Two new reports tell more of the horror stories of the war in Gaza and its devastating damage. First, a great report from Anjali Kamat for Democracy Now entitled "Land of Ruins: A Special Report on Gaza’s Economy."
And Jewish Peace News had a post yesterday on a new report on the war from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS). The report consists of Gazan testimonies from the war. From the report:
One of the testimonies in the report describes the aftermath of an
attack. Muhammad Saad Abu Halima had lost two brothers and a young
sister; his wife and daughter were wounded. He told the delegation his
experience of evacuation:"…We were going down the street Kamal
Adwan, and we had almost reached the school when the soldiers halted
us. A tank appeared on the street and stopped close to the school. The
soldiers were occupying the second floor of a building which was only
20 meters away from the street. They could see that we were all wounded
and dirty from the explosions, because the tractor was open at the
back. They shot at us, killing my cousins Matar Saad Abu Halima and
Muhammad Hikma Abu Halima, who were driving us to the hospital. The
soldiers ordered us to get out of the tractor, and they asked me to
take off my clothes. I did it and they checked all my body. I think
they were looking for explosives, but we were all injured and in
pitiful conditions. How could we think of carrying explosives when my
younger siblings and my own children were dying? Then, when I was
almost expecting death, they shouted at me: "you can get dressed and
go". They did not allow us to use the tractor. I held my sister
Shahed in my arms … but the soldiers said that the baby was already
dead, so they forced me to leave her in the car. I tried to help my
wife Ghada, who was completely burned, and they forced us to walk to
the hospital. For about 300 meters the soldiers were shooting at our
feet as we walked, raising so much dust that the wounds of my wife
became full of dirt. After a while we saw a lorry on the road. It was
overcrowded with people going to the hospital after the heavy attacks,
but they made us room and we arrived at Shifa' Hospital…."Another
testimony in the report tells the story of the Abed Rabbo family. Souad
Abed Rabbo, 54, told the team that the soldiers called to the family to
exit their house. She, her daughter-in-law and her three granddaughters
exited the house holding white flags:"Outside the house there
was an Israeli tank. It had come from the west towards the house that
was facing north. It was 11.30 – 12.00. The tank was in the garden
about ten meters from her, when she stopped to receive permission to
leave unharmed. On her right side were the three girls; behind her was
the daughter-in-law close to the door of the house. The soldier on the
tank never replied. They were looking into each others' eyes for 7-10
minutes, when suddenly a soldier opened fire and shot the granddaughter
of the witness, Souad, in the neck and chest. She died immediately.
They also shot Amal. She was hit in the chest and abdomen, and the
interviewee saw her intestines come out. Amal died a little later. The
daughter in law ran immediately into the house and was not hurt. The
witness Souad Abed Rabbo was hit twice, as she turned around in a
clockwise movement. She was hit in the left arm and in the left
buttock. She did not see who shot. She assumed that the shots were
fired from gun(s) not from the tank, but she was not certain. She
saw three soldiers on top of the tanks holding weapons…Samar was hit in
the chest with the bullet coming out of the back…at the time of the
interview she was in a hospital in Belgium suffering paralysis."
Jewish Peace News notes that the report concludes with the observation,"The underlying meaning of the attack on the Gaza Strip, or at least its final consequence, appears to be one of creating terror without mercy to anyone."
When you go to Gaza, will you see clearly and openly, or will you have biases?
'Jewish Peace News notes that the report concludes with the observation,"The underlying meaning of the attack on the Gaza Strip, or at least its final consequence, appears to be one of creating terror without mercy to anyone."'
Or as Marty Peretz famously blogged, the Gaza operation sends the message: "Don't f*** with the Jews." Well, I for one, have had enough of this Neocon Kool-Aid. I won't drink it anymore. Those who seek to force it down our throats need to be disarmed, arrested, and locked away for their criminal actions, or aiding and abetting criminal actions. Those who give voice to the Neocons without holding them accountable for their many war crimes are aiders and abetters, complicit in the crimes themselves. Our Congresspersons who compete with each other to show their loyalty to these criminals need to be drummed out of office.
Biases? Shut the fuck up Witty.
Why don't you extol the virtues of serving in the IDF for us some more.
No one here supports Hamas. We support the Palestinians. The resistance is abstract. It takes on the form of whoever but it's defined as the RESISTANCE.
Yes, Hamas uses terror. It's a fucking given to condemn them. No one disputes this. But when you weigh the two entities with all the context possible – Israel and the 'resistance' – it's ISRAEL that is the obstacle.
And if we play this pathetic rhetorical game that Nazis like Julian/Thom/Berel/Suzanne regularly and gleefully engage in – Israel employs much more terror on a regular daily basis.
I honestly do not know, how many in-depth personal stories from Palestinians or statistics on the conflict or historical analysis on the roots of the conflict is needed to get your head out of your ass.
You really are a godawful person.
he's trying to bore us all into submission, all by himself. that is why I really shudder, or retch, to imagine him playing jazz.
I just laughed when I read Witty's response after reading that truly horrifying story.
There are days where I'm sure I would throttle Witty if I ever was unlucky enough to be in his physical proximity. So I totally understand LD's angry frustration.
But today I'm just laughing at the complete disconnect from reality that infects the blog's zionist 'conscience' . Every now and then you get the sense that there is a human in side the zionist just busting to get out.
And then….you laugh.
Witty playing jazz reminds me of the reverse icon here in the USA, a white who can dance or play basketball. It is Phil who is the jazz player, and we hear his riffs every day. Witty, his boyhood pal,
has every note given to him and actually thinks each is his own–he should stick to that video game where one pretends to play simple rhythms on the guitar.
The more I think about it Witty can dance–exactly like the female actress on the old Seinfeld series. Yeah, sure he can kick it like that. He's real hip.
