A Tit For A Tat

First the Israelis were :

Israel hit by rockets from Gaza

 

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES Israeli children react to a Palestinian rocket attack Wednesday in the southern city of Ashkelon, neighboring

Gaza Militants Bombard Israel With Dozens Of Rockets, Mortars

Then ---Why Did Israel Attack Gaza?

Why has Israel launched the deadliest attacks on Palestinian territory since the 1967 Six Day War?
Israel's onslaught is a reprisal for a week-long barrage of rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza. Israel says it had to safeguard the lives in towns bordering the strip. Palestinians, and many others, believe the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also ordered the raids to achieve what his government had failed to achieve through other means: the removal from power of Hamas, the Islamist political movement elected to run Gaza in 2006, which it accuses of being controlled by Iran and Syria.

Was the timing a surprise?
The scale and ferocity of the attacks came as a shock to many but tensions had been building after the expiry on 18 December of a ceasefire.
Why did the ceasefire collapse?
Hamas had offered to renew the ceasefire if Israel reopened Gaza's border crossings. The strip had been sealed by Israel in an economic siege aimed at toppling Hamas. The blockade has brought the territory near economic collapse.
Are Israeli domestic politics a factor?
Very much so. Israel is preparing for general elections on 10 February. The prospect of a return to power by the hawk Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the right-wing Likud party, promising tough action against Hamas, has hardened the positions of Israel's more moderate political leaders.
Can Israel achieve its security aims by attacking Hamas so forcefully?
It is difficult to see Israel's action as being anything other than counterproductive, particularly if it escalates and widens the assault. Unless a fresh truce can be negotiated quickly, the hopes raised by the election of Barack Obama to the US Presidency and the possibility of a more engaged US policy seem to have dimmed again.
Read more at The Independent

After The Israeli's Bombarded Gaza

Bodies of Palestinian Policemen killed in the Israeli airstrike

Bodies of Palestinians are seen at Shifa hospital in Gaza December 27, 2008

Bodies of Palestinian Policemen killed in the Israeli airstrike

In this image taken from APTN video, Palestinian men carry two injured children into hospital after Israeli aircraft struck.

Palestinians lift a wounded woman to a vehicle after Israeli air force attacked Gaza City December 27, 2008.

Palestinians help a wounded man after Israeli air force attacked Gaza City December 27, 2008.

Palestinians transport the body of a Palestinian after Israeli air force attacked Gaza City December 27, 2008.

A Palestinian is rushed to hospital after he was wounded in an Israeli air strike on Gaza City.

A wounded Palestinian woman is rushed into hospital in Gaza City December 27, 2008.

Palestinians help a wounded man after Israeli air force attacked Gaza City December 27, 2008

Bodies of Palestinians are seen at Shifa hospital in Gaza December 27, 2008.

An explosion from an Israeli missile strike in the northern Gaza Strip

Smoke and fire are seen after an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip December 27, 2008

Palestinians inspects a destroyed Hamas police compounds following an Israeli air strike in Gaza December 27, 2008.

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli air strike in Rafah, a town in the southern Gaza Strip.

The leg of a Hamas policeman is seen between the rubbles following an Israeli air strike in Gaza December 27, 2008

Smoke rises after an Israeli bomb exploded in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip December 27, 2008.

A Palestinian rescue worker inspects damage on a Hamas police compounds following an Israeli air strike in Gaza December 27

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli air strike in the southern town of Rafah.

A Palestinian man cries over the body of his son following an Israeli air strike in Gaza December 27, 2008.

Palestinian medics recover the body of a dead woman from the rubble of a destroyed Hamas police compound following an Israeli air strike in Gaza December 27, 2008

A Hamas policeman asks for help as others try to recover a body from a destroyed Hamas police compounds following an Israeli air strike in Gaza December 27, 2008

A Palestinian Hamas policeman inspects the destroyed former office of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Bodies of Palestinians are seen at Shifa hospital in Gaza December 27, 2008

Palestinians run for cover following an Israeli missile strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008.(AP)

A wounded Hamas policeman lies on the ground following an Israeli air strike in Gaza December 27, 2008.

The body of a Hamas police officer is transported to hospital in Gaza City December 27, 2008.

Bodies of Palestinians are seen at Shifa hospital in Gaza December 27, 2008

A Palestinian woman wounded in Israeli missile strikes is helped into the emergency area at Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008. (AP)

Palestinians gather at the site of a security compound used by the Islamic group Hamas following an Israeli missile strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008.


Bodies of Palestinian Policemen killed in the Israeli airstrike





NOW WHO SUFFERS?

Is it Hamas? Is it Ehud Olmert ? Likud party? Obama? George Bush? The Islamist? Iranians? Syrians? Is it the Egyptians? ....no

IT IS ORDINARY CITIZENS LIKE YOU AND ME....Let's say No to Israeli Violence and Lets Say No to Hamas Violence. LET SAY NO TO VIOLENCE....


VIOLENCE ONLY BEGETS VIOLENCE

Soaring Rates of Rape, Violence In US

A new government report showing huge increases in the incidences of domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault over a two-year period in the United States deserves immediate attention from lawmakers and the administration, Human Rights Watch said on Dec. 18.

The statistics show a 42-percent increase in reported domestic violence and a 25-percent increase in the reported incidence of rape and sexual assault.

The National Crime Victimization Survey, based on projections from a national sample survey, says that at least 248,300 individuals were raped or sexually assaulted in 2007, up from 190,600 in 2005, the last year the survey was conducted. The study surveyed 73,600 individuals in 41,500 households. Among all violent crimes, domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault showed the largest increases. Except for simple assault, which increased by 3 percent, the incidence of every other crime surveyed decreased.

"The numbers in this survey show an alarmingly high rate of sexual violence in this country," said Sarah Tofte, researcher for the US Program at Human Rights Watch. "This should serve as a wake-up call that more must be done to address the problem in the US."

The projected number of violent crimes committed by intimate partners against women increased from 389,100 in 2005 to 554,260 in the 2007 report. By comparison, the number of violent crimes against men by intimate partners went down.

"Domestic violence is often a hidden crime, and these numbers are a stark reminder of how serious and widespread this problem is," said Tofte. "The Obama-Biden administration should make prevention and protection against all forms of domestic and sexual violence a top priority."

The National Crime Victimization Survey is conducted every two years, with data gathered in phone calls made to a sample of households across the United States. Due to criticism from experts in the subject, the survey's methodology was adjusted in 2007 to capture more accurately the incidence of gender-based violence. The authors say in the report that the higher numbers may reflect the new, more accurate methodology rather than an actual increase. Two major shifts were to describe types of sexual assault to those being interviewed, and to replace "computer-assisted telephone interviews conducted from two telephone centers" nationwide with interviews "by field representatives either by telephone or in person."

"The new numbers indicate that previously, the government significantly underestimated the number of individuals affected by domestic and sexual violence in this country," said Tofte. "Authorities should urgently adjust public policies, law enforcement, and provision of support services accordingly."

Human Rights Watch is currently investigating and monitoring the criminal justice response to sexual violence. The organization's recent work includes investigating the backlog in untested DNA evidence collected in rape cases in the US. In Los Angeles City and County alone, there is a combined total of at least 13,000 untested sets of evidence, known as rape kits, sitting in storage.

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