http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21551.htm
Christmas In Gaza : No More Room In The Morgue. 'Little Baghdad' in Gaza - Bombs, Fear and Rage By Amira Hass, Haaretz Correspondent December 28, 2008 "Haaretz" -- -There are many corpses and wounded, every moment another casualty is added to the list of the dead, and there is no more room in the morgue. Relatives search among the bodies and the wounded in order to bring the dead quickly to burial. A mother whose three school-age children were killed, and are piled one on top of the other in the morgue, screams and then cries, screams again and then is silent. Mustapha Ibrahim saw all this on Saturday at one in the afternoon, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza. As a field investigator for a human rights organization, he thought he'd been immunized, but nothing prepared him for what he saw. Wounded people whose situation was less than serious were asked to leave Shifa, in order to free up beds. Dr. Haidar Eid is a lecturer in Cultural Studies at Al-Aqsa University. He, too, saw the bodies and the wounded on Saturday. Also the children whose limbs had been amputated. "To pick a time like this, 11:30 [A.M.], to bomb in the hearts of cities, this is terrible. This choice was intended to cause as large a massacre as possible," he summed up. Abu Muhammad was 200 meters from the hospital, when an awful sound was heard: Three large police centers which were bombed, were located close to the hospital. "Within seconds, this was a little Baghdad, bombs everywhere, smoke, fire, people not knowing where to hide. Fear everywhere, and rage and hatred," he said. He himself ran to his daughters' school, like tens of thousands of other parents in the Strip. From 11:25 until 11:30, as some 50 warplanes bombed their targets, hundreds of thousands of children were in the streets. Some were coming from the first shift of classes, others were going to the second. "In the schoolyard I saw 500 frightened girls, crying. They did not know me, but clung to me," Abu Muhammad related. In the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood alone, there were 43 fatalities. One mourning tent was set up for all of them. Most of them were young policemen who had joined the civilian police and were killed during the course commencement ceremony. Training camps of the Izz-al Din al-Qassam and interrogation and detention centers were deserted when they were bombed. But police centers in the Strip, which give services to people, were teeming. No one believed that they would be bombed. In the afternoon, they were still looking for bodies in the debris. Khalil Shahin rushed to the police station in the center of the Strip. "A huge building, and all of it on the floor," he said. Some 30 people were killed there. He knew that his nephew, a civilian, was killed when he went to clear up some matter at the station. At first, teacher Umm Salah thought the explosion was a sonic boom. The whole building shook, all the glass, but the smoke and the clouds of dust, and the wails of ambulances, made clear that something much more horrible had taken place. The glass wounded a number of pupils. There were those who cried, there were those who were silent. She found her son in the maelstrom in the street. He had been taking a math test when the bombing began. They went back home together, finding his younger brother with their 70-year-old grandmother. The grandmother tried to hide her fear as she took care of her grandchildren. "There's been no electricity, nor gas, nor flour or bread nearly all of the past week," Umm Salah said. "And suddenly the electricity came back. I turned on the television, I saw the images, I turned it off and sent the kids to do their homework." *** From: David Mcreynolds Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 12:17 PM Subject: Letters to Congress on Gaza I'm sending this to pretty much all my lists. This is a copy of a letter that I'll type up shortly and mail to Rep. Jerrold Nadler, who represents my district. The same letter will go to Schumer and Kennedy. You can easily get the name and address of your representative by googling. You can also, if you want, send an email. I think a "paper letter" carries more weight - but then take into account my age. This letter is sent only as a guide (obviously). Pure anger isn't going to help. Outrage is certainly in order, but the intent is to help the people of Gaza, not to gain satisfaction by expressing our personal fury. The one point which I deeply believe to be true is that the key problem in this situation has been the unwillingness of Israel at any point to make serious efforts at a settlement - and this is a reflection of the internal politics of Israel. And the one thing which would have a deep impact on those politics is the end of US aid. Nothing else will "focus the political mind" of Israel. Representative Jerrold Nadler 2334 Rayburn House Office Building Washington DC 20515-3208 Dear Jerrold Nadler, The news today continues to focus my mind on the tragedy of Gaza. So I take this moment to get this letter off to you. Nothing is simple in this world. Nowhere is this more true than of the relations between Israel and the Palestinians. I do understand the view of those, such as Marty Peretz of the New Republic, who feels that Israel had to do something to end the continuing rocket attacks from Gaza. I also understand the view of those who feel Israel has turned Gaza into a concentration camp and is now in the process of launching air raids into areas so crowded with civilians that military casualties are almost incidental. I have followed this conflict for all of my life. In 1948, at UCLA, I was, as a favor to a Jewish friend of mine with whom I'd gone to High School, co-chair of "Christians and Jews for Israel". I knew very little about the situation then, but as someone who was already "on the left", I supported Israel. Our college group danced the Hora, sang Zum Gali Gali, had friends who were going to Israel to live, and in general were entranced by this new democratic state, emerging in the midst of a backward Arab world. So much has changed since then. Israel has been attacked, and it has attacked. (I think in particular of the Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956, in