.” The shooting occurred about
11:30 a.m.:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">We were on a hill, hundreds of
meters away from the fence. We weren’t throwing stones or anything, and there
were no “jeeps” [a common term for military Hummers] or drones in the area. A
[military] Hummer drove up to the fence, a soldier stepped out, and shot at us.
He shot four times. I knew he was shooting at us because the sand flew up
around us. We hid behind the hill. The Hummer left, the shooting stopped, and
we broke up into smaller groups and started to leave. I was walking in front.
Adnan was in a group with two others, behind me, when he was shot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Ayman
Abu Sido, a truck driver who was delivering cooking gas tanks to homes in the
area, told Human Rights Watch that he was sitting down to eat lunch nearby when
Abu Khater was shot:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">I had arrived before the kids did.
Kids often go to that area for fun, but we heard the shots and we took it as a
warning. After the [Israeli military] jeep left, they were leaving too – we all
were starting to leave. Adnan was walking last in the group, and then he was
shot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Muhammad
Abu Khater said that he and one of their classmates went back and dragged his
cousin for several hundred meters further away from the fence, “moving in a
zig-zag because they kept shooting at us.” Muhammad said Adnan, shot above the
hip, was bleeding. “It took a long time for the ambulance to arrive,” he said.
“They tried to remove the bullet immediately but one of the doctors said it had
fragmented and wounded his pelvis, stomach, and colon.”
The ambulance arrived
at Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya at about 12:30 p.m., and from there Abu
Khater was transferred to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, his family said.
After operating on him, doctors obtained Israeli military approval to transfer
Abu Khater to an Israeli hospital via the Erez border crossing, his family
said. His mother, Um Muhammad, told Human Rights Watch:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">He needed 18 blood bags during the
operation, the bullet had severed an artery and [damaged] his colon. The doctor
said we needed to send him to an Israeli hospital and I was chosen to go with
him. We left in an ambulance with a doctor and a nurse. At the [Erez] crossing
they moved him onto a stretcher and an open flatbed jeep, with a man from the
Red Cross holding his IV [drip]. The guards searched me and Adnan was taken to
a clinic. Fifteen minutes later they told me he was in an operation, and then
another 15 and they told me he was dead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">According
to a medical report from al-Shifa hospital, Abu Khater was dead on arrival when
he was returned from Erez at 5 a.m. on January 3, from a gunshot wound. A death
certificate, dated January 6, states that he died as a result of a ruptured
vein in the abdomen, due to a bullet that also damaged his pelvis.
<b><i>Bilal
Oweidah </i></b>
Bilal Oweidah, 20, an unemployed carpenter, went to property
owned by a relative near the Gaza perimeter fence north of Beit Lahia at about
3 p.m. on January 24, along with a family friend and his cousin, Akram Oweidah,
21. Akram told Human Rights Watch that the friends “usually go there
every other Friday. It’s a beautiful area, and comparatively calm, unlike some
other places” near the perimeter where Palestinians occasionally hold protests.
The group rarely approached the perimeter fence because ”there are usually
[Israeli military] patrols in the area, tanks, or jeeps,” he said. “But this
time it was empty.We did not see any forces.”
He said that when he and Bilal
arrived in the area, they saw four Palestinians about seven meters from
the perimeter fence on the Gaza side, taking photographs of deer on the Israeli
side of the fence:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">We saw the deer and Bilal called
to me to come closer and take pictures with him. We weren’t carrying anything,
just our cell phones that we took pictures with. Bilal, I, and our friend,
Nour, walked down toward the fence where the other four people were, and
nothing happened. Suddenly we heard a shot, and all of us ran. I ran with
Bilal, for maybe five meters, and then he called out, “I’m hit!” I said, “Are
you joking?” and then saw him start falling over, slowly. I went back and
turned him over. His chest and the ground were bloody. It was one shot to the
chest, he had no other injuries. He blinked twice, three times, and his soul
left him. It must have been a sniper, someone shooting from far away, because
we didn’t see any soldiers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Witnesses
told Human Rights Watch that there were no Palestinian armed groups in the
area, and the bullets appeared to have been fired from the Israeli side of the
fence. Bilal Oweidahwas shot at about 3:45 p.m., Akram Oweidahsaid. Akram and
two others carried Bilal away from the border area to a car and drove him to a
hospital. A medical report from Kamal Odwan hospital states that Bilal Oweidah
was dead on arrival from a bullet entry wound to the chest, with no exit
wound.
The Israeli military did not comment on the shooting of Oweidah. In a
separate incident on January 24, the military said its forces shot at two
Palestinians protesting near the perimeter fence north of Jabalia, a different
area in northern Gaza, according to news reports.
<b>Injuries</b>
<b><i>Nasser
Rahman</i></b>
Nasser Rahman, 24, a journalist and photographer, told Human
Rights Watch that Israeli forces shot him on February 25 while he was covering
a demonstration, organized by a group called Intifada Youth to commemorate the
20th anniversary of the killing by an Israeli settler of 29 Palestinians in
Hebron in 1994. The demonstration began at around 1 p.m. in an area near Nahal
Oz, a former crossing point in the Israeli perimeter fence for imports and
exports, which Israel has closed. Rahman said he was about 50 or 60 meters away
from the fence when soldiers shot him, at about 1:30 p.m.:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">I was there to take photos of the
event. I didn’t have a flak jacket with ”PRESS” markings, but I had my camera,
so it was obvious that I was not throwing anything. I had deliberately
positioned myself on the side of the group, away from the stone throwing, so as
not to be shot. A soldier had left his [military vehicle], and I saw him take
aim at a group of youths.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Rahman
said he was holding a small mirror and tried to shine light at the soldier’s
eyes to distract him and prevent him from shooting at the group:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">I saw him look at me. He must have
thought I was taunting him, and he shot. There was no warning shot, no
gas canister, no rubber bullet. A first shot missed me, and then just seconds
later a bullet hit me in the knee. I didn’t have time to run, but I had started
to turn around to run away, so the second bullet hit my knee from the side, not
straight on. I fell down, and as the others tried to reach me, [the soldiers]
started shooting a lot of [tear] gas canisters toward us. One of the canisters
landed near my head. Finally two guys came and carried me away. I was taken to
the Wafa hospital and immediately transferred in an ambulance to al-Shifa
[hospital, in Gaza City]. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Rahman,
who was wearing a cast when Human Rights Watch spoke with him on March 24, said
the bullet caused a 5-centimeter-wide exit wound.
<b><i>Moaz Abu Ghbeit</i></b>
On
the afternoon of January 24, several dozen Palestinian men and children
participated in a protest against Israeli restrictions on access to land close
to the perimeter fence in an area east of a cemetery outside Jabalya, in the
northern Gaza Strip. An Israeli military spokesperson’s statement and
Palestinian witnesses said that protesters threw rocks at Israeli soldiers on
the other side. The Israeli military spokesperson told <i>Ma’an News</i> that
Israeli forces fired warning shots in the air before shooting “toward the main
two instigators.”
Moaz Abu Ghbeit, 18, said he was not near the perimeter
fence when Israeli forces shot him. Abu Ghbeit told Human Rights Watch that,
being unemployed, he was “bored and decided to go see the protest” that
afternoon:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">There were some guys who were
right next to the fence, but I was standing on a hill at least 200 meters away
with some of my friends. I wasn’t carrying anything. We didn’t see any
soldiers, so I don’t know who shot me, maybe a sniper or a gun in a watchtower.
