Palestinians inspect the different rooms of a bombed house after an Israeli air strike in Rafah, southern Gaza: photo by Said Khatib/AFP via The Guardian, 9 January 2009
I learnt all the words and broke them up
To make a single word: Homeland
To make a single word: Homeland
Mahmoud Darwish: I Come From There
A ball of fire is seen following an Israeli air strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip: photo by Said Khatib/AFP via The Guardian, 11 July 2014
A View from Gaza: This Is a Brutal Attack, Not a "Military Operation" (8 July)
Gaza City under Israeli attack: photo by Dr. Mona El-Farra, 8 July 2014
This series of reports from ground zero in Gaza City was posted to Common Dreams on 8/9/11 July 2014 by Dr. Mona El-Farra, Director of Gaza Projects for the Middle East Children's Alliance. Dr. El-Farra is a physician by training and a human rights and women’s rights activist by practice in the occupied Gaza Strip. She was born in Khan Younis, Gaza and has dedicated herself to developing community based programs that aim to improve health quality and link health services with cultural and recreation services all over the Gaza Strip. Dr. El-Farra is also the Health Chair of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society of the Gaza Strip and a member of the Union of Health Work Committees. Dr. El-Farra has a son and two daughters.
In Gaza last night, while Israeli army forces launched military attacks against Gaza, by sea, air and via artillery shells, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children were unable to sleep inside their tin-roofed homes, clinging to their parents, crying, and terrified. The shelling last night was earth shattering, and went through the entirety of the Gaza strip. At least 100 attacks have already taken place.
In Gaza, we do not have bomb shelters to escape and hide.
These bombs fall on top of our deteriorating economic situation.
Unemployment because of the Israeli blockade against civilians is almost
40%. It is Ramadan, making it more difficult to get basic foods, and
thousands of government employees cannot reach banks to access their
salaries. I know there are internal problems between Fatah and Hamas,
but the outcome is hardship, while the bombs keep dropping on top of our
heads.
In Gaza, the feeling of insecurity throws its shadow against all of the population, and the military operation continues.
With threats of expansion in the coming few days, there is no news about any ceasefire.
Prior to the attack, the local authorities warned the population against swimming in the Mediterranean sea (the only recreational outlet for 1.7 million people). The sea around Gaza has become overly polluted with sewage and wastewater, that the authority, due to lack of fuel, had to pump untreated into the sea.
In Gaza, over 90% of water is unsuitable for drinking.
Through
my work at the Middle East Children's Alliance, we continue to
implement the water purification systems at the schools and
kindergartens,
to provide over 50,000 Palestinian children with clean water. Even
though it is the summer holiday, the community had accessibility to our
water units in schools, but the attacks make travel dangerous.
In Gaza today, imagine choosing between your child’s thirst and your child’s safety.
Also, at MECA, because of our deep understanding of the poor
recreational facilities for Palestinian children, we continue our
educational, entertainment and recreational activities, inside our
partners’ community centres. It will be even more important during the
difficult times ahead, to help the children and distract their attention from the night shelling. Let the Children Play and Heal
is an ongoing program, and I fear that there will be the need for more
psycho-social programming, like we did in 2009 and 2012.
While we help these children, we take care of the mothers too, via psycho-social trainings that aim to educate women about trauma, and how to deal with family and children during times of crises.
While we help these children, we take care of the mothers too, via psycho-social trainings that aim to educate women about trauma, and how to deal with family and children during times of crises.
Today, different health facilities announced a need for more
emergency supplies, which were already lacking because of the closure of
the borders and the ongoing Israeli siege of Gaza. Just before the
attacks, MECA managed to send some highly needed emergency medications
to the Red Crescent Society, but more is needed.
In Gaza, MECA’s team, along with the many humanitarian and health
organisations are going through a very difficult situation. We are
physically unsafe, and we cannot sleep. But we work hard to support
people at this very difficult time.
The streets of Gaza are empty, few cars are here and there, and
Israel continues a collective punishment assassination policy
demolishing homes by aerial bombardment.
