VATICAN CITY, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Thursday condemned the use of violence by Israel and Hamas Islamists in Gaza a day after one of his senior aides angered Jews by calling the strip "a big concentration camp".(For the full article, click here.)
"Once again I would repeat that military options are no solution and that violence, wherever it comes from and whatever form it takes, must be firmly condemned," he said in a speech to diplomats from some 170 countries accredited to the Vatican.
In the French-language speech about the world situation, he lamented "a renewed outbreak of violence provoking immense damage and suffering for the civilian population" and urged "the rejection of hatred, acts of provocation and the use of arms".
While the pope seemed at pains to make his speech diplomatically even-handed -- calling for the respect of the legitimate aspirations of both sides -- one of his senior aides was not so delicate with his comments about the siege of Gaza.
This is Dr. Mads Gilbert reporting from Shifa Hospital again earlier this week, deploring civilian casualties. Because Dr. Gilbert is confronting Israeli State propaganda, apologists for the assault on Gaza are trying to character-assassinate him as a terrorist sympathizer, a shill for Palestine, and someone has even compared him to the WWII Nazi Dr. Mengele. But the awesome pictures of carnage we are seeing from various news sources, as well as statements from the UN and Red Cross now only corroborate what he is saying.
If you think there is any kind of unanimous consensus inside Israel for the assault on and invasion of Gaza, then think again. There are thousands of Israelis who are opposed to this action. Here is one of them.
Uncensored Video Report From Dr In Gaza Hospital
Video and Text, recorded on Jan 5 2009
January 06, 2009 from "Information Clearinghouse" (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21654.htm)
Dr. Mads Gilbert, Gaza,
Dr . Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor in Gaza, tells Sky News that the number of civilians injured and killed in Gaza proves that Israel is deliberately attacking the population.
TRANSCRIPT:
“Just a little bit more than an hour ago the Israelis bombed the central fruit market in Gaza city and we had a mass influx of about 50 injured and between 10 and 15 killed. At the same time they bombed an apartment house with children playing on the roof and we had a lot of children also. So this is really like speaking from the dumps of Inferno, it’s like hell here now, and it’s been bombing all night. Until now close to 500 people have been killed and the number of casualties is getting to 2,500 of which 50% are children and women.
Are your hospitals reaching capacity? Can you deal with these people?
We have been doing surgery around the clock. I have just talked with one of my colleagues in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit), he's not been sleeping for three days and the hospital is completely overcrowded, we are running 6 - 7 Ors (Operating Rooms) and there are injuries you just don’t want to see in this world… children coming in with open abdomens and legs cut off. We just had a child that we had to amputate both legs and an arm. And their only crime is being civilians and Palestinians living in Gaza. The relief now is not more doctors and more drugs; the relief now is to stop the bombing immediately, this cannot go on, it’s a disaster.
You’ve talked about the civilians, the women, the children, the men who aren’t involved in this, but are you also getting casualties that are Hamas fighters?
To be honest, we came on New Year’s Eve in the morning. I’ve seen one military person among the tenths… I mean hundreds that we’ve seen and treated, so anybody who tries to portrait this as a totally clean war against another army are lying. This is an all-out war against the civilian Palestinian population in Gaza, and we can prove that with numbers. And you have to remember that the average age of the Gaza inhabitants is 17 years, it’s a very young population, and 80% are living below the poverty limit of the UN. So this is a poor and very young people, and they are able to escape absolutely nowhere, because they cannot flee like other populations can in war time, because they are fenced in and they are in a cage, so they’re bombing 1.5 million people in a cage… young people, poor people and, you know, you cannot separate between the civilians and the fighters in such a situation.”
Transcribed by Atenea Acevedo (Tlaxcala) and Hana Al Bayaty (IAON)
France condemned late on Saturday, January 3, an Israeli ground military offensive against the heavily-populated besieged Gaza Strip, while London said the operation shows the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire.For the full article, click here
"France condemns the Israeli ground offensive against Gaza just as it condemns the continuing firing of rockets," Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a statement issued by his office.
Israeli ground forces began moving into Gaza earlier Saturday following a week of massive strikes, which have so far left 460 Palestinians dead including 75 children.
Israeli tanks rolled into Gaza and engaged in night-time battles with resistance fighters.
