Surreality
January 13, 2009
It’s the start of day 18 and we’re all trying to go on with life, to resume some semblance of normality.
Looking up to the drones, the F-16s, the Apaches is normal.Discussing where the latest explosions were –as if no lives were being taken!—is normal.And even discussing those killed is routine: where was it? How many dead? Any injuries?
We joke about going out on the street too late –about being zapped—and the New Year’s Eve text message [Sending a festive sarook to a friend for New Year’s] has extended to daily jokes about calling rockets to visit.
It is sordid humour, sordid talk, sordid calm, a sordid side-stepping of a sordid reality.
Crashes and the ominous hum of drones and thud of an Apache bring reality back to me: there are machines flying above whose mission is to kill –and kill entire families, apartment residents, passersby, Palestinians… That reality is very hard to understand –to really understand.To see a photo of a baby, dead, burned, run over by a tank… A photo of a child, shot point-blank in the heart…
Somehow the fact that an elderly woman was punched in the face was more alarming to me than her two gunshot wounds.
[...] People in Gaza were very acutely aware of the lethal drones, without having to be told thus by formal groups or experts. At new year’s the sordid text message about zanana (drone) missiles spread in a dark attempt at humour. We knew they were deadly. [...]
Israel’s war crimes coming to light « In Gaza
March 23, 2009 at 20:17
[...] Canadian activist Eva Bartlett blogs at In Gaza: What we knew of Israel’s war crimes during Israel’s war on Gaza, what the medics, the victims, the doctors, the witnesses have testified is now gaining growing recognition. The calls for international inquiry are growing, as are the reasons. […] The Guardian has just published an excellent series of articles and videos on Israel’s crimes of war in and on Gaza. Included in the reports are focuses on attacks on medical workers, Israel’s use of drones to target and kill with pinpoint accuracy civilians, and Israel’s use of civilians (including minors) as human shields during their military operations. […] People in Gaza were very acutely aware of the lethal drones, without having to be told thus by formal groups or experts. At new year’s the sordid text message about zanana (drone) missiles spread in a dark attempt at humour. We knew they were deadly. [...]
Global Voices Online » Palestine: Testimonies Regarding Israeli War Crimes in Gaza
March 26, 2009 at 21:14
[...] year’s the sordid text message about zanana (drone) missiles spread in a dark attempt at humour. We knew they were deadly. O que sabíamos dos crimes de guerra israelenses durante a guerra de Israel em Gaza, o que os [...]
Global Voices em Português » Palestina: Depoimentos sobre os crimes de guerra israelenses em Gaza
April 6, 2009 at 03:22