The funeral of the late Shia political leader , Abdul Aziz al-Hamil who lost his battle to lung cancer takes place today in Baghdad amid fears of violence .
Thousands of troops will be on duty guarding the funeral procession.
It is an indication of how little these extremists value life when even in death they have no compassion.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 812946.ece
Depravity at the highest level !
35 posts
• Page 1 of 4 • 1, 2, 3, 4
Depravity at the highest level !
by miltiades » Sat Aug 29, 2009 1:05 pm
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miltiades - Leading Contributor
- Posts: 19837
- Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 10:01 pm
by miltiades » Sun Aug 30, 2009 10:36 am
The savages strike yesterday , indiscriminately targeting of innocent by standers , men women and children. These beasts blow themselves up , their lives mean nothing to them so the lives of others do not matter one iota. Dangerous savages that must be defeated if takes 100 years. What drives these savages to commit such barbaric acts ? Could it be a blind faith in a deranged interpretation of a sick religion ? Could it be their hatred for the West , there again their victims are innocent Iraqis .
The mind boggles what these savages would do if they had WOMD .
Iraq bomb attacks kill 19, injure dozens
AFP 30 August 2009, 03:59am IST
TIKRIT (Iraq): A spate of attacks across Iraq on Saturday killed 19 people, including a local politician and a child, and injured dozens, making
it the country's deadliest day since Ramadan began.
In the worst incident, five policemen and three civilians, including a 10-year-old child, died when a suicide car bomber targeted a police base in Al-Sharqat, north of Tikrit, officials said.
At least 20 people, 13 police among them, were wounded in the morning attack, the local police chief said.
Hours later, four people were killed and 23 others injured when a bomb exploded at a market in Sinjar, a town near the Syrian border and west of the restive northern city of Mosul.
A high-ranking official at Sinjar hospital said the four dead were a man and his son, another man and another child.
"The casualties include women and children," added Elias Kheder, a local authority official.
Around 70 percent of the population of Sinjar are members of the ancient Yazidi religious sect.
On August 13, 21 people were killed and 32 wounded when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a packed cafe in the town.
Two years ago, more than 400 Yazidis were slaughtered when four suicide truck bombs targeted two northern villages in the deadliest attack since the US-led invasion of 2003.
Yazidis number several hundred thousand and live mostly in northern Iraq. They speak a dialect of Kurdish, and follow a pre-Islamic religion and their own cultural traditions.
Their main focus of worship is Malak Taus, the chief of the archangels. Followers of other religions know this angel as Lucifer or Satan, leading to popular prejudice that the secretive Yazidis are devil-worshippers.
Another attack on Saturday killed a local politician and a passer-by in Fallujah.
A bomb placed under the car of Khaled Ghanam al-Zawbari, head of the local branch of the al-Dustour party, exploded after he left a mosque following prayers, police said.
Meanwhile, an attack by gunmen on a police checkpoint east of Baquba, in Diyala province, killed one officer and one civilian. Four police were wounded.
And in Baghdad, an off-duty soldier was killed and three people wounded, including a fellow soldier, in Adhamiyah, a Sunni neighbourhood in the north of the capital, an interior ministry official said.
The same source said two civilians were killed and 13 more wounded when a booby-trapped motorbike blew up in Baghdad Jadida district in the east of the city.
Despite a reduction in violence in the past year, attacks on security forces and civilians remain common nationwide, including in Baghdad, the restive northern city of Mosul and in the ethnically divided oil hub of Kirkuk.
Two devastating truck bombings at the ministries of finance and foreign affairs in Baghdad on August 19 killed 95 people and wounded about 600.
Iraq accused neighbouring Syria of harbouring the masterminds of the finance ministry attack and recalled its ambassador from Damascus.
Syria retaliated within hours by ordering back its envoy from Baghdad.
The mind boggles what these savages would do if they had WOMD .
Iraq bomb attacks kill 19, injure dozens
AFP 30 August 2009, 03:59am IST
TIKRIT (Iraq): A spate of attacks across Iraq on Saturday killed 19 people, including a local politician and a child, and injured dozens, making
it the country's deadliest day since Ramadan began.
In the worst incident, five policemen and three civilians, including a 10-year-old child, died when a suicide car bomber targeted a police base in Al-Sharqat, north of Tikrit, officials said.
At least 20 people, 13 police among them, were wounded in the morning attack, the local police chief said.
