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According to the oldest Israeli newspaper Haaretz, 205 Palestinians have been killed so far in the last 2 DAYS - as compared to 23 Israelis killed by rockets or mortars in the 7 YEARS since 2001.
Quoting data from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an article in Wikipedia (see "List of Qassam rocket attacks": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Qassam_rocket_attacks ) estimates that "From 2001 until May 2008, there have been over 3,050 Qassam rockets fired at Israeli targets …mainly against Sderot and the Western Negev. Fifteen Israelis have been killed and over 433 injured, along with significant property damage. Additionally, more than 2,500 mortar attacks have been launched against Israel from Gaza. This has resulted in eight (8) Israeli deaths."
Thus 23 Israelis have been killed by Occupied Palestinian rocket or mortar attacks since 2001.
According to the State of Israel's oldest daily newspaper Haaretz (see "Palestinians: At least 205 dead, over 200 hurt in IAF Gaza strikes": http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050359.html ) : "Israel launched on Saturday morning the start of a massive offensive against Qassam rocket and mortar fire on its southern communities, targeting dozens of buildings belonging to the ruling Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian medical sources said that at least 205 people had been killed in the strikes, which began with almost no warning at around 11:30 A.M. Egypt has opened its long-sealed border with Gaza to allow in the wounded for medical treatment. Hamas said that the attacks had caused widespread panic in the Strip."
Thus the death ratio of "Palestinians killed by current air strikes"/"Israelis killed from Gaza rocket attacks since 2001" = 205/23 = 8.9
However, in addition to violent deaths in the Occupied Palestinian Territories one can estimate non-violent avoidable deaths (excess deaths, deaths that did not have to happen) from deprivation and deprivation-exacerbated disease due to war criminal Occupier non- supply of life-sustaining requisites. Thus Articles 55 and 56 of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (see: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/92.htm ) an Occupier is obliged to preserve the health and life of its conquered subjects by supply of life-preserving food and medical requisites "to the fullest extent of the means available to it".
For impoverished Third World countries the "under-5 year old infant deaths" are about 0.7 of total avoidable deaths (see "Layperson's guide to counting Iraqi deaths": http://mwcnews.net/content/view/5872/26/ ; G.M. Polya "Iraq and Afghansitan: how many dying", pp78-80 in "Hadith Ethics. From Iraq to Iran?", editor Ken Coates, Bertrand Russell Peace foundation, London, 2006; and "Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950" (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://mwcnews.net/Gideon-Polya and http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ ) . UNICEF informs us that "under-5 year old infant deaths" in the Occupied Palestinian Territory total 3,000 annually (see UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/oPt.html ) from which one can estimates that 3,000/0.7 = 4,286 Occupied Palestinians die avoidably every year i.e. 4,286/365 =11.7 or about 12 such non-violent avoidable Occupied Palestinian deaths every day.
Accordingly the current schedule outlined above, as of Sunday 28 December 2008, just 2 days of violent, civilian-targetting, war criminal Israeli intervention by bombing and depriving one of the most densely populated places on the Planet (about three quarters of the inhabitants are women and children) has been associated with 205 + 24 = 229 Occupied Palestinian deaths as compared to 23 Israeli deaths from rocket or mortar attacks since 2001 totalling 23 – a Them/Us reprisal "death ratio" of 10.
Of course this summation of only 2 DAYS of Israeli atrocities IGNORES the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of Palestinians killed violently and non-violently since 1967 by the race-based State of Israel in what can only be described as a slow Palestinian Genocide: post-invasion avoidable deaths total 0.3 million; post-invasion under-5 infant deathas total 0.2 million; and refugees total 7 million (see "We Are All Palestinian. Apartheid Israel's Gaza Concentration Camp & Palestinian Genocide": http://mwcnews.net/content/view/19915/42/ )
One is reminded of the Nazi atrocity in 1944 in which Hitler ordered a Them/Us reprisal "death ratio" of 10 in response to the killing of 33 German soldiers by Italian partisans. In the subsequent mass execution Ardeatine Caves Massacre in March 1944, 335 Italians (Jews, Italian prisoners of war, partisans and other prisoners) were executed by the Occupying Nazi Germans (see "Ardeatine Massacre": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardeatine_massacre ). Half a century later, 2 of the Nazi German participants in this appalling war crime, Priebke and Hass, were sentenced to life imprisonment in Italy, the argument that they were "just obeying orders" having failed to sway the court (for details see "Erich Priebke": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Priebke ).