Witty does have a point, though.
Atrocity stories and photos are depressingly easy to come by. I force myself to be very hard-edged and callous when evaluating them.
Any images or narratives that are emotionally resonant have power as propaganda, and without context they may not have any documentary value.
I hope Phil will remember that he is reporting on a real war, where every side has a competing agenda and narrative. There may be some heroes in unexpected places, but probably many more scoundrels and liars. Most people will be very ordinary, neither particularly good nor bad, but simply trying to survive in the world as they perceive it. In a situation like this, it is especially important to be careful about source criticism.
I think Phil's greatest weakness in reading history or current events is his desire to find overarching moral narratives. WE write moral narratives; history itself does not.
*** RE: Jewish Peace News notes that the report concludes with the observation,"The underlying meaning of the attack on the Gaza Strip, or at least its final consequence, appears to be one of creating terror without mercy to anyone."
*** FROM HAARETZ (01/26/09):
…The IDF rabbinate, also quoting Rabbi Aviner, describes the appropriate code of conduct in the field: "When you show mercy to a cruel enemy, you are being cruel to pure and honest soldiers. This is terribly immoral. These are not games at the amusement park where sportsmanship teaches one to make concessions. This is a war on murderers. 'A la guerre comme a la guerre.'"
This view is also echoed in publications signed by Rabbis Chen Halamish and Yuval Freund on Jewish consciousness. Freund argues that "our enemies took advantage of the broad and merciful Israeli heart" and warns that "we will show no mercy on the cruel."
In addition to the official publications, extreme right-wing groups managed to bring pamphlets with racist messages into IDF bases. One such flyer is attributed to "the pupils of Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg" – the former rabbi at Joseph's Tomb and author of the article "Baruch the Man," which praises Baruch Goldstein, who massacred unarmed Palestinians in Hebron. It calls on "soldiers of Israel to spare your lives and the lives of your friends and not to show concern for a population that surrounds us and harms us. We call on you … to function according to the law 'kill the one who comes to kill you.' As for the population, it is not innocent … We call on you to ignore any strange doctrines and orders that confuse the logical way of fighting the enemy."…
*** ENTIRE ARTICLE –
*** NEWS ON ARMS SHIPMENTS TO ISRAEL ***
From: Amnesty International USA (alerts@takeaction.amnestyusa.org)
Sent: Fri 4/03/09 4:20 PM
New information obtained by Amnesty researchers this week confirmed a massive shipment of U.S. weapons was delivered to Israel on March 22nd.
The administration allowed the delivery, despite clear evidence of Israeli human rights violations, some amounting to war crimes, including the controversial use of U.S. made white phosphorous munitions over densely populated areas. That's the white phosphorous that sticks to flesh and sears it until completely deprived of oxygen.
You and I need the State Department to know that they can't just plop tons of weapons into the hands of a known serious human rights violator without getting grilled.
Please ask State Department officials why the U.S. would deliver these arms to Israel.
*** TO SEND A PREPARED E-MAIL –
"When you show mercy to a cruel enemy, you are being cruel to pure and honest soldiers. This is terribly immoral. These are not games at the amusement park where sportsmanship teaches one to make concessions. This is a war on murderers. 'A la guerre comme a la guerre.'"
Rabbi Himmler said much the same thing to his beloved SS troopers.
The message is to Phil.
He KNOWS that if he adopts a partisan style of journalism the most impact he can have is to be an effective partisan.
While there are a couple new angry people at each report, there are also a few more alienated people.
The METHOD of communication, including the method by which data is collected, is IMPORTANT, if he desires to actually communicate, rather than merely agitate.
In this case, Witty, there is the small matter of right and wrong.
There is only partisan on one side and truth on the other.
You are trying to sow doubt into his mind about the truth but Phil's way ahead of you – at every level…
Sorry to interrupt your private conversation with Phil there, Witty.
Maybe you should try and communicate on this matter in a more personal way, seeing as you guys are good buds and all.
-:)
I'm trying to ask Phil to see clearly, completely.
He saw half of a difficult picture in Hebron, but reported it as if he saw the whole of it.
He should report what he sees, but he should also be skeptical.
David F – I would remind you that those "simply trying to survive in the world as they perceive it." are the real actors each time Israel kills someone. Being ordinary does not relieve one of responsibility. In saying this, I intend to inscribe a moral narrative. Perhaps it is one that will continue to remain unrecognized by the majority of Israelis for a while. But I think the time is coming when individual responsible is going to be much more of an issue than it is now in Israel.
That is one of many intentions I have, when talking about Israel-Palestine.
Witty,
Please don't insult our intelligence over Hebron. We all know what it is, Colonialism.
Shafiq,
To Know that, you'd have to see, and you'd have to consider other elements of the question.
There are fewer Jews in Hebron now than there were in 1929, when they were forcefully expelled for example.
True, Witty, you'd have to go back to biblical days to find more Jews there than non-Jews. In fact, the bible is the source for settler conviction it's their land. Yet they constantly justify their ever-growing expansion by saying the non-Jews have no right to the land as they've only been there a few years–at most a century. Apply Kant's principle to that mode of thinking around the world.
What you offered Shafiq does not in the slightest contradict what he says. So why bother? Let's call a spade, a spade: it's Colonialism on-going, and please for once concede that Israel has the overwhelming power here–we don't expect you to concede what even Rice & Hillary did, that is,
this ever-expanding of facts of the ground "is not helpful" for the peace process.
link to en.wikipedia.org
/>
BTW, Witty, Palestinians saved many Jews in Hebron in 1929.
List of US military tools given Israel to massacre the Gaza folks in Israel's war of "collective against collective":
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/downloads/gaza_us_weapons.pdf