Through The Window
While the Israeli government looks into the legality of targeting civilian areas from which rockets have been fired into Israel, the Israeli Defense Force has claimed that of the 100 plus Palestinians killed in their recent incursion into Gaza, 90 of them were Hamas militants.
During operations in Gaza’s suburbs, the IDF have been guilty of employing snipers that have taken the lives of civilians. In one instance, a 12-year-old girl was shot in the stomach as she stood several feet from a window after it was blown in following an explosion. The ambulance called to attend the little girl was also fired upon, and unable to reach the home. When the girl’s father attempted to step outside with a white flag and his daughter in his arms, IDF troops in a nearby tank fired warning shots over his head forcing him back inside. The little girl died shortly after.
I don’t care who you are – but shooting 12-year-old girls is flat out murder and makes you no less a monster than the terrorists that you are supposedly combating. Unless, that is, you believe that a 12-year-old girl is one.
In other, similar instances, a 16-year-old boy and 17-year-old girl were shot while in a sitting room. Both were killed by sniper fire that targeted them through a window.
The Egyptians, who have sent 27 ambulances to the Rafah crossing, have collected between 150 and 200 injured people.
Thus far, one Israeli civilian and two members of the IDF have been killed in the same period of time. Others have also been wounded in rocket attacks, and like those affected in Gaza, are represented by the young and old alike.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:31 am
I can’t say for sure how I’d react if that was my daughter but I have a pretty good idea.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/957356.html
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:49 am
Me too.
The ultimate hell….watching your child suffer and being unable to help them or stay by their side. I couldn’t bear it and would probably die slumped over them. What a horrible fucking world this is.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:55 am
The death of innocent civilians, or casualties of conflict is heart-breaking…
But when the victims are so young I get extra pissed… such innocent lives wasted…
But in the end they just get added to the list of numbers…
The victims, young and old, all just become numbers…
Let’s just take into consideration how the father of the 12-year old girl felt as his daughter died in his arms…
So sad…
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Will it ever end over there? Probably not. There’s too much at stake religiously on all sides. And it’s sooo much more complicated than the average American joe cares to read up on. It’s in the details like this post which makes us double-check our humanity, sanity, and common sense.
Thanks hoss.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:30 pm
[quote comment="44308"]I can’t say for sure how I’d react if that was my daughter but I have a pretty good idea.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/957356.html/quote
[quote comment="44316"]Let’s just take into consideration how the father of the 12-year old girl felt as his daughter died in his arms…[/quote]
The sad thing is, after reading these two posts and the link, I can’t help but wonder if the dad will contiune the cycle of violence and how many more 12-year-old girls are going to die in the name of his daughter.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:39 pm
[quote comment="44324"][quote comment="44308"]I can’t say for sure how I’d react if that was my daughter but I have a pretty good idea.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/957356.html/quote
[quote comment="44316"]Let’s just take into consideration how the father of the 12-year old girl felt as his daughter died in his arms…[/quote]
The sad thing is, after reading these two posts and the link, I can’t help but wonder if the dad will contiune the cycle of violence and how many more 12-year-old girls are going to die in the name of his daughter.[/quote]
You have an excellent point there Emily… and you’re defiantly right… it’s all a vicious circle.
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I think it’s a stretch to assume that the father of that girl is involved with Hamas, or that he would rush out to join their military wing because of it. Obviously he is going to feel anger, that’s only natural, but at the same time it’s not a given that he will seek vengeance.
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:33 pm
^from amanda’s point’ “it’s all a vicious circle” … just reminds me of the line from the movie rendition; when jake gyllenhaal’s character says “if you torture one person you create ten, a hundred, a thousand new enemies.” (replace torture with kill).
all this is just sickening to my stomach. i havent yet seen any western news; but i have seen news from LBC (lebanese news channel), and the images from there are really heartbreaking and enraging. the more moderate shots of alone of women trying to carry their children, and young children (toddlers!) running away on the streets; hysterically crying at the sounds of gunfire.
this entry reminded me of a televised incident of a young boy and his dad caught in the gunfire; sitting and trying to hide against the wall, the father is trying to shield his son… but eventually the boy is shot and dies in his father’s lap, and after, the dad is shot and dies. this was all caught on camera a while back, and it still haunts me.
i’m gonna repeat what i posted in the “Two-Faced” entry; check out theindependent.co.uk ’s article on “Israel’s warning: rocket fire from Gaza will result in a Palestinian ‘holocaust’”
as for the link that’s posted in the first comment; this reminds me of the movie “Paradise Now” (saw it on google video). great film about this sort of topic.
