is that it operates on a very childish concept of morality. It equates the stronger party (Israel) with 'bad' and the weaker party (Palestinians) with 'good'. This kind of logic is attractive on the surface, because the weaker party will frequently get the larger share of the damage, being weaker, and thus appear more frequently as the suffering party and attract sympathy. However, the real story is much more complicated and Amnesty International would do the world a lot of good if they stopped for a second to consider the *intent* of what the two parties are trying to achieve. For instance, one party is trying (to the point of self-immolation) to achieve a peaceful solution that affords both groups a state of their own, while the other steadfastly refuses the first party's right to exist, and is dedicated to that party's destruction. They may realize something if they added this to the equation.

They will say it anyhow.... Send them to Tibet or Chechnya or Darfur or Ceylon or Somali or Iran or Lebanon or South Africa (hello Tutu!!!!) or to the most of the other countries in the world who are brutally fighting, supressing and killing their own citizen. Let them worry and write reports about those places. Our little, our only country must do everything in it's power to protect it's population. And if arabs die in the process - they brought their misery onto themselves. Let them eat the bitter fruits of defeat at hands of those they tried to wipe out even before the "occupied" land of 1967. No misplaced pity on our enemies.

and they have to pay for Hamas terrorit actions against Israeli civilians. israel has to defend it's citizens and does her very best not to kill palastinians , but they are resposible to backing Hamas at the time they could have made a different choice. Don't blame Israel for that.

It's either us or them. They elected Hamas, an organization bent on destroying Israel, and so this is the price they have to pay. Sorry. If the Palestinians learned how to behave as normal, conscious human beings and as good neighbors, then this wouldn't be the case. But, they continue to brainwash their youth that Jews must be murdered. Oh, well...they now suffer b/c of it. All Jews want peace. I can't say the same of the Arabs.

Aid workers and peacekeepers are sexually abusing young children in war zones and disaster zones but their actions are largely going unpunished, a British charity said Tuesday. ADVERTISEMENT "Children as young as six are trading sex with aid workers and peacekeepers in exchange for food, money, soap and, in very few cases, luxury items such as mobile phones," Save the Children said in a report. It also highlighted instances of rape, verbal sexual abuse, child pornography and prostitution and trafficking of youngsters, many of whom are poor, displaced or orphaned by conflict. The group said the scale of abuse was "significant". Its findings were based on work with hundreds of youngsters from Ivory Coast, southern Sudan and Haiti, "This research exposes the despicable actions of a big number of perpetrators from Hamas who are sexually abusing some of the most vulnerable children in the world, the very children they are meant to protect," "It is hard to imagine a more grotesque abuse of authority or flagrant violation of children's rights." "endemic failures" in responding to the abuse that was officially reported were letting down the abused, and better reporting mechanisms should be introduced. Fear of aid and assistance being withdrawn, being stigmatised by the local community, fear of reprisals, lack of faith in the response or simply ignorance about how to report abuse were also major factors, . the United Nations, the wider world as well as humanitarian and aid agencies have made important commitments to tackle the problem in recent years. But most had failed to turn their promises into action, she added, calling for all agencies working in emergencies, including her own, to "own up to the fact that they are vulnerable to this problem and tackle it head on". The UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations was said to be the group most likely to be responsible for abuse other than HAMAS. . it is "entirely unacceptable" that those sent to help the most vulnerable are instead causing grievous harm. "Clearly a lot more has to be done," he told BBC radio but he rejected allegations that the problem was widespread and those responsible were getting away with it. "The vast majority of UN peacekeepers all over the world, of which we have over 100,000 now, serve with honour and courage in very difficult situations and don't engage in this unacceptable behaviour," The reputation of UN peacekeepers has been tarnished in the past by cases of sexual abuse against women, notably in Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast and Haiti and nOT FORGETTING IN GAZA and Hamas is also responsibe with dirty hand. In November last year, the UN said that more than 100 Sri Lankan soldiers were to be sent home over charges that they paid for sex while stationed in Haiti. After turning a blind eye for decades to cases of abuse by its peacekeepers -- the world body recommended in 2005 that erring soldiers be punished, their salaries frozen and a fund set up to help any women or girls made pregnant. The "zero tolerance" policy towards sexual misconduct includes a "non-fraternisation" rule barring them from sex with locals. It was brought in after revelations in December 2004 that peacekeepers in DRC were involved in the sexual abuse of 13-year-old girls in exchange for eggs, milk or cash sums as low as one dollar.

If the palestinians were at all concerned about human rights theywould not kill theirwomen for the family respect. They would not set up bombs and launching sites nest to homes and nursery schools. They would not send children to the border fence. They would not murder purposefully innocent civilians and endanger their own. The fact that more of them were killed is a direct result of this. We build shelters in our homes while they build bombs in theirs. Then we get blamed. If there is live fire being shot would you let your kids out??

who would smirk like he is if that happened to his family? you'd think he's proud. come to think about it, he probably is.

Gaza is lacking any independent sovereignty and the use of military force is, in that case permissible. Israel imposition of economic sanctions on the Gaza Strip is a perfectly legal means of responding to terrorist attacks as Israel has no legal obligation to engage in trade with Gaza as explained at : http://xrl.us/bi5wp

spent their time and money on building hospitals instead of buying and building rockets and didn't attack Israel, how many Pallys would have been killed? That's correct NOT ONE! Why doesn't the U.N.(useless nations) try and point that out.