These air raids fall on the majority of the population living in very
crowded areas, so while they hit their targets, civilians pay a big
price -- we have many causalities and the numbers are rising every hour.
In Gaza, it is not a war or a military operation though it may look
so. It is collective punishment and it is a brutal attack against all
Palestinian people, and mainly civilians are paying the price.
We Hug the Children As the Bombs Fall (9 July)
We Hug the Children As the Bombs Fall (9 July)
Israeli forces killed six children when a missile struck a residential building in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Wednesday, July 9, 2014: photo by Defense of Children International-Palestine, 9 July 2014
GAZA -– Written Between 3 am and 4 am early Wednesday morning, July 9, 2014.
The Israeli warships continue shelling... It is dark.
I do not know what is going on and I can hear successive bombing. I
am thinking of all the people I know tonight, especially my colleagues
at the hospitals who are working under severe pressure and lacking basic
medical supplies. Stay strong.
"I do not have any comment…
I leave it to you to comment."
I leave it to you to comment."
I heard they bombed the area around the European hospital east of
Khan Younis in Southern Gaza... Then the hospital was directly targeted.
The hospital wall was damaged at 1 am due to the strong shelling. Then
shelling continued with approximately 30 airstrikes.
When civilians took refuge at the hospital, they targeted it again.
The roof of the intensive care unit was damaged and the windows were blown out. Now at around 3 am, six patients inside the intensive care unit and 20 children inside the pediatric ward have had to be evacuated.
At the hospital, two injuries were reported, including one nurse.
I do not have any comment… I leave it to you to comment. For me, this
is nothing new. This is normal behavior of the Israeli army.
Human rights violations against health centers and workers have always been the case when Israel invades.
On a personal level, I am thinking of all people, especially my cousins, who took refuge in the hospital.
At 4:15 am, there were explosions very close to my apartment. The
Gaza port was just hit with at one least bomb. Nobody in Palestine is
asleep tonight.
Oh no! It is next to my building, so loud I am on the floor with neighbors and children, who are so terrified and shocked.
Shattered windows terrify the children... These are vicious attacks... We are all on the floor.
An hour later, we hug each other while the children cling to adults... The bombs are so close.
Now, after a few minutes, I distract the neighbors' kids by showing
some nice drawings sent with love and solidarity from Canada and
Australia. The children laugh. I say, at this moment life is stronger
than death. One day justice will prevail.
The Attacks Are Coming from Every Direction (11 July)
View from the author's window in Gaza City: photo by Dr. Mona El-Farra, 9 July 2014
GAZA –- Written on Friday, July 11, 2014 after the fourth full day of bombing.
Where shall I start? How shall I start?
Shall I start with the numbers which keep increasing and changing? 90
people killed, mainly civilians. 600 injured. 140 demolished homes. Or
should I start by mentioning all the different areas of the Gaza Strip
that have been constantly hit, day and night. Nonstop. If it is only
about numbers, then let me tell you all about thousands of Palestinian
children who are terrified night after night, day after day by the
sounds of the Israeli shelling. The children have deep feelings of
insecurity when it is dark. And no shelters.
Yesterday
a six-story building where my relatives live in Khan Younis
was hit and leveled to the ground. 106 relatives were made homeless.
Even if the Israeli army’s goal was to punish one of Hamas activists,
there is no justification for this cruel, brutal and collective
punishment. Eight members of the Kawarea family were killed in Khan
Younis when the jetfighters destroyed their home. The Israeli army
spokesman said sorry it was a mistake. What a gentle, well-behaved, and
civilized army.
Walking through the streets of Gaza City where I live can be a real
nightmare. The drones and jetfighters are in the sky and you cannot
anticipate what will happen in the next minute. Are they going to target a car behind you or in front of you? Will
you be caught in the blast? Will others will be dying right that minute
somewhere else? Will others will be forced to leave their home in 5
minutes only to be bombed 2 minutes later?