There were no obstructions. It was open ground, so they could see me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">The
bullet entered Abu Ghbeit’s right knee and exited through his hip, causing a
five-centimeter-wide exit wound and nerve damage. “I fainted and woke up
in the hospital,” he said. “I had lost lots of blood. The doctor said part of
the bullet had fragmented inside me. I was operated on for nerve damage and was
in the hospital for nine days.” He said he would need a second operation to
remove the other fragments.
The Palestinian rights group al-Mezan reported
that during the incident, Israeli forces also injured four men with
rubber-coated metal bullets, and that doctors treated a 22-year-old man and a
17-year-old boy for teargas inhalation.
<b><i>Majed Abu Salama, Hammad Ashour,
and Khaled al-Sabbah</i></b>
On the afternoon of January 19, Israeli forces
shot and wounded three Gaza residents near the perimeter fence east of Gaza
City during a protest against the Israeli military’s perimeter fence policies.
The three men were part of a group of several hundred people who met at 12:30
p.m. in the Shaja’iya neighborhood and walked east, past the neighborhood
police station, toward the former Nahal Oz crossing-point in the perimeter fence.
At
about 3 p.m., Israeli forces shot Majed Abu Salama, a youth activist who had
helped organize the demonstration. He told Human Rights Watch:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">We had brought more than 100 small
olive trees with us, one per person, to plant on the land. The land there belongs
to Ismail al-Arayir, a farmer, who gave us permission to plant on it, since he
can’t access it due to the [Israeli] army. We planted about 50 of the olive
trees when I was shot. I was the first to be shot, in my right lower leg, when
I was about 100 meters from the fence. I went to plant an olive tree and they
planted a bullet in my leg. People carried me away and I went to the hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">The
three men, interviewed separately, said that the demonstration posed no threat
to Israeli forces. “Some guys managed to put the Palestinian flag on the fence,
and there were a few kids throwing stones at the fence but they were far away
from us, maybe 150 meters, when we were shot,” Abu Salama said.
Hammad Ashour,
21, a student at al-Azhar University in Gaza City, said that Israeli forces
shot him soon after Abu Salama was shot:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">We didn’t expect live fire, at
most we thought there would be teargas, but even that – there was so much more
gas than we expected. We stopped walking toward the fence when they started firing
[teargas], and then there was a pause, so we moved forward again, and they
started shooting [live ammunition]. The bullets were striking by our feet. I
was about 100 meters from the fence when I heard someone had been shot. It was
Majed [Abu Salama]. I turned around to look, and then I was shot and I fell in
a hole. People picked me up and carried me for about 400 meters to a tuk-tuk [a
three-wheel motor vehicle]. There was so much gas, from the canisters, that the
people carrying me fell down. The gas canisters were falling up to 500 meters
from the fence. I was hit twice, in my right knee. The bullets went right
through. At the hospital they took arteries from my left leg and replaced those
in my right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Khaled
al-Sabbah, 20, a freelance photojournalist, was taking photographs of Ashour
when he came under fire. He told Human Rights Watch:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">I was there to cover the event.
None of the demonstrators had weapons of any kind. I was wearing a Kevlar vest,
with “PRESS” printed on it. The teargas [canisters] started landing at 400
meters from the fence, and I remember one canister reached the ambulance, which
was 500 meters away. They started shooting live fire at the guys planting olive
trees a few hundred meters from the fence. There was a lot of firing [of bullets],
aimed around our feet, and the [tear] gas shelling was continuous. I was taking
pictures of Ashour, who had been shot and fallen into a hole. They were firing
gas intensely while people were trying to carry Ashour away. I was on the
ground taking pictures, not standing up, when I was shot in the chest. The vest
protected me. I saw the dent and stood up, then I felt pain in my chest from
the impact, and fell down. The pain and the gas were too much for me and I
fainted. I woke up in the hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #31190a; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Al-Sabbah
said that the bullet bruised his chest, and that he had been hospitalized three
times since the protest due to “difficulty breathing,” which he said was the
result of the substantial amount of teargas he inhaled.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-48223881796077942362014-05-13T14:04:00.000-07:002014-05-13T14:04:06.165-07:00400 US mercenaries 'deployed on ground' in Ukraine military op<h1 style="background-color: white; font-family: plumbmedium; font-size: 2.6em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.1999em; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
400 US mercenaries 'deployed on ground' in Ukraine military op</h1>
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<span class="time" style="color: #999999; float: left; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 5px 3px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: nowrap;">Published time: May 11, 2014 15:04<br />Edited time: May 12, 2014 21:59</span><div id="get-short-url" style="bottom: 0px; float: right; font-size: 13px; margin: 12px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; z-index: 40;">
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Ukrainian troops outside the town of Andreyevskoe near Slaviyansk, Donetsk Region, where local residents blocked a column of Ukrainian Army armored personnel carriers. (RIA Novosti / Mikhail Voskresenskiy)</div>
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Trends</div>
<a href="http://rt.com/trends/ukraine-turmoil/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; color: #044faa; font-size: 1.3em; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; vertical-align: baseline;">Ukraine turmoil</a><div style="font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Tags</div>
<a href="http://rt.com/tags/army/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; color: #044faa; font-size: 1.3em; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; vertical-align: baseline;">Army</a>, <a href="http://rt.com/tags/clashes/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; color: #044faa; font-size: 1.3em; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; vertical-align: baseline;">Clashes</a>, <a href="http://rt.com/tags/conflict/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; color: #044faa; font-size: 1.3em; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; vertical-align: baseline;">Conflict</a>, <a href="http://rt.com/tags/mass-media/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; color: #044faa; font-size: 1.3em; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; vertical-align: baseline;">Mass media</a>,<a href="http://rt.com/tags/military/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; color: #044faa; font-size: 1.3em; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; vertical-align: baseline;">Military</a>, <a href="http://rt.com/tags/opposition/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; color: #044faa; font-size: 1.3em; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; vertical-align: baseline;">Opposition</a>, <a href="http://rt.com/tags/politics/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; color: #044faa; font-size: 1.3em; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; vertical-align: baseline;">Politics</a>, <a href="http://rt.com/tags/protest/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; color: #044faa; font-size: 1.3em; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; vertical-align: baseline;">Protest</a>,<a href="http://rt.com/tags/usa/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; color: #044faa; font-size: 1.3em; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; vertical-align: baseline;">USA</a>, <a href="http://rt.com/tags/ukraine/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; color: #044faa; font-size: 1.3em; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; vertical-align: baseline;">Ukraine</a>, <a href="http://rt.com/tags/violence/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; color: #044faa; font-size: 1.3em; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; vertical-align: baseline;">Violence</a></div>
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About 400 elite mercenaries from the notorious US private security firm Academi (formerly Blackwater) are taking part in the Ukrainian military operation against anti-government protesters in southeastern regions of the country, German media reports.</div>
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The Bild am Sonntag newspaper, citing a source in intelligence circles, wrote Sunday that Academi employees are involved in the Kiev military crackdown on pro-autonomy activists in near the town of Slavyansk, in the Donetsk region.</div>
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On April 29, German Intelligence Service (BND) informed Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government about the mercenaries’ participation in the operation, the paper said, RIA Novosti reported. It is not clear who commands the private military contractors and pays for their services, however.</div>
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In March, media reports appeared suggesting that the coup-imposed government in Kiev could have employed up to 300 mercenaries.That was before the new government launched a military operation against anti-Maidan activists, or “terrorists” as Kiev put it, in southeast Ukraine.</div>
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At the time, the Russian Foreign Ministry said then that reports claiming Kiev was planning to involve “<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">involve staff from foreign military companies to ‘ensure the rule of law,’” could suggest that it wanted “to suppress civil protests and dissatisfaction</em>.”</div>