Hours later, four people were killed and 23 others injured when a bomb exploded at a market in Sinjar, a town near the Syrian border and west of the restive northern city of Mosul.
A high-ranking official at Sinjar hospital said the four dead were a man and his son, another man and another child.
"The casualties include women and children," added Elias Kheder, a local authority official.
Around 70 percent of the population of Sinjar are members of the ancient Yazidi religious sect.
On August 13, 21 people were killed and 32 wounded when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a packed cafe in the town.
Two years ago, more than 400 Yazidis were slaughtered when four suicide truck bombs targeted two northern villages in the deadliest attack since the US-led invasion of 2003.
Yazidis number several hundred thousand and live mostly in northern Iraq. They speak a dialect of Kurdish, and follow a pre-Islamic religion and their own cultural traditions.
Their main focus of worship is Malak Taus, the chief of the archangels. Followers of other religions know this angel as Lucifer or Satan, leading to popular prejudice that the secretive Yazidis are devil-worshippers.
Another attack on Saturday killed a local politician and a passer-by in Fallujah.
A bomb placed under the car of Khaled Ghanam al-Zawbari, head of the local branch of the al-Dustour party, exploded after he left a mosque following prayers, police said.
Meanwhile, an attack by gunmen on a police checkpoint east of Baquba, in Diyala province, killed one officer and one civilian. Four police were wounded.
And in Baghdad, an off-duty soldier was killed and three people wounded, including a fellow soldier, in Adhamiyah, a Sunni neighbourhood in the north of the capital, an interior ministry official said.
The same source said two civilians were killed and 13 more wounded when a booby-trapped motorbike blew up in Baghdad Jadida district in the east of the city.
Despite a reduction in violence in the past year, attacks on security forces and civilians remain common nationwide, including in Baghdad, the restive northern city of Mosul and in the ethnically divided oil hub of Kirkuk.
Two devastating truck bombings at the ministries of finance and foreign affairs in Baghdad on August 19 killed 95 people and wounded about 600.
Iraq accused neighbouring Syria of harbouring the masterminds of the finance ministry attack and recalled its ambassador from Damascus.
Syria retaliated within hours by ordering back its envoy from Baghdad.
-
miltiades - Leading Contributor
- Posts: 19837
- Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 10:01 pm
by Talisker » Sun Aug 30, 2009 1:17 pm
No-one condones the actions of bombers killing innocent civilians either in Iraq or Israel or Ireland or elsewhere - but some of us try to consider the situations that have lead these individuals to take such drastic decisions and actions. However, Miltiades, you promote constant themes within your threads of 'them' and 'us', the 'barbaric savages of the Middle-East' and the 'civilised West'. These unjustified generalisations just serve to illustrate your lack of understanding of the political situation as it exists in the world today and, more sadly, highlight a complete lack of humanity in your attitudes. The West has enough instances of killing innocents through violent action.
In the UK, just over 11 years ago - Omagh bombing:
http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ire ... /main.html
In the US, in 1995 - Oklahoma bombing:
http://www.constitution.org/okc/okc.htm
Neither of these events were due to the influence of outside elements or powers (although the real IRA would argue the Omagh atrocity was a result of British 'occupation' of Northern Ireland, surely with parallels with the US/UK occupation of Iraq). So, the US and UK can't argue that these events within their borders were due to political forces elsewhere.
However, our governments and military forces influence the lives of citizens of sovereign states such as Iraq and Iran and so many others. I suggest you read this article by Darius Guppy from The Independent a couple of weeks ago, in which he portrays views of the UK from inside Iran.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/co ... 69001.html
As you can only voice your thoughts in either black and white I'd ask you to try to consider those of us who also see shades of gray. That is to say I am not arguing that Iran or Iraq or Pakistan are perfect societies to which The West should aspire (for example, I don't approve of (over)use of capital punishment in Iran). But these countries do have perfectly reasonable and laudable attitudes and values that may be different to those in The West, but entirely relevant for their own civilised societies. Similarly, I don't denounce The West, but I do, at least, acknowledge it's deficiencies, and the advantages taken, from a position of strength, of weaker countries. For example, there is actually no doubt anymore that US companies will benefit from preferential contracts for reconstruction of Iraq, a country destroyed following intervention by The West. How cynical is that? And the oil will now be available for The West in a much more controlled manner - a clear example of exploitation of the false pretences under which the invasion occurred. Basically, there are extremists inclined to violence in all societies - some have used this through having political power (e.g. George W Bush and his cronies), others have little or no political power but do have access to roadside or suicide bomb belts and decide to 'promote' their cause in that way.
