It's been horrendous as violence escalates,

international law is ignored,

and the world community is mute

about mass-murder crimes,

overwhelming human suffering,

and can barely say more than

both sides must end violence

and resume peace negotiations

Genocide is hideous in concept and execution

It progresses in eight defined stages:

1. Classification - Cultures or societies distinguish between "us and them" to categorize people by race, religion, nationality or other distinguishing characteristic;

2. Symbolization - Classifications are given names or other symbols, such as Jews, Latinos, blacks or Muslims.

3. Dehuminization - A dominant group denies another's humanity and equates its members with animals, vermin, insects, diseases or, in the case of Palestinian resistance fighters, gunmen or terrorists;

4. Organization - Genocide is always organized; most often it's by the state using militias, the military and/or other security forces to target victimized groups;

5. Polarization - Extremists incite hate through propaganda and other communication methods, and laws and other measures often target the victims;

6. Preparation - Victims are identified, separated out and targeted for elimination;

7. Extermination - Once it starts, it escalates to mass killing that's legally defined as "genocide;" and finally

8. Denial - The final stage assures continued genocide will follow with evidence of it suppressed or destroyed.

Israel's Slaughter of Palestinians

A Weekend of Carnage The Palestinian Ma'an News Agency reported 84 deaths since Saturday, 98 in total since February 27 and over 200 wounded, many with mangled bodies and serious life-threatening injuries.

Throughout the weekend, Israeli aircraft struck many targets, including Hamas' headquarters building (unoccupied at the time) that "completely collapsed" and injured five people, according to witnesses.

Reports continue being updated, and the latest 6PM Gaza time one from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) indicates the following: 101 documented deaths since February 27, including 49 unarmed civilians.

They include 25 children and five women. In addition, more than 250 people have been injured, mostly unarmed civilians, and many injuries are serious. Further, there's been widespread destruction of homes, other buildings and property throughout Gaza.

As it usually does, the IDF employs "disproportionate and excessive lethal force in residential districts, with utter disregard for the lives of civilians."

Under international law, these are crimes of war and against humanity. On March 1, the Palestinian human rights organization, Al-Haq, issued a statement saying:

"Many of the recent Israeli attacks constitute war crimes which may amount to grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, for which (Israelis are) criminally responsible" and must face trial.

Al-Haq called on the international community to act because "All states have criminal jurisdiction to try (the) accused....by virtue of the principle of universal jurisdiction....

"No excuse can therefore justify their inaction in view of the unlawful willful killing of (Palestinian) civilians in" occupied Palestine.

PCHR also reported that an Israeli aircraft bombed Abd El-Rahman Mohammad Ali Atallah's home in Gaza City on Saturday. It was completely destroyed and killed six members of his family, including three women.

Six other family members were injured, four of whom were children and one was a "two-day old" infant.

The situation is dire, hospitals can't cope, Israeli forces prevent ambulances from evacuating the injured, supplies of everything are short, morgues are overwhelmed, coffins aren't available to bury bodies, and overall conditions are impossible for Gazans to handle as they continue being attacked without mercy.

Israeli State Terrorism

Palestinians know what they face - continued attacks from the air or the ground. This is state terrorism, collective punishment, executions without trial, cold-blooded killings, a serious breach of international law and against the 1948 Convention on the Prevention of the Crime of Genocide.

In its June 4, 2001 issue, Israel's largest circulation (Hebrew) newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, published the following statement from an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman:

"We set up a list of Palestinian names of individuals whom the Israeli government has approved for physical elimination, among the names are included members of Hamas, Fatah, Popular Front and Islamic Jihad activists."

This is official state policy, and Israel's High Court affirmed it in December 2006. The Court ruled that IDF targeted killings don't categorically violate international law, and each one must be evaluated on its own merit. Specifically, the three justice panel unanimously stated:

"The State of Israel is fighting against severe terrorism, which plagues it from the 'area.' The means at Israel's disposal are limited. The State determined that preventative strikes upon 'terrorists' in the 'area' which cause their deaths are a necessary means from the military standpoint.

"These strikes at times cause harm and even death to innocent civilians....the State's struggle against terrorism is not conducted 'outside' of the law.

"It is conducted 'inside' the law....(We) cannot determine in advance that targeted killing is always illegal....that it is prohibited according to customary international law."

