Once You See What Truly Happened in Gaza, It Will Change You Forever

[babylonsister]

Once You See What Truly Happened in Gaza, It Will Change You Forever
By Medea Benjamin | Alternet

What I saw was like a form of collective punishment, leaving behind a trail of grieving mothers, angry fathers and traumatized children.


When I traveled to Gaza last week, everywhere I went, a photo haunted me. I saw it in a brochure called "Gaza will not die" that Hamas gives out to visitors at the border crossing. A poster-sized version was posted outside a makeshift memorial at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. And now that I am back home, the image comes to me when I look at children playing in the park, when I glance at the school across the street, when I go to sleep at night.

It is a photo of a young Palestinian girl who is literally buried alive in the rubble from a bomb blast, with just her head protruding from the ruins. Her eyes are closed, her mouth partially open, as if she were in a deep sleep. Dried blood covers her lips, her cheeks, her hair. Someone with a glove is reaching down to touch her forehead, showing one final gesture of kindness in the midst of such inhumanity.

What was this little girl's name, I wonder. How old was she? Was she sleeping when the bomb hit her home? Did she die a quick death or a slow, agonizing one? Where are her parents, her siblings? How are they faring?

Of the 1,330 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military during the 22-day invasion of Gaza, 437 were children. Let me repeat that: 437 children -- each as beautiful and precious as our own.

As a Jew, an American and a mother, I felt compelled to witness, firsthand, what my people and my taxdollars had done during this invasion. Visiting Gaza filled me with unbearable sadness. Unlike the primitive weapons of Hamas, the Israelis had so many sophisticated ways to murder, maim and destroy-unmanned drones, F-16s dropping "smart bombs" that miss, Apache helicopters launching missiles, tanks firing from the ground, ships shelling Gaza from the sea. So many horrific weapons stamped with Made in the USA. While Hamas' attacks on Israeli villages are deplorable, Israel's disproportionate response is unconscionable, with 1,330 Palestinians dead vs. 13 Israelis.

If the invasion was designed to destroy Hamas, it failed miserably. Not only is Hamas still in control, but it retains much popular support. If the invasion was designed as a form of collective punishment, it succeeded, leaving behind a trail of grieving mothers, angry fathers and traumatized children.

more...

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/40025

[balantz]

1. Thanks for posting this. n/t

[Mika]

2. Thank you for posting this.

Very intense. Grim. Thank goodness for people like Medea Benjamin.

[ThomCat]

3. Israel is shattering any remaining illusion that this is about

securing Israel.

The idea that this is about security shatters when you see who it is that keeps breaking every cease fire.

It is about destroying the Palestinian people completely and thoroughly so that Israel can steal the rest of the land without any resistance.

It's also about Israeli cultural racism against Palestinians, denying that they have any humanity, often calling them animals, and then slaughtering them like animals. :grr:

[Usrename]

5. It cannot accurately be called retaliation if they started it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-kanwisher/reigniting-violence-how-d_b_155611.html

"Thus, a systematic pattern does exist: it is overwhelmingly Israel, not Palestine, that kills first following a lull. Indeed, it is virtually always Israel that kills first after a lull lasting more than a week."

[TBF]

4. Recommended. k/r. n/t

[inna]

6. K&R, thank you. nt

[classysassy]

7. The American people

have been duped into believing we are on the side of a just country,when all of the facts differ.If we really want to make the planet a safer place,we must stop selling(giving) weapons to all nations.

[OwnedByFerrets]

8. Thank you for posting.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. 
[link:www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules.html|Click
here] to review the message board rules.

[madmom]

10. Your name belies your post.

[babylonsister]

11. Bwhahaha! Then I think you're really not going to like this!

U.S. plans "substantial" pledge at Gaza meeting

Sue Pleming
Reuters North American News Service

Feb 23, 2009 13:37 EST


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to announce a "substantial" pledge of U.S. aid for Gaza and the Palestinian Authority at a donors' meeting in Egypt next week, a State Department official said Monday.

The official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said the U.S. Congress still must approve the money and a final figure had not been set, but it could run into hundreds of millions of dollars.

"The United States will announce a substantial pledge of humanitarian assistance and support for the Palestinian Authority," said the official.

The March 2 donors conference in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh resort aims to raise humanitarian and rebuilding funds for Gaza after Israel's invasion at the end of last year, which killed 1,300 Palestinians.



http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/02/us_plans_substantial_pledge_at_gaza_meeting.php