BETHLEHEM, PALESTINE (4 October 2005) -- ISRAELI planes dropped pamphlets on the Gaza Strip recently, warning residents that if home-made rocket attacks by Palestinian militants continue, the immeasurably more damaging and dangerous Israeli attacks by F-16 fighter jets against Palestinian civilian areas would also continue. Most of Israel's bombings have targeted people and buildings that have nothing whatsoever to do with militant attacks.

A state actor threatening and carrying out gratuitously disproportionate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure is a form of terrorism and is illegal under the Geneva Conventions, to which Israeli is a signatory. The pamphlets themselves, a terrifying bullying tactic aimed at innocent civilians backed up by credible threats and deadly actions, constitute an act of terrorism. The population of Gaza has also been terrorized of late by high-decibel sound attacks and illegal extrajudicial assassinations, which regularly injure and kill civilian bystanders.

The pamphlet reads:

To people who live in the northern Gaza Strip:

The terrorist actions from your area compel the Israeli Defense Forces to take severe actions against those who threaten the peace of Israel and its citizens.

We urge the Palestinian Authority to take responsibility by stopping these criminal actions.

We warn you that it is dangerous to stay in areas from which terrorist activities originate, and we advise you to begin preparations to leave your homes.

[Signed]
Israeli Defense Forces

Source: The Palestine Monitor
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/nueva_web/updates_news/updates/israeli_pamph lets_gaza.htm
+972 (0)2 298 5372
BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights PO Box 728, Bethlehem, Palestine
Telefax: 00972-2-2747346
info@badil.org - www.badil.org

---

Comments to : shunpike@shunpiking.com Copyright New Media Services Inc. © 2005. The views expressed herein are the writers' own and do not necessarily reflect those of shunpiking magazine or New Media Publications. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. Copyright of written and photographic and art work remains with the creators.

---