Yet despite the fear, I had to go to the Red Crescent Society of the
Gaza Strip to be with the medical emergency team and help as much as I
could. This morning we received an injured deaf young man from Jabalia.
He was working in a farm that was hit. Tens of cows and sheep were
killed too.
I am so tired and sleepless. I don’t feel settled outside my home
despite the generosity of my friends who are hosting me. But my
building, my neighborhood, are too unsafe. Nowhere is safe but with
intense shelling nearby and broken windows, I had to leave.
The shelling is continuous, crazy and everywhere. Warships fire
missiles against the beach in Gaza City. Rafah town is under severe
missile shelling , 10 people in Rafah were killed when their home was
leveled to the ground by an American-made F16.
The UN agency that runs schools and clinics for Palestinian refugees
opened its schools to receive homeless people from different areas. Now
larger numbers of people will drink from MECA water purification units.
Nobody is asleep in Gaza. No place is safe. The Israeli military attacks are coming from every direction.
From Gaza with love,
Mona
Mona
Palestinians carry belongings in a house after it was hit by an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City: photo by Hatem Moussa/AP via The Guardian, 11 July 2014
Palestinians take cover in a street in Gaza City during an Israeli air strike: photo by Thomas Coex/AFP via The Guardian, 11 July 2014
Palestinians look at a destroyed house where five members of a family were killed in an Israeli missile strike in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip: photo by Khalil Hamra/AP via The Guardian, 11 July 2014
Palestinians search the rubble of a destroyed house in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip: photo by Khalil Hamra/AP via The Guardian, 11 July 2014
A ball of fire is seen following an Israeli air strike on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip: photo by Said Khatib/AFP via The Guardian, 11 July 2014
Black smoke rises from the scene of an Israeli air strike in Rafah. Five Palestinians, including a woman and seven-year-old child, died when a house in Rafah was hit, Gaza emergency services said: photo by Said Khatib/AFP via The Guardian, 11 July 2014
A relative of Palestinian doctor Anas Abu al-Kas mourns over his body during his funeral in the family home at the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip: photo by Mahmud Hams/AFP via The Guardian, 11 July 2014
Jabalia Gaza Strip: photo by nice.robo, 24 January 2009
Gaza: photo by mmansour, 11 January 2009
Gaza: photo by mmansour, 11 January 2009
Gaza: photo by mmansour, 11 January 2009
Gaza: photo by mmansour, 11 January 2009
Gaza: photo by mmansour, 11 January 2009
Gaza: photo by mmansour, 11 January 2009
Gaza: photo by mmansour, 11 January 2009
Gaza: photo by mmansour, 11 January 2009
Gaza: photo by mmansour, 11 January 2009
Gaza: photo by mmansour, 11 January 2009
Gaza: photo by mmansour, 11 January 2009
Gaza: photo by mmansour, 11 January 2009
Gaza: photo by mmansour, 11 January 2009
Gaza: photo by mmansour, 11 January 2009
Gaza: photo by mmansour, 11 January 2009
Gaza: photo by mmansour, 11 January 2009
23 comments:
It's criminal.
We could do with Darwish with us now.
i am speechless.
(and wrought with grief at what we/man make possible.)
It's genocide. And the US aids and abets it.
thank you for posting all this Tom...as heartbreaking as it is, bearing witness is so important, as always...
The Pope just tried to make peace and it didn't work out too good but the power of prayer sometimes takes a while to work.
I like what my 2nd favorite Quaker(Charlie Walsh now being my favorite Quaker)Richard Nixon said:Israel may win the next war,
it may win the next 5 wars but eventually it will lose,
200,000 dead in Syria, Iraqi losses yet to be tallied,genocide
in the Sudan,massacres in Kenya,and Nigeria. Car bombs a minute,here,there, and everywhere.
So where in the world are people
safe if they live near a Muslim country...Turkey?
In the meantime while the headlines are being hyped Ebola is
slipping through the cracks in Africa.