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In particular, Greystone Limited, which is currently registered in Barbados and is a part of Academi Corporation, is a candidate for such a gendarme role. It is a similar and probably an affiliated structure of the Blackwater private army, whose staff have been accused of cruel and systematic violations of human rights in various trouble spots on many occasions.</div>
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“<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Among the candidates for the role of gendarme is the Barbados-registered company Greystone Limited, which is integrated with the Academi corporation,</em>” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It is an analogue, and, probably and affiliated body of the Blackwater private army, whose employees have repeatedly been accused of committing grievous and systematic human rights abuses in different troubled regions</em>.”</div>
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Allegations increased further after unverified <a href="http://rt.com/op-edge/ukraine-blackwater-mercenaries-russia-794/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; color: #044faa; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">videos appeared</a> on YouTube of unidentified armed men in the streets of Donetsk, the capital of the country’s industrial and coalmining region. In those videos, onlookers can be heard shouting “<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mercenaries</em>!”“<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Blackwater!</em>,” and “<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Who are you going to shoot at?</em>”</div>
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<img alt="(FILES) A picture taken on July 5, 2005 shows contractors of the US private security firm Blackwater securing the site of a roadside bomb attack near the Iranian embassy in central Baghdad. (AFP Photo / Ahmad Al-Rubaye)" src="http://rt.com/files/news/26/a0/40/00/000_nic334155.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: none; height: auto; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 100% !important;" /><div class="article_img_footer" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.74902); bottom: 0px; font-size: 1em; left: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 6px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline; width: 673px;">
(FILES) A picture taken on July 5, 2005 shows contractors of the US private security firm Blackwater securing the site of a roadside bomb attack near the Iranian embassy in central Baghdad. (AFP Photo / Ahmad Al-Rubaye)</div>
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Academi denied its involvement in Ukraine, claiming on its website that “<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">rumors</em>” were posted by “<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">some irresponsible bloggers and online reporters</em>.”</div>
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“<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Such unfounded statements combined with the lack of factual reporting to support them and the lack of context about the company, are nothing more than sensationalistic efforts to create hysteria and headlines in times of genuine crisis</em>,” the US firm <a href="http://academi.com/news_room/press_releases/88" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; color: #044faa; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.5s, text-decoration 0.5s; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">stated</a>.</div>
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The American security company Blackwater gained worldwide notoriety for the substantial role it played in the Iraq war as a contractor for the US government. In recent years it has changed its name twice – in 2009 it was renamed Xe Services and in 2011 it got its current name, Academi.</div>
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The firm became infamous for the alleged September 16, 2007 killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad. The attack, which saw 20 others wounded, was allegedly without justification and in violation of deadly-force rules that pertained to American security contractors in Iraq at the time. Between 2005 and September 2007, Blackwater security guards were involved in at least 195 shooting incidents in Iraq and fired first in 163 of those cases, a Congressional report said at the time.</div>
John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-49677993098422729222014-05-13T13:31:00.002-07:002014-05-13T13:31:36.328-07:00Fascism - open rule of business <div class="MsoNormal">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">PRESS RELEASE:</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Recent developments in the
Ukraine reveal that the US-NATO-EU consortium has begun a new cold war for raw
materials cheap labour and markets. This time it is directed against Russia. It
is thanks to the media that when one sees the word Russia – communist pops into
mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Once more the ‘divide and
rule’ seems to have taken over. Is the Ukraine to become the new Korea with a
north south division? Who will draw the dividing line?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">It is clear under premier
Harpers watch the government of Canada supports US-NATO-EU intervention. From
news reports it is clear the support includes extremist fascist groups who are
not peaceful demonstrators but armed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">CPS-Vancouver condemns this
position. We support a significant and so far silent sector of Ukrainians. They
are a major sector of the Ukraine’s population not seen or heard. We support
this majority population. Fascism and anti-communism are tools to keep the
ruling class in power and imperialism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">John Beeching,<br />
WW II veteran, Chair CPS-Vancouver and Hon. Chair CPS<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-84955870088284736592014-05-13T13:26:00.002-07:002014-05-13T13:26:49.081-07:00Fair Taxes<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">OPEN
LETTER: A FAIR TAX POLICY.</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">There
are so many social issues suffering from lack of government financing one
hardly knows where to start. Unions have always been a vanguard for its
members. The spin-off has been the general public and particularly non-union
workers have benefitted also.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Our
nation is presently in an world-wide economic crisis of business and government
creation. There is a plethora of organizations trying to deal with today’s
problems. Governments and big business are ignoring their efforts. They see no
reason to change. All levels of government try to represent the citizens but
also without affecting profits or hurting business. It explains why income tax
is the only progressive tax of all taxation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">At
present taxation is not fair or equitable. Big business, finance organizations
and investors do not have a progressive tax; it is done by formula, hidden from
the public. A progressive business tax policy should provide governments with
sufficient money to resolve the various issues government and the people they
represent face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Our
society has two basic classes with many divisions, an owning class and a
labouring class. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The
owning class accumulates the wealth produced by labour’s production. This
system is called capitalism. A new development after World War Two has made it
possible for laborers to produce all the production previously made by 7 or
more persons. The owning class continues to use its power over government to
reduce labour cost and keep the greater portion of profits thus made. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The
time has come for a revolutionary change to a new system that takes ownership
power into the hands of those who labour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">John
Beeching<o:p></o:p></span></div>
John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-44663436502610051572014-05-13T13:23:00.000-07:002014-05-13T13:23:14.071-07:00DEMOCRACY BEGINS WITH YOU<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">HAS CANADA
BECOME A SURVEILANCE STATE?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> John Beeching<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">We have a copy of “Criminalizing
Criticism of Israel in Canada” Global Research. Here is a complete version. </span><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/criminalizing-criticism-of-israel-in-canada/5376306"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">http://www.globalresearch.ca/criminalizing-criticism-of-israel-in-canada/5376306</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">We veterans of World War Two
are well aware that under Hitler leadership Germany became one. How long before
it is used to stifle criticism of the Harper government. It has a majority of
seats but a minority of public support about 30%. It does not therefore have a
“mandate” as Harper is fond of saying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">“Bill C-13 A digital Trojan
Horse for the Surveillance State.” </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Global Research.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> “[…]</span><span style="color: #282322; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"> The bill even includes
‘hate legislation’…” </span><span style="color: #282322; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Department
of Justice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #282322; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">“A
comment regarding Bill C-13, The basis of the Bill is to stop the burgeoning
BDS<br />
campaign. It is fitting to the efforts of the extremist conservative government