"This dangerous military escalation complicates the efforts undertaken by the international community, in particular the EU and France, the members of the Quartet, and the states in the region to stop the fighting, bring immediate aid to civilians and find a permanent ceasefire," Kouchne warned.
President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to fly to the Middle East on Monday, hoping to rally key players in the region behind a French plan to pressure Israel and Hamas to renew a failed ceasefire.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
An American Muslim Leadership
to Spearhead an International Peace and Constructive Agenda
Vision
In this critical time when a massive shift in the mindset and the modus operandi of humanity is taking shape that would dictate the direction of human affairs for generations to come it is imperative that there is a good relationship and constructive engagements between the Muslim world and the West in general, and America in particular. Though both of these vital camps of humanity are enormously diverse themselves the overriding trend for the last several decades is that they are getting increasingly polarized and confrontational. Trust, goodwill and confidence between these two camps are absolutely indispensable for the interest and welfare of not only of themselves but of the rest of the world as well.
This should be the vision of American Muslims to provide an effective and vital leadership role in helping bringing about this outcome in our time. We have great opportunity and duty to play this critical role for peace, stability and progress in global stage. We are the common denominator between American -- the superpower of our time-- and the Muslim world— about one-fourth of humanity controlling 76% of the oil reserves of the world. We are conversant with and part of both camps. By virtue of this predisposition an enormous responsibility falls on our shoulder to be a leader in mediation, conflict resolution, reconciliation and constructive engagements. This should our vision to be a bridge and catalyst for a constructive and substantial change in the relationship between these two parties who are worlds apart.
Mission
To achieve these goals, the American Muslim Leadership suggests the following mission.
1. First we need to have an effective agenda.
2. We need to build a cohesive and agile organization which can build a grass root support among the American Muslims.
3. We need to create a national presence through our issues and involvements and help create the proper leverage to be effective in our work.
4. We also need to work closely and intensely with the leadership of civil society and the government working on similar agendas with the Muslim world.
5. Promote interfaith dialogue and civil discourse among different nations from the spectrum of these two different camps.
6. Remain objective, neutral and professional in all of its endeavors.
7. Our agenda should be multi-dimensional encompassing political, philosophical, educational, social and economic domains in order to be effective and the issues and conflicts are often multi-dimensional.
8. One of the goals should be to make a movement transnational even through it is spearheaded from America to gain an international support, legitimacy and leverage.
9. The above goals should be defined in the broadest terms while the strategies should be detailed and specific.
10. Among many issues and nations we need to set priority of focus in order to help bring about resolution in one critical area that would help solve others in the next phase.
11. The organization needs to be extremely cohesive and agile at the core decision making level and broad and diverse at the operative levels.
JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT, Aljazeera’s Arabic channel was reporting on events in Gaza. Suddenly the camera was pointing upwards towards the dark sky. The screen was pitch black. Nothing could be seen, but there was a sound to be heard: the noise of airplanes, a frightening, a terrifying droning.
It was impossible not to think about the tens of thousands of Gazan children who were hearing that sound at that moment, cringing with fright, paralyzed by fear, waiting for the bombs to fall.
* * *
“ISRAEL MUST defend itself against the rockets that are terrorizing our Southern towns,” the Israeli spokesmen explained. “Palestinians must respond to the killing of their fighters inside the Gaza Strip,” the Hamas spokesmen declared.
As a matter of fact, the cease-fire did not collapse, because there was no real cease-fire to start with. The main requirement for any cease-fire in the Gaza Strip must be the opening of the border crossings. There can be no life in Gaza without a steady flow of supplies. But the crossings were not opened, except for a few hours now and again. The blockade on land, on sea and in the air against a million and a half human beings is an act of war, as much as any dropping of bombs or launching of rockets. It paralyzes life in the Gaza Strip: eliminating most sources of employment, pushing hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation, stopping most hospitals from functioning, disrupting the supply of electricity and water.
Those who decided to close the crossings – under whatever pretext – knew that there is no real cease-fire under these conditions.