It is important that your views are challenged by GR! and others and, in my opinion, on the matter of the Middle-East and Israel you are just as much of an extremist as you apparently think he is.
In the UK, just over 11 years ago - Omagh bombing:
http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ire ... /main.html
In the US, in 1995 - Oklahoma bombing:
http://www.constitution.org/okc/okc.htm
Neither of these events were due to the influence of outside elements or powers (although the real IRA would argue the Omagh atrocity was a result of British 'occupation' of Northern Ireland, surely with parallels with the US/UK occupation of Iraq). So, the US and UK can't argue that these events within their borders were due to political forces elsewhere.
However, our governments and military forces influence the lives of citizens of sovereign states such as Iraq and Iran and so many others. I suggest you read this article by Darius Guppy from The Independent a couple of weeks ago, in which he portrays views of the UK from inside Iran.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/co ... 69001.html
As you can only voice your thoughts in either black and white I'd ask you to try to consider those of us who also see shades of gray. That is to say I am not arguing that Iran or Iraq or Pakistan are perfect societies to which The West should aspire (for example, I don't approve of (over)use of capital punishment in Iran). But these countries do have perfectly reasonable and laudable attitudes and values that may be different to those in The West, but entirely relevant for their own civilised societies. Similarly, I don't denounce The West, but I do, at least, acknowledge it's deficiencies, and the advantages taken, from a position of strength, of weaker countries. For example, there is actually no doubt anymore that US companies will benefit from preferential contracts for reconstruction of Iraq, a country destroyed following intervention by The West. How cynical is that? And the oil will now be available for The West in a much more controlled manner - a clear example of exploitation of the false pretences under which the invasion occurred. Basically, there are extremists inclined to violence in all societies - some have used this through having political power (e.g. George W Bush and his cronies), others have little or no political power but do have access to roadside or suicide bomb belts and decide to 'promote' their cause in that way.
It is important that your views are challenged by GR! and others and, in my opinion, on the matter of the Middle-East and Israel you are just as much of an extremist as you apparently think he is.
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Talisker - Regular Contributor
- Posts: 1029
- Joined: Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:41 pm
- Location: UK
by miltiades » Sun Aug 30, 2009 2:40 pm
TALISKER WROTE:
""""but some of us try to consider the situations that have lead these individuals to take such drastic decisions and actions. """
I would have responded at length but seeing that you posted the above nonsense I shall ignore you.
What exactly mate are the situations that have demanded these "individuals " commit cold blooded murder . Killing them selves and taking along with them innocent men women and children. Individuals you say ??
Are you mad , these are savages of the worst kind , only sick minds could possibly interpret these barbaric acts as anything other than the acts of savages .
As for the shades of gray that you see I suggest you examine your views , we are not talking about suicide killers targeting the enemy we are seeing these savages target their own people , open your eyes and see what in reality these barbarians are achieving. I detest each and every one of them and I can not comprehend how any one can possibly justify , and you do justify , such horrendous barbaric massacres.
""""but some of us try to consider the situations that have lead these individuals to take such drastic decisions and actions. """
I would have responded at length but seeing that you posted the above nonsense I shall ignore you.
What exactly mate are the situations that have demanded these "individuals " commit cold blooded murder . Killing them selves and taking along with them innocent men women and children. Individuals you say ??
Are you mad , these are savages of the worst kind , only sick minds could possibly interpret these barbaric acts as anything other than the acts of savages .
As for the shades of gray that you see I suggest you examine your views , we are not talking about suicide killers targeting the enemy we are seeing these savages target their own people , open your eyes and see what in reality these barbarians are achieving. I detest each and every one of them and I can not comprehend how any one can possibly justify , and you do justify , such horrendous barbaric massacres.
-
miltiades - Leading Contributor
- Posts: 19837
- Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 10:01 pm
by Paphitis » Sun Aug 30, 2009 2:58 pm
War and Natural Gas: The Israeli Invasion and Gaza 's Offshore Gas Fields
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=11680
January 8, 2009
The military invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli Forces bears a direct relation to the control and ownership of strategic offshore gas reserves.
This is a war of conquest. Discovered in 2000, there are extensive gas reserves off the Gaza coastline.
