1 00:00:13,076 --> 00:00:21,056 Dear hermanos, our motto "Stay Human" is now also a book. 2 00:00:21,056 --> 00:00:25,036 Please find within the three-week story of a massacre 3 00:00:25,036 --> 00:00:28,012 written to the best of my ability 4 00:00:28,012 --> 00:00:31,000 more often than not very precarious conditions 5 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:36,004 often scribbling about the inferno all around me in a tattered notebook... 6 00:00:36,004 --> 00:00:39,092 ...while crouched in an ambulance screaming down the street. 7 00:00:39,092 --> 00:00:44,032 Or frantically tapping away at the keyboard of any available computer I could find... 8 00:00:44,032 --> 00:00:50,056 often inside a building shaking like a crazed pendulum as explosions went off all around. 9 00:00:50,056 --> 00:00:55,032 I must warn you that leafing through this book could prove dangerous. 10 00:00:55,032 --> 00:00:59,008 These are harmful pages, blood-stained 11 00:00:59,008 --> 00:01:04,016 imbued with white phosphorous, and as sharp as bomb shrapnel. 12 00:01:04,016 --> 00:01:11,004 If read within the quiet of a bedroom, your walls will shake from our cries of terror. 13 00:01:11,004 --> 00:01:18,076 I feel concerned for the walls of your hearts, which I recognize have not yet become soundproofed to pain. 14 00:01:18,076 --> 00:01:23,056 Please store this volume somewhere safe, within the reach of the young 15 00:01:23,056 --> 00:01:28,096 so that they may immediately learn of a world not so far away from them 16 00:01:28,096 --> 00:01:35,084 where indifference and racism tears their peers to little bits as if they were mere rag dolls. 17 00:01:35,084 --> 00:01:43,064 This way they may be inoculated against racism from an early age, against any epidemic of violence towards whoever is different 18 00:01:43,064 --> 00:01:50,008 or against neutrality when faced with injustice. For tomorrow, so as to stay human. 19 00:01:50,008 --> 00:01:53,000 I trust you who trust me 20 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:57,092 not for the ones who died but for the ones wounded to death in this horrendous massacre. 21 00:01:57,092 --> 00:02:04,064 One hug as big as the mediterranean sea which joins us by dividing us. 22 00:02:04,064 --> 00:02:06,028 Stay Human 23 00:02:06,028 --> 00:02:19,016 Never giving up, yours Vik. 24 00:02:19,016 --> 00:02:21,088 27th december 2008 25 00:02:21,088 --> 00:02:24,000 Guernica in Gaza 26 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:26,008 My apartment in Gaza faces the sea, 27 00:02:26,008 --> 00:02:36,028 a panoramic view that's always done wonders for my mood, often challenged by all the misery that a life under siege can bring. 28 00:02:36,028 --> 00:02:41,064 That is, before this morning, when all hell broke loose outside my windows. 29 00:02:41,064 --> 00:02:49,036 We woke up to the sound of bombs dropping, many of them falling a few hundred meters from my home. 30 00:02:49,036 --> 00:02:53,002 Some of my friends have fallen under them. 31 00:02:53,002 --> 00:03:01,004 So far the death toll has reached 210, but it's bound to rise dramatically. It's an unprecedented bloodshed. 32 00:03:01,004 --> 00:03:05,088 They've razed the port to the ground, and pulverized police station. 33 00:03:05,088 --> 00:03:10,096 I've been told that the Western media are on-message and are repeating... 34 00:03:10,096 --> 00:03:15,000 ...the press releases issued by the Israeli military parrot-style 35 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:22,024 according to wich the attack only targeted Hamas' terrorist dens with surgical precision. 36 00:03:22,024 --> 00:03:28,004 In actual fact, when visiting Al-Shifa, the city's main hospital, and gazing over chaotic lines of bodies laid out in its courtyard 37 00:03:28,004 --> 00:03:38,002 we mostly saw civilians among those awaiting treatment, lying randomly alongside other bodies, awaiting rightful burial. 38 00:03:38,002 --> 00:03:45,006 Can you picture Gaza? Every house leans against another, every building rises over the next one. 39 00:03:45,006 --> 00:03:49,048 Gaza is the place with the highest population density in the world... 40 00:03:49,048 --> 00:03:56,068 ...which means that when you bomb from a height of 10,000 metres, you'll inevitably butcher many civilians. 41 00:03:56,068 --> 00:04:02,008 You're aware of it, you're guilty as charged, it's no error, and certainly no case of collateral damage either. 