The international community is now arguing over Israeli atrocities in Gaza. Were they an aberration? Are not the Israelis a moral fighting force? Etc. Etc. The following report confirms that the atrocities were not an aberration; they sprang from a mindset of utter contempt for Palestinian life and custom. This is a post from Gaza by an Ivy League student, a young friend of my wife's, who shall remain nameless for the time being:
non-military purposes, but purely out of malice. You drive past
hundreds of fields of grape vines that were bulldozed by the army,
uprooting every single tree; only a few stumps are left. In one house
that the army entered, one soldier stood on the side of the closest and
fired a single bullet that pierced through every single item of
clothing hanging inside. Another man had several tvs, and he came home
to find a bullet in the screen of each one. A friend of mine, not a
Hamas supporter, in fact he is a member of the Fatah party, evacuated
his house after staying there for the first few weeks of the war.
Afterwards the military entered- though it was empty- and shot doors,
cupboards, closets, curtains, clothes, even the bathroom has a large
bullet hole in the wall. Unfortunately the local government has its own
shortcomings- because the family is Fatah, they will received no
compensation.
Even more visible willful destruction is seen by
simply driving on the roads in the North. Some of the tanks are armed
with something like a big pin that rips through the middle of the
road as the tanks drive, ruining the road permanently. Sometimes
bulldozers are used to tear up the entire street. There has not been
any new asphalt in Gaza for over two years; therefore there is no way
of repairing the roads- something desperately needed in Gaza.
This
kind of destruction goes beyond military necessity, and goes beyond
what wartime can explain. This kind of destruction is the sickening effect of power, power of soldiers to ruin the lives of Gazan civilians
with simple actions that have no effect on them or their conscience.
