while i am not palestinian and have not lived my life under occupation, over the year here in besieged, massacred gaza, the sound of israeli F-16 warplanes became normal too quickly. Even initially, after just one month, i stopped looking up and the heartbeat stayed regular. explosive sonic booms and bombings aside, the sound of a warplane is unique, one i’d never heard prior to gaza. one that many of us tucked safely away in the invading, occupying or abetting countries never have to know… unless we are part of those occupations, invasions and ‘peace-keeping missions’ abroad.
so now, over a year after first hearing the roar of israeli fighter planes crowding and polluting gaza’s skies, after collectively enduring a 23 day onslaught from the world’s 4th most powerful military –and enduring the sound and psychological warfare of that massacre –it may be surprising that the planes’ roars can still startle.
but they do.
and accompanied by the memories of what the warplanes, apaches, and zenanas [UAVs, or drones] do and did during the Israeli massacre of Gaza last winter, the initial apprehension and worry flash back in an instant: is it now, this morning, tonight…that Israel will start again.
imagine living with the sonic boom campaign, where the sound barrier breaks so strongly resemble the explosion warplane bombs that children, adults even, are traumatized by it. gazans have lived with this for years. imagine even a day of zenana screams (even without the bombs that accompany them).
imagine how damaged your psyche might be.
[and if there is a theme to my recent posts –that of war/invasions and the expectation of war/invasions –it is not because we focus on it out of choice, nor that there aren’t better, more pleasant, things to dwell on. it’s because of the reality of what happened one year ago, what happened prior to the massacre, and what has continued on a regular basis since. they may not make the corporate media, but the israeli attacks and aggressions continue in gaza]
In Gaza 