Two years ago I wrote about Gaza’s antiquities, many of which were destroyed in the 2008-2009 Israeli war on Gaza. But until a few months ago, I hadn’t had the privilege of seeing one of them. Unexpectedly one day, while interviewing the Ministry of Agriculture on their many projects, I was taken by Tel Umm… Read More antiquities down a dusty lane
Today, three years ago, an Israeli sniper shot this man, shooting at both he and his colleague, as well as towards the ambulance I was in. When Hassan and Jamal approached a body in the road, it was during the first day of Israeli-declared “cease-fire hours”, supposed humanitarian hours when civilians were to be allowed… Read More targeting medics
*Arafa Abd el Dayem after being shredded by an Israeli-fired dart bomb (photo source unknown) Memories have a way of overpowering. And Arafa Abd el Dayem’s death should do so. Three years on and his murder is no less painful, his loss no less present. Arafa, when shredded to death by an Israeli-soldier-fired dart bomb… Read More january 4 anniversary of Arafa’s murder
*ancient church and mosque in Gaza City [photo by Emad Badwan] Oct 22, 2010 (IPS) By Eva Bartlett– Few outside of Gaza would consider its history much beyond the decades of Israeli occupation. But Gaza is a historical treasure house. Many of those treasures are now in Israeli museums, and those that remain are becoming… Read More Treasure House Under Threat
The walls surrounding the Shifa hospital compound came to life today when students from Gaza’s Al Aqsa University evoked scenes of the Israeli war on Gaza last winter. Some scenes were representative of the destruction, savagery and mass casualties during the Israeli massacre, the desecration and shocking incidents that occured throughout the Strip at the… Read More evocative
On January 18, the first day that Israel stopped most of the bombing all over Gaza (navy shelling continues to this moment), after learning that my friend’s father was alive in eastern Jabaliya, I went on to Attatra, the northwest region, which had been cut off since Israeli troops invaded. As expected, the destruction was… Read More 1st views of Attattra, northwestern Gaza
By Eva Bartlett The streets leading from the seriously-damaged Wafa rehabilitation centre in Sheijaiyee were filled with black filth smelling of sewage. The hospital, attacked on January 12th with a chemical bomb that may well be white phosphorus and which set fire to the roof, and whose 4 different buildings were shelled intensely on January… Read More the white phosphorous bombed and machine-gunned Wafa rehabilitation hospital
**ambulance which Arafa Abd al Dayem was loading when he was shelled by an Israeli tank dart bomb, dying shortly after being shredded by the thousands of razor-sharp darts. The ambulance was unrecoverable until two days ago, when access finally became possible to the Attrata area where Arafa was murderded and where corpses lay unretrieved.… Read More a few short updates: continued Israeli shelling, F-16s and drones after the ceasefire
Today was the first day that medics and journalists were able to reach areas occupied by the invading Israeli troops. Palestinians by this point, by weeks ago, were desperate for any semblance of a normal life, though normality here is far from normality anywhere else. They were desperate to return to their homes, survey the… Read More waiting
UPDATE: at least 23 are believed to have been killed in the Tel el Hawa invasion alone. In the early hours of January 15, the Israeli army which had invaded and occupied the Tel el Hawa region, began shelling and firing heavily on the al Quds hospital and surrounding apartment buildings and shops. Residents of… Read More burning al Quds: one of Gaza’s remaining functional hospitals bombed in Israel’s war on Gaza
