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Lieberman even insisted, in the presence of Condoleezza Rice and US officials, that a military operation against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip was "inevitable" and "the results of such a action should be the entry of 30,000 NATO forces [meaning troops] to deploy in Gaza" so as to prevent any further [Palestinian] armed build-up.
Amir Peretz, while in the post of Israeli defence minister, had also stated in March of 2007 that the Israeli military had authorization for fresh military operations in the Gaza Strip.

The fighting that Israeli officials and military commanders predicted has occurred, but not initially between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The fighting unfolded between the Palestinians in Gaza and then the Israelis started their operations. The Israelis merely outsourced their dirty work to Palestinian collaborators in Gaza, such as Mohammed Dahlan. Even the Israeli calls for the internationalization of the situation in Gaza, like the situation in Lebanon, have been outsourced to Palestinian collaborators. Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Fatah, has been incriminatingly following the U.S. and Israeli script verbatim.

Israel: The De Facto Arm of NATO

"Israel's diplomatic and security goal...must be clear: joining NATO and entering the European Union."

-Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs

Israeli soldiers killed unarmed civilians carrying white flags in Gaza, says report
Human Rights Watch says Israel has failed to properly investigate 'white flag' killings during Gaza offensive.

Israeli soldiers shot dead 11 unarmed Palestinian civilians carrying white flags during Israel's offensive in Gaza earlier this year, according to a report from Human Rights Watch, which said Israel had failed to investigate the killings adequately.

The deaths - including those of five women and four children - took place in seven separate incidents across Gaza in areas controlled by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), where there was no fighting and no Palestinian fighters were nearby.

Human Rights Watch, a New-York-based organisation, which published White Flag Deaths: Killings of Palestinian Civilians during Operation Cast Leadsaid it informed the Israeli military of the cases in February. But the cases were not examined in an IDF internal investigation, which concluded that they "operated in accordance with international law." The group says at least three witnesses confirmed the details in each of the seven shootings.

UN official: Evidence that Israel abused human rights in Gaza.

Pillay said rights violations included arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment, extrajudicial execution, forced eviction and home demolition, settlement expansion and related violence and restrictions on freedom of movement and expression.

"Significant prima facie evidence indicates that serious violations of international humanitarian law as well as gross human rights violations occurred during the military operations of 27 December 2008 to 18 January 2009, which were compounded by the blockade that the population of Gaza endured in the months prior to Operation Cast Lead and which continues," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Pillay said.

"While these violations are of deep concern in their own right, the nearly total impunity that persists for such violations (regardless of the responsible duty bearer) is of grave concern, and constitutes a root cause for their persistence," the former South African high court judge Richard Goldstone said.

UN accuses Israel of Gaza 'negligence or recklessness'
Inquiry finds Israel responsible for deaths, injuries and damage to UN buildings.

A United Nations inquiry today accused the Israeli military of "negligence or recklessness" in its conduct of the January war in Gaza and said the organisation should press claims for reparations for deaths and damage.

The first investigation into the three-week war by anyone other than human rights researchers and journalists held the Israeli government responsible in seven separate cases in which UN property was damaged and UN staff and other civilians were hurt or killed.

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, rejected the report's call for a full and impartial investigation into the war, and refused to publish the complete 184-page report. Only Ban's own summary of the report (pdf) has been released.

Israeli peace activist faces jail over homes demolition protest
Ezra Nawi expects sentence of up to 18 months for resisting 'dehumanisation' of Palestinians.

A prominent Israeli peace activist is expected to be sentenced to several months in jail tomorrow in a high-profile prosecution which began after he tried to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes near a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank.

Although activists who challenge the Israeli occupation are often arrested or detained for short periods, Ezra Nawi, a plumber from Jerusalem, is expecting a sentence of up to 18 months. He said he would lodge an immediate appeal, which may keep him out of prison initially, but it is likely he will be jailed within weeks.