British Gas (BG Group) and its partner, the Athens based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC) owned by Lebanon's Sabbagh and Koury families, were granted oil and gas exploration rights in a 25 year agreement signed in November 1999 with the Palestinian Authority.
The rights to the offshore gas field are respectively British Gas (60 percent); Consolidated Contractors (CCC) (30 percent); and the Investment Fund of the Palestinian Authority (10 percent). (Haaretz, October 21, 2007).
The PA-BG-CCC agreement includes field development and the construction of a gas pipeline.(Middle East Economic Digest, Jan 5, 2001).
The BG licence covers the entire Gazan offshore marine area, which is contiguous to several Israeli offshore gas facilities. (See Map below). It should be noted that 60 percent of the gas reserves along the Gaza-Israel coastline belong to Palestine.
The BG Group drilled two wells in 2000: Gaza Marine-1 and Gaza Marine-2. Reserves are estimated by British Gas to be of the order of 1.4 trillion cubic feet, valued at approximately 4 billion dollars.. These are the figures made public by British Gas. The size of Palestine's gas reserves could be much larger.
Who Owns the Gas Fields
The issue of sovereignty over Gaza's gas fields is crucial. From a legal standpoint, the gas reserves belong to Palestine.
The death of Yasser Arafat, the election of the Hamas government and the ruin of the Palestinian Authority have enabled Israel to establish de facto control over Gaza's offshore gas reserves.
British Gas (BG Group) has been dealing with the Tel Aviv government. In turn, the Hamas government has been bypassed in regards to exploration and development rights over the gas fields.
The election of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2001 was a major turning point. Palestine's sovereignty over the offshore gas fields was challenged in the Israeli Supreme Court. Sharon stated unequivocally that "Israel would never buy gas from Palestine" intimating that Gaza's offshore gas reserves belong to Israel.
In 2003, Ariel Sharon, vetoed an initial deal, which would allow British Gas to supply Israel with natural gas from Gaza's offshore wells. (The Independent, August 19, 2003)
The election victory of Hamas in 2006 was conducive to the demise of the Palestinian Authority, which became confined to the West Bank, under the proxy regime of Mahmoud Abbas.
In 2006, British Gas "was close to signing a deal to pump the gas to Egypt." (Times, May, 23, 2007). According to reports, British Prime Minister Tony Blair intervened on behalf of Israel with a view to shunting the agreement with Egypt.
The following year, in May 2007, the Israeli Cabinet approved a proposal by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "to buy gas from the Palestinian Authority." The proposed contract was for $4 billion, with profits of the order of $2 billion of which one billion was to go the Palestinians.
Tel Aviv, however, had no intention on sharing the revenues with Palestine. An Israeli team of negotiators was set up by the Israeli Cabinet to thrash out a deal with the BG Group, bypassing both the Hamas government and the Palestinian Authority:
"Israeli defence authorities want the Palestinians to be paid in goods and services and insist that no money go to the Hamas-controlled Government." (Ibid, emphasis added)
The objective was essentially to nullify the contract signed in 1999 between the BG Group and the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat.
Under the proposed 2007 agreement with BG, Palestinian gas from Gaza's offshore wells was to be channeled by an undersea pipeline to the Israeli seaport of Ashkelon, thereby transferring control over the sale of the natural gas to Israel.
The deal fell through. The negotiations were suspended:
"Mossad Chief Meir Dagan opposed the transaction on security grounds, that the proceeds would fund terror". (Member of Knesset Gilad Erdan, Address to the Knesset on "The Intention of Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Purchase Gas from the Palestinians When Payment Will Serve Hamas," March 1, 2006, quoted in Lt. Gen. (ret.) Moshe Yaalon, Does the Prospective Purchase of British Gas from Gaza's Coastal Waters Threaten Israel's National Security? Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, October 2007)
Israel's intent was to foreclose the possibility that royalties be paid to the Palestinians. In December 2007, The BG Group withdrew from the negotiations with Israel and in January 2008 they closed their office in Israel.(BG website).
