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"And I think, in the end, that is the best definition of journalism I have heard; to challenge authority - all authority - especially so when governments and politicians take us to war, when they have decided that they will kill and others will die."
~ Robert Fisk
David's Current Maxim: 'No mother and child should be in the least harmed anywhere in our still beautiful world.'
Gulf
News reported a claim by Dr Al Saqqa, Head of the Emergency Unit of El
Shifa Hospital, Gaza on 7-07-06 that the Israeli Occupation Force was
using a new 'chemical' weapon.
He has worked at El Shifa for ten years. He had noted that two hundred
and more casualties of Summer Rain (sic) had unusual wounds. These
numbers included about fifty children. Later evidence from Dr Al Saqqa
described surface wounds as having the general appearance of those due
to 'shrapnel' – fragments from shell, missile or bomb casings
– but no fragments were to be seen on Xray. There were
usually entry and exit wounds. When the wounds were explored no foreign
material was found. There was tissue death, the extent of which was
difficult to determine. It is vital, especially with deep wounds, to
excise all dead tissue. A higher deep infection rate resulted with
subsequent amputation. In spite of amputation there was a higher
mortality.
The 360 square kms of the 'Strip' represent 1.5% of 'mandate'
Palestine. Another 3 million Palestinians live in the ineptly named
'West Bank', and in East Jerusalem. This represents about 11% of
mandate Palestine.
Two thirds of the 1.4 million population in the Gaza Strip are refugees
and their offspring. The former had fled southwards from their homes
and land in 1948 before and during the Arab-Israeli war. The massacre
of Deir Yassin on April 4th was a central cause of the panic that drove
that mass migration, as well as overwhelming force of arms. The
refugees were given materials for building concrete shelters in 'camps'
throughout the Strip. They were cheek by jowl, and cold in winter. In
spite of UN resolution 242 and others, they have remained trapped in an
utterly oppressive environment. Since the start of the second intifada
– 'shaking loose', in September 2000, the standard of living
has dropped steadily. Unemployment has been over 50% and is rising
quickly now. 78% of the population are living under the poverty line of
less than US $ 2.1 per person per day, and 10% of children under the
age of five suffer from chronic malnutrition. (1)
A study in late 2002 found that 17.5% of children aged 6–59
months suffered from chronic malnutrition 53% of women of reproductive
age and 44% of children were found to be anaemic (2
)
"Actions are held to be
good or bad, not on their own merits, but
according
to who does them. There is almost no kind of outrage - - - - torture,
imprisonment without trial, assassination, the bombing of civilians - -
- -
which does not change its moral color when it is committed by
our side.
The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by
his
own side, he has remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them."
-George Orwell
Jewish insurgents, who had long been fighting a bloody insurgency
campaign against British troops in Palestine, were about to take their
war to London.
Palestine - the hinge of our humanity? The Middle East in Flames
3-08-06 Totnes Civic Hall
Why am I here and not making something good in my workshop?
1. Taught to be truthful, a lesson which obviously passed over most of the political class. Being truthful also means speaking out.
2. I cannot stand seeing underdogs kicked around
3. As an orthopaedic and trauma surgeon all my efforts, and those of the good people with me, were devoted to healing tissue and in relieving pain – not in blasting bodies apart.
4. The bombing of the Afghan people by B52s from 32,000ft in the Autumn of 2001 galvanised me; I have not rested since.
5. My central motivation is the love of the child. We have two happy grand-daughters, Isabel and Nel. I look into their beautiful eyes and see the two billion other children on our planet. They are all equally precious; not one should be harmed.
"Truth has to be repeated constantly, because Error also is being preached all the time, and not just by a few, but by the multitude. In the Press and Encyclopaedias, in Schools and Universities, everywhere Error holds sway, feeling happy and comfortable in the knowledge of having Majority on its side."
Goethe
A Quotation From: The NHS Dismantled
In his report to the Conservative Party’s Economic Reconstruction Group in 1977, Nicholas Ridley wrote that:
"...denationalisation should not be attempted by frontal attack but by preparation for return to the private sector by stealth. We should first pass legislation to destroy the public sector monopolies. We might also need to take power to sell assets. Secondly, we should fragment the industries as far as possible and set up the units as separate profit centres."