The War on Gaza, humm, the WAR ON GAZA, excuse me what do the Israelis call their latest full scale aggression in the area, oh yes, “THE WAR ON GAZA.” Except in this war, the opponent force…namely Hamas is not allowed weapons with which to fight or to defend themselves, because G-D forbid if they possess any weapons, Israel will do what it has to and declare WAR ON GAZA except oh yes did I already say this, Hamas is not allowed any weapons. And around and around we go…SPIN SPIN SPIN until the whole world is dizzy and doesn’t ask anymore questions.
I did an interview with Eve Harrow from the women in Green in the Settlement of Efrat, she once told me, “how dare the world try to tell us Jews what to do, we are the moral standard, the chosen by G-d, what right does any country have to question our integrity and morality.”
Today I was looking through some of the footage I have of my many years spent in the Occupied West Bank, and I came across an interview I did with a group of 8 and 10 year old kids that for me sums up what is happening in Gaza. This was during the Israeli bombardment in April of 2002 of Jenin Refugee Camp. The kids asked me why do the Israelis want to take our homes away from us, they made our grandparents and even our parents leave their cities, villages, why do they even follow us here? What do they want from us? Anyone remember the Jenin massacre where 50 or so (but then in the words of the Bush and it seems the Obama administration, lets not play the numbers game) Palestinians were killed in a week of bombing, ground assault, and bulldozing. The whole camp looked like a 7.2 earthquake had hit.
From 2003- 2004 while living in Nablus I witnessed daily and nightly incursions, taunts by the Israeli soldiers, driving around and through the middle of town with their jeeps and tanks. (I remember one of my friends commenting on the new sidewalks under construction from money by the Swedes or Danes, can’t remember, anyway he said to me, why build these sidewalks the Israelis are just going to come in with their tanks and destroy them.) Anyway the soldiers come in, rifles pointed out of their steal mesh windows enticing the youth to… come out come out wherever you are, and throw stones. Then bang bang the rubber coated steal bullets. Then come the whoosh Molotov cocktail, then the bang bang gotcha live ammunition. Then a couple deaths and the Israelis leave, satisfied, a job well done. I go to the hospital and film the operation of a 12 year old boy with 2 rubber bullets lodged in his intestine, another boy with a bullet through his liver, he was gone, he died, another number in the lets not play the number game.
I witnessed the death of my colleague AP cameraman Nazeh Darwazeh, shot through the head by an Israeli soldier. When we asked the Israel army for accountability we got the usual spin, there were gunmen in the area and we are sorry but it was a mistake. I was there, there were no gunmen on the street, their were stone throwers, at least 3 or 4. Reason enough for live ammunition.
And now the spin of Hamas not extending the ceasefire. What ceasefire? When did Israel comply with the ceasefire? Did they let in the humanitarian goods, the economic goods, the trade…(where are you Edward Said can’t you please explain) no they kept the Gazans in their ghetto, in their prison. Now they bomb them and unlike the Iraqis even, they have NO PLACE TO GO. They are surrounded in their death trap.
Yes, I am frustrated, I am sad, I am disgusted, I am helpless, I am hopeless, I don’t know what to do, I can do nothing to stop this war mongering. I marched with the millions of civilians against the war in Iraq. It helped not one bit. It seems those powers that be are delighted in taking lives. AND by the way what ever happened to Galid Shalit, the soldier kidnapped 2 years ago, the reason Israeli went into Gaza and bombed them then…and in 2006, what happened to the soldiers kidnapped in Lebanon, (yes they died and their bodies were returned) the soldiers that Israeli used as excuses to kill 1000 people, to bomb Lebanon back economically 20 years.
Remember how after a month, America said okay that’s enough, lets have a ceasefire, the test run was unsuccessful, Israel was humiliated, Hezbollah jubilant (by the way I was held in detention by Hezbollah for 6 hours, they are a very disciplined lot, but more on that some other time), and now its time for Israel to save face and declare a war they can’t possibly lose because Hamas has no right to fight back. If they do, they are terrorists!
