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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>
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