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    <h1 class="title" id="page-title">Candy for Israeli soldiers, cancer
      for Gaza’s civilians </h1>
    <div class="submitted">
      <span property="dc:date dc:created"
        content="2014-07-29T13:46:48+00:00" datatype="xsd:dateTime"
        rel="sioc:has_creator">Submitted by <span class="username"
          xml:lang="" about="/users/adri-nieuwhof"
          typeof="sioc:UserAccount" property="foaf:name" datatype="">Adri
          Nieuwhof</span> on Tue, 07/29/2014 - 13:46</span> </div>
    <div class="field-body">
      <div id="file-28180" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg
        media-element file-full" style="width:618px;"><b><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/adri-nieuwhof/candy-israeli-soldiers-cancer-gazas-civilians">http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/adri-nieuwhof/candy-israeli-soldiers-cancer-gazas-civilians</a></small></small></small></b><br>
      </div>
      <p>In an especially grotesque piece of propaganda, an Israeli
        weapons manufacturer has <a
          href="http://www.iai.co.il/2013/32981-46067-en/MediaRoom_News.aspx">boasted</a>
        of distributing candy to soldiers attacking <a
          href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/gaza">Gaza</a>.</p>
      <p><a
          href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/israel-aerospace-industries">Israel
          Aerospace Industries</a>, the company in question, is a
        leading supplier of drones to the Israeli military. </p>
      <p>Such drones are, of course, not bringing candy to Palestinians.
        They are being used to drop weapons which cause horrific
        injuries.</p>
      <p>A new <a
href="http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/topics/gaza/835-briefing-note-ii-the-illegality-of-israels-use-of-dime-weapons">briefing</a>
        from <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/al-haq">Al-Haq</a>,
        a Palestinian human rights group, details how Hellfire rockets
        connected to drones are firing <a
          href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/dime">DIME</a> (dense
        inert metal explosives) into residential areas of Gaza. <a
          href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/mads-gilbert">Mads
          Gilbert</a>, a Norwegian doctor working in Gaza City’s <a
          href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/al-shifa-hospital">al-Shifa
          Hospital</a>, has <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/israel-firing-experimental-weapons-gazas-civilians-say-doctors">spoken</a>
        of how injuries he has seen in recent weeks appear to have been
        caused by DIME.</p>
      <h2>Bodies cut in half</h2>
      <p>A DIME bomb usually contains a mixture of explosive material,
        cobalt, nickel, iron and tungsten alloy. The bomb leaves almost
        no metallic fragments in the human body. The injuries of victims
        who have been hit by DIME bombs are therefore distinguishable
        from injuries from traditional, metal-coated weapons. Physicians
        in the Gaza Strip have observed how entire bodies have been cut
        in half, bones shattered, and skin, muscle and bones turned into
        charcoal due to the heavy burns caused by these bombs.
        Furthermore, DIME bombs have dangerous biological effects on the
        victims and cause tissue to be torn from flesh. Amputations
        caused by the bombs are extremely difficult to treat and
        frequently result in death. Work on treating such injuries has
        been made all the more difficult by how Israel has attacked more
        than twenty health facilities.</p>
      <p>Palestinians who survive the DIME injuries are at high risk of
        contracting <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/cancer">cancer</a>.
        Exposure to a mixture of tungsten and cobalt are <a
          href="http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/clusters/fallon/tungstenfaq.htm">linked</a>
        to early signs of lung cancer, according to the US Center for
        Disease Control and Prevention.</p>
      <h2>Criminal</h2>
      <p>Al-Haq argues that Israel’s use of DIME bombs against the
        people of Gaza violates international humanitarian law.</p>
      <p>A key tenet of international law, the <a
          href="http://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_cha_chapter4_rule14">principle
          of proportionality</a>, prohibits the causing of death and
        injuries to civilians. More than 80 percent of all Palestinians
        killed so far have been <a
href="http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10491:statistics-victims-of-the-israeli-offensive-on-gaza-since-08-july-2014&catid=145:in-focus">civilians</a>,
        according to the Gaza-based <a
          href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/pchr">Palestinian
          Center for Human Rights</a>. Children comprise one-fifth of
        the victims.</p>
      <p>In addition, the 1980 convention on chemical weapons prohibits
        the use of weapons which “cause superfluous injury or excessive
        suffering.” Israel has <a
          href="http://disarmament.un.org/treaties/t/ccwc">signed</a>
        that convention.</p>
      <p>The convention also prohibits the use of any weapon which aims
        to injure by placing fragments in the human body that escape
        detection. Al-Haq argues that Israel is using Palestinian
        civilians in Gaza to test DIME bombs. By doing so, Israel
        violates the <a
          href="http://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule92">principle
          of humanity</a> in international law, which requires that all
        persons be treated humanely in all circumstances.</p>
      <p>Conducting experiments on civilians is also <a
href="http://www.icc-cpi.int/nr/rdonlyres/ea9aeff7-5752-4f84-be94-0a655eb30e16/0/rome_statute_english.pdf">recognized</a>
        as a war crime by the Rome Statute of the <a
          href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/international-criminal-court">International
          Criminal Court</a>.</p>
      <p>This leads to an inescapable conclusion: Israel must be
        prosecuted for its cruel and criminal behavior in Gaza.</p>
    </div>
    <div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
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