http://pulsemedia.org/2012/11/18/on-both-sides-of-the-golan/
On Both Sides of the Golan November 18, 2012 § Leave a Comment<http://pulsemedia.org/2012/11/18/on-both-sides-of-the-golan/#respond> <http://thinkpress.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/syrianchild.jpg>*The picture on the left is doing the rounds on the internet labelled as a Palestinian child victim of US-backed Zionist bombing in Gaza. In fact, it seems <http://twicsy.com/i/RxbNkc>that it<http://www.kakisembang.com/2012_09_11_archive.html> depicts a Syrian child injured by Russian and Iranian-backed Asadist barbarism. No matter the two are interchangeable today. Both are fighting hyper-violent tyrannies rooted in the Sykes-Picot carve-up of bilad ash-Shaam. And while Zionism bombs Palestinian refugees in Gaza, Asads forces continue to bomb Palestinian refugees in the Yarmouk camp, Damascus. The film below shows some of the aftermath of this bombing. Below that we reprint an article<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/16/gaza-no-longer-alone?INTCMP=SRCH> by novelist Ahdaf Soueif, in which she describes the changed Arab environment meeting the latest aggression on Gaza, and points out that Israels action is in part aimed to take the heat off Bashar al-Assads murderous activities in Syria.* *http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1GMBos0g_eQ* If you click here <http://audioboo.fm/users/578060/boos>, you can listen to the Israeli attacks on Gaza. You can hear explosions, drones and ambulances. This is the soundtrack of the lives of Palestinians there now. Theyre recording it and transmitting it, and their friends all over the world particularly the Arab world are listening to it live. We are also reading the tweets and blogs the young Gazans are putting out, and taking a good look at the images theyre posting like the one of Ranan Arafat, before and after. Before, shes a pretty little girl with green eyes, a green halter-neck top and green ribbons in her hair. After the Israeli bomb, shes a charred and shrunken figure. Her mouth is open. A medic lifts for just a moment her blue hospital shroud. In that hospital, Shifa in Gaza City<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/16/gaza-hospital-emergency-reserves>, we watched the Egyptian prime minister, Hisham Kandil, this morning. For the first time in 42 years an Egyptian prime minister was where we Egyptians wanted him to be. For the first time a government official was telling the truth when he said he spoke for the Egyptian people. And he was spot on when he referred to the Egyptian people first, before the Egyptian president. Since he won the presidency, Mohamed Morsi<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/15/mohamad-morsi-gaza-israel-egypt> has tried to be a pragmatic politician. He pressed on with security co-ordination with Israel in Sinai; he started sealing up the tunnels that provide a lifeline to the besieged Gazans; he rejected the proposal of a free trade area on the borders between Egypt and Gaza; and he sent an ambassador to Tel Aviv with a fulsome letter to Shimon Peres<http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/87069/letter-morsi-peres-prompts-disbelief>. And so he found himself uncomfortably cosied up with remnants of the Mubarak regime and aficionados of the military government. The rank and file of the Muslim Brotherhood and their Freedom and Justice party had a hard time justifying the actions of their man in the presidential palace to the rest of the country. Progressives and liberals mocked them for their big talk on Palestine all the years they were in opposition, and their resounding silence now they were in power. Skits about Morsis love letter to Peres appeared online and parodies on Cairo walls. Now, the Israelis have pushed him pushed him perhaps into a position where hell find himself more at ease in his presidency, and more in tune with the people. Large groups of young Egyptians have been heading for Gaza; my youngest niece is one of them. Like the efforts of the worlds civil society to send ships to Gaza, young Egyptian civilians with a passion for freedom are going to support their friends. And on a more official level, medics and pharmacists have already arrived there. Abdel Moneim Aboul-Fotouh <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/10132171>, a presidential candidate and doctor, has gone as he did in 2008 during Israels Operation Cast Lead<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/29/israel-attack-hamas-preparations-repercussions?INTCMP=SRCH>, long before he had political intentions. The Arab Doctors Union has called for donations and volunteers. Israel has always sold itself to the west as a democracy in a sea of fanaticism. The Arab spring has undermined that narrative, possibly fatally. So Israeli politicians have been pushing hard for a war against Iran and, in the interim, theyve gone on a killing spree in Gaza<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/16/www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/nov/16/israel-pounds-gaza-air-strikes-video>. If they had wanted to instigate violence against themselves they could not have done better than to assassinate Ahmed al-Jaabari<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/14/ahmed-al-jaabari-hamas-general>, the Hamas commander whos prevented attacks on Israelis for the past five years. With his killing theyve raised the probability of these attacks resuming, as is happening now. They can then try to hijack the narrative of the Arab spring and wind the clock back to Islamist terrorists v civilised