From Juan Cole:
The father of the dead little girls, Dr. Izz el-Deen Aboul Aish, appears to have been a sort of an Arab "Dr. Sanjay Gupta" who came on Israeli television frequently. He was about to do an interview on Israeli television when the word reached him of the atrocity against his family. His wife had earlier died of cancer, so his children were all he had left. He commuted to Tel Aviv from Gaza and told the girls to sleep near the stone walls to stay safe in his absence.
Doctor Izz el-Deen Aboul Aish, 2009-01-16, Israel Channel 10
I'm posting this video to demonstrate the reality of an Arab doctor's gut-wrenching grief upon hearing of the deaths of his daughters and niece in Gaza. My intention is not to stir controversy. Keep in mind that the video is a clip from an Israeli TV station.
A fair warning: If comments to this post get ugly, I shall close the comments down.
Heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that Israel is about to announce a unilateral ceasefire. In view of Hamas' stated determination to continue to fight, I do not have high hopes for it holding.
Lord, have mercy.
ReplyDeleteIsrael has announced a ceasefire, to take effect at 2:00 AM; it's about midnight there right now.
ReplyDeleteThe British newspaper The Telegraph is reporting that the UK is sending warships to the eastern Mediterranean to help make sure that weapons aren't being smuggled into Gaza. It also said that PM Brown has suggested that the UK put personnel on the ground to man the crossings and dispose of unexploded ordnance. No word from Israel or Gaza if that would be acceptable.
Thanks be to God for the ceasefire! I pray it holds.
ReplyDeleteAmen.
ReplyDeleteI hope that the UK and/or the EU do put troops on the ground. It would certainly give the ceasefire a better chance of holding, I think. The crossings could be opened without making IDF troops convenient targets for human bombs, for one thing.
Of course, the real problem is going to be how to handle continued rocket attacks from Gaza. Or, better put, convincing Hamas not to continue the attacks.
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ReplyDeleteOr, better put, convincing Hamas not to continue the attacks.
ReplyDeleteSo far, the only thing that's been tried is more attacks.
Maybe a completely different response is in order.
The voices silenced should be the ones most deafening on our ears.
ReplyDeleteThis father's cry and the cries of so many others need to be heard — the killing must stop.
On another aspect of the tail/dog Israeli/US relationship, a very informative piece published in Salon on the politics of Bill Clinton's much-condemned 2001 pardon of Marc Rich.
ReplyDeleteThe real reason Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich
So far, the only thing that's been tried is more attacks.
ReplyDeleteOnly if you look at the current conflict as starting in late December 2008, and I don't think it did. Israel tried to convince Hamas to extend the hudna, and even before its expiration there were rocket attacks. Of course, there were rocket attacks all through the hudna, anyway. Hamas claimed that it wasn't them launching the attacks and that they were arresting those responsible, but rocket crews it arrested were usually let go quietly.
Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005 and gave the Palestinians autonomy. The hopes were that they would make something out of it. The Palestinians chose another course - remember the $14 million dollar greenhouses American Jews paid for and had transferred to the PA, only to see them looted and destroyed - and put Hamas in charge. I don't think that the claim that the only response that Israel has made to Gaza has been counterattacks is at all fair.
One does not need to understand the particular language to understand the universal language of grief. The latter comes through in this clip.
ReplyDeleteThere are no words for this grief. Thank God for the cease fire!
ReplyDeleteBilly D - how about I move into your house and partition off all but one tiny section for you and your family? Then make you go through all sorts of rigamarole to come and go - even when you need medical care - oh sorry - can't let you go today - I don't think you brought the right paper -- c'mon - tell me you would not be resentful? And maybe try to get me out of there?
ReplyDeleteAnn, let me see if I've got this straight: the "house" is British Mandate Palestine (minus the large chunk sliced off to make Jordan), "moving in" is the establishment of the State of Israel, and "maybe try to get me out of there" is the destruction of Israel? Have I got that right?
ReplyDeleteHere's an article that mentions the doctor and his loss.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232100170518&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
His surviving daughter and his brother and a nephew are being treated at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer.
I think the only way peace can be achieved and kept is for all the people to have justice.
ReplyDeleteI think this would mean the Israelis would have to tear down their wall and allow free movement from one side of Palestine to the other. The Israelis have controlled the flow of food and water And they'd also have to abandon their system of apartheid, I wish Bishop Tutu and Nelson Mandela would go to Israel and teach them how this was done in South Africa, where there was a miraculous absence of violence as the apartheid was lifted there.
I also believe that if the Palestinians were treated justly, the attacks from Hamas would cease. The current course of action seem only to strengthen the hatred and create more terrorists.
That's just how I see things, I may not be right. But from all accounts, the apartheid I saw when I was there (1993) is still very strongly enforced. And the thought of that damned wall and the people it is starving, well, it would make me want to take up arms and fight, too. And I don't believe that killing is right in any situation.
I think the only way peace can be achieved and kept is for all the people to have justice.
ReplyDeleteTheJanet, yes.