Photo: The Jerusalem Times.

Israeli war crimes...

Israeli troops have occupied three abandoned Jewish settlements and part of a Palestinian town in the northern Gaza strip, to create what they're calling a "temporary buffer zone" against missile attacks into Israel.

As they kill Palestinians and destroy bridges, homes, roads, power-plants and other infrastructure they assure everyone, in the respectful language Israelis often use when referring to Palestinians, that their intention isn't to "reoccupy" Gaza.

...Israeli leaders said their aim is to stop the rocket fire and bring back the captured soldier, and there are no plans to reoccupy Gaza.

"We have no intention of drowning in the Gaza swamp," said Defense Minister Amir Peretz.

To be fair, I guess the defense minister could be speaking metaphorically, rather than descriptively. If so, he should choose his language more carefully.

Better still, he and his troops should respect international law instead of collectively punishing the civilians of Gaza for the uncontrollable actions of a few in direct defiance of Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Complete AP story here.