to privatize, amend the criminal code, build more jails, destroy or get rid of
unions, and much more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #282322; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">As
Honorary Chair of CPS and Chair of CPS Vancouver I call for wide circulation of
this information. As advocates for Social Justice it has never been in the
danger it is now. How long before Harpers government find a way to include
criticism of deeds and acts that widen the gap between rich and poor. A police
state is not the Canadian way.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #282322; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">We urge
you to contact your MP and use the two suggestions made in the introductory of
the item. 1. That Section 12 of Bill C-13 be amended be amended with the
following “Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as conflicting with
Canada’s responsibility, in accordance with Article 1 of the Fourth Geneva
Convention.” Nor shall anything in this section (the section that contains
these revisions) be interpreted be interpreted as conflicting with Canada’s
responsibilities under other instruments of international humanitarian law of
which Canada is a signatory.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #282322; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">We are
pleased to endorse and recommend 2. I would recommend is for Canadians to
replace the government that engages in Trojan-horse lawfare of this kind with a
better one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #282322; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Remember</span></b><span style="color: #282322; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">,
“DEMOCRACY BEGINS WITH <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">YOU</b>.” Let us
ACT now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 20.0pt; margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #282322; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">.</span><span style="color: #282322; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #282322; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #282322; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-12252762226030068462014-05-13T09:48:00.002-07:002014-05-13T09:48:54.830-07:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">OPEN LETTER:</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">DEAR EDITOR,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Parody, “The time has come,
the walrus said, to speak of many things.”<br />
Of goons and finks and company lackeys who support only those that are
desperately attempting to halt the failure of the present world system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Socialism has not failed -
it is alive and flourishing. The former socialist block of the Warsaw Pact were
brought down by counter revolutionaries within and from without.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The social Internet by
design or accident serves as a pressure-relief-valve to divert the systems
opposition. Instead it has become a source of information never dreamed of. The
world’s peoples are awakening and fast becoming competition to the world’s
super-power – Peoples super power.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Which side are you on?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">John Beeching, Vancouver.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-91374860295339419292013-11-27T10:44:00.001-08:002013-11-27T10:44:41.203-08:00"THE PREVAILING ECONOMIC SYSTEM""Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed and bring about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in sacralized workings of the prevailing economic shyster. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting." Pope Francis from Facebook<br />
<br />
A growing number of Canadians, perhaps people world wide, are now understanding that we need a real change - not a reform change. We think the pope would not dissagree. The present world system is terminally ill with no remedy. The dialogue is presently spreading, we urge any who read this to begin to dialogue on the issue of what system do we want. It beats war for peace. "Civilized people talk, they don't fight." Author unknown.John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-5678005410585051422013-11-22T10:07:00.001-08:002013-11-22T10:07:55.654-08:00IT IS TIME FOR ACTION <br />
<div>
It is time for action if we want to save public transit. If you agree with the letter below let the BC Premier and NDP leader and Auditor General know you support it. for email here is a list - <premier@leg.bc.ca> , <adrian.dix@ leg.bc.ca> , <bcauditor@bcauditor.com><br />
<blockquote type="cite">
<div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Dear Premier, </span><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">I am unable to find in my computer the following letter. It is copied here in case It did not go or get delivered. This letter does contain minor amendments. With apologies to all, </span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">John Beeching</span><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">4715 Lanark Street</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Vancouver, BC V5N 3R9</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">November 18, 2013</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Dear Premier Clark,</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Transportation in South Coast British Columbia is central to its industries and all business, small or large. It transports workers and employees to and from work. Without that, business would fail. It is imperative that all businesses in the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Act - TransLink operate so as to achieve this need of industry and business.. Presently it is a failure as transportation for the able bodied and disabled is in crisis due to limited income from government. TransLink announced a decade freeze to 2023 for HandyDART. A Taxi Pilot Program has been introduced.</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Media and internet reveal a growing opposition to all transit changes. Our personal experiences revealing safety concerns have been sent to The TransLink Board, CBC and the Auditor General. We believe the financial problem is a result of unfair government taxation policies favouring business thus limiting taxation income for the government.</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">We therefore with respect call on you and the BC Legislature to initiate forthwith a public inquiry into all transit, able bodied and disabled for the South Coast British Columbia Transit.</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Cc is reserved by us.</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">John Beeching</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Elizabeth Beeching</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;">
<div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;">
<div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-26185266156783794422013-11-08T21:34:00.001-08:002013-11-08T21:34:26.562-08:00NOVEMBER 11 REMEMBRANCE DAY<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">THIS NOVEMBER 11 KEEP IN MIND THAT THE BEST REMEMBRANCE OF VETERANS WHO
HAVE DIED IN PREVIOUS WARS IS TO ASSURE THEY DID NOT DIE IN VAIN.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">HOW? JOIN THE STRUGGLE TO END ‘WARS FOR PEACE’. JOIN PEACE EFFORST TO
STOP ILLEGAL WARS – WARS OF OCCUATION, WARS FOR MARKETS AND RAW MATERIALS, WARS
FOR WORLD HEGEMONY.</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">John
Beeching WW II veteran.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-25421324735933227362013-10-31T13:32:00.003-07:002013-10-31T13:32:56.177-07:00More Spying<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MEDIA RELEASE: CPS-VANCOUVER:</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Canadians
for Pease and Social Justice, CPS - Vancouver received the information below
today 31-10-13.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We consider it
another attack on Canadians civil liberty at the behest of open business
governance. It is slavishly followed by what is supposed to be elected
representatives for our protection, MP’s MLA’s that open business helped get
elected.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Canadian
youth are leading the way in the attack against open corporate rule. Unions and
Social Activist groups join them. However, unless Canadian public opinion
wakens from their brainwashed state and begins to rebel against the open rule
of business they will find themselves living under some form of fascism. WW II
veterans will surely hate that. We did not fight for it we fought for freedom
from it AND WON then. Remember that this November 11 and make it true they did
not die in vain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The
time to rebel is before that happens. The Harper government must be told you do
not have a people’s mandate to take us on fascism’s slippery slope – STOP
Harper & Co NOW!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">John
Beeching, WW II veteran, Chair CPS – Vancouver, Hon Chair CPS.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“Thursday, October 31st 2013, 9:55 am<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The Canadian Press<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">OTTAWA - A federal review agency says
sensitive information gathered by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
could be abused by Canada's allies due to lax sharing policies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In its annual report, the watchdog
that keeps an eye on CSIS flags concerns about what happens to intelligence
that CSIS passes to the national eavesdropping agency, which in turn shares the
details with foreign allies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The report underscores the fact CSIS
is collaborating ever more closely with Communications Security Establishment
Canada, which has come under scrutiny lately due to its participation in the
international Five Eyes alliance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">CSEC, which monitors foreign
telephone, satellite and Internet traffic, shares information with the U.S.