Invasion Plan on The Drawing Board
The invasion plan of the Gaza Strip under "Operation Cast Lead" was set in motion in June 2008, according to Israeli military sources:
"Sources in the defense establishment said Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the operation over six months ago [June or before June] , even as Israel was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas."(Barak Ravid, Operation "Cast Lead": Israeli Air Force strike followed months of planning, Haaretz, December 27, 2008)
That very same month, the Israeli authorities contacted British Gas, with a view to resuming crucial negotiations pertaining to the purchase of Gaza's natural gas:
"Both Ministry of Finance director general Yarom Ariav and Ministry of National Infrastructures director general Hezi Kugler agreed to inform BG of Israel's wish to renew the talks.
The sources added that BG has not yet officially responded to Israel's request, but that company executives would probably come to Israel in a few weeks to hold talks with government officials." (Globes online- Israel's Business Arena, June 23, 2008)
The decision to speed up negotiations with British Gas (BG Group) coincided, chronologically, with the planning of the invasion of Gaza initiated in June. It would appear that Israel was anxious to reach an agreement with the BG Group prior to the invasion, which was already in an advanced planning stage.
Moreover, these negotiations with British Gas were conducted by the Ehud Olmert government with the knowledge that a military invasion was on the drawing board. In all likelihood, a new "post war" political-territorial arrangement for the Gaza strip was also being contemplated by the Israeli government.
In fact, negotiations between British Gas and Israeli officials were ongoing in October 2008, 2-3 months prior to the commencement of the bombings on December 27th.
In November 2008, the Israeli Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of National Infrastructures instructed Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) to enter into negotiations with British Gas, on the purchase of natural gas from the BG's offshore concession in Gaza. (Globes, November 13, 2008)
"Ministry of Finance director general Yarom Ariav and Ministry of National Infrastructures director general Hezi Kugler wrote to IEC CEO Amos Lasker recently, informing him of the government's decision to allow negotiations to go forward, in line with the framework proposal it approved earlier this year.
The IEC board, headed by chairman Moti Friedman, approved the principles of the framework proposal a few weeks ago. The talks with BG Group will begin once the board approves the exemption from a tender." (Globes Nov. 13, 2008)
Gaza and Energy Geopolitics
The military occupation of Gaza is intent upon transferring the sovereignty of the gas fields to Israel in violation of international law.
What can we expect in the wake of the invasion?
What is the intent of Israel with regard to Palestine's Natural Gas reserves?
A new territorial arrangement, with the stationing of Israeli and/or "peacekeeping" troops?
The militarization of the entire Gaza coastline, which is strategic for Israel?
The outright confiscation of Palestinian gas fields and the unilateral declaration of Israeli sovereignty over Gaza's maritime areas?
If this were to occur, the Gaza gas fields would be integrated into Israel's offshore installations, which are contiguous to those of the Gaza Strip. (See Map 1 above).
These various offshore installations are also linked up to Israel's energy transport corridor, extending from the port of Eilat, which is an oil pipeline terminal, on the Red Sea to the seaport - pipeline terminal at Ashkelon, and northwards to Haifa, and eventually linking up through a proposed Israeli-Turkish pipeline with the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
Ceyhan is the terminal of the Baku, Tblisi Ceyhan Trans Caspian pipeline. "What is envisaged is to link the BTC pipeline to the Trans-Israel Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline, also known as Israel's Tipline." (See Michel Chossudovsky, The War on Lebanon and the Battle for Oil, Global Research, July 23, 2006)
by Michel Chossudovsky
[/quote]
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=11680
January 8, 2009
The military invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli Forces bears a direct relation to the control and ownership of strategic offshore gas reserves.
This is a war of conquest. Discovered in 2000, there are extensive gas reserves off the Gaza coastline.
British Gas (BG Group) and its partner, the Athens based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC) owned by Lebanon's Sabbagh and Koury families, were granted oil and gas exploration rights in a 25 year agreement signed in November 1999 with the Palestinian Authority.
The rights to the offshore gas field are respectively British Gas (60 percent); Consolidated Contractors (CCC) (30 percent); and the Investment Fund of the Palestinian Authority (10 percent). (Haaretz, October 21, 2007).
The PA-BG-CCC agreement includes field development and the construction of a gas pipeline.(Middle East Economic Digest, Jan 5, 2001).
The BG licence covers the entire Gazan offshore marine area, which is contiguous to several Israeli offshore gas facilities. (See Map below). It should be noted that 60 percent of the gas reserves along the Gaza-Israel coastline belong to Palestine.
The BG Group drilled two wells in 2000: Gaza Marine-1 and Gaza Marine-2. Reserves are estimated by British Gas to be of the order of 1.4 trillion cubic feet, valued at approximately 4 billion dollars.. These are the figures made public by British Gas. The size of Palestine's gas reserves could be much larger.
