Plus, of course, the BBC has decided that it is now the arbiter of which disasters are worthy of publication and which are not to be aired under any circumstances, which is another collectively unconscious nail in the coffin of publicity.
I won't waste too many words on the BBC. Their decision not to show the Gaza appeal is so determinedly wrongheaded that I can only assume it is a result of their having been nobbled by either Mossad or the IDF, letting them know covertly that if the appeal went ahead, they would treat BBC journalists as combatants in future conflicts in the area.
I do, however, want to talk about the Israelis and their well-tried, practised methods for deflectivng criticism, whenever they have done something that they get picked up on, such as disabling a four year old girl who got caught in the white phosphorous shellfire.
The first thing they do is to say they have no knowledge of the incident, then they say they are investigating, and finally, if they are really pressed, they fall back on "we don't discuss individual cases". You can hear the pattern repeated over and over again, whenever a journalist tries to get beyond the self-justifying propaganda that usually starts such interviews.
Well, I would like to speak about a few individual cases. Just to be going on with. Just so they are not forgotten.
Such as:
Two brothers, aged five and seven, were killed at a school sheltering up to 1,800 local residents in Biet Lahiya, in northern Gaza. The mother of the children lost both her legs in the incident and another 13 people were injured. Christopher Gunness, a United Nations official, called on Israel to investigate the incident, which he said could constitute a "war crime."
The main United Nations compound inside Gaza City was set on fire as fierce fighting erupted when Israeli tanks advanced towards the Tel El Howa district.
UN sources said the blaze was started by Israeli shells containing white phosphorus, the controversial material used to create a smokescreen for advancing troops.
Eye witnesses said the tank advance led to thousands of civilians fleeing on foot, some seeking shelter in the nearby al-Quds hospital.
Under the rules of war, white phosphorus can only be used in open spaces away from large civilian populations.
There have been repeated allegations in Gaza that civilians have suffered disfiguring burn injuries after being hit by white phosphorus.
The UN compound housed the headquarters and logistical centre of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the group that feeds and supports about a million refugees inside Gaza.
Chris Gunness, spokesman for UNRWA, said three members of staff had been injured.
"Three white phosphorus shells have hit the compound and right now the pallets on which we are meant to deliver aid are on fire," he said.
"What more powerful symbol can there be than pallets used for aid being set alight by the fighting? With white phosphorus you cannot put out the flames with water. You need sand and right now there is too much fighting for our staff to get sand."
Or this, from Oxfam's Gaza Blog:
I met with Sameh Al Sawaferi who is 58 years old; he is a father for 11 and the biggest chicken and egg farmer in the Gaza Strip. Every day he sold 1,000 chickens and produced 120,000 packs of eggs, each pack containing 30 eggs. He supplied Oxfam with eggs just before the Israeli military offensive started.
The smell and sight as I went to greet him made me retch, 60,000 chickens were laying there, dead.
Israeli tanks had destroyed the entire farm including the chickens, those that were spared probably died later of dehydration and hunger. Sameh was told by the Israeli troops that occupied the area to leave so he could not tend to them.
“Along with many other people from the area, I was asked by the Israeli military to go into one room. Among us were people who had just been injured. We were told to leave immediately or face death. We asked if we could take the injured with us, the answer was no. When we returned, those whom we were forced to leave behind were dead, ” Sameh told me. I said he must report this to Oxfam partner the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, who are documenting allegations of war crimes.
Sameh was only able to go back when the attacks ended, he returned to find 50 years of his hard work destroyed. ” I never imagined I would lose everything. The sight of my farm destroyed was devastating and then I entered my house only to see soldiers’ footprints, they had left their food and defecated around my home,” he said. As he was telling me this I looked up and saw the words, ‘Leave, or you will be killed’, scribbled on the wall.
More from the same source:-
But the worst thing I saw was just outside of Beit Lahia (North East of Gaza Strip) in the area of Atta Abed Rabo. I could not recognise Beit Lahia! Entire neighbourhoods have disappeared. In place of houses and street there is nothing. It’s like looking at fields of ruins. I cannot imagine how long it will take to rebuild. How much money will be needed.
The people of Atta Abed Rabo have suddenly lost everything. This community is composed of original residents of Gaza, who were here before the influx of refugees in 1948. They were the middle class and now even they are badly affected. I met a family who lost their house and the taxi cars that constituted their only source of income. When I met them they were sitting in front in the rubble where their house used to be, preparing tea on a small burner. They are not used to receiving aid, as they were among those donating to charities like Dr. Risek’s. They don’t understand what has happened, they are still in shock.
I don't see how anyone, faced with evidence like this, can view Israel's actions as being anything other than a massively disproportionate collective punishment of the Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza for having the temerity to vote democratically for control by Hamas.
This is not to say that Hamas are blameless. They may well have cynically manipulated the situation for publicity purposes. Neither side in the conflict is capable of grasping (or wilfully ignores) the fact that two wrongs don't make a right. The conflict will never be resolved until the Israelis are forced to sit around a table and discuss the two-state solution.
But when it comes to individual cases, right now, where the blame, and the responsibility for paying for it to be put right, should currently be apportioned, is crystal clear.
No comments:
Post a Comment