National Security Agency and counterparts in Britain, Australia and New
Zealand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The American NSA has been the subject
of almost daily headlines due to leaks from former contractor Edward Snowden
that have revealed the agency's vast surveillance of worldwide communications.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In its report,
tabled in Parliament, the Security Intelligence Review Committee recommends
CSIS develop clearer and more robust principles of co-operation with CSEC to
ensure appropriate information sharing.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-5197697234601795612013-10-18T15:04:00.002-07:002013-10-18T15:04:32.990-07:00OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNMENT OF BC<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">The letter below was sent this morning.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;">Open letter: Government of British Columbia</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Dear Christy Clark and Adrian Dix, as Premier and leader of the Opposition you are leaders of the BC Provincial Government. As such the responsibilities that go with it. The time has come for the government to deal with BC transportation, vital to business and the public. The general public considers it to be in a mess.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">A groundswell of dissatisfaction with public transit merits your attention. It will be an issue in the next election. These groundswells a better dealt with than ignored.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">We believe the time is ripe for a public inquiry into the Department of Transportation and all its ancillaries that come under the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Act. The public investigation should be authorized to open hearings of all concerned with emphasis on users. Its report should obligate the government to introduce its recommendations to the House for an extended discussion and government action.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">We reserve the right to Cc this open letter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Yours sincerely,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Two Handydart users<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">John and Elizabeth Beeching, 4715 Lanark Street, Vancouver, BC V5N 3R9<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-40661836634801635792013-10-12T14:48:00.003-07:002013-10-12T14:48:44.975-07:00Is HandyDART?TransLink guilty of misleading advertisement?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"></span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
October 12, 2013</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Dear Editor,</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Extra Bold';">IS HANDDYART AND TRANSLINK GUILTY OF MISLEADING ADVERTISEMENT?</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Extra Bold';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Extra Bold';">Handydart advertising informs the general public that it is a door-to-door service. Now they are introducing a trial taxi service, with TransLink approval, that is a curb-to-curb service.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Extra Bold';">People with handicaps can be unstable on their feet particularly the older ones. This is a danger of falling ask any OT. It is why all Handydart drivers insist on us holding their arm. As a curb-to-curb service the Taxi driver only deals with you once you get to the curb.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Abadi MT Condensed Extra Bold';">John Beeching</span></div>
</div>
John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-52545452150633167522013-10-05T21:45:00.002-07:002013-10-05T21:45:32.555-07:00Globalization of NATO:
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">“”Nazemroa’s book is a
must-read for any European or other NATO state citizen who wants to understand
the danger the American driven Alliance presents to world harmony and peace. I
would hope that having done so the reader would accept appropriate responsibility
for the actively pursuring ways to terminate this war machine that seeks out
opportunities for warfare for all the wrong reasons … Reading this book may be the first step to finding ourselves
beforfe it is too late.” <i>From the forword</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Denis J Halliday <br />
United nations Assistant Secretary General<br />
(1994 – 98)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Globalization of NATO: Military Doctrine of
Global Warfare</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
by Global Research – www globalresearch.ca<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">URL of the article<br />
<a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/?p=5307198">http://www.globalresearch.ca?p=5307198</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-38657947561834488862013-10-02T13:40:00.002-07:002013-10-02T13:40:20.404-07:00Nelson Mandela re. the year of the older person <a aria-haspopup="true" aria-hidden="true" aria-owns="js_72" class="actorPhoto lfloat" data-ft="{"type":60,"tn":"\u003C"}" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/hovercard.php?id=468207846523343&extragetparams=%7B%22hc_location%22%3A%22stream%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/nelsonmandela?ref=stream" id="js_73" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; float: left; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-top: 18px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" tabindex="0"><img alt="" class="_s0 profilePic _rw img" src="https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net/hprofile-ak-ash4/373303_468207846523343_1439155534_q.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: 50px; width: 50px;" /></a><br />
<div class="storyInnerContent" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin-left: 60px; text-align: left;">
<div class="mainWrapper" style="margin: 0px 35px 16px 0px; padding-top: 18px;">
<div role="article">
<h5 class="uiStreamMessage uiStreamHeadline" data-ft="{"tn":":"}" style="color: black; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.38; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word;">
<div class="actorDescription actorName" data-ft="{"type":2,"tn":":"}" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px;">
<a data-ft="{"tn":";"}" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=468207846523343&extragetparams=%7B%22hc_location%22%3A%22stream%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/nelsonmandela?ref=stream&hc_location=stream" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Nelson Mandela</a></div>
</h5>
<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}" style="color: black; font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3,"tn":"K"}" style="color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.38;">"A society that does not value its older people denies its roots and endangers its future. Let us strive to enhance their capacity to support themselves for as long as possible and, when they cannot do so anymore, to care for them." ~ Nelson Mandela in a message announcing 1999 as the United Nations International Year of Older Persons, 17 December 1998</span></h5>
<div>
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3,"tn":"K"}" style="color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.38;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3,"tn":"K"}" style="color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.38;">And governments still in 2013 give bailouts or tax exemptions to the mega rich at the same time cutting services and financing for seniors. For Profit rules. JMB</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-39130264973611243362013-09-30T21:32:00.002-07:002013-09-30T21:32:46.752-07:00Vancouver - Densification Translink<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #434343; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 20pt;">To the editor:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #434343; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 20pt;">Vancouver residents rally for planning changes at City Hall protest<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">by </span></i><a href="http://www.straight.com/users/yolande-cole"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; text-decoration: none;">YOLANDE COLE</span></a><i><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> on </span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">SEP 24, 2013</span><i><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;"> at </span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">9:11 PM Georgia Straight<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">A most interesting article: We live next door to a related development. We once had two houses South of us. We now have three houses with two addresses each, two lane houses with their addresses. A total of eight residences where once there were two.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">There is something about densification that needs discussion and an action plan by officials. We understand that densification may be an answer to Vancouver expansion, but as we told the planning board densification without a plan will be a disaster that creates severe crisis in an already stressed number of city facilities and services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Densification overloads existing overcrowded Hospitals, Schools; Libraries will need expansion, as do Community Centers’. There may be others that could be raised.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Parking problem in Vancouver; densification will create a need for more parking and again costs will go up. Transportation is vital to both business and citizens. Traffic accidents in Vancouver are problematic. Are our streets wide enough for the new load created by densification? The predicted increase in senior population will add to the densification problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Planning is needed to get people out of their cars and into public transit. Transit plan in the form of <i>South Coast British Columbia Transportation Act</i> was originally supposed to do just that. The time has come to recognize that a transit public inquiry open to all is desperately needed. Particular attention should be paid to all transit users, able bodies and disabled; transit users experiences will contribute significantly to a transit investigation. The investigation should have prior commitments from all levels of government to act positively on the investigation’s recommendations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">John & Elizabeth Beeching<br />4715 Lanark Street<br />Vancouver, BC V5N 3R9</span></div>
John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-87909694481218780072013-09-16T10:53:00.004-07:002013-09-16T10:53:39.532-07:00CUBAN 5
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">THE CUBAN
FIVE HAVE SOME FRIENDS IN THE USA<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">To read more go to <a href="http://www.granma.cu/ingles/cuba-i/6sept-Events.html">http://www.granma.cu/ingles/cuba-i/6sept-Events.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-72415008234412669582013-09-04T11:16:00.001-07:002013-09-04T11:16:25.032-07:00WARSThere is considerable discussion about the evilness of war. The following is just my thinking on it -<br />
<br />
"War has two sides to it - just and unjust. Wars for liberation for example are just. Wars to increase wealth and power are unjust. I think just wars, while regretful are not evil. Unjust wars always are evil."John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-77124852504928798942013-08-31T11:23:00.000-07:002013-08-31T11:23:20.397-07:00THE TRUTH WILL OUT<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">CPS-Vancouver is pleased to send this information as a media Release: You now have information Canadians have a right to know. </span><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">John Beeching</span><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br /></span><b>Subject: </b><b>Syrian rebels admit to being behind chemical weapons attack - National Government | <a href="http://examiner.com/">Examiner.com</a></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b>Date: </b>31 August, 2013 10:54:53 AM PDT</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">To: </span></b><a href="mailto:pm@pm.gc.ca"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">pm@pm.gc.ca</span></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/syrian-rebels-admit-to-being-behind-chemical-weapons-attack">http://www.examiner.com/article/syrian-rebels-admit-to-being-behind-chemical-weapons-attack</a><div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Prime Minister, </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Sometimes it is good to get both sides, consider, and then make up you mind. That is of course unless you are following orders and must obey.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">John Beeching</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">4715 Lanark Street</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Vancouver, BC 5N 3R9</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">WW II vetera</span>n.</span></span><div style="font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">
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John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-78013691243104998862013-08-24T15:17:00.001-07:002013-08-24T15:17:18.531-07:00Media Release: More US Fabrication?
