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Anthony Charles Lynton Blair due on trial in the Hague

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Category: War on the Afghans and the Iraqis
On the same day the BBC reported that former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz was to go on trial after five years in prison over the deaths of a group of Baghdad merchants in 1992, it was rumoured the former prime minister of Britain will be indicted for crimes against humanity. The list of charges is long and not confined to the many alleged crimes in Iraq. Mr Blair's whereabouts are uncertain; he has been sighted occasionally in occupied East Jerusalem where he is acting as 'peace' envoy for the 'Quartet'. Most recently, he has been facilitating industrial zones for the employment of Palestinians and for the removal of a few of the over 500 Israeli Occupation Force roadblocks.

The charge list includes:
 
Breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention from the time he became prime minister in 1997 until March 2003 during whichtime draconian sanctions were being applied to the civilian population of Iraq. These sanctions prompted the resignation of Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck who served as assistant secretaries-general of the UN. The former stated that the effect of those sanctions was genocidal. It was established that there was an excess mortality of babies and children of at least 500,000 between 1992 and 2003. This had to do with foul water, poor nutrition and deteriorating medical services, all of which were satisfactory before the sanctions took hold.
 
Please note, this article contains graphic images which some may find upsetting. 
 

Letter of complaint regarding the Today Program 24th April 2008

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Category: Complaints Regarding BBC Bias
Dear Today,

I was pleased that Mr Humphrys interviewed Mr Mark Regev but, as always, it was like counting eels in a sack.

Important facts were omitted, and as expected from past performance, Regev lied. Yes, lied.

A few salient points.
1. The unlawful siege of Gaza, the collective punishment that is illegal under 4th GC etc, was started by the Israelis in March 2006 in response to the election of an Hamas dominated legislature after scrupulous elections. The medieval siege, as I named it, was accompanied by daily shelling (175 mm and other weaponry including the most modern and vicious, the former amounting to about 70 per day). I was there and I reported it to C4; Inigo Gilmour reported.

Dancing on Graves

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Category: Palestine/Israel
By Leslie Bravery – April 14, 2008

Political ideology
The signatories to Israel's May 14, 1948 Declaration of Independence, identified themselves thus: “. . .
 
We members of the People's Council, representatives of the Jewish Community of Eretz-Israel and of the Zionist movement . . .”
The key to understanding the Israeli state and its relations with both the Palestinian people and its neighbours lies in the reference to the Zionist movement. Founded by Theodor Herzl in the late nineteenth century, Zionism holds that hostility to Jews is natural and inevitable and that Jews can only be secure through the creation of a Jewish state. The movement shared the outlook of European colonialism and most people would be astonished to learn of revisionist (as it became) Zionism's affinity with the fascist movements of the early twentieth century, its eventual co-operation with Nazism and its betrayal of non-Zionist Jews.

The Education of Doctors in Palestine

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Category: Blair

This subject is very close to my heart. This is not an academic dissertation but a talk based on my own observations, feelings and ethos.

 

Historical perspective - What was happening just over 90 years ago? Third battle of Gaza. Turkish and British each had ten divisions. The British had enlisted Arab help in driving the Turks from Palestine after General Allenby promised them independence!

 

In the Autumn of 1917 there were British and French cruisers shelling Gaza. This was one of the many battles being waged by the 'great' powers to carve out their empires; this was the driving force for WW1.

Not a Quart into a Pint Pot but a Quart from a Pint Pot

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Category: Palestine/Israel

Water for Gaza's 1.5 million People

I will use a broad brush in this talk. I am no expert on water so I use my ordinary medical knowledge and environmental insight. It is a very technical subject and it is easy to lose sight of the wood for the trees. My interest was stimulated by knowing that the public water supply was undrinkable in the main and by my concern that the potently toxic and non-degradable dioxins, PCBs etc were probably present in the groundwater due to the burning of plastic etc at low temperatures. These can be teratogenic, carcinogenic and mutagenic. Also the charity I founded - the Dove and Dolphin, decided to provide stainless steel tanks for drinking water in schools. I wanted to be sure the bowser water used was pure.

A brief history. Settlements were recorded here in Gaza in 3000 BC. One writer said it was rich with trees. This stop on the Via Maris was a good one for a very good reason no doubt - there was sweet water in the wells and in the river to the south. It was truly an oasis. Dr Eyad Sarraj told me that as a boy just after WW2 he remembers running down to the beach with birds in the trees and fish to see in sparkling sea. At that time the population of Gaza was around 70,000 I am told. The population of Palestine was 1.85 million, one third being Jews - almost all of whom were of recent immigres from Europe, and two thirds Palestinian Arabs. Now there are 11 million people living in Palestine, 6 million being in that part which is named Israel. So the population has grown sixfold in sixty years.