Who Owns the Gas Fields
The issue of sovereignty over Gaza's gas fields is crucial. From a legal standpoint, the gas reserves belong to Palestine.
The death of Yasser Arafat, the election of the Hamas government and the ruin of the Palestinian Authority have enabled Israel to establish de facto control over Gaza's offshore gas reserves.
British Gas (BG Group) has been dealing with the Tel Aviv government. In turn, the Hamas government has been bypassed in regards to exploration and development rights over the gas fields.
The election of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2001 was a major turning point. Palestine's sovereignty over the offshore gas fields was challenged in the Israeli Supreme Court. Sharon stated unequivocally that "Israel would never buy gas from Palestine" intimating that Gaza's offshore gas reserves belong to Israel.
In 2003, Ariel Sharon, vetoed an initial deal, which would allow British Gas to supply Israel with natural gas from Gaza's offshore wells. (The Independent, August 19, 2003)
The election victory of Hamas in 2006 was conducive to the demise of the Palestinian Authority, which became confined to the West Bank, under the proxy regime of Mahmoud Abbas.
In 2006, British Gas "was close to signing a deal to pump the gas to Egypt." (Times, May, 23, 2007). According to reports, British Prime Minister Tony Blair intervened on behalf of Israel with a view to shunting the agreement with Egypt.
The following year, in May 2007, the Israeli Cabinet approved a proposal by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "to buy gas from the Palestinian Authority." The proposed contract was for $4 billion, with profits of the order of $2 billion of which one billion was to go the Palestinians.
Tel Aviv, however, had no intention on sharing the revenues with Palestine. An Israeli team of negotiators was set up by the Israeli Cabinet to thrash out a deal with the BG Group, bypassing both the Hamas government and the Palestinian Authority:
"Israeli defence authorities want the Palestinians to be paid in goods and services and insist that no money go to the Hamas-controlled Government." (Ibid, emphasis added)
The objective was essentially to nullify the contract signed in 1999 between the BG Group and the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat.
Under the proposed 2007 agreement with BG, Palestinian gas from Gaza's offshore wells was to be channeled by an undersea pipeline to the Israeli seaport of Ashkelon, thereby transferring control over the sale of the natural gas to Israel.
The deal fell through. The negotiations were suspended:
"Mossad Chief Meir Dagan opposed the transaction on security grounds, that the proceeds would fund terror". (Member of Knesset Gilad Erdan, Address to the Knesset on "The Intention of Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Purchase Gas from the Palestinians When Payment Will Serve Hamas," March 1, 2006, quoted in Lt. Gen. (ret.) Moshe Yaalon, Does the Prospective Purchase of British Gas from Gaza's Coastal Waters Threaten Israel's National Security? Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, October 2007)
Israel's intent was to foreclose the possibility that royalties be paid to the Palestinians. In December 2007, The BG Group withdrew from the negotiations with Israel and in January 2008 they closed their office in Israel.(BG website).
Invasion Plan on The Drawing Board
The invasion plan of the Gaza Strip under "Operation Cast Lead" was set in motion in June 2008, according to Israeli military sources:
"Sources in the defense establishment said Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the operation over six months ago [June or before June] , even as Israel was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas."(Barak Ravid, Operation "Cast Lead": Israeli Air Force strike followed months of planning, Haaretz, December 27, 2008)
That very same month, the Israeli authorities contacted British Gas, with a view to resuming crucial negotiations pertaining to the purchase of Gaza's natural gas:
"Both Ministry of Finance director general Yarom Ariav and Ministry of National Infrastructures director general Hezi Kugler agreed to inform BG of Israel's wish to renew the talks.
The sources added that BG has not yet officially responded to Israel's request, but that company executives would probably come to Israel in a few weeks to hold talks with government officials." (Globes online- Israel's Business Arena, June 23, 2008)
The decision to speed up negotiations with British Gas (BG Group) coincided, chronologically, with the planning of the invasion of Gaza initiated in June. It would appear that Israel was anxious to reach an agreement with the BG Group prior to the invasion, which was already in an advanced planning stage.
Moreover, these negotiations with British Gas were conducted by the Ehud Olmert government with the knowledge that a military invasion was on the drawing board. In all likelihood, a new "post war" political-territorial arrangement for the Gaza strip was also being contemplated by the Israeli government.