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">MEDIA RELEASE: </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">CPS – Vancouver is pleased to release this information. We believe
Canadians, if given both sides of the story are quite capable of making the
right decisions <b>– peace or war! We trust
you dear editor have the same point of view – that is good journalism.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">John
Beeching Hon. Chair CPS<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt;">Evidence Indicates that Syrian
Government Did Not Launch a Chemical Weapon Attack Against Its People<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">By
</span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP9A40VvCuyieAHStY8GqowQ9rZ3PWJx3QCPbomF9DoasitRP3o2GH9ExOD0BsO9T2bW3AImJdc7nq80iXawWvLBs2VGzXeF4cIkXLP3P_iskZS7j9Fy5Hm8fBkkualNnGC7XpNGGNT-dzqVcB2dYOel"><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Washington's Blog</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Global
Research, August 24, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Url
of this article:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP80zlcG3TwYC_DGlIcIzUWglPYnRx6I436ifOqqcH-WVCwR9I7kGpFiSF3YGYhDhzkqoQT7PB4larWXugqeoOC4GTKxElohky0p7LL1uGnNruuW7tORQayGKM5qs54-eyMY4boPJTlpjpmBFHhWes_L3OMM2ihW5Iu4T0b7YvQGiiSlPzZ3PH7EsvqAh1N0EiyxLcyyakOoU249J8DV_sQd"><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">http://www.globalresearch.ca/evidence-indicates-that-syrian-government-did-not-launch-a-chemical-weapon-attack-against-its-people/5346804</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">CBS News reports that the
U.S. is </span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP9dn0Dhme2Gec4zWGy2qxIuXedbDMWUFM6sV0uqA0HfcK-V-JEOOSalJjckK-Rbqjc5_ejfD8xEp3sCpzrHm1S1vniO0fQcTDnKzdnfbyux118VsgUAG73XNS3rfZZ6va4ffrg01CN4HPPiCvfRqhlBbFbyGOgEASY="><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">finalizing plans</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> for </span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP-J3eBQt-LiaNZGTtoc0UQIp5hw5EpRSH9Ypo-qiNCVGhec-Zi3RrC712ZJ04mB-w1pyaAJXiOo4KEcvdbu4IyUASqDk-qgybXhDdMVjOpLum28SRI50BwXqQQQIL01fe1u2jqeNYxVVNkuQ42goCeiWyAdz3HJseo="><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">war</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> against Syria – and </span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP_nLnTdQasccYwBZGGUbsFAfqnp1MB-tCF7vNcOpgTSa-dpJvNOkTlXzKLqyEmxjUJqf6DfQelngJemmPlTNMSP1JZ-U04qYcaqzZ27LH2fpOaC4sayCiTVJVQjUpWM251yaa4Zl6ekrXGWqaYEW4pJ7MaLugCo12Y="><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">positioning ships</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> to
launch </span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP8BKw4V3r0PqZuqG2uGLPiYw4vHwi8hZnsxi7_sWdHLReNIkvcQYmjrSl1apPLtoSbSf1wDijBEil9occos7u9HHoj5CQUAoZFazjHOE-vCvLmuU9GYLoDdyC_06Zf4QH_PIgGTAxSEaIVdAPKa_pnmkxvS3yXjMn4="><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">cruise missiles</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">against
the Syrian government – based on the claim that the Syrian government used
chemical weapons against its people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The last time the U.S. blamed the
Syrian government for a chemical weapons attack, that claim was </span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP8YDTVJr1_S7J2zFHD8aFRFbuJhV74lRNuuuZISxWiwwX7dHazhk5AIX6nagwlCcnXMyc6FLgh8Et7AdecfXwXsEMDU6uhzaMJcO1VurxxEauw5WWmFTDCnUU6AncUiC17RD_dnEv-ConGe5iHlvgrbk0PMMaUAmFjg0pXi9nN7tKgOGwB3g_9whbpNdF6IAPrLzaCqfHVTMooSQxkFL2__"><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">was debunked</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">But is the claim that the Syrian
government used chemical weapons against its people true </span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP8O2wjvUVRNbbeY2pqMtohtBUo32FcL4n4pSMeCiGh-ECXwhgClX5JmGpdBRs6lM80k_TFIyGBbtJEXZDmKz9OTMKVRlLuXEv7RSUHjEVLPg4eSzv5XHCEcbXVTscZ7HbZe5y2t1QdGaNV41Lgy_w8br9uM4lwRGA4="><i><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">this time</span></i></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">It’s not surprising that Syria’s
close ally – Russia – is </span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP9bJqcagUZWrg7t70pd3M-M3helQynUG2Scnu4oC2UvpZ-XTjrEyYUoTfdz38XBiaBY90tDtAAUR19t77dDNu4wKysfAZw7p4VuPgxjFmr8cIgXIfMwIG2Rmu9y5jOmBynNTlweSEYVB3Z5cjDjbR6U"><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">expressing doubt</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) </span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP932z25azaIX_pglykKM7m8HqzqFPyTh5DqNi2Z7cLMPGPSVogL5KYRlg_4VBWGuADkYlDyqMQyVu0awkKSR6tLq_ynBGrX-WHHFiRH9A9EDlLlzVZOtXmqi_LQ8XHwJcrJQbq0e5sTnqHA0u_jD9tL82ZfaPVqxCjDdJ4xQ8Yb9PSSwotQdgAcv_vEMhLv_2S4Fu-WLqjwCsgECHRhYRZ4"><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">notes</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Russia, which has
previously said it has proof of chemical weapons use by the rebels, expressed
deep scepticism about the opposition’s claims.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The foreign ministry said
the timing of the allegations as UN inspectors began their work “makes us think
that we are once again dealing with a premeditated provocation.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">But Russia isn’t the only doubter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">AFP </span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP932z25azaIX_pglykKM7m8HqzqFPyTh5DqNi2Z7cLMPGPSVogL5KYRlg_4VBWGuADkYlDyqMQyVu0awkKSR6tLq_ynBGrX-WHHFiRH9A9EDlLlzVZOtXmqi_LQ8XHwJcrJQbq0e5sTnqHA0u_jD9tL82ZfaPVqxCjDdJ4xQ8Yb9PSSwotQdgAcv_vEMhLv_2S4Fu-WLqjwCsgECHRhYRZ4"><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">reports</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">“At the moment, I am not
totally convinced because the people that are helping them are without any
protective clothing and without any respirators,” said Paula Vanninen, director
of Verifin, the Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons
Convention.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">“In a real case, they
would also be contaminated and would also be having symptoms.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">John Hart, head of the
Chemical and Biological Security Project at Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute said he had not seen the telltale evidence in the eyes of
the victims that would be compelling evidence of chemical weapons use.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">“Of the videos that I’ve
seen for the last few hours, none of them show pinpoint pupils... this would
indicate exposure to organophosphorus nerve agents,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Gwyn Winfield, editor of
CBRNe World magazine, which specialises in chemical weapons issues, said the
evidence did not suggest that the chemicals used were of the weapons-grade that
the Syrian army possesses in its stockpiles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">“We’re not seeing reports
that doctors and nurses... are becoming fatalities, so that would suggest that
the toxicity of it isn’t what we would consider military sarin. It may well be
that it is a lower-grade,” Winfield told AFP.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Haaretz </span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP9_AmjGBfhbbCJm_ua-cxflFP6pehmKhnIFwVOG9GrzyZZTDJpwGTm8HvMRQeDJcmBgJVjGtz50Ou3f5VHsg24sOE5Q_yt91WiNhMxCjIaANayAmsEf8kNYpKeZEzd3coXN2WuOEc7d3S3129Pu46Ln-s8Z9LjnoVtut9OxHHfyFA=="><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">reports</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Western experts on
chemical warfare who have examined at least part of the footage are skeptical
that weapons-grade chemical substances were used, although they all emphasize
that serious conclusions cannot be reached without thorough on-site examination.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Dan Kaszeta, a former
officer of the U.S. Army’s Chemical Corps and a leading private consultant,
pointed out a number of details absent from the footage so far: “None of the
people treating the casualties or photographing them are wearing any sort of
chemical-warfare protective gear,” he says, “and despite that, none of them
seem to be harmed.” This would seem to rule out most types of military-grade
chemical weapons, including the vast majority of nerve gases, since these
substances would not evaporate immediately, especially if they were used in
sufficient quantities to kill hundreds of people, but rather leave a level of
contamination on clothes and bodies which would harm anyone coming in
unprotected contact with them in the hours after an attack. In addition, he
says that “there are none of the other signs you would expect to see in the
aftermath of a chemical attack, such as intermediate levels of casualties,
severe visual problems, vomiting and loss of bowel control.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Steve Johnson, a leading
researcher on the effects of hazardous material exposure at England’s Cranfield
University who has worked with Britain’s Ministry of Defense on chemical
warfare issues, agrees that “from the details we have seen so far, a large
number of casualties over a wide area would mean quite a pervasive dispersal.