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:48 pm
The death of this girl is absolutely tragic. It’s difficult to describe the sorrow and repulsion I feel just reading about it. I can’t even begin to assume the grief and anger her family must be experiencing. And we don’t even know her name, so like Amanda said she will likely become just another number. People live on when their names are heard and said and embraced but it seems when the news of these horrible deaths reach western news outlets, the names of the victims often seem to be lost or discarded. It’s so ridiculously sad, there will likely be no justice.
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:50 pm
ack; can’t edit my comment for some reason. i was gonna add to my first point, but matt already said it. it doubt it to be the father who’ll seek revenge, but rather by others who’re enraged by all this…
i was also going to add a small excerpt from another theindependent.co.uk article:
“In the West Bank town of Hebron, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead by troops during a protest against the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
A military spokesman said that youths had thrown firebombs in a “violent demonstration” which had put soldiers at risk. ”
seriously??? high-end large scale professional military weapons supplied from the u.s. vs firebombs (or probably rocks (as is always stereotypically seen) as basis for shooting at and killing kids in “violent demonstration” ??? of course there are going to be demonstrations for when one entity invades. and of course it’s ‘violent’. how else would someone respond to an offense if not by defense in the similar - although not comparable - fashion.
and there’s more in that article…
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:58 pm
[quote comment="44422"]The death of this girl is absolutely tragic. It’s difficult to describe the sorrow and repulsion I feel just reading about it. I can’t even begin to assume the grief and anger her family must be experiencing. And we don’t even know her name, so like Amanda said she will likely become just another number. People live on when their names are heard and said and embraced but it seems when the news of these horrible deaths reach western news outlets, the names of the victims often seem to be lost or discarded. It’s so ridiculously sad, there will likely be no justice.[/quote]
the more tragic thing is that this is just one example from many. and not just in these recent events, but for many many years prior. in many instances this is normal life to people there.
of course we don’t know names or personal life stories or anything; they’re just numbers. however, when it is an isreali death or capture, not only do we know their name, but their life stories, interviews by family members, etc etc. coverage is polemic and it’s clear how the west values one life over another depending on the ethnic group. that’s a tragedy.
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:03 pm
I was born and raised here in Canada, so first I always consider myself Canadian. My parents are Palestinian, but also consider themselves Canadian as well, since they have lived here for most of their lives.
However I am very proud of my heritage and my culture which is not as it is portrayed here in the western world at all. Family is the biggest thing for Palestinians and actually most arabs. Whether people want to believe it or not the majority of Palestinians and Isrealis do want peace, and want to live side by side without war. However it is hard sometimes when a government offers or puts up obvious road blocks(not the literal ones - however the real check points dont help either) that creates a dissent within the people which eventually allows the missle attacks to happen, in which case Isreal can then use as much force to combat.
I spent about a year in West Bank and Jordan when i was 10. With my family. It was wild. I was enrolled in an American school so i wouldnt miss my grade 6 year - although I did. Because the first intifada was just really begininng at that time 88. It wasnt hamas, it was suicide bombers, it was putting boulders in the street so army trucks - and settlers couldnt come right through the village. it was about protests and human rights, they’re main weapons - as really it still is the main weapons are rocks that they throw at the army.
I admit i was scared at first but you slowly grow numb to it. It angers you, but for the most part the West Bank was fine especially in the village of my family, so overall i got to learn about my heritage, and spent time with my grandmas. Got to see the church i was baptized in (yes there are christian palestinians - mostly greek/antiochian orthodox) which was the church my grandfather basically built.
as a 10 year old kid, always wearing my Canadian baseball cap, i was on my way to the store one day to get candy. 6 Isreali soldiers who were patrolling the main street stops me, with two of them pointing their machine guns at me. Im 10. My uncle who was just across the way farming stoped to watch and i was praying that he wouldnt start yelling. They start asking me questions in arabic which at that point i didnt really understand as i was still recently new there, i say english, they start talking hebrew, meanwhile one of the soldiers with the machine gun pointed goes to my backside so i cant even see him anymore… they were extremely intimidating except for one nice soldier who eventually started talking english, but was kinda silenced by the gun guy in front me. Who proceeded to ask why im there what im doing etc… “I dont care your Canadian”
after 20 minutes of they finally let me go - but wasnt allowed to go to the store to get candy had to go back home to my uncles house and stay.
One time when they protestors put the boulders and makshift roadblocks on the road the isreali army came and rounded up everyone over the age of 60 or who looked old to clear it off the road.
when they would drive by at night it was fun to hear the rocks hitting their vehicles but not the gunfire coming the other way, especially when it would hit your house. or waking up at night because of a gas canister right under your window.
even worse than the army was the settlers who would drive through the village with guns out of the window shooting. just for shits and giggles. A lot of the problem lies with who i would call foreign jews that have staked claim without ever having lived there. What they do not show very much of it all here are peaceful protests with Palestinian and Isreali Jews. There are alot of factions of intergration.
its not fun to see your cousins or anyone for that matter get hit just for the fact that they are palestinian. or an old man getting spat on. My school in Ramallah soon closed because of escalating protests etc… but before it did, i just remember a lot of media desending upon the school for stories. this was media from all over the world.