That is the main thing. Then there came the small provocations which were designed to get Hamas to react. After several months, in which hardly any Qassam rockets were launched, an army unit was sent into the Strip “in order to destroy a tunnel that came close to the border fence”. From a purely military point of view, it would have made more sense to lay an ambush on our side of the fence. But the aim was to find a pretext for the termination of the cease-fire, in a way that made it plausible to put the blame on the Palestinians. And indeed, after several such small actions, in which Hamas fighters were killed, Hamas retaliated with a massive launch of rockets, and – lo and behold – the cease-fire was at an end. Everybody blamed Hamas.
* * *
WHAT WAS THE AIM? Tzipi Livni announced it openly: to liquidate Hamas rule in Gaza. The Qassams served only as a pretext.
Liquidate Hamas rule? That sounds like a chapter out of “The March of Folly”. After all, it is no secret that it was the Israeli government which set up Hamas to start with. When I once asked a former Shin-Bet chief, Yaakov Peri, about it, he answered enigmatically: “We did not create it, but we did not hinder its creation.”
For years, the occupation authorities favored the Islamic movement in the occupied territories. All other political activities were rigorously suppressed, but their activities in the mosques were permitted. The calculation was simple and naive: at the time, the PLO was considered the main enemy, Yasser Arafat was the current Satan. The Islamic movement was preaching against the PLO and Arafat, and was therefore viewed as an ally.
With the outbreak of the first intifada in 1987, the Islamic movement officially renamed itself Hamas (Arabic initials of “Islamic Resistance Movement”) and joined the fight. Even then, the Shin-Bet took no action against them for almost a year, while Fatah members were executed or imprisoned in large numbers. Only after a year, were Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and his colleagues also arrested.
Since then the wheel has turned. Hamas has now become the current Satan, and the PLO is considered by many in Israel almost as a branch of the Zionist organization. The logical conclusion for an Israeli government seeking peace would have been to make wide-ranging concessions to the Fatah leadership: ending of the occupation, signing of a peace treaty, foundation of the State of Palestine, withdrawal to the 1967 borders, a reasonable solution of the refugee problem, release of all Palestinian prisoners. That would have arrested the rise of Hamas for sure.
But logic has little influence on politics. Nothing of this sort happened. On the contrary, after the murder of Arafat, Ariel Sharon declared that Mahmoud Abbas, who took his place, was a “plucked chicken”. Abbas was not allowed the slightest political achievement. The negotiations, under American auspices, became a joke. The most authentic Fatah leader, Marwan Barghouti, was sent to prison for life. Instead of a massive prisoner release, there were petty and insulting “gestures”.
Abbas was systematically humiliated, Fatah looked like an empty shell and Hamas won a resounding victory in the Palestinian election – the most democratic election ever held in the Arab world. Israel boycotted the elected government. In the ensuing internal struggle, Hamas assumed direct control over the Gaza Strip.
And now, after all this, the government of Israel decided to “liquidate Hamas rule in Gaza” – with blood, fire and columns of smoke.
* * *
THE OFFICIAL NAME of the war is “Cast Lead”, two words from a children’s song about a Hanukkah toy.
It would be more accurate to call it “the the Election War”.
In the past, too, military action has been taken during election campaigns. Menachem Begin bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor during the 1981 campaign. When Shimon Peres claimed that this was an election gimmick, Begin cried out at his next rally: “Jews, do you believe that I would send our brave boys to their death or, worse, to be taken prisoner by human animals, in order to win an election?” Begin won.
Peres is no Begin. When, during the 1996 election campaign, he ordered the invasion of Lebanon (operation “Grapes of Wrath”), everybody was convinced that he had done it for electoral gain. The war was a failure and Peres lost the elections and Binyamin Netanyahu came to power.
Barak and Tzipi Livni are now resorting to the same old trick. According to the polls, Barak’s predicted election result rose within 48 hours by five Knesset seats. About 80 dead Palestinians for each seat. But it is difficult to walk on a pile of dead bodies. The success may evaporate in a minute if the war comes to be considered by the Israeli public as a failure. For example, if the rockets continue to hit Beersheba, or if the ground attack leads to heavy Israeli casualties.
The timing was chosen meticulously from another angle too. The attack started two days after Christmas, when American and European leaders are on holiday until after New Year. The calculation: even if somebody wanted to try and stop the war, no one would give up his holiday. That ensured several days free from outside pressures.