With that level of chemical agent, you would expect to see a lot of
contamination on the casualties coming in, and it would affect those treating
them who are not properly protected. We are not seeing that here.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Additional questions also
remain unanswered, especially regarding the timing of the attack, being that it
occurred on the exact same day that a team of UN inspectors was in Damascus to
investigate earlier claims of chemical weapons use. It is also unclear what
tactical goal the Syrian army would have been trying to achieve, when over the
last few weeks it has managed to push back the rebels who were encroaching on
central areas of the capital. But if this was not a chemical weapons attack,
what then caused the deaths of so many people without any external signs of
trauma?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The Syrian rebels (and
perhaps other players in the region) have a clear interest in presenting this
as the largest chemical attack by the army loyal to Syrian President Bashar
Assad to date, even if the cause was otherwise, especially while the UN
inspectors are in the country. It is also in their interest to do so whilst
U.S. President Barack Obama remains reluctant to commit any military support to
the rebels, when only the crossing of a “red line” could convince him to change
his policy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The rebels and the doctors
on the scene may indeed believe that chemical weapons were used, since they
fear such an attack, but they may not have the necessary knowledge and means to
make such a diagnosis. The European Union demanded Wednesday that the UN
inspectors be granted access to the new sites of alleged chemical attacks, but
since this is not within the team’s mandate, it is unlikely that the Syrian
government will do so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Stephen Johnson, an expert in
weapons and chemical explosives at Cranfield Forensic Institute, said that the
video footage </span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP8RnY_Yh_PRlrnJWN88r2g7Bs8Au_Deh3MJjWI8DwzVNaTWoLNH--6AwXedH7XEpODHtYbQYssZT1JVzUpbSvA9V--O3ryu05XO-fiKPZKdnmvpKDYLj5xW1ZRHQs7QzP061IvWiqIiNj-CoCFwb0DzEOIt3W6Jkf8t4YtZvtzz-ZcqektmttIdTXsp5J-4nPILjFfFjmxx8475U1ACtncT"><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">looked suspect</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">There are, within some of the
videos, examples which seem a little hyper-real, and almost as if they’ve been
set up. Which is not to say that they are fake but it does cause some concern.
Some of the people with foaming, the foam seems to be too white, too pure, and
not consistent with the sort of internal injury you might expect to see, which
you’d expect to be bloodier or yellower.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Chemical and biological
weapons researcher Jean Pascal Zanders said that the footage appears to show
victims of asphyxiation, which is </span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP9os8ITK6VlF9LGrLpQB_rnB6Fh_t1dTCBBxIqliLf_ooZvGQw4ePU_QJMPfk7eWLUHd5QTJZz0c-pCyBabjJHkhh4tQexF-8cUSax3mvkwfOSCN-ZbD4fg-hP_yc6UF6V-enDkeXDkhjIQS8DYES_04_-Zx45eptagDn9AGuG2ZbmFoxZ8TqM2xtkREIa73qg="><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">not consistent with the use of mustard gas or the nerve
agents VX or sarin</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">I’m deliberately not using
the term chemical weapons here,” he said, adding that the use of “industrial
toxicants” was a more likely explanation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Michael Rivero </span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP-sqHduTVDITqx5nIApWERoWAg7rPnAsTll9vLorK4dPdIAScPoQ64NlfTbjyqAHj6HfhHSQfu8xWcS5oEkQ2qcqFxNfEmvAcnQjXUgV_ZRvZXukwKRkXrv"><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">asks</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">1. Why would Syria’s Assad
invite United Nations chemical weapons inspectors to Syria, then launch a
chemical weapons attack against women and children on the very day they arrive,
just miles from where they are staying?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">2. If Assad were going to
use chemical weapons, wouldn’t he use them against the hired mercenary army
trying to oust him? What does he gain attacking women and children? Nothing!
The gain is all on the side of the US Government desperate to get the war
agenda going again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">As I type these words, US
trained and equipped forces are already across the border into Syria, and US
naval forces are sailing into position to launch a massive cruise missile
attack into Syria that will surely kill more Syrians than were claimed to have
died in the chemical attack.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Last time there was a
chemical weapon attack in Syria, Bush administration office Colonel Lawrence
Wilkerson said that he thought </span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP8n4APxTkmgkc0Eawpv5fF309DvcFhXQs5TRiKTQWP3V2fCDZTvuvliEfe76W0-BTA9yrbyR2-7TXwx9Kp8QkfG7nJ-_ZU7C2DC44XVSpa8d6yyv8_DptX2CVQAJJc-YDHWY3PUV25_ZPZzfXv-zgECLtfppp6DD5-ErSLBGQfLcAEMhZwQiK2qCZHWShFSbPbvUrfjYoHuwXOV2ILZ3Iqo"><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Israel might have given chemical weapons to the Syrian
rebels to frame the government</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">British MP George Galloway
just </span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP-8mjTFaYTx9T_EZ-O6VfkNz1ahxuu6Ehwk1Epg2hC-FY5WN29-r1z1bS5QecJdCuHTX5RH5wOgHPzzxe5lPwpMeHKklCnN6s4KyYn41VGD_tYE7hDvwwTM8XMtSHVxHJNy14fO1JLieRA1MiiMya2gU-cdBchUnEbtI7doczruUhSN0HkFd6uIXki-Kbw8H9l_kyudrI3185bFrVub59rB"><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">floated the same theory</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">
in regards to the new chemical weapon attack.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Of course, we don’t know
who carried out the attack, or what weapon was used.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">But given the
well-documented fact that the U.S. has been planning regime change in Syria for
</span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP-aDAvjocFXCh-oti36VhIartAqCcAsS2dsx_x5N3fD398fKyFx4MPYYxxCC_S7AwFTFsM9EC7hNXjLktZaCL7yXLcmht6qhNtd4LaZ83l9t7buA_e_WHNP4wT5CEUW8pM8CpWwvE9F1AAB7bsF5FupOmHW3qxMAs-vlfFiTnnFmS_o_HFkHJfIfGSt7obkf1RCF3Uj40zxRwHUJpntU3ZF"><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">20 years straight</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> – and
planned to use false ploys for </span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP_fGEMgpvxDsAx7o3zbmseeCN6PiP1hXi1phqADqvfMNTljSh_2ZwMDJynqA5BPj_iPI23FHbIvQBv_cg9JflXLhRn07tQwnLbk4mhcIVr95Bp2utGyiVJqg85OZNWBzYzKcAUIJN1gSvE57OBKUTcFmyLr8q-s362MSL9Q6ljmEw=="><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">50 years</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> – it
is worth being skeptical until all of the evidence is in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Indeed, many are asking
whether this is Iraq War 2.0. For example, the Independent </span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sn9qUBvwyP-Iz3r254jzSkKIJ4PDuPmX6Q3uQumK69rL83F86nSPLMbOHVihNE8ptsIkYAl_3SYP2EjMBLd4N_NReYRHuR2IzebqlFa8LSzR91DKxh-87Vk0wD1cD75HNuD9hqxy9gsG2KoAMCC5Uww9aJgRYgzFkdMzayIT2nPA6rquGtRZsraJEPS40fxno9SP_cNxiTfjS5Gv1ykatTFcamDLbBUk"><span style="color: #104ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">writes</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Pictures showing that the
Syrian army used chemical weapons against rebel-held Eastern Ghouta just east
of Damascus are ... likely to be viewed sceptically because the claims so much
resemble those made about Saddam Hussein’s possession of weapons of mass
destruction (WMDs) before the US and British invasion of Iraq in 2003.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Like the Iraqi opposition
to Saddam, who provided most of the evidence of WMDs, the Syrian opposition has
every incentive to show the Syrian government deploying chemical weapons in
order to trigger foreign intervention.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">But the obvious fact that
for the Syrian government to use chemical weapons would be much against their
own interests does not prove it did not happen. Governments and armies do
stupid things. But it is difficult to imagine any compelling reason why they
should do so since they have plenty of other means of killing people in Eastern
Ghouta, such as heavy artillery or small arms, which they regularly use.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The evidence so far for
the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian army is second-hand and comes from a