You can't just walk up to religious fanatics and tell them to cut the crap.
It would be an example of love and inspire the world if there were an Israeli Palestinian peace
but I doubt that it will happen.
message to Hazen, the US also feeds the Palestinians who also make war
message to the great Lally,bear
witness more broadly
message to Wooden Boy beauty like
criminality is in the eyes of the
beholder
message to erin politely...conventional war is now a means to avoid a nuclear war
in a larger time span
Criminal insanity.
Comment is almost redundant I suppose. All the same it's good to feel that some people actually care.
Elmo, thanks once again for the all over the map advice, but can we skip the Pope, Ebola, Nixon and Syria for a moment and may I instead ask a simple straight question: as a doctor, aren't you just the slightest wee bit bothered by the health worker's account of this nightmare?
ALL THE DEAD CHILDREN
Angels are learning new tricks to entertain all the
dead children
just bringing them to a quiet place used to be enough
blue panels sonorous as cool winds rising to
infinite heights and
luminous rivers tasting of fresh milk and
passionflower honey
But now they are more restless and want something
lively such as fabulous displays and real
stellar extravaganzas to shut out the memories
All the wingéd horses have been brought in
and every banner from every battle ever waged
transformed into aurora borealis brightness is
planted on either side of the great arena which is
actually nowhere you can put your finger on and may be as
big as a sparkle or light years across
The angels begin conventionally enough and since they’re
anti-gravitational they are capable of some
pretty amazing feats their specialty being a
spinning array of a few billion shimmering their wings and
turning slowly at first in a
cone that goes up through so many dimensions the
children have to stop counting with
each dimension demarcated by another
color no one on earth’s spectrum has
ever seen before
Then the cone begins
turning faster and faster and shoots higher and higher
finally sweeping their astonished souls wide-eyed into a
vortex so swift they barely notice that they’re
arcing across fields of unearthly green and seas of
unoceanic turquoise
Each shroud has been made into a tent filled with
fabulous fruits and unidentifiable edibles of
uttermost succulence
Each soul has been given the Ultimate Glimpse
and the Accurate Portrayal
the Perfect Sustenance and the Infinite Intensity
Each time they clap their hands a new
universe appears
more fabulous than the last
And when they tire of such delights
William Blake reads to them from his new work
and Mozart comes in and plays them a tune
on a million pianos
____________________________________________________
4/11/2003 (from Psalms for the Brokenhearted, 2005)
(note: Written during an Israeli invasion of Lebanon)
elmo st. rose, you use the word politely and the words of the woman present in Gaza (is it Mona?) come back to me, "What a gentle, well-behaved, and civilized army."
i watched Kubrick's Paths of Glory last night. how civilized and polite the hostile-to-the-bone Major General Georges Broulard was, but that was (mostly) only entertainment and i am almost ashamed i make any such connection.
politeness in the face of such abhorrent (aberrant?) behaviour is most deeply chilling.
listening to David Suzuki (a Canadian environmentalist) speak the other day on public radio concerning the imminence of environmental disaster, he said (to paraphrase him) of his fellow contributors (writers and journalists), i have no qualms about their arguments. i believe they are right, we have done too much damage, but if we have irreparably ruined the earth, then what? i say, if you believe this, then be quiet. what work is left to do? but if you, like me, choose to have hope, then let's engage in the work to rectify things, whether it is possible or not.
elmo st. rose, i appreciate your politeness. i do. (truly.) but while man too often utterly disgusts me, there is somewhere in him the capacity to be in the world otherwise. i cleave to this.
and tom, by all means you may link to me but what you do here is real and important. in the short time i've been coming (coaxed here by my husband) i have been greatly impressed upon by your touching and probing depth of such vast aspects of our world.
xo
erin
Dear Tom,"War is hell" is a cliché
that actually has meaning. Pain and suffering when you are in the
middle of it has a smell and is
palpable,audible,visible.
The digital world and the media are removed a few clicks from the
reality of it.So the blog as
Marshall McCluen(spelling)"is the
message" or "the medium is the message" and it's primarily conceptual rather than actual.
