Last week I had a conversation with a friend in the mainstream media about whether the bloggers in Gaza are reliable. Of course he has a point. But at a time when there were few mainstream reporters in there: please. Above is an unsigned photo from Hebron in the West Bank posted on January 16 on Flickr, by The International Solidarity Movement. (My friend Mohammad of Canada sent it to me.) It purports to show a 17-year-old Palestinian demonstrator killed by the Israeli army. To me it is a staggering photo. As beautiful as the famous Eddie Adams AP shot of the Vietnamese lieutenant shooting the man in the head from the 60s, or the Robert Capa image of the Spanish civil war soldier killed in the 30s. I know, this picture it is not as composed as either of those shots. Here the beauty is about demonstration, resistance, state terror, international observers. And what is in his hand? Is ISM right about the 17-year-old? I don't know. I know that they are right about the larger situation. Here is another shot for you, from Eva Bartlett of ISM, who was in Gaza. 
It is said to be a photo of Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City, following an Israeli shelling. Is it accurate? I believe it is. I believe that Eva Bartlett took her role as a documenter of horror as seriously as any reporter ever has, and god bless her. Consider the incredible poetry of that shot. A hospital. The destruction of poor people's hospitals, in which American Jewish leadership was ardently implicated. Need anything more be said? (Phil Weiss)