biased source.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-53697143892276937152013-08-18T14:24:00.000-07:002013-08-18T14:24:11.484-07:00WHERE DID OUR RIGHTS COME FROM?CPS - VANCOUVER suggest The following book is worth reading if you care about our rights. Many are being trampled on now using false nomenclature! I would only add that many of the rights we all, union and non-union, have today were gained through union struggle. Those rights are presently under attack. The time has come to enter the struggle for true democracy. John Beeching, Hon. Char CPS.<br />
<br />
<i>"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.... What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. if we remember those times and places - and there are many - where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act." </i><b><i>Howard Zinn ( :about rights historian)</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
It s available in PDF format from - <http://www.caw.ca/assets/images/Part_2_-_Windsor_Strike.pdf><br />
<br />
<br />John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-68997863869937040732013-08-18T10:22:00.000-07:002013-08-18T10:22:11.741-07:00Latin America condemns US Espionage<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span></span><br />
<div class="url" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #e4e4e4; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 3px;">
Url of this article:<br style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001PAWvV8UtSt-dIHBGu18S0p0_houLMlx2Cte3GArf4lv_UxEdg82UTlryj2GgSPKoqUkmWi8LiIyCaH-mbNkbXDVcfrB4-dPUilbzqMRRUUj-s0RLxZk5kxe7h6hJyDvwuNG_R-tFb6Gl_B6tZnBZgaCPahmnKVIFqhChpURUKfodGb4RgR4hesiIVn1PZ9C71WUxY7p2Goalf1Jj0hbcXbBfjB54mO5K7f2mkZPH6rU=" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">http://www.globalresearch.ca/latin-america-condemns-us-espionage-at-united-nations-security-council/5346120</a></div>
<em style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">“The United States appears to be destined by Providence to plague America with misery in the name of liberty.”</em><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Simon Bolivar</span>John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8824921979652804368.post-18506013293996376212013-08-12T10:51:00.001-07:002013-08-12T10:51:19.569-07:00Canadian exports shouldn’t fuel conflict<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; text-align: -webkit-left;"></span></span><br />
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<img align="middle" alt="Ottawa Citizen logo" height="55" src="http://www.ceasefire.ca/ceasefire-images/citizen-logo-570.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; height: 80px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; width: 570px;" title="Ceasefire.ca" width="570" /></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-large;">Canadian exports shouldn’t fuel conflict</span></strong></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">by Steven Staples</span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">Should Canada have an arms industry? It seems that the Harper government thinks so, and it has been taking steps to work closely with the “big guns” of defence companies to support military production in Canada to supply the Canadian Forces and, more alarmingly, sell in the international arms market.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">Last weekend in these pages, Tim Page, the president of Canada’s largest defence lobby association, applauded the government’s efforts to create a “healthy domestic defence industry.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">Mr. Page’s lobby association wants the government to “buy local” to satisfy the need of the Canadian Forces. More than that, he and his colleagues want the government to play a parental role in fostering and developing an entire defence industry in Canada.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">This will require a significant, long-term commitment of billions of public dollars, in addition to weakened export regulations, and even diplomatic support abroad to promote Canadian-built arms sales. In short, there are few winners from this plan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">Unlike the auto industry, for instance, where short-term government assistance can help the industry until its commercial market improves, the arms industry is utterly dependent on government spending, since there are few commercial customers. And it will lobby strenuously to ensure that military spending is not reduced even if the international security environment improves, or if there are other competing government priorities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">For instance, in the depths of the financial crisis in early 2010 while government was reducing spending on social services, the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI) wrote to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty urging him to “confirm the government’s 20 year funding commitment of $240B in non personnel related defence spending…[and] proceed on an expedited basis with land, sea and air defence projects that are in the procurement pipeline.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">To the defence industry, a tax dollar spent on a hospital is a tax dollar not spent on a fighter jet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">The other side of the arms sales coin is the international weapons marketplace. Selling arms to the Canadian government is merely a launching point to selling arms abroad in the much larger and more lucrative international arms bazaar. That’s why the defence association’s Mr. Page called on National Defence and other trade-related departments and agencies to take a whole-of-government approach to “increase Canadian defence exports.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">But is this sound business advice? Scanning the international media it’s easy to see that the global financial crisis has hit European and American defence budgets hard and their militaries are scaling back. If Canadian firms start shifting to defence production, they will find themselves trapped in a declining market and laying off thousands of Canadian workers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">This crisis will encourage Canada to relax its export control policies intended to ensure Canadian defence exports don’t end up in war-racked regions or arming human rights abusers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">According to the industry, half of Canada’s roughly $6 billion in annual defence exports flow to the United States without any permit requirement at all. Canadian factories have been the number one supplier of ammunition to the U.S. Army, fuelling their bloody invasion of Iraq.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">Even when export permits are required and authorized, Canadian-made arms find their way to conflicts. For instance, light armoured vehicles produced in Canada and sold to Saudi Arabia in the 1990s were spotted being used by their security forces to suppress the pro-democracy movement in neighbouring Bahrain. Another sale of LAVs to conflict-plagued Colombia has recently been announced.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">Almost an afterthought is the military itself. The Canadian Forces should be provided with the best equipment at the most reasonable price, as quickly as possible. This is only achieved through an open and fair process. Of course, if two products are equivalent in performance and price, then the benefit to Canadian industry and job creation should be a priority in selecting a supplier, as the process already requires.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">In fact, foreign defence suppliers are required to make investments in Canada equivalent to the value of the contract, and our system of direct and indirect “offsets,” as they are called, has served Canadian workers and the Canadian Forces well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">Above all else is the larger question: what kind of export economy do Canadians want? Many people are already concerned about Canada’s growing oil exports perpetuating unsustainable energy demands. To this will we add arms exports fuelling conflicts and propping up illegitimate governments around the world?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">Nobody wants an economy that benefits from climate change and war. The government should not pursue a defence strategy designed to build an arms industry in Canada, but should instead focus on building Canadian prosperity on peace and sustainability, in keeping with Canadian values.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;"><em>Steven Staples is the president of the Rideau Institute, an Ottawa-based research and advocacy group.</em></span></div>
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John Beechinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12501295366141248723noreply@blogger.com0