Another reason for the timing: these are George Bush’s last days in the White House. This blood-soaked moron could be expected to support the war enthusiastically, as indeed he did. Barack Obama has not yet entered office and had a ready made pretext for keeping silent: “there is only one President”. The silence does not bode well for the term of president Obama.
* * *
THE MAIN LINE was: not to repeat the mistakes of Lebanon War II. This was endlessly repeated on all the news programs and talk shows.
This does not change the fact: the Gaza War is an almost exact replica of the second Lebanon war.
The strategic concept is the same: to terrorize the civilian population by unremitting attacks from the air, sowing death and destruction. This poses no danger to the pilots, since the Palestinians have no anti-aircraft weapons at all. The calculation: if the entire life-supporting infrastructure in the Strip is utterly destroyed and total anarchy ensues, the population will rise up and overthrow the Hamas regime. Mahmoud Abbas will then ride back into Gaza on the back of Israeli tanks.
In Lebanon, this calculation did not work out. The bombed population, including the Christians, rallied behind Hizbullah, and Hassan Nasrallah became the hero of the Arab world. Something similar will probably happen this time, too. Generals are experts on using weapons and moving troops, not on mass psychology.
Some time ago I wrote that the Gaza blockade was a scientific experiment designed to find out how much one can starve a population and turn its life into hell before they break. This experiment was conducted with the generous help of Europe and the US. Up to now, it did not succeed. Hamas became stronger and the range of the Qassams became longer. The present war is a continuation of the experiment by other means.
It may be that the army will “have no alternative” but to re-conquer the Gaza Strip because there is no other way to stop the Qassams – except coming to an agreement with Hamas, which is contrary to government policy. When the ground invasion starts, everything will depend on the motivation and capabilities of the Hamas fighters vis-Ã -vis the Israeli soldiers. Nobody can know what will happen.
* * *
DAY AFTER DAY, night after night, Aljazeera’s Arabic channel broadcasts the atrocious pictures: heaps of mutilated bodies, tearful relatives looking for their dear ones among the dozens of corpses spread out on the ground, a woman pulling her young daughter from under the rubble, doctors without medicines trying to save the lives of the wounded. (The English-language Aljazeera, unlike its Arab-language sister-station, has undergone an amazing about face, broadcasting only a sanitized picture and freely distributing Israeli government propaganda. It would be interesting to know what happened there.)
Millions are seeing these terrible images, picture after picture, day after day. These images are imprinted on their minds forever: horrible Israel, abominable Israel, inhuman Israel. A whole generation of haters. That is a terrible price, which we will be compelled to pay long after the other results of the war itself have been forgotten in Israel.
But there is another thing that is being imprinted on the minds of these millions: the picture of the miserable, corrupt, passive Arab regimes.
As seen by Arabs, one fact stands out above all others: the wall of shame.
For the million and a half Arabs in Gaza, who are suffering so terribly, the only opening to the world that is not dominated by Israel is the border with Egypt. Only from there can food arrive to sustain life and medicaments to save the injured. This border remains closed at the height of the horror. The Egyptian army has blocked the only way for food and medicines to enter, while surgeons operate on the wounded without anesthetics.
Throughout the Arab world, from end to end, there echoed the words of Hassan Nasrallah: The leaders of Egypt are accomplices to the crime, they are collaborating with the “Zionist enemy” in trying to break the Palestinian people. It can be assumed that he did not mean only Mubarak, but also all the other leaders, from the king of Saudi Arabia to the Palestinian President. Seeing the demonstrations throughout the Arab world and listening to the slogans, one gets the impression that their leaders seem to many Arabs pathetic at best, and miserable collaborators at worst.
This will have historic consequences. A whole generation of Arab leaders, a generation imbued with the ideology of secular Arab nationalism, the successors of Gamal Abd-al-Nasser, Hafez al-Assad and Yasser Arafat, may be swept from the stage. In the Arab space, the only viable alternative is the ideology of Islamic fundamentalism.
This war is a writing on the wall: Israel is missing the historic chance of making peace with secular Arab nationalism. Tomorrow, It may be faced with a uniformly fundamentalist Arab world, Hamas multiplied by a thousand.
MY TAXI DRIVER in Tel-Aviv the other day was thinking aloud: Why not call up the sons of the ministers and members of the Knesset, form them into a combat unit and send them off to head the coming ground attack on Gaza?
Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. He is a contributor to CounterPunch's book The Politics of Anti-Semitism.
The International hue and cry against the Israeli state's murderous assault on Gaza is growing. Meanwhile, the great Obama works on his abs.
Israel’s attempt to wipe out Hamas is understandable, but dumb.
No country in the world is going to ignore the provocation of rockets being launched from neighboring territory day after day. If Mexico had a group of anti-imperialist South Americans bombing Texas, imagine how long it would take for the US to mobilize a counter-attack. Israel has every right to respond.
But the kind of response matters.
Massive bombings of the sort that have thus far killed over 400 Palestinians and wounded 1,000 other civilians is a classic example of a disproportionate response.
Before Israel’s massive bombing, the Hamas bombings that began when the previous ceasefire ran out had not (thank God) killed any one. The reason is obvious: Hamas has no airplanes, no tanks, nothing more than the weapons of the powerless—limited range mortars with limited accuracy. Hamas can harass, but it cannot pose any threat to the existence of Israel. And just as Hamas’ indiscriminate bombing of population centers is a crime against humanity, so is Israel’s massive attack against civilians (in addition to those killed thus far in Gaza, there are the thousands killed by Israel in the years of the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza).
Hamas had respected the previously negotiated ceasefire except when Israel used the ceasefire as cover to make assassination raids against Hamas and other Palestinian leaders. Arguing that these raids were hardly a manifestation of ceasefire, Hamas would, as symbolic protest, allow the release of rocket fire (usually hitting no targets). But when the issue of continuing the ceasefire came up, Hamas wanted a guarantee that these assassination raids would stop. And it asked for more. With hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing acute malnutrition bordering on starvation, Hamas insisted that the borders be opened to counter Israeli attempts to starve the Gazans into submission. And in return for the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, it asks for the release of a thousand Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
Hamas has made it clear that it would accept the terms of the Saudi Arabian peace agreement, though it would never formally recognize Israel. It would live peacefully in a two state arrangement, but it would never acknowledge Israel’s “right to exist.” This position is unnecessarily provocative, and represents deep self-destructiveness on the part of Palestinians who believe that this failure to acknowledge Israel’s rights is the only symbolic weapon they have left. To many Israelis, trapped in their own history as survivors of genocide and oppression, Hamas’ refusal to give official recognition is a way of saying, “We’ll wait till we have adequate military power, and then we’ll break any de facto truce and ceasefire and use that power to wipe out Israel, so just give us time.”
How do we get out of these dynamics that lead to the current situation in which a small number of Israelis and a huge number of Palestinians are killed or maimed?
This is how technology and hubris combine to create deadly consequences for civilians in Gaza, or for that matter in Baghdad or Fallujah at the hands of high-tech-worshipping Americans, and why it is actually a war crime to wage war in the middle of a civilian population.
Of course, some who watch this will say that the owner of the truck is a dirty Hamas liar, ect., etc., but that's clearly stretching it I believe. Having worked with gas cannisters many times over the years, I can say that the images in the video were the right size and shape for standard Oxygen or Acetylene bottles used in cutting steel.
Anyway, we all know that modern warfare has largely devolved into warfare on civilians, whether on purpose or by the inevitability of "collateral" damage, and that is one more reason why the institution of war must be taken down brick by brick.
This example of the truck being blasted by the Israeli Air Force also leads us to question how the so-called statistical body-count experts can so confidently state that only this many civilians died and that many military personnel died. How many more incidents were there like this in Gaza since the assault started?
FOCUS: VOICES FROM GAZA
Gazans: 'We are living a nightmare'
As the death toll from Israel's aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip continues to climb, Al Jazeera asked Gazans to describe the situation where they are and to explain how the offensive is affecting them.
Majed Badra, 23, Gaza City, cartoonist and student at the Islamic University
"Unfortunately the situation is very bad in Gaza city - the Israeli occupation is striking more and more organisations, more houses and the mosque, and my university was hit last night.
They focus on the civilians. It is easy for them.
Nothing is working in Gaza and we don't do anything. We stay inside the house, my family and I. Every family in Gaza is doing the same.
