> Wall Street Journal, January 8th, 2009 11:11 am > Israelis Watch the Fighting in Gaza From a Hilly Vantage Point > > They Come With Binoculars and Lawn Chairs; Nurse Znaty: 'I'm Sorry, but I'm > Happy' > > By Charles Levinson > > GAZA BORDER -- Moti Danino sat Monday in a canvas lawn chair on a sandy > hilltop on Gaza's border, peering through a pair of binoculars at distant > plumes of smoke rising from the besieged territory. > > An unemployed factory worker, he comes here each morning to watch Israel's > assault on Hamas from what has become the war's peanut gallery -- a string > of dusty hilltops close to the border that offer panoramic views across > northern Gaza.
At the onset of the First Battle of Bull Run of the 1861-5 War of Northern Aggression,[*] a lot of Northerners trooped down to watch, armed with picnic baskets. Little did they know that it was the beginning of the "first modern war," complete with mass deaths that did not accompany earlier wars in greater Europe. Worse, from the onlookers' perspective, the South won. I don't think the current crop of war tourists will be able to see Hamas win, though. If Hamas wins, it will be by urban guerrilla warfare, which is hard to see from afar. [*] ;-) -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
