Bombed for nothing: Everyday life on Israeli-Gaza border

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Despite all calls for peaceful negotiations, rockets and violence are part of life on the Israeli-Gaza border. As civilians bear the brunt of the conflict, Faisal Malaka from Gaza told RT’s Nadezhda Kevorkova how it feels to live there.

"Why do you always come after the war and destruction? Why don’t you want to stop them, before they start?" says local farmer Faisal Malaka, aged 22. He is reluctant to talk because he doesn’t think “they” do much good.

By ‘them’ he means the Israeli army officers, who are just a few hundred meters away. The border is demarcated with an electric fence and towers. Faisal says the fence is lethal. His house is closest to the border.

"Europeans have been writing about us in their newspapers since 1948. But nothing is changing. You are the fourth or the seventh to have come here since the war of 2008. Journalists can’t stop them,” Faisal tells the children to go inside the house and not to look out of the windows. He allows me, though, to take some pictures of the dents on the house walls and the steel shutters on the windows that are meant to protect his family. We had seen the dents and shutters from a distance.

But children will be children: they sit in a corner for a while, then come and hang around the adults again.

Faisal is a manager. A graduate of Gaza’s Islamic University, he has a Master’s degree with honors.

"The Israelis say, you are illiterate and ignorant peasants and you don’t know how to read or write."

"We are the most educated people in the Middle East. The more they take from us, the more we learn. Before, I could work in the garden. The only thing I can do now is to learn. There’s nothing funny about it,” Faisal says in response to my forced smile.

His family used to have orchards, but not anymore.

"Since 2000, Israeli bulldozers have destroyed all the trees here. They’ve cut down all the orange, lemon, almond and olive trees. They’ve destroyed our hen-house. They buried our house in sand twice – in 2000 and 2009. On the 22nd of January, they came and buried our house in snow up to the roof?” Faisal tells me twice about the bulldozer as my mind refuses to take it all in."

http://rt.com/news/israel-gaza-conflict-violence-469/

[pelsar]

1. so much for credibility....

Faisal says the fence is lethal

the border fences have sensors on them for when they are touched etc....nothing lethal or anything that u can feel

We are the most educated people in the Middle East.
yea, well i guess he missed the lessons on ethics....

On the 22nd of January, they came and buried our house in snow up to the roof?
hmm....it doesn't snow in gaza
______________

i guess we can assume this article is pointed at the "useful idiotes" that will believe anything

[azurnoir]

3. tell us what happens when one of those nonlethal sensors goes off?

are we to think that the sensors are there for 'looks' only?

the fence itself is not lethal but for a Palestinian the results of setting off a sensor most likely are

[holdencaufield]

4. Now WHY...

... would crawling over a fence into Israel be met with a lethal response? Just because those "Zionists" are bad people?

[azurnoir]

8. no mention of "crawling over" simply being too near

but that is enough for some I guess?

[pelsar]

5. when a sensor goes off..

cameras zero in on the area and the patrol is directed to the area...it may have been the wind, a bad sensor, or an Palestinian attempting to cross the border to kidnap a solider....

the fence is not electrified as per the the contention of "educated Palestinian".....i guess he missed a few classes in ethics, or prefers the philosophy of the "ends justifies the means" as do so many.

so i see you are somehow attempting in an indirect way to defend his accusations.....always fun to watch how such a simplistic lie can be defended (and of course one must wonder why would anyone even want to defend it)

[azurnoir]

7. I was pointing out what was 'left out' of your own comment

which taken at face value would imply that the fence has no purpose other than separating real-estate BTW how are those sensors powered by water wheel?

[pelsar]

18. nothing was left out...i was explaining about the sensors....

the Palestinian with the masters degree simply lied about the fence being lethal, the fence itself not lethal its that simple. Twist it any way you like, but the fence remains non lethal.

i know why he lies, to show how evil the israelis are by having a 'lethal fence"...guess thats part of the education at IU in gaza...the part about the snow i guess was to show just gullible his supporters are

[azurnoir]

19. IMO both you and the author engage in the same type of thing the fence is lethal for a Palestinian

who sets off a sensor which is electrical now both of you leave out details you make the fence sound harmless as though its just a fence and he says its lethal which if ut were just a fence it would be but the Israeli's watching the nonlethal fence change the game the fence becomes lethal due to the humans that built it now as to snow in Gaza as shown down thread it is quite possible and has happened did IDF bulldozers scrape up enough to bury a house? perhaps that too is possible

[pelsar]

20. accuracy..the bane of the demonization trick

but now we know what he did learn with his masters from IU....the demonization trick

Palestinians in fact do approach the fence in certain areas without getting shot, kids do run near the fence at times when chasing a ball, or a kite all without getting shot...other areas have a more violent history.

The fence area is lethal since its the area where the Palestinians use for attacking israel, so its not the fence that is lethal its the area around it, that would be a more accurate desciption.

but the snow accusation is great...when was that freak snowfall in gaza? and when was the article written?

.the demonization trick...works every time on certain types. I 'll explain how a good demonization works for those who don't see it:
it requires a kernel of truth somewhere so that those who want to believe the accusation have something to "hang on to" to claim that its possible, no matter if all the other information is false or absurd

in this particular instance of the IDF burying his house in snow, you'll notice he gives a date: 22nd of January, but not the year. If we do a search on google we fine snow jan 31 2008. Never mind the article is almost 4 years later and his date of the snow is off, it close enough for those who need to demonize israel, to be "factual" and of course it would have to be an incredibly stupid idea to do in the first place.

hence your comment: Perhaps that too is possible".....meaning your giving credibility to an inaccurate statement, ...and to add further to his claim, there is no sand by the border fence in gaza, which means the IDF to bury his house in sand would have had to transport sand, enough sand to bury his a house would be....well quite a lot. So that too is possible, yet google shows nothing. I would think that would be quite a sight to see.

so the article is full of inaccurate statements and claims.....but just enough of a kernel of truth so there will be those that "buy" it

at least we know what he graduated in

[Shaktimaan]

21. electric-AL... not electri-FIED

in no way is the fence itself lethal.

as far as dishonesty goes...

It’s only them who fire! No one has ever fired a single shot from our side! Look, militant groups never fire from residential areas!

[shira]

6. Do you just assume every single nasty rumor about Israel must be true?

Until proven 125% false?

[azurnoir]

9. but it's not a rumor is it? Palestinians have been shot for simply being too near the fence n/t

[shira]

10. Do you believe the part about burying a Gaza house in snow up to the roof? n/t

[azurnoir]

11. oh so it never snows in Gaza? got it n/t

[shira]

12. No, it doesn't. Feeling misled now? n/t

[Scurrilous]

13. Snowing in Gaza city 1-3-2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5rE1A7_fxw

[azurnoir]

14. Thanks there was also a freak blizzard in 2008 n/t

[shira]

15. Thanks - I was wrong. N/T

[Scurrilous]

16. It was a rare event.

Took me awhile to find when it happened.

[holdencaufield]

17. Oh yea ... MORE than enough to bury a house NT

[holdencaufield]

2. When I see a headline...

... that says "Bombed for Nothing" -- I automatically think Sderot and Ashkelon. Maybe since they are being bombed daily for nothing.