SPIN SPIN SPIN
Around and around we go, the spin goes around and around and where it stops nobody knows…
I am too sad and frustrated to keep writing and if anyone is reading this, I really don’t care anymore you are offended by my one sided reporting, by my uneven in your eyes view of things, I lived there, I experienced, I saw, I felt and I just don’t care if you call me anti Israeli, because I am. It is my view after living in Israel, the West Bank, The settlements, the kibbutzim that the State of Israel is a warmongering hypocrite and lair….if they really took responsibility for what they are doing and just came out and said what most if not all Israelis think that, we want every Palestinian who has the nerve to stay here…TO LEAVE in anyway possible… then maybe I would understand, but spinning all their actions on this moral high ground platform, just makes me sick!
And of course how many more radical reactions from people is this WAR going to make, enough to keep the war mongering money makers in business in the Middle East for years to come…congratulations mission accomplished!
Professional photographer and filmmaker Kloie Picot teaches an online and interactive course on how to plan and complete a self-assignment, at The Compelling Image.
January 4, 2009 at 5:14 pm |
Actually obtaining a cease fire requires only one thing. The Hamas death cult must stop firing rockets at Israeli noncombatants. Their refusal to do so is what started teh conflict and their refusal to stop is what sustains it.
The hysteria over Israel’s ground forces going into Gaza is silly. Gaza civilians are in more danger from the actions of Hamas than those of the IDF. Hamas is eager to use them as props in a victim offensive and is eager to see them injured or killed so they can be used to exploit. Hamas is as eager for Palestinian casualties as it is Israeli.
January 4, 2009 at 7:26 pm |
Dear Give me a Break
If Terrorism is killing innocent people then War is Terrorism…by small groups or by countries, war is Terrorism, war corrupts, their are no good sides in a war and the outcome is unpredictable, the immediate thing is horrible, the bombing, and you think its leading to a good thing, getting rid of terrorism, yet it creates more and on and on…have you been in a war, have you seen it? Have you held the hand of someone dying without an arm or leg, or whose eyes no longer see….please….let us please stop thinking solutions to problems are made through violence and by using the military.
The hysteria over Israels ground forces going into Gaza is silly? Do you honestly think killing 465 people in 5 days is a silly matter and to be taken lightly. That dropping bombs on people, is silly? Oh and that Hamas are killing their own people, yes they are definitely endangering them, their pride in facing Goliath is outweighing their right to exist, while under occupation (oh yes Israel withdrew, but kept them imprisoned, surrounded and cut off from the world, in a jail, in a prison, with no where to go.
Dear Give me a Break, I remember another man using your logic ( “Hamas is eager to use them as props in a victim offensive and is eager to see them injured or killed so they can be used to exploit. Hamas is as eager for Palestinian casualties as it is Israeli”) he told me that Arafat wants the Israeli army to come in and kill innocent civilians, he wants them to so he can get sympathy from the world to draw attention to the plight of the Palestinians. Give me a Break…its a spin darlin, its a spin…
You know what Give me a Break, I could write more and more and we can read all accounts of history, the study of war, of governments of empires, and experiences of war, say this side is bad, we are good, just because one side is bad doesn’t mean one side is good. WAR IS EVIL….it is corrupting, it is violent and it is killing because one decides they are the good guys…spin spin spin. but all I can give you is my opinion from what I have seen, and read, and I trust, so will you… but lets at least think and question governments, spins and spins…. before we speak….before we write.
January 4, 2009 at 7:30 pm |
Do you honestly think that if Hamas stops launching homemade bombs, the Israelis will let the borders down…if Hamas promises to stop and really stop, believe me, you will see Israelis cry cause their would be no more justification for the killings and incursions….spin spin spin, it was the Palestinians who started this all and like Olmert says, They make us kill em…we don’t want to, but they make us do it!