Israelis. Meanwhile, they take the heat off Bashar al-Assads murderous activities in Syria and, of course, score hawkish points for Binyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak before the coming elections. But they have served to remind the world that Israel is a democracy where politicians may order the murder of children to score electoral points. Palestinian children, true. But the citizens of the world dont make racist distinctions. On Thursday there were protests for Gaza across the world. They continued today. And there will be many more. In every Arab country where the people rise up to demand their rights, they demand action on Palestinian rights as well. Tunis has just announced that its foreign minister is heading for Gaza. In Jordan today, hundreds of thousands were on the streets and, as well as demanding the fall of their own regime, theyre also calling for justice for Palestine. Protesters are out in Libya. In Egypt, people are heading for Rafah. We are heading for true representation of the peoples will in the region and, in the coming years, governments will need to follow the road shown to them by their people. One of the rescue team pulling one of the murdered children from under the rubble :( Al Dalw children RIP #*GAZA* <https://twitter.com/search/%23GAZA> pic.twitter.com/1PTgOASJ <http://t.co/1PTgOASJ> <https://twitter.com/FidaaZaanin/statuses/270187452000526336> 22 killed in Sunday raids on Gaza Published today (updated) 18/11/2012 18:01 Palestinians carry the dead body of a child from under the rubble of a house after an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, Nov. 18. (Reuters/Ahmed Zakot) GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli air raids across the Gaza Strip killed 22 people on Sunday, including five women and nine children, as Israel pounded the Gaza Strip for the fifth day. Since Wednesday, 70 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes, tank fire and naval shelling. An Israeli airstrike hit a vehicle in Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday afternoon killing Suheil Hammad, 45, and his 15-year-old son Muamin. They were driving a water tanker to sell water to residents, a Ma'an reporter says. Four women and four children were among 10 killed in an Israeli missile attacked that leveled the al-Dalou family home in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City. Israeli airstrikes killed two men in separate airstrikes on Gaza City's Shujaiyya neighborhood, killing Saadiyya al-Theib and 24-year-old Sami al-Faqir, medics said. Muhammad Abu Naqira died after Israeli jets bombed his home in the Shaboura neighborhood of Rafah in southern Gaza, witnesses said. In northern Gaza, medics recovered the body of 52-year-old woman, identified as Nawal Abed al-Ali, from the rubble of an airstrike on a police station in the al-Tufah neighborhood. Medics said 27-year-old Ahmad Nahhal and 9-year-old Tasneem Nahhal died and eight others suffered injuries in a strike on al-Shati refugee camp, on the coastline of Gaza City. A strike on al-Bureij refugee camp killed 18-month-old Eyad Abu Khousa and wounded his brother, a Ma'an correspondent said. Earlier, two children died and more than 12 people sustained injuries as two houses came under fire in northern Gaza early Sunday, medical official Ashraf al-Qidra said. Medics identified the two children as Tamer Abu Asaifan and one-year-old Jumana Abu Asaifan. Witnesses said Israel's aerial bombardment of Gaza continued with intensity overnight. Earlier airstrikes hit two media headquarters in Gaza City, including Ma'an's office, injuring at least six journalists. Israeli shelling pummeled Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, while fighter jets struck southern Gaza. Meanwhile, Israeli gunboats shelled the coastline of Gaza City and central Gaza, eyewitnesses said. Israel's army said fighter jets fired on approximately 70 sites in the Gaza Strip overnight, and 50 sites during the day. No rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel after midnight Saturday, the army said, until several projectiles hit the south after 8 a.m. One rocket salvo unleashed Sunday wounded two people when it hit a house in the coastal city of Ashkelon, police said. Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades says it has carried out 900 rocket attacks on Israeli military bases and across the border since Wednesday, reaching Tel Aviv and an Israeli settlement south of Jerusalem for the first time. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is ready to widen its offensive. "We are exacting a heavy price from Hamas and the terrorist organizations and the Israel Defense Forces are prepared for a significant expansion of the operation," he said at a cabinet meeting, giving no further details. On Sunday, Israel's military chief Benny Gantz instructed forces to intensify attacks on "terror targets" in Gaza, Israeli news site Ynet reported. Egyptian President Muhammad Mursi had said there were "some indications" a ceasefire could be reached soon between Israel and Gaza Palestinians but he had no firm guarantees. The head of the Arab League and a group of Arab foreign ministers will visit Gaza on Tuesday to show solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli attack, officials said Sunday. Arab league ministers had called at an earlier meeting for a mission to go to Gaza. Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi told reporters in Cairo the visit would take place on Tuesday. A League source said al-Arabi would lead the delegation. 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