This and comparable High Court rulings have stunning implications. They affirm Israel's claim to be above the law with the right to conduct willful state-sponsored killings. The Court's justification was that the State is waging armed conflict against Palestinian "terrorists."

Their members are civilians who aren't protected under international law. To be afforded such protection, "A civilian....must refrain from taking a direct part in the hostilities."

Those who violate "this principle (are) subject to the risks of attack like those to which a combatant is subject, without enjoying the rights of a combatant."

Executive Director, Hannah Friedman, of The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel responded to the decision. She stated:

"We are concerned that today's High Court of Justice ruling will worsen the current situation and create a dangerous path that will lead to an increase in the number of innocent civilians who are killed or injured."

In the past 14 months, it's been horrendous as violence escalates, international law is ignored, and the world community is mute about mass-murder crimes, overwhelming human suffering, and can barely say more than both sides must end violence and resume peace negotiations.

Israel's Goal: Genocide

Attacks continue unabated - by air strikes and on-the-ground Mafia-style executions in violation of sacred international law explained above.

And a Haaretz February 29 article suggests they threaten to escalate. It quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak blaming Hamas for the increased violence and said it will "bear the cost of our response....(it's) necessary and will be carried out."

On the same day, Knesset chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Tzachi Hanegbi, said IDF forces must "quickly....topple the Hamas terror regime and take over all the areas from which rockets are fired on Israel," and they should remain in those areas for years.

Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai went further and threatened a "shoah," which is the Hebrew word for holocaust.

On Israeli radio he said: "the more Qassam (rocket) fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, (the Palestinians) will bring upon themselves a bigger 'shoah' because we will use all our might to defend ourselves."

The comment is outrageous, it incites genocide, and it's a punishable crime in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention.

Gregory Stanton's Genocide Watch site has a mission: to "predict, prevent, stop, and punish genocide and other forms of mass murder (by) rais(ing awareness and influenc(ing) public policy concerning potential and actual genocide."

Its aim "is to build an international movement to prevent and stop genocide," and it's badly needed in Occupied Palestine where Israel has conducted state-sponsored genocide for decades according to Israeli historian Ilan Pappe.

International law expert Francis Boyle agrees and proposed in a March 20, 1998 article that "the Provisional Government of (Palestine) and its President institute legal proceedings against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague for violating the (Genocide Convention)."

He categorically stated that "Israel has indeed perpetrated the international crime of genocide against the Palestinian people (and the) lawsuit would....demonstrate that undeniable fact to the entire world."

Boyle would likely agree that the case today is even more compelling at a time Israeli forces are ravaging Gaza and assaulting West Bank communities as well.

Genocide is hideous in concept and execution, and Stanton explains how it progresses in eight defined stages:

1. Classification - Cultures or societies distinguish between "us and them" to categorize people by race, religion, nationality or other distinguishing characteristic;

2. Symbolization - Classifications are given names or other symbols, such as Jews, Latinos, blacks or Muslims.

3. Dehuminization - A dominant group denies another's humanity and equates its members with animals, vermin, insects, diseases or, in the case of Palestinian resistance fighters, gunmen or terrorists;

4. Organization - Genocide is always organized; most often it's by the state using militias, the military and/or other security forces to target victimized groups;

5. Polarization - Extremists incite hate through propaganda and other communication methods, and laws and other measures often target the victims;

6. Preparation - Victims are identified, separated out and targeted for elimination;

7. Extermination - Once it starts, it escalates to mass killing that's legally defined as "genocide;" and finally

8. Denial - The final stage assures continued genocide will follow with evidence of it suppressed or destroyed. Some genocidal regimes are brought to justice like the Nazis at Nuremberg.

Others like Israeli governments since 1948 have gotten away with it for decades with no indication (so far) the Olmert or a future regime will be held to account.

Minister Vilnai affirms that killing may now escalate against a people who've been under a medieval siege for months.

Talk of peace and ceasefire is hollow, Israel and Washington incite violence and want none of it, and IDF commanders are preparing a large-scale assault to target Hamas for removal.

How much longer will this go on? When will the occupation end? How many more killings will be tolerated? When will world leaders take note? People who care want answers. It's about time they got them.