The concept here is a provoked attack which would produce civilian casualties because that's the
modus operandi of Hamas. Yes, it's a human tragedy. 60 to 100 million people died in World War II. America added to but also limited the death toll. 60 to 100
was because death was harder to count in those days for many reasons. Due to the current conflict's prolonged and tragic
nature if were to end in lasting peace it would inspire the human
race to higher goals just as the
United Nations did at the end of World War II. Though UN has had only faint success,atleast it may
be one of the reasons we have not
yet blown ourselves up. Yes if they were my patients I would do
everything I could to help them and to relieve suffering. "Doctors
Without Borders" are peace makers.
The best thing is not to have a war at all.
Erin,
It was that line in the testimony which chilled my heart, and moved me to post the words of that extremely well-qualified, brave, absolutely heroic witness. The models for all this -- "What a gentle, well-behaved, and civilized army." -- of course did things in exactly that same cold, calculating über-efficient way.
David Suzuki's conclusion is the only one at which any of us can consciously arrive, after sorting our way though the lies. I'm not sure I'd even call it hope -- Michael Lally's words re. bearing witness still in my mind. If it's all we can do, then at least bear witness. Don't look away.
Abdal-Hayy,
Real poems always lift up the material world just enough to allow us to see its pain and glory without being blinded by the grasping affect of the personal.
To turn living children into dead angels is merely another impressive achievement of the Israeli techno warfare machine.
The engineers' understanding of history appears to be nearing a sort of mimetic perfection, now coming to assimilate the diabolical abstract genius of the original architects of the "kill them all" plan.
The idea that the present butchers are deliberately killing and maiming children, because (a) there are so many of them constantly populating the target environment (fish in a barrel, easiest way to improve your hunting score), and (b) the psychological intimidation effect will deter the bad guys on the block (the ones with the firecrackers -- we have those here too, but wiping them out with approximately guided missiles would mean simultaneously wiping out the cities in which we live) is generally received as accurate by sensible people around the world who don't have their minds shaped by American media.
This idea is accepted as realistic, assumed and believed on pain of great potential consequence throughout that vast arc of the planet which stands subject without notice to a rain from the sky of the most expensive weaponry that can be purchased with the proceeds of the most pervasive political lobby in the history of the United States.
On that subject of provocation, so dear to the American tv and New York Times armchair audiences, I wish that a certain reader had taken the two minutes required to hear the sober historical analysis put forward by Owen Jones, in a link given here two posts back.
I'd post that link again, but despite the implication that bloggers are hopelessly out of contact with the real world, I do accept the fact that some masses of opinion (or prejudice, or ignorance) are simply too stubborn to be moved, even when reality is calling, "hey, brother, drop that shovel and climb up out of that hole!"
And by the way, Elmo, yes, her name is Mona (as stated); yes, she's a doctor, as suggested (Dr. Mona El-Farra); her credentials, in brief, are given above her words, which she wrote while dividing her time between hiding from bombs and caring for the suffering victims of this high tech terror warfare conducted from, no not the Eighth, but yes, this wonderful Twenty-First Century of ours.
selective outrage always asks
a question about motive and more
than that
Elmo,
First line of defense of the indefensible is changing the subject. Next line, question the motives. Brilliant.
My motive, which you disingenuously pretend to want to know about (the past several thousand posts ought to have made it plain), is to promote awareness. I like to be aware and presume others feel likewise. To this end I offer my work. In fact there's a lot of work in this, no fun at all and not the faintest hint of a reward. On this subject, the horror going on again in Gaza, after all that previous horror instigated from the same source, my fear was belabouring the obvious, preaching to the converted. You've proven to me that that fear was groundless.