42 00:04:02,008 --> 00:04:08,002 When shelling the central police station in Al-Abbas, 43 00:04:08,002 --> 00:04:13,036 the neighbouring elementary school was also damaged by the explosion. 44 00:04:13,036 --> 00:04:17,016 It was the end of the school day and the children were already in the street. 45 00:04:17,016 --> 00:04:22,052 Most of their flapping sky-blue aprons were splashed with blood.. 46 00:04:22,052 --> 00:04:26,076 When bombing the Dair Al-Balah police academy, 47 00:04:26,076 --> 00:04:32,008 some dead and wounded were also recorded from the souk nearby, this being Gaza's central market. 48 00:04:32,008 --> 00:04:41,008 We've seen the bodies of animals and humans mixing their blood in rivulets trickling down the asphalt roads. 49 00:04:41,008 --> 00:04:46,004 A Guernica transfigured into reality. 50 00:04:46,004 --> 00:04:53,036 I saw many corpses in uniforms in the various hospitals I visited, I knew many of those boys. 51 00:04:53,036 --> 00:05:01,048 I greeted them every day when I met them in the street on my way to the port, or walked to the central cafÈ of an evening. 52 00:05:01,048 --> 00:05:07,088 I knew several of them by name. A name, a history, a mutilated family. 53 00:05:07,088 --> 00:05:11,004 The majority were young, around 18 or 20... 54 00:05:11,004 --> 00:05:14,084 ...mostly without political leanings, neither siding with Fatah nor Hamas 55 00:05:14,084 --> 00:05:19,006 simply enrolled into the police force once they had finished university... 56 00:05:19,006 --> 00:05:23,032 ...in order to have a secure job in Gaza 57 00:05:23,032 --> 00:05:30,052 which under Israel's criminal siege has more than 60% unemployment among its population. 58 00:05:30,052 --> 00:05:33,008 I have no interest in propaganda... 59 00:05:33,008 --> 00:05:40,000 ...and let my eyes bear witness, my ears stay in tune with the screaming sirens and the rumbling of TNT. 60 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:45,008 I haven't seen any terrorist among the casualities today, only civilians and policemen. 61 00:05:45,008 --> 00:05:51,084 Just last night I poked fun at a couple of them for the way they were cloaked up agaist the cold. 62 00:05:51,084 --> 00:05:56,044 I want the truth to redeem these dead. 63 00:05:56,044 --> 00:06:00,092 They'd never fired a single shot against Israel, nor would they have ever done so 64 00:06:00,092 --> 00:06:07,096 it wasn't in their job description to do so. They acted as traffic wardens, took care of internal security. 65 00:06:07,096 --> 00:06:13,004 The port is quite a distance from the Israeli border anyway. 66 00:06:13,004 --> 00:06:18,064 I own a video camera, but today i discovered what a terrible cameraman I am. 67 00:06:18,064 --> 00:06:23,092 I can't bring myself to film mangled bodies or faces drenched in tears. I just can't. 68 00:06:23,092 --> 00:06:27,036 I start crying myself. 69 00:06:27,036 --> 00:06:35,052 The other International Solidarity Movement volunteers and I went to Al-Shifa Hospital to give blood. 70 00:06:35,052 --> 00:06:39,092 That's where we received a call informing us that Sara, a dear friend... 71 00:06:39,092 --> 00:06:47,044 ...had been killed by a piece of shrapnel near her home in refugee camp of Jabalia. 72 00:06:47,044 --> 00:06:53,076 She was a sweet person, a sunny soul, and gone out to buy some bread for her family. 73 00:06:53,076 --> 00:06:56,008 She leaves 13 children behind. 74 00:06:56,008 --> 00:06:59,028 A moment ago I got a call from Tawfiq, from Cyprus. 75 00:06:59,028 --> 00:07:06,024 Tawfiq is one of the Palestinian students lucky enough to have left the enormous prison camp of Gaza... 76 00:07:06,024 --> 00:07:13,032 ...on one of our Free Gaza Movement boats, to start anew somewhere else. 77 00:07:13,032 --> 00:07:20,006 He asked me if I'd visited his uncle and whether I had gone to say hello on his behalf, as I had promised. 78 00:07:20,006 --> 00:07:25,004 Hesitatingly, I apologized because I hadn't found the time. 79 00:07:25,004 --> 00:07:30,076 And it was too late anyway, he was buried by the rubble in the port area along with many others. 80 00:07:30,076 --> 00:07:33,064 Israel launches the terrible threat that this is just the first day of a bombing campaign that could last for up to two weeks. 81 00:07:33,064 --> 00:07:40,052 Israel launches the terrible threat that this is just the first day of a bombing campaign that could last for up to two weeks. 82 00:07:40,052 --> 00:07:44,016 They want to make a desert and then call it peace. 