This is nauseating:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070919/ap_on_re_mi_ea/rice
Israel declares Gaza 'enemy entity' By LAURIE COPANS, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 13 minutes ago
Israel on Wednesday declared the Gaza Strip an "enemy entity" and said it would cut back power and fuel supplies to the Hamas-ruled territory, enraging Palestinians as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began a peacemaking mission to the region.
Asked about Israel's declaration, Rice did not criticize it.
"Hamas is a hostile entity to the United States as well," she said at a news conference. "We will not abandon the innocent Palestinians in Gaza, and indeed will make every effort to deal with their humanitarian needs."
Israel did not set a date for a cutback on services, meant to force Palestinian militants in Gaza to halt rocket fire on southern Israel. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said Israel did not intend to create a humanitarian crisis.
Impoverished Gaza is almost entirely dependent on Israeli suppliers for power and fuel. The international aid group Oxfam called the Israeli decision "immoral" and illegal "collective punishment."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the plan, calling it "an oppressive decision." Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said his group would "confront the new aggression and escalation with all possible means."
The Islamic militant group Hamas violently seized control of Gaza in June and it has been locked in a power struggle with Abbas' Fatah group, which controls the West Bank.
Israel's declaration of Gaza as an "enemy entity" could open the way for the most severe retaliatory measure in response to incessant Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza. Israel has been carrying out airstrikes and limited ground incursions. It also has sealed Gaza's borders, halting trade in and out of the area, while permitting little more than humanitarian aid into the area.
While Hamas has not been directly involved in the rocket attacks, it has done little to halt them and it has fired mortars at Israeli targets. Israel says it holds the group responsible.
"Additional restrictions will be imposed on the Hamas regime, limiting the transfer of goods to the Gaza Strip, cutting back fuel and electricity, and restricting the movement of people to and from the strip," Olmert's office said.
The statement said the sanctions would be enacted "following a legal review" and would be designed to avoid a humanitarian crisis.
Rice was to meet Olmert later Wednesday and the Palestinians on Thursday.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, speaking at a joint news conference with Rice, said Israel was not obliged to deliver anything to Gaza beyond humanitarian aid. Legal experts have reviewed the planned sanctions to make sure they conform with international law, she added.
"When it comes to the humanitarian needs, we have our own responsibilities," Livni said. "All the needs which are more than humanitarian needs will not be supplied by Israel to Gaza Strip."
Hamas and Abbas both condemned the Israeli move.
"This oppressive decision will only tighten the stifling embargo imposed on 1.5 million people in the Gaza Strip, increase their suffering and magnify their tragedy," Abbas' office said. Although Abbas no longer controls Gaza, he continues to claim authority over the area.
A Hamas official said the group's exiled leaders in Damascus would meet with their Islamic Jihad counterparts to discuss the possibility of halting the rocket fire. Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility for most rocket attacks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because a date for the meeting had not been set.
The crude rockets from Gaza, which Israel evacuated two years ago, have killed 12 people in southern Israel in the past seven years, injured dozens more and disrupted daily life in the region.
Rice arrived to try to wring more progress out of Israeli-Palestinian talks before a planned U.S.-sponsored peace gathering. But even before she landed, an official in Abbas' office said he would ask Rice not to set a specific date for the conference until it is clear Abbas and Olmert can agree upon a joint statement setting out their goals.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because Abbas and Rice had not yet met.
The conference tentatively is scheduled for Washington in November. The U.S. thinks Abbas has a freer hand to reach a final accord with Israel because he expelled Hamas from power after it seized control of Gaza. Abbas has set up a new government of moderates in the West Bank.
Hamas' control of Gaza will hamper Abbas as he and Olmert try to move toward a final accord. Their first step is hammering out a joint platform on the most contentious issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before the Washington conference — final borders, the status of disputed Jerusalem and a solution for Palestinian refugees.
The Palestinians hope the gathering will bring a solid framework for a final agreement but Israel wants to retain greater flexibility with a more general statement of goals.
On her way to the region Wednesday, Rice said she hoped conference participants would not only "sit and talk and talk and talk."
"We can't simply continue to say that we want a two-state solution — we've got to start to move toward one," she told reporters aboard her plane.
― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:02 (eighteen years ago)
Can't these Palestinians be appeased with shiny beads and firewater and casinos? :-/
(ok maybe not firewater)
― StanM, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:05 (eighteen years ago)
One of my students in a Women's Health class asked me if I knew that Jesus Christ only had 13 chromosones. When I asked her where she got this info she said a religious organization had told this to her Bible study class. The research was in a National Geographics story that indicated when Jesus died there was an earthquake; during the earthquake some of his blood ran into a crack in the earth and landed on the Ark of the Covenant which was buried below the site of the crucifixion. All of this was unearthed recently and DNA studies were performed on the uncorrupted blood sample. I had several women who were in my class who attended this Bible study and they all corroborated the student's story.
― and what, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:09 (eighteen years ago)
is it or is it not time for Rockstar to make a video game called "Enemy Combatant"
― J0hn D., Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:10 (eighteen years ago)
I guess it's nothing new - Israel goes into *security* hysteria based on relatively minor attacks, decides it can do whatever the hell it wants to retaliate, fuck the world, and the US supports their decision while touting its advocacy of peace.
― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:19 (eighteen years ago)
don't forget "democracy"!
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:22 (eighteen years ago)
who will save Israel from Gazilla
http://features.yahoo.com/webceleb/godzilla/gzilla56.jpg
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:24 (eighteen years ago)
I'm just in an outragey mood this morning, so the collective punishment of 1.5 million people is getting to me. Feel free to continue the non-sequiturs or ignore completely.
― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:25 (eighteen years ago)
wtf
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:27 (eighteen years ago)
like the people of gaza haven't already been crushed into a thousand miserable pieces already, they live in a fucking prison
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:28 (eighteen years ago)
sorry no non-sequitur intended just the phrase "enemy entity" makes it sound like they're being attacked by a sentient gas cloud or giant sea monster or something
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:30 (eighteen years ago)
of course it is total bullshit
-- Tracer Hand, Wednesday, September 19, 2007 1:28 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Link
True, but this is even worse.
― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:34 (eighteen years ago)
I guess it's also just the wtf doublespeakness of the whole thing that got to me.
― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:39 (eighteen years ago)
Sorry, I think I misunderstood your post Tracer - you mean wtf at the idea that this is going to somehow "bring them around" to want to negotiate peace. And I second your wtf.
And also wtf at power and fuel not having anything to do with "humanitarian needs"
― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:44 (eighteen years ago)
And while this is going on, these are the real nazis: http : / / www.nkusa.org
― StanM, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:46 (eighteen years ago)
They didn't just create this so Rice could be the big peace negotiator, right?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7003860.stm
― StanM, Thursday, 20 September 2007 06:22 (eighteen years ago)
during the earthquake some of his blood ran into a crack in the earth and landed on the Ark of the Covenant which was buried below the site of the crucifixion.
sweet, a plot worthy of National Treasure 3
― kingfish, Thursday, 20 September 2007 06:26 (eighteen years ago)
what's the deal with only 13 chromosomes and finding the ARC?
― Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Thursday, 20 September 2007 07:28 (eighteen years ago)
http://www.wyattarchaeology.com/ark.htm
and especially this part: (don't read, your head will explode)
Whilst in the chamber, Ron noticed a dried, black substance in an earthquake crack in the roof, above the Ark of the Covenant. He noticed that this black substance was also on the lid of the cracked stone casing. Obviously, this substance had dripped from the crack in the roof, and provision had been made for it to land on the Ark of the Covenant, as the stone lid had been cracked and moved aside. Ron wondered what substance could be so sacred, that God made provision for it to land on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant. He remembered the earthquake crack at the foot of the cross hole, and suddenly an awesome realization as to what had happened, came over him. Ron traced the earthquake crack, and indeed it was the same crack as the one at the cross hole. The dried black substance in the crack was tested and proved to be blood, apparently the blood of Jesus Christ. The Bible says that when Jesus died there was an earthquake and the rocks were rent (Matt. 27:51). A Roman soldier speared Christ in His side in order to make sure He was dead, and blood and water poured out (John 19:34). Ron discovered that this same blood and water poured down through the earthquake crack and fell upon the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant.
The Crucifixion The Blood of Christ Christ's Death
Human cells normally have 46 chromosomes. These are actually 23 pairs of homologous chromosomes. In each pair of chromosomes, one of the pair is from the mother and the other member is from the father. Therefore, 23 chromosomes come from the mother and 23 from the father. In each set of 23, 22 chromosomes are autosomal and one is sex-determining. The sex-determining ones are the X chromosome and the Y chromosome. Females are XX, so they can only contribute an X chromosome to their offspring, whereas males are XY, which allows them to contribute either an X or a Y. If they contribute an X, the child is female, whereas if they contribute a Y, the child is male. The fascinating finding in this blood was that instead of 46 chromosomes, there were only 24. There were 22 autosomal chromosomes, one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. This evidences that the person to whom this blood belonged to had a mother but no human father, because the normal contribution of paternal chromosomes is missing.
― StanM, Thursday, 20 September 2007 07:42 (eighteen years ago)
Arguing with right-leaning Israelis about this kind of thing is one of the most frustrating endeavors imaginable - they tend to have a lethal mix of moral superiority, lack of self-examination, persecution complex, verbal aggression and immense knowledge of (their version of) Israeli history.
― Hurting 2, Thursday, 20 September 2007 14:20 (eighteen years ago)
just like feminists.
― darraghmac, Thursday, 20 September 2007 14:22 (eighteen years ago)
yeah re: above that is what i meant
this also lets israel grant a "concession" to condi (or whoever) that just means going back to the same, grinding, merciless status quo that gaza has been dealing with ever since hamas won the election
darraghmac i think you can fuck off now
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 20 September 2007 14:26 (eighteen years ago)
Kind of saw this coming when Hamas "won" Gaza. Now that you have your democratically elected Hamas government, collective punishment is set up on a tee.
― bnw, Thursday, 20 September 2007 14:35 (eighteen years ago)
gotta love that us/israeli commitment to democracy in the middle east
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 20 September 2007 14:37 (eighteen years ago)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/905702.html
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 20 September 2007 14:41 (eighteen years ago)
And of course enemy combatants must be indefinitely detained: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/905563.html
― Hurting 2, Thursday, 20 September 2007 14:57 (eighteen years ago)
hmm you're aggressive today tracer?
― darraghmac, Thursday, 20 September 2007 15:16 (eighteen years ago)
i'm aggressive towards pompous sexists every day, friend
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 20 September 2007 15:19 (eighteen years ago)
good for you
this board is already over-full of pissed off people today, why not take light hearted posts a little less seriously for a while? or at least til somebody's actually had a go at you?
or are you desperate to find insult in everything i type for some reason?
― darraghmac, Thursday, 20 September 2007 15:26 (eighteen years ago)