alliance with the imperial powers of France and Britain, in an effort to retain Western control of the Suez Canal. This attack was doubly outrageous because it deflected world opinion from the Hungarian Revolution and made it easier for the Soviet Union to re-establish control over that rebellious state). I have watched as Israel supplied arms to the dictators of Central America, and, most of all, as it has continued the illegal Occupation of Palestinian territory. As you know, Israel's Mossad helped fund Hamas in an effort to undermine the PLO, as a counterweight to the secular movement of Arafat. In the same way, it was the Israeli invasion of Lebanon which led to the creation of Hezbollah. Israel has created its own enemies. Clearly I find myself now at right angles to where I was in 1948. Of course the Jewish people - wherever they live - have a right to exist. And of course the vast majority of Jews have rejected the notion that Israel is "their state". (Some of the most ardent supporters of Israel are, like Martin Peretz, residents of the US who have no interest at all in moving to Israel). I follow events in Israel and in Palestine closely, and am in contact with Israeli Jews who seek to bring peace and justice to the area. I know that the political scene in Israel is dismal, heavily militarized, profoundly corrupt, deeply racist. Yet I also know that the majority of Israelis want to end the conflict. The problem is that within the political landscape of Israel, with the division of parties, no party can take the risk of serious steps toward peace. (The Arab League's offer of several years ago to recognize Israel in exchange for the Israeli acceptance of a Palestinian state was simply ignored by Israel). The one thing which could change the Israeli political situation is to end the illusion that the United States has any "special relationship" with Israel. We do not. It serves no vital US interests. It has complicated the general US position not only in the Middle East but in relation to the larger Muslim world. Israel is in no danger - it has one of the most powerful military machines in the world. It can defeat any combination of Arab states. It has a large arsenal of nuclear weapons (which somehow is never discussed when the matter of Iranian nuclear policy comes up - where is the idea of a "nuclear free" Middle East that would include both Iran and Israel?). The US supplies the jets Israel is using today in its attacks on Gaza. Over the past fifty years the US has given billions upon billions of dollars in military and economic aid to the State of Israel. This should end immediately - as should any military aid to any country in the Middle East. The one thing - the only thing - which can move Israeli policy off its present lethal course is to withhold US support for that policy. In writing this I am aware that the policies of Hamas or of Hezbollah, are hardly mine. I am for a democratic, secular society - a plural society in which my own rights as a homosexual, and the right of women are recognized. That would hardly be the case under Hamas or Hezbollah. But the fact I do not support the policies of Hamas does not mean I support the murderous Israeli attacks on the civilian population. I have been told by one Jewish friend that I am far too hard on Israel - that, after all, Israel has a free press, and an active political opposition (even if that is ineffective). The same thing could have been said about South Africa in the old days. It can be said of our own society, which still has troops in Iraq, despite vigorous political opposition. It was true of the US during the Vietnam War, where massive opposition to US policy did not prevent the Democratic and Republican Administrations from conducting a war which cost the lives of three million Vietnamese. The people of Gaza are dying. Children, the elderly. The missiles Hamas has fired at Israel can't be defended, but the disproporate violence of Israel breaks the heart of one old enough to remember the fact the world was once silent while another Holocaust occured. Sincerely, David McReynolds *** Los Angeles Tuesday, December 30 4:30 pm Israeli Consulate: 6380 Wilshire Blvd. Contact: 213-251-1025, [email protected] Initiated by ANSWER Coalition, along with National Council of Arab Americans, Al-Awda, Free Palestine Alliance and the Palestinian American Women's Association. Additional endorsers and supporters are welcome. ************** Join LA Jews for Peace in a Demonstration to Protest the Israeli Siege of Gaza Today, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 3-5:30 PM Westwood Federal Building (Wilshire & Veteran; 3-hour visitor parking in the Federal Building lot). As you know, the situation is Gaza has been intolerable, but with full support of the U.S. government has gotten worse. This morning Israel launched a massive air attack on Gaza that killed close to 200 people. This attack was carried out using American supplied F-16s, Apache helicoptors, and guided missiles. Now besides a blockade causing shortage of food, medicine, fuel, electric power, and commercial goods, there has been a massacre. The UN Secretary General, the Swiss government, and other groups have called the situation a humanitarian crisis and a violation of the 4th Geneva Convention. It is surely a violation of Jewish and international law. The massacre and blockade are not only cruel and inhumane, but also counter-productive in that they fuel violence against Israel and works to undermine efforts to achieve peace through negotiations. LA Jews for Peace urges everyone to speak out against the attack and blockade, including our own government's support of it. We call for an immediate cease fire and a resumption of shipments of food and medical supplies to the people of Gaza, a hold of U.S. aid to Israel until the blockade is ended, and admittance of journalists to Gaza to report on the desperate conditions. Join LA Jews for Peace in a protest Tuesday, Dec. 30, 3-5:30 PM, Westwood Federal Building LA Jews will have signs and banners; bring your own; but no flags please since our message is internationalism and humanism, not nationalism. ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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