83 00:07:44,016 --> 00:07:50,008 The 'civilized' world's silence is more deafening than the explosions covering the city... 84 00:07:50,008 --> 00:07:53,006 ...like a shroud of death and terror. 85 00:07:53,006 --> 00:08:10,044 Stay human. 86 00:08:10,044 --> 00:08:13,056 29th december 2008 87 00:08:13,056 --> 00:08:15,096 Dying slowly while listening out in vain 88 00:08:15,096 --> 00:08:18,006 An acrid smell of sulphur 89 00:08:18,006 --> 00:08:22,004 fills the air while the sky is shaken by earth-shattering rumbles. 90 00:08:22,004 --> 00:08:29,024 My ears are now deaf to the explosions and my eyes are all out of tears from all the corpses. 91 00:08:29,024 --> 00:08:33,016 I stand infront of Al-Shifa, Gazaís main hospital 92 00:08:33,016 --> 00:08:39,008 when we receive Israel's latest, terrible threat: they intend to bomb the wing that is under construction. 93 00:08:39,008 --> 00:08:44,036 This wouldnít be a first, as Weaím Hospital was bombed just yesterday 94 00:08:44,036 --> 00:08:49,012 along with a medicine warehouse in Rafah, the Islamic university 95 00:08:49,012 --> 00:08:55,004 and various mosques scattered along the Strip. Not to mention many other civilian infrastructures. 96 00:08:55,004 --> 00:09:01,028 Apparently, no longer able to find 'sensible' targets, the air force and navy now are killing time targeting 97 00:09:01,028 --> 00:09:03,084 places of worship, schools and hospitals. 98 00:09:03,084 --> 00:09:07,076 Itís another 9/11 every single hour, every minute around here... 99 00:09:07,076 --> 00:09:12,004 and tomorrow is always a new day for mourning, bringing equal desperation. 100 00:09:12,004 --> 00:09:15,036 You notice the helicopters and airplanes constantly overhead 101 00:09:15,036 --> 00:09:20,016 you see a flash, but youíre already a goner and itís too late to take flight. 102 00:09:20,016 --> 00:09:25,036 There are no bunkers against the bombs in the Strip and no place is really safe. 103 00:09:25,036 --> 00:09:30,052 I canít contact my friends in Rafah, not even those who live north of Gaza City 104 00:09:30,052 --> 00:09:34,000 hopefully because the phone lines are overloaded. Hopefully. 105 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:38,032 I haven't slept in 60 hours, and the same can be said of any Gazan. 106 00:09:38,032 --> 00:09:46,008 Yesterday three other ISM members and I spent the night at the Al-Awda Hospital in the Jabalia refugee camp. 107 00:09:46,008 --> 00:09:52,044 We were there in fearful expectation of the much-dreaded ground raid that never happened. 108 00:09:52,044 --> 00:09:57,048 But the Israeli tanks are strung all along the Stripís borders 109 00:09:57,048 --> 00:10:01,068 as we speak, creaking their way into a funeral procession. 110 00:10:01,068 --> 00:10:06,096 Around 11.30pm, a bomb fell about 800 metres from the hospital... 111 00:10:06,096 --> 00:10:13,008 the shock wave blowing several windows apart and injuring the injured. 112 00:10:13,008 --> 00:10:19,088 An ambulance rushed to the spot where a mosque had been shelled, but it was thankfully empty at the time. 113 00:10:19,088 --> 00:10:23,006 Unfortunately (though it actually has nothing to do with fortune... 114 00:10:23,006 --> 00:10:28,008 rather with the deliberate criminal and terrorising will to massacre civilians) 115 00:10:28,008 --> 00:10:32,006 the Israeli bomb had also struck the building adjacent to the mosque, which was likewise destroyed. 116 00:10:32,006 --> 00:10:36,016 We watched as the tiny bodies of six little sisters were pulled out of the rubble... 117 00:10:36,016 --> 00:10:42,004 five are dead, one is in a life-threatening condition. They laid the little girls out onto the blackened asphalt... 118 00:10:42,004 --> 00:10:46,048 and they looked like broken dolls, disposed of as they were no longer usable. 119 00:10:46,048 --> 00:10:49,084 This wasnít a mistake, but a wilful and cynical horror. 120 00:10:49,084 --> 00:10:55,028 We're now at a toll of 320 dead, more than a thousand wounded and, according to a doctor at Al-Shifa... 121 00:10:55,028 --> 00:11:02,048 60% of those are destined to die in the next few hours or days, after enduring a prolonged agony. 122 00:11:02,048 --> 00:11:04,056 There are many missing. 123 00:11:04,056 --> 00:11:07,012 For the last two days despairing wives have been searching for their husbands... 124 00:11:07,012 --> 00:11:09,076 or children in the hospitals, often to no avail. 125 00:11:09,076 --> 00:11:12,036 The morgue is a macabre spectacle. 126 00:11:12,036 --> 00:11:19,008 A nurse told me that, after hours of searching through body parts in the