We are used to hearing these airstrikes, everybody here is used to it and we don't have any way to protect ourselves. We just stay inside the home, hearing the news, hearing where the Israeli [army] strikes, hearing the F16s and Apaches and waiting to see what will happen.
We were not prepared for the war. They attack civilians and children and don't care if we are armed or not.
"The world looks at unarmed Palestinian people as though they are a nation with an army, as though we are equal to the Israelis ... but this is not true"
Majed, Gaza City
Yesterday, my sister's house was damaged in a strike on a target nearby. Every room was damaged except for the kitchen, where she and the children were. Allah kept them alive.
The world looks at unarmed Palestinian people as though they are a nation with an army, as though we are equal to the Israelis. They think we have real rockets that cause a lot of damage or have a big effect, but this is not true.
The reality is that we don't have anything and they have struck everything in Gaza.
I have exams coming soon in my university and I want to study but I can't in this situation. So they affect my future, the future of all students here.
Why does the Israeli army strike my university and mosques and houses? I don't know the answer. You have to ask them.
The coming days will be very bad. There will be more and more deaths."
Nida' Aniss Abu al-Atta, 26, Gaza City, projects officer
"At first, the Israeli opening raid was unexpected for normal people. We were totally shocked and for the first minutes we didn't realise it was new Israeli military aggression against Gaza.
Children thought there would be new clashes between Hamas and Fatah supporters. They were afraid and started crying and running to their mothers.
I and my family were so angry, believing that no one made enough effort to avoid this. Israel planned for this and we show readiness to resist despite being powerless compared to the Israeli arsenal.
I feel angry with the Palestinian internal scene. They were unable to show themselves unified even before this tragedy.
I hate the way Hamas leaders try to reflect our people's will by claiming that we can face this horrible military machine. Palestinian people are bleeding and shouting "enough". Even our president [Mahmoud Abbas] was powerless to the extent that it makes me sick and makes me lose faith in anybody.
I expected nothing from the international community, the Arab world and Muslims. It is not adequate anyhow; they just shout and burn flags.
At the same time, I would say that I really value the world reaction in Europe and in France in particular. I call on the Arab community to be more effective and to practice its responsibility and power against governments, like the Lebanese did before in Beirut.
We all, the Palestinian people and leaders, are responsible for this crime. We execute the Israeli plans without thinking who would be the only ones benefitting from our division.
My French teacher keeps saying: "Nida' you should not feel this normal, you have to keep saying it is horrible and feel angry. Don't get used to this."
Well, I feel normal. It is strange when there are no martyrs, no helicopters in the air or reconnaissance aircrafts in the Gaza sky."
Hamoudi, Tal el Hawa
"More than three buildings have been brought to the ground in my area.
Two of my neighbours were killed on their way back from school - sixteen-year-old Yasmeen and her sister, 15-year-old Haneen. They were innocent girls.
In my household, where I live with my brothers, sisters and my sister's eight-month-old baby, we have been sleeping far from the windows and living in darkness due to the lack of power.
But despite all of that we are still alive. Life is precious and worth fighting for.
All I seek in these moments is for the truth to get out there. Let it be known that in the 21st century this is happening while the whole world is watching but remains silent.
I wonder how cheap Palestinian blood is."
Amin Asfour, Gaza City, doctor in a public hospital
"The situation here is very difficult. They are shooting at us from everywhere, at all targets - military or not.
Many have been killed and more injured, especially in the first two days.
They are using all sorts of bombs. They weigh up to 500kg and can take out a 15-storey building in a second, like an earthquake.
Everyone is living in fear. You never know who they are going to hit.
Obviously, there is anger. It's our people dying - our kin, our relatives, not strangers. But people stick together. They live because they have to live.
We're just waiting for the next bomb to fall and wondering whether it will hit us or the neighbours. We are not afraid of the bombs falling, just anxious about who they will fall on. It's war.
In the hospital, we are short on medicine, but we work with what we have. We do miss many supplies and the equipment we work with is really old but our doctors are hardened - no situation will surprise them."
Ghada Snunu, 30, Gaza City, human rights worker
"What is happening here is unbelievable, it's shocking – a catastrophe. We've been living a nightmare for the past two days because of what's happening around us.
I fear for myself, my family and the people I care about. In all my life, I've never had such a bad feeling.
