- (Part One of a multi-part feature focusing separately
on the horrors endured in Gaza, and the West Bank.)
-
-
- The world's current political warlords lord themselves
over us while openly demonstrating they have no regard for our opinions,
our choices, our votes or our protests. They speak convincingly through
their propaganda media machines about "freedoms" when in fact, liberty is
their enemy and they are working hard in a futile attempt to destroy it.
They do not realize, however, that liberty belongs to us, and it is not
theirs to destroy. They speak of lawfulness, while swaggering in utter
defiance of all laws of civility. They speak of terrorists and point
fingers elsewhere, when they are the actual terrorists who have murdered
and displaced millions of civilians since 2001. They speak of their
humanitarian treatment of prisoners, when in fact they are consumed and
entertained by violence and torture that would put Ancient Rome to shame.
Nowhere are prisoners more shamefully treated than in the Gaza Strip, and
this treatment is being funded and made possible by US dollars.
-
- The Gaza Strip is bordered on the south by the sands
and eternal mystique of Egypt, on the west by the beautiful Mediterranean
Sea, its inviting beaches a place where dreams of peaceful tourist resorts
once flourished, and on the east it is bordered by what used to be
Palestine. In 1948, Israel announced itself a state withinPalestine, and
began systematically forcing the Palestinians off their ancestral lands in
order to build Jewish-only settlements. (1)
-
- For almost two years, the Israeli military forces have
completely surrounded Gaza. Israel has built tall, ugly walls around the
borders of Gaza, including the border between Gaza and Egypt. The Israeli
military forces patrol and attack the civilians of Gaza from the air with
US helicopters, F-16s, and with drones. Israeli/ US tanks and bulldozers
attack from the ground, storming through Gaza villages and refugee camps,
destroying homes and killing more Palestinian victims. Israeli gunboats
sit poised in the once peaceful waters off Gaza's shore, intent upon
shelling unarmed fishing boats and massacring families daring to enjoy
picnics on the beach. With all Gaza borders tightly closed, and with no
way out by land, sea or air, approximately 1.5 million Palestinians are
trapped in Gaza making it the largest and most inhumane prison on earth.
-
- In September of 2007, after sealing all of the
borders, Israel declared the civilian population imprisoned in the Gaza
Strip a "hostile entity," and as such justifiedIsrael's next plan to
block the delivery of all supplies including water, food, soap, paper,
textiles, fuels and electricity. At this moment the civilians trapped
within the closed borders of Gaza, most of them refugees, await their fate
at the hands of the Israeli military force. This is a military force that
is funded by the US, and it is a force from which the civilians cannot now
defend themselves, nor have they ever been able to defend themselves.
-
***
- Palestinian man tries to carry a wounded friend after
invading Israeli military forces shelled villages in Gaza. July 2006 Photo
by Mohammed al Zaanoun, photojournalist armed only with a camera.
-
- In speaking with photojournalists Mohammed al Zaanoun,
and Mohammed Omer via email yesterday, I asked if the pe Gaza had access
to clean water. The answer received from both was, "No."
-
- "Dear Mary," Mohammed al Zaanoun wrote, "Gaza has many
problems now, such as the electricity was cut off, and they [Israel] will
not allow food and water to enter and many young are infected and dying
due to closure of crossings."
-
****
-
- This is a photo of Mohammed al Zaanoun at his desk
while working for Ma'an News in 2006. This photo was taken before he
photographed the above Israeli massacre.
- http://www.currentissues.tv/mohammad-az-zanoun.jpg
-
- At this time, therefore, Gaza have little or no access
to clean water. Building supplies to repair water pumps and homes that
have been bombed, shelled and bulldozed by Israeli forces are denied
passage through the closed borders. Electricity is denied. Free trade
beyond the borders is blocked. Transfer of emergency relief funds into
Gaza is denied.
- Cement is denied, leaving Gazans unable to even
properly bury those already murdered by Israeli forces. Soap is denied.
Postal service is denied. Bottled water is denied. Medications are denied.
The sick are denied access to medical care across the blocked borders, as
Mohammed pointed out. During the past three months, 70 of the desperately
ill and innocent waiting for "permission" from Israel to cross the border
for medical care have died. In 2007 alone, the Israeli forces slaughtered
290 people outright in Gaza, including children (this does not include
those slaughtered in the West Bank). Now Israel is starving the remaining
1.5 million in Gaza, while also denying them access to clean water. (2)
-
- One might wonder what the people of Gaza have done to
provoke such a barbaric demonstration of hatred, racial rage and
collective torture that is being displayed by the Israeli military forces.
- While the published reason is that some Palestinians
in Gaza have fired homemade, primitive Qassam rockets towards an Israeli
settlement (while glossing over the fact that this settlement was built on
land stolen from the Palestinians), we now know that much of what is
promoted in the mainstream US news is far from the truth. A more careful
search reveals that Israeli Defense Minister, Yaakov Toran, is quoted as
saying, "we need to remember that Qassams are more a psychological than
physical threat.