I have had relatives that have been killed and injured. because they where a part of the protests. one of them was a journalist. he was shot with helicopter fire while running away. however he is now a politician and trying to get some change.
I worry for my aunt and cousins who happen to live in Gaza - most of my relatives are in the west bank i dont worry too much as it is really safe there - not even close to the shit that happens in Gaza. or what the army does in/to gaza anyways.
Emily how would you feel if it was you. The people dont look to raise their kids in that hell, or to push their kids into killing themselves or to killing other people. They just want a life. They are no different than anyone in the world. After what jewish people went through in World War 2 you would think that they would be the most sympathetic to the Palestinians.
sorry for the long post. Rachel Corrie’s anniversary is coming up MArch 16. She is the young american girl who was run over by an IDF bulldozer as she tried to protect the home of the family she was staying with. She stood in front of the house. The bulldozer went right over her. She kept a journal and a play was made from that and here letters and emails. It is called My Name is Rachel Corrie. It has been a controversial play as you can imagine. anyways on this anniversary it will play in Haifa in Isreal, and will be attended by Rachels parents and members of the Royal Court Theatre of London. Powerful and inspirational woman, whose work is being carried on by her parents and countless others - check out rachelcorriefoundation.org for more info - especially for more info the situation over there - from a perspective of a north american as well as all over.
peace
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
sorry about the uber long post
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:12 pm
dear god my grammer and spelling stink :)
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:17 pm
[quote comment="44427"]coverage is polemic and it’s clear how the west values one life over another depending on the ethnic group. that’s a tragedy.[/quote]
That’s exactly what I was trying to say but for some reason could not find the words. Thanks.
samsaidhey, thanks for sharing your story, your experiences.
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:22 pm
My pleasure zitadawn. I could have gone on but i think the mini novel was enough. I hope someday there will be a real peace there.
For anybody interested in theatre. I would highly recommend reading My Name is Rachel Corrie, which as I mentioned is her words and writing. It was edited by Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner (A Guardian Journalist). I think it just recently played in Vancouver, might still be on, i had heard it was extended to to demand. Actually a complete book of Rachel Corrie’s writing has just been released too.
Another play by a Canadian playwright is Reading Hebron by Jason Sherman a jewish playwright. This is also a great challenging and hard piece. He took a lot of flak from conservative jews, still does actually because of his point of views. That piece may also be a bit controversial to muslims as well.
Im actually acting in a staged reading of a new play by Arthur Milner who is also jewish. His play Facts deals with a Palestinian Authority Officer and an Isreali detective working together on a case.
A funny play is The Adventures of Ali And Ali and the Axis of Evil, by Marcus Youssef, Guillermo Verdecchia and Camyar Chai. It is hilarious - i believe they are from BC as well.
Anyways…
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:15 pm
[quote comment="44366"][quote comment="44324"][quote comment="44308"]I can’t say for sure how I’d react if that was my daughter but I have a pretty good idea.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/957356.html/quote
[quote comment="44316"]Let’s just take into consideration how the father of the 12-year old girl felt as his daughter died in his arms…[/quote]
The sad thing is, after reading these two posts and the link, I can’t help but wonder if the dad will contiune the cycle of violence and how many more 12-year-old girls are going to die in the name of his daughter.[/quote]
You have an excellent point there Emily… and you’re defiantly right… it’s all a vicious circle.[/quote]
I could only hope that he would take the later side of this and try to save lives instead of kill other innocent children in the name of his daughter. Think about what he has gone through… would he really want other parents to feel the same way? I don’t think so, I think he would try to save other children (or adults for that matter) to spare any other parent/ family from feeling the grief and agony he himself is feeling.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:23 pm
[quote comment="44430"]Emily how would you feel if it was you. The people dont look to raise their kids in that hell, or to push their kids into killing themselves or to killing other people. They just want a life. They are no different than anyone in the world. After what jewish people went through in World War 2 you would think that they would be the most sympathetic to the Palestinians.[/quote]
I really wasn’t trying to be sympathetic towards anyone. It’s just really a really pessimistic attitude I have sometimes when I read some of the stories that come out of the region. It doesn’t matter if she was Jewish or Palestinian. If she was Jewish, retaliation could be the dad insisting he be on the front line during an offensive, just so that he makes damn sure the Palestianian people know what it feels like to loose a child.