| Israel has begun stepping up implementation of its policy of extra-judicial assassination in recent weeks, killing over a dozen people targeted for death, using bombs dropped from planes and missiles launched from helicopter gun ships. The dramatic increase of the tempo of these assassinations in recent weeks has left some observers wondering if it is possible that Ariel Sharon, the hard line leader of Israel, is preparing to make good on threats to launch a full scale military invasion of the occupied territories. As well the BBC has ordered its reporting staff to stop calling the attacks ‘assassinations' but instead to refer to them as Israel has suggested, ‘targeted killings'. BBC staff told not to call Israel's killings 'assassinations', by Robert Fisk in the Independent ... "In a major surrender to Israeli diplomatic pressure, BBC officials in London have banned their staff in Britain and the Middle East from referring to Israel's policy of murdering its guerrilla opponents as "assassination". BBC reporters have been told that in future they are to use Israel's own euphemism for the murders, calling them "targeted killings". Israeli diplomats have been lunching with BBC officials and complaining that the corporation's coverage was anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian ... The Israeli murder campaign is, in fact, far from "targeted". In the first such killings, two middle-aged Palestinian women were killed." Reporters have been finding ways around the explicit ban, relying on 'attribution' of the policy as an 'assassination'. In an article written just after the ban on the use of the word ‘assassination' was announced, the BBC published the following article which uses the phrase ‘targetted killings' followed by the phrase ‘which the Palestinians refer to as assassinations'. Israeli helicopter gunships attack Gaza police station Another BBC article used the term ‘assassination' when Amnesty International lodged a protest against the policy.Israel's assasination policy condemned by Amnesty International. The Amnesty International response to the latest helicopter gun ship attack states that "Amnesty International reiterated its long-standing calls to Israel to end its policy of liquidations and other arbitrary killings and urged the international community to send international observers with a human rights remit to the area. "The Israeli authorities must have known and totally disregarded the fact that the media centre targeted was likely to be frequented by journalists and others," said Amnesty International. "In these state assassinations the Israeli authorities offer no proof of guilt, no right to defence. Extrajudicial executions are absolutely prohibited by international law." The most recent gun ship attack was also addressed by the statement of UN High Commissioner on Human Rights on the Israeli rocket attack on Nablus which killed eight people, including two children. Meanwhile on the evening of August 4th, 2001, the Israeli organization ‘Peace Now' held the largest demonstration since the coming to power of the Sharon government. Peace Now accused the government of "ceasing to adhere to the rule of law and acting more like a terrorist organisation. ." They proposed "an alternative to war: a ceasefire supervised by international observers and a return to the negotiating table." The Israeli government launched another 'assassination' (or 'targetted killing') right after the peace march, once again using bombing from the air. The July Issue of the online E-Zine The Other Israel also addressed the ideology of extra-judicial assassination, in a series of articles written before the latest round of gun ship attacks and assassinations got under full swing. Such tactics, they suggested, were typical of Sharon (and events seem to be bearing them out). In their article The Option of Naked Force - an analysis of the first 100 days of Sharon, they wrote, "Ever since the early 1950's, when he headed a special commando unit carrying out daring and brutal cross-border raids, Ariel Sharon had very clear-cut ideas about how to deal with the problems of Israeli-Arab, Israeli-Palestinian relations. His favorite strategy was the constant creation of "facts on the ground" (ie. Jewish Settlements in the occupied territories), and the use of brute force to protect them...All that is missing is a suitable pretext to bring the atmosphere of war hysteria to the requisite high pitch. Another suicide bombing on the order of the Dolphinarium would certainly do it, and it is not so difficult to provoke some Palestinian faction or another into such an act." The violence continued with the weekend bombings, even as the peace protests went on... The Campaign to Impeach George W. Bush Click here for more information |
A Unified Field Theory
The Unified Field Theory
is also available as a zip file -> unified.zip
Introduction :The Pioneer Effect and the New Physics. A brief description of the new physics required to explain the 'Pioneer Effect', which is the constant deceleration of space craft as they fly through space.