- Statistically they cause the fewest losses. . . " (3)
-
- Qassams, which were first fired into Israeli
settlements in 2002, are extremely inaccurate, short-range homemade
rockets, and when they are fired from Gaza, they are generally fired in
the direction of the Israeli settlement of Sderot. Sderot is located upon
the ashes of the Palestinian village of Nadj. According to Dr. Walid
Khalidi, the Palestinian inhabitants of Nadj were driven out when this
village was ethnically cleansed by Israeli settlers in 1948, the year
Israel announced its statehood. In Dr Khalidi's book, "All That Remains:
The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated By Israel in 1948," Najd
is said to be one of 418 ethnically cleansed villages. Not a trace of this
peaceful farming community remains, but in the ashes of this village and
the other 417 racially cleansed villages, there is a hint of the true
reason behind the Israeli overkill, its frantic rage, and its racial
violence against the Palestinian refugees. (4)
-
- Bush recently visited Israel, at which time he was
"thanked" by Olmert for the $30 Billion package of US funds promised to
Israel.
- For those of us who are increasingly opposed to the
activities of the state of Israel (as well as the activities of the US war
machine abroad), this "gift package" is the equivalent of forcing all
Americans into aiding and abetting what now appears to be a true terrorist
state. Forcing Americans to support Zionist Israeli military and its host
of illegal terrorist activities is an abomination. Americans should not
have to helplessly watch as Zionist politicians in the US government hand
US money over to the brutal, racist state favored by all Zionists. This is
especially egregious because numerous US politicians have dual
citizenships in both the US and Israel and enjoy frequent lavish trips and
vacations to "Israel," the land forcefully taken away from the
Palestinians. No one can support the state of Israel while also upholding
his or her oath of office to support and uphold the US Constitution. (7)
-
- This Christmas was bleak in Gaza. There were no winter
clothes or toys to buy, and almost no money with which to buy goods. There
were few sweet treats for the children. There was little food.
- There was little medicine. There is no clean water.
But, there was something else that remains in abundance, something that
has never been taken away from the Palestinians. It is something that one
can see well in the Palestinians if one takes a moment to look. It is
something that continues to leave me in awe as well as with a profoundly
growing respect.
-
- The Palestinians have been patiently asking the world
for help in ending the Israeli occupation of their homes and lands for 60
years now. Despite the fact that little help has been given to them and
they remain refugees without human rights in their own land, there is
something about them. Even after 60 years, they have not been broken in
spirit. They have remained steadfast, patient, and still somehow in
possession of a sense of humor that allows a ready smile, but they are
also not ashamed of weeping when their hearts are broken. They have never
given up, and they are determined to live in peace again on their
ancestral lands - but there is something even more: They are filled with
grace. Blocked from selling even their beautiful flowers abroad by the
inhumane US and Israeli border closures, poverty stricken, jobless through
no fault of their own and possessing almost nothing now, they gave each
other those flowers for Christmas. (8)
-
- Christmas in Gaza was also bleak for my friend,
Mohammed al Zaanoun, although to date I have never heard him complain
about his own situation even when I have asked him about it. With the
typical grace shown by many Palestinians, he does not focus attention upon
himself or his own suffering. With rare and brief exception, I have only
heard him speak on behalf of others whose suffering he has witnessed and
photographed. I, however, am aware of his personal suffering.
-
- This photo, below, is one taken of Mohammed as he lay
fighting for his life after he dared to photograph the above Israeli
carnage in 2006. That was carnage the Israelis did not want the world
seeing, and so they stopped the unarmed cameraman with typical Israeli
force.
-
*****
- As Mohammed photographed and documented the July 2006
Israeli military attack on Gaza civilians as shown in the opening photos
of this article, he was struck by Israeli fire first in the face and hand,
but he continued photographing. He was then targeted and gunned down by an
Israeli shell fired directly into his abdomen.
-
- Upon impact, the shell fragmented into over 100 pieces
inside him. Mohammed fell to the ground and as rescue workers ran to help
him, he told them to save his camera.
-
-
- ---------------------
- References:
-
- 1.Gaza map. (1/14/2008)
- http://images.nationmaster.com/images/motw/middle_east_and_asia/
natural_resources.jpg
-
- 2. 2007 Statistics. (1/14/2008)
- http://www.btselem.org/english/Press_Releases/20071231.asp
-
-
- 3. Yaakov Toran talks about qassams. (1/14/2008)
- http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3222783,00.
(1/14/2008)
- http://umkahlil.blogspot.com/2006/06/sderot-built-on-ashes-of-
ethnically.html
-
- 5. UN Human Rights Resolution 194. (1/14/2008)
- http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/361eea1cc08301c485256cf600606959/
c758572b78d1cd0085256bcf0077e51a!OpenDocument
-
- 6. International laws. (1/14/2008)
- http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/israel/return/crsr-rtr.htm
-
-
- 7. Thanks for the $30 Billion (1/13/2008
- http://www.lebanese-forces.org/vbullet/showthread.php?t=29111
-
-
- 8. Flowers for Christmas (1/13/2008)
|