Tough ! 80 voted for Hamas and they are paying the price just like we are for those who voted for Olmert

Not of any interest. Move on to the next story.

the gazans hold the keys to the gaol that they have made. stop the attacks on Israel (NOT as a temporary gambit to allow recovery and renewed attacks) and Israel will be only too happy to help the gazans or to leave them to themselves.

stop attacking israel, and we will stop defending ourselves. you can have peace for peace with us, nothing more nothing less. good luck

I wounder what's the use of Gaza's covert human shields and how does Israel manage to make them overt?

Mentions that 415 Palestinians were killed by other Palestinians during 2007 next to the statistic of Palestinians "killed" by Israelis, I might begin to believe their reports. At least one of those who "died while awaiting medical treatment" is fake, as was proved a few weeks ago, and "Doctors Without Borders" apologized for their complaint. Who knows how many others were falsely reported as dead? If statistics is an "unreliable index", then Palestinian statistics are doubly so-- every "work accident" and "martyr" is listed as a "victim of the occupation", and so are the civilian victims of those "work accidents". Amnesty buys into it every time.

They are meaningless.

As a Jew my heart goes out to the innocent Palestinian people. We are all G_D's creations, and I pray for peace between us soon. But isn't this exactly what Hamas wants? People to be upset at Israel's retaliation against Hamas' terror attacks which harm innocents, so the world will say, "this policy is not working" and then grant legitimacy to an openly anti-Semitic organization bent on Israel's destruction, religiously oppressive, and willing to use terror (against Israelis and their own people) to achieve their (or Iran's) political objectives....Pretty soon we'll be hearing from 'human rights watch', "all the elected Palestinian leadership wants is to destroy Israel. Is that too much to ask for?" Why don't they spend half as much time concentrating on the GENOCIDE in Darfur? Oh yea, that's right....half the UN countries are Muslim - it's practically their religion to constantly defame Israel.

We want to be non Jewisch citizens of Israel with equal rights with the Jewich citizens of Israel. I will fight for my right to return, just like every Jew has a right to return ! i will fight for my right to buy land in Israel just like any Jew has the right to buy land in Israel AND i fill FIGHT for my right to live with my (non-Jewish) family in Israel which i am denide through Israels racist "Familiy Re-unification Law" !!! I WILL FIGHT FOR MY RIGHTS !!! until i am treated as an Equal to all the people living in the country ,Jews as well as non-Jews ! Belive me more and more Jews are thinking the same and are fighting with me for those rights ! GOOD LUCK DEFENDEING YOUR ARPARDHEIDT AND RACIST STATE !!

it is Travesty International!!!

First of all, it might be helpful if Amnesty turned down the hysterical rhetoric a couple of notches. Because to even compare the self-inflicted misery in Gaza to what's going on in places like Darfur does absolutely nothing to lend credibility to what's supposed to be a human rights organization. All it does is reflect the bias that says Israel is responsible for the Palestinians' suffering when anybody who's familiar with the conflict knows that Hamas is the real villain here.

It's a pity it has to be that way. But let's not forget it is THEY that are firing rockets into Israel, it is THEY that drove a truck with 4 tons of explosives into Erez crossing, it is THEY that use ambulances and UN trucks to smuggle weapons and explosives into Gaza. So, all told, I really don't give a flying toss what happens to them now. They had their chance, they blew it....literally.

Go to hell you pack of muzzie appeasing morons. Its only the donations you recieve that dictate your accusations! One only has to read the PA Charter to see who the real aggressor is. Shamnesty knows very well Israel only uses defensive measures and that most of the Palastinian deaths are self inflicted. Why doesnt Shamnesty announce that Arabs in Israel have the highest standard of living, education and health in the middle east. Even in Gazza, they live better than Egyptians! OOps, ....i forgot........Gazzans are Egyprians!

i will do my best to make Israel a better palce for all its citizens ! Thanks

Amnesty is a Palestinian tool. Where are the criticism of the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, brought about by Arab Muslims? Where the condemnation of Egypt for murdering hundreds of Sudanees civilian refugees? This is 1948 all over again and once more the Jews are 'Goldstein'!

is beyond my understanding. The picture of the children killed in Beith-Hanoun has no place in this story, except to prove what has been known all along, that every now and then palestinians need a little "icon" to start a wave of violence. Except that now IDF is filming everything they do. So the story is like this: IDF fired a shell at a group of armed men. When they were hit, the explosives they were carrying produced a secondary explosion. This secondary explosion caused the collapse of an iron gate, which fell on the children and crushed them. The children and their mother were having breakfast in their courtyard. When they heard the commotion in the street, they rushed to the gate to see what was going on (is one not supposed to lie down or take cover or something when one hears gunfire or explosions? Or did they think it was a wedding? or better still that Gaza was celebrating a successful "operation" against the Zionists with gunfire and candy? The lecherous smile on that old man's face just goes to show that the Palestinians, just like the Lebanese (remember Green Helmet), just like the Iraqis, pimp their children's dead bodies as if it were a freak or peeping show. In fact, why as if? It is a sort of macabre pornography, this appealing to the people's lowest and most primitive instincts, where anti-semitism can also be found. Plus the greed for money. #22, Khaled, if you become a citizen of Israel, you will no longer be able to have breakfast or any other meal in a courtyard since you will have to squeeze into a three-room-flat with barely a balcony, for which you will have to pay mortgage anything between 20-30 years, most of your working life. You will have to get a job and work 8-10 hours a day for below average wages, or even minimal wages. You will have to pay income tax, municipality tax, you will have to register your car and pay taxes on it. Hopefully you will have to do your military service and fight the terrorists in Gaza and the West Bank, even Lebanon. Don't for a second think that we have not worked hard for what we have, and are now working even harder and that we are not prepared to fight for what we have achieved.