In fact, negotiations between British Gas and Israeli officials were ongoing in October 2008, 2-3 months prior to the commencement of the bombings on December 27th.
In November 2008, the Israeli Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of National Infrastructures instructed Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) to enter into negotiations with British Gas, on the purchase of natural gas from the BG's offshore concession in Gaza. (Globes, November 13, 2008)
"Ministry of Finance director general Yarom Ariav and Ministry of National Infrastructures director general Hezi Kugler wrote to IEC CEO Amos Lasker recently, informing him of the government's decision to allow negotiations to go forward, in line with the framework proposal it approved earlier this year.
The IEC board, headed by chairman Moti Friedman, approved the principles of the framework proposal a few weeks ago. The talks with BG Group will begin once the board approves the exemption from a tender." (Globes Nov. 13, 2008)
Gaza and Energy Geopolitics
The military occupation of Gaza is intent upon transferring the sovereignty of the gas fields to Israel in violation of international law.
What can we expect in the wake of the invasion?
What is the intent of Israel with regard to Palestine's Natural Gas reserves?
A new territorial arrangement, with the stationing of Israeli and/or "peacekeeping" troops?
The militarization of the entire Gaza coastline, which is strategic for Israel?
The outright confiscation of Palestinian gas fields and the unilateral declaration of Israeli sovereignty over Gaza's maritime areas?
If this were to occur, the Gaza gas fields would be integrated into Israel's offshore installations, which are contiguous to those of the Gaza Strip. (See Map 1 above).
These various offshore installations are also linked up to Israel's energy transport corridor, extending from the port of Eilat, which is an oil pipeline terminal, on the Red Sea to the seaport - pipeline terminal at Ashkelon, and northwards to Haifa, and eventually linking up through a proposed Israeli-Turkish pipeline with the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
Ceyhan is the terminal of the Baku, Tblisi Ceyhan Trans Caspian pipeline. "What is envisaged is to link the BTC pipeline to the Trans-Israel Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline, also known as Israel's Tipline." (See Michel Chossudovsky, The War on Lebanon and the Battle for Oil, Global Research, July 23, 2006)
by Michel Chossudovsky
[/quote]-
Paphitis - Leading Contributor
- Posts: 32303
- Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 2:06 pm
by Paphitis » Sun Aug 30, 2009 3:09 pm
Who would not try and defend their homeland when faced with ethnic cleansing from their own traditional lands?
Miltiades wrote:
The nation of Israel has been committing cold blooded murder and ethnic cleansing for half a century!
How could you even attempt to defend this?
Miltiades wrote:
What exactly mate are the situations that have demanded these "individuals " commit cold blooded murder .
The nation of Israel has been committing cold blooded murder and ethnic cleansing for half a century!
How could you even attempt to defend this?
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Paphitis - Leading Contributor
- Posts: 32303
- Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 2:06 pm
by joe » Sun Aug 30, 2009 3:56 pm
Paphitis wrote:Who would not try and defend their homeland when faced with ethnic cleansing from their own traditional lands?
Miltiades wrote:What exactly mate are the situations that have demanded these "individuals " commit cold blooded murder .
The nation of Israel has been committing cold blooded murder and ethnic cleansing for half a century!
How could you even attempt to defend this?
and this had nothing to do with the rise of Nazism in the 1930s? Ovens for 6 million selected specifically for their funny hats! Now i sympathies with the plight of the Palestinians and i realize that Israel and Turkey have a military partnership and that the Jewish lobby in North America back the Turks on certain issues that are inconceivable to me like that whole Armenian genocide thing. I understand it all. But how about the 23 Arab countries that exist today? How did they come to be? If i were to place a large map on the floor of the middle east, i would literally be able to run thru all the Arab countries and barely stick my big toe where Israel is. The Jews have had a long history in Israel sort of like the Arabs in Alexandria Egypt. Wait one second, Alexandria is not an Arabic name, how did north Africa become Arabic? Some times when i watch Cypriot news, it feels a bit like i am watching aljazeera. I wish they would one time state the obvious. If Turkey were ever to go to war with Greece, i can guarantee you 100 percent that a lot of volunteers from our Arab friendly nations (all 23) would side with the Turks!!
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joe - Contributor
- Posts: 492
- Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2005 5:50 am
- Location: I hail from the Republic of Cyprus
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