What the Media Isn't Telling You About Israel's Attack on Gaza
The temptation to dash cold water on one's face, have a bit of a lie-down and attempt to face the music of personal unholy dying, grows strong indeed at this point -- but the trolls keep showing up whining that cliché of the week solo about selective outrage. (The logic -- ? -- seems to be, you can't be outraged about Gaza without simultaneously being outraged about, for example, Syria...which might make a smidgeon of sense if the Israel Lobby were paying for the Syrian weaponry... and if it were impossible to have compassion for suffering people in more than one place.) And I don't mean you here, Elmo. I mean the hard core trolls, in particular the one buffoon who's been filling up the spam box year in and year out with incorrigibly illiterate anthems in honor of his own genius and genealogy. You'd think people would get a life.
But no -- in honor of the dismalness of trolls, let's go for the awareness.
Israel widens its air assault: Miriam Hafed, USA Today, 12 July, 9:41 PM EDT
GAZA CITY — As international calls for a cease-fire ramped up, Israel military warned residents of northern Gaza to evacuate "for their own safety" late Saturday night.
In a statement, the Israeli military said it would send messages to northern Gaza residents overnight to leave their homes as Israel planned to hit the area with heavy force in the next 24 hours, according to Brig. Gen. Motti Almoz, chief military spokesman.
"We are going to attack there with great force in the next 24 hours due to a very large concentration of Hamas efforts in that area," he said.
Israeli troops raided a facility in northern Gaza believed to be a missile launch site, Haaretz reports. The special forces team exchanged fire with militants and four Israeli soldiers were wounded.
In the Gaza Strip, 15 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike near a mosque as residents were ending evening prayers, said Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The strike marks the single deadliest airstrike in the five-day offensive that has left 156 dead and another 1,060 injured, according to al-Qidra.
Just checked and -- no kidding -- the phrase "selective outrage" is currently TRENDING. Like, big time. On those top-shelf intellectual/analytic platforms, too -- Twitter, Bing, New York Post, the whole de profundis peanut-brain armada. Strange coincidence.
What is this, anyway, world, a troll training academy?
ok, just go to yahoo news and hit
the middle east or Africa and Asia
and check out the other slaughters
that are ongoing....I think 250
Sunnis just got offed in Iraq,etc,etc.
I know, it's hard to demand morality from some people.
Saddest line from a soldier back from Iraq when he found out he didn't have to go again because of
a bad back, back when
a trillion dollars and many lives
"Maybe Iraq needed a Saddam Hussein to keep it from a worse fate" which indeed it has now.
Look it's a mess with no end...
We're going to end up disagreeing.
I don't visit your blog generally
for political discussion. I visit it for poetry that is necessary, and for your knowledge of it.
Understood Charlie, you've always been a friend, no hard feelings and as despite 20,000 comments there's not yet been a political discussion at this site, I wouldn't expect one to be starting up any time soon. The real world itself is about as much poetry as I can take, and as you know, these days I can only take that from a great distance -- if at all. But then I see poetry itself as a form of eternal disagreement, and anger as a form of energy. Often helpful in a lifeless environment, anyway. But around here we're too old and tired to actually get angry -- and mere nonstop annoyance hardly qualifies.
i sit quietly for a moment listening to the discussion that goes one here - yes, real discussion - and i am heartened, not because of any agreement or disagreement, but because it is true that the spectrum of voices is vast and yet respect and acceptance of the disparity of ideas can exist peacefully, even here:)
and it is interesting to me that i too come for the poetry but what moves beneath poetry is the same thing which moves beneath the face of the world and it is that we must look to if we want to sort out any of the mess we're in (internationally and locally, even personally). we need to scrutinize our initial axioms which we walk toward the world armed with. here is where all war and peace begins. here is where man is or becomes man. and here is where a good life is possible.
i'm very grateful to read all of the voices here, recognizing that the variance and the multitude beyond is immense and therefore the careful balance between - delicate.
xo
erin
This is where I come to get the news that stays news...
Erin and Daniel,
And I am grateful for your voices. For me, these are the most valuable news media.
Making a good life possible may be in fact impossible, but the thought itself makes this particular day a little more possible.
ameen... really. Amen!
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