from: William Hughes

Joe Stork is the Washington Director, Middle East and North Africa Division, “Human Rights Watch.” On Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009, he gave a talk at the Palestine Center, in Washington, D.C. His remarks focused generally on the humanitarian consequences of the Israeli Occupation Forces’ 19 month highly restrictive blockade and recent, 23-day war directed at the 1.5 million people trapped in Gaza. About an estimated 1,300 Gazans were killed, many of them children, and over 5,300 more were seriously injured as a result of the IOF’s military siege. During the Q&A period, Mr. Stork was asked about Zionist Israel’s use of phosphorus bombs in a “very densely” populated Gaza. He charged that it “is not legitimate to use them in an inhabitant area...” and that the use of such a weapon by the IOF “clearly violate one of the other rules of war, which is a warring party has to take all feasible measures to protect civilians from harm and that clearly would be a violation of that--that requirement.” For background: please see: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5556027.ece and http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/16/phosphorus-bombs-video-israel-gaza and http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/01/12/israel-end-gaza-s-humanitarian-crisis-once and http://www.pchrgaza.org/ and http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/pages/crisis-in-gaza and http://www.wrmea.com/.