The Israeli air raids on the Gaza Concentration Camp represent a massive war crime through civilian-targetting in a densely populated area and denial of life-sustaining requisites to an imprisoned civilian population.
However the 205 Occupied Palestinian prisoners of the State of Israel murdered so far in the last 2 days by air attacks on the Israeli Gaza Concentration are only about 5% of the estimated 4,300 Occupied Palestinians "passively" killed each year by Apartheid Israel through deliberate, war criminal deprivation (Sanctions, Boycotts, imposed economic deprivation) .
Reproduced below are relevant Articles 55 and 56 of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/92.htm ) that are grossly violated by the State of Israel (and by the US Alliance variously involving the US, UK, NATO and White Australia in the Occupied Iraqi and Afghan Territories) (see "9-11 Excuse for US Global Genocide. The real 9-11 atrocity: millions dead (9-11 million) in Bush Wars": http://mwcnews.net/content/view/25184/42/):
Article 55
To the fullest extent of the means available to it the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population; it should, in particular, bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate.
The Occupying Power may not requisition foodstuffs, articles or medical supplies available in the occupied territory, except for use by the occupation forces and administration personnel, and then only if the requirements of the civilian population have been taken into account. Subject to the provisions of other international Conventions, the Occupying Power shall make arrangements to ensure that fair value is paid for any requisitioned goods.
The Protecting Power shall, at any time, be at liberty to verify the state of the food and medical supplies in occupied territories, except where temporary restrictions are made necessary by imperative military requirements.
Article 56
To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring and maintaining, with the cooperation of national and local authorities, the medical and hospital establishments and services, public health and hygiene in the occupied territory, with particular reference to the adoption and application of the prophylactic and preventive measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics. Medical personnel of all categories shall be allowed to carry out their duties.
If new hospitals are set up in occupied territory and if the competent organs of the occupied State are not operating there, the occupying authorities shall, if necessary, grant them the recognition provided for in Article 18. In similar circumstances, the occupying authorities shall also grant recognition to hospital personnel and transport vehicles under the provisions of Articles 20 and 21.
In adopting measures of health and hygiene and in their implementation, the Occupying Power shall take into consideration the moral and ethical susceptibilities of the population of the occupied territory.
The invasion of another country is illegal and a war crime. The occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory is in defiance of International Law and the 1968 UN Security Council Resolution 252 which demands withdrawal and cessation of confiscation of Palestinian land and property, and in which, according to a review (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_252 ): "the Council reaffirmed that the acquisition of territory by military conquest is inadmissible and deplored the failure of Israel to comply with the General Assembly resolutions. The Council considered all legislative and administrative measure and action which tend to change the legal status of Jerusalem are invalid and cannot change that status and urgently called upon Israel to rescind all such measures already taken and to desist forthwith from taking any further action which tends to change the status of Jerusalem."
Just as Priebke and Hass were convicted for the 1944 Hitler-ordered Nazi German Ardeatine Caves Massacre, so the Israelis responsible for the 1967 attack on the USS Liberty (34 US sailors killed, 170 wounded: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident ) should be tried and punished - just as those ALL those responsible for this latest Israeli atrocity should be arraigned before the International Court or, if necessary, tried in absentia.
What can decent people do in the face of continuing Israeli war crimes against about 4 million abusively imprisoned Occupied Palestinians? Peace is the only way but silence kills and silence is complicity. Decent people around the World are adopting the view that they must (a) inform others and (b) act ethically through national and international, personal and collective Sanctions and Boycotts applied to all people, corporations and countries complicit in the war crimes and gross human rights abuses of war-criminal Apartheid Israel.
