IN OTHER WORDS
Deadly:
On Sunday, the Human Rights Watch said the Israeli war machine was using artillery shells containing the incendiary white phosphorus agent on population centres in Gaza. The white phosphorus agent causes the skin to burn and sets off fire. The HRW said its workers “witnessed hours of artillery bombardment” containing white phosphorus on the Jabaliya refugee centre in northern Gaza. Already the overwhelming majority of the nearly 900 Palestinians killed during the current Israeli offensive consists of women and children and only adds to the series of war crimes the Israelis have committed over decades of conflict with the Palestinian people. Yet, as ever, Israel is likely to go scot-free.
According to observers of the Middle Eastern scene, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert government is likely to end the slaughter before Barack Obama takes office on Jan 20. It now remains to be seen whether America’s charismatic president-elect lives up to the hopes pinned on him. So far his utterances on the Palestinian question have not inspired much confidence, for he has refrained from censuring Israel and constantly spoken of “violence” in Gaza.
What the president-elect should note is the rising wave of anger against America’s pro-Israel policies in the Islamic world and in America’s own Muslim community. — Dawn (Pakistan)