The children, my nephew and niece, are so scared. They hide under the beds, terrified, and I can do nothing to help them, except to sing soothing words to them. But nothing can help them in this situation.
We need serious action to be taken right now to end this violence against our people. I am so angry with the world – we hear nothing but words and there is no action, no real change. Enough, we are sick of hearing just words even from the Arab countries. We are human beings living here in Gaza just like animals – although maybe animals live in better conditions. We don't have medicine, food, cooking gas, fuel, power – we haven't seen electricity for a week now.
Every single person in Gaza is in a very bad psychological state – what is happening here is urging you to be unhappy, it is pushing you into despair. I feel depressed and sick and bored of everything around me – also because of the internal fighting between Hamas and Fatah.
I feel so bad for our people being separated from each other – we should unite in this bad situation. But while we are under siege and ongoing attacks, Hamas and Fatah are still fighting. This is the time for them to re-unite and work together and put an end to this deteriorating situation.
In the beginning I thought that Israel is targeting Hamas, but then I saw houses and other buildings and roads being destroyed, and innocent people being killed and injured. Now I think that Israel is targeting Gaza and not Hamas.
We never expected an attack of this scale and this number of people killed. It is a massacre. I didn't believe my own eyes at first, because it is so disgusting to see such a thing."
Hatem Shurrab, aid worker in Gaza
"The situation is getting worse day by day.
They're targeting everything. We don't know when or where they will strike next. They're hitting hospitals, medical centres, universities, homes, security centres, police.
This morning five young sisters who lived near a mosque were killed. This is one story among hundreds.
We are trying to provide support for hospitals but they are not able to deal with the injured. They have no space, no equipment. People are being treated outside hospitals on the streets.
I'm homeless now after my home was destroyed.
My family is afraid. My little nephew starts crying every time he hears an explosion. My mother tries to not let me go to work.
The streets are almost empty. The only crowds are near bakeries. Lots of people are staying at home and trying to hide."
Israel's supreme court today ordered the government to allow the international media into Gaza to report on the effect of the air strikes on Palestinians.
Over the past two months, foreign journalists and representatives have increasingly been restricted from entering Gaza.
Israel has closed the border completely since it began bombing the besieged Palestinian territory on Saturday.
However, the supreme court told the government it must allow up to 12 journalists to enter whenever it opens the Erez crossing, a passenger gateway, for humanitarian reasons.
The Foreign Press Association (FPA), which represents foreign journalists and began a legal battle to open the crossing to the media last month, said it had been "left with no other choice" than to accept what is a limited victory.
"The state's prohibition on journalists violates two fundamental rights – the freedom of expression and the freedom of the press," the FPA's lawyer, Gilead Sher, said.
"There are several countries in this world, such as North Korea, Zimbabwe and Burma, that ban press coverage in conflict zones. Israel is a democracy with a free liberal press and it should stay so, even in times of crisis and danger."
For the complete article, click here.
Video from Al Jazeera News
As you can see, both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are suffering from hostilities since the breakdown of the ceasefire in November, with both Israel and Hamas accusing each other of causing the breakdown. Both sides also accuse each other of being terrorists as well. The irony here is that since Israel's assault on December 26 began, rocket attacks have by-and-large increased, killing several Israelis. One woman in this interview describes the cycle of violence that is going on, hoping that somehow another round of violence will stop the violence. Not very likely.
Worse still, Hamas has called for a Third Intifada, Hezbollah is threatening to open up a second front and Iran has called for volunteers to defend Palestine. The bloodshed on both sides may increase exponentially.
Even though most people know Norfolk, Virginia as the home of the largest American naval base in the world, NOB Norfolk, in this greater area known as Hampton Roads, which is inundated with other military bases, schools and commands as well, there is still great diversity of opinions and peoples, even within military ranks. On little notice today, Dec. 30, some thirty protesters began gathering at 4:30 PM in front of the City Hall complex at the corner of St Paul Blvd and City Hall Avenue to speak out against the Israeli assault on Gaza. They were still going strong at nightfall when I left around 6:00 PM. I interviewed four of them during the protest. The 4th interview was with Chris Towne of Norfolk, a member of Amnesty International who has been to the West Bank several times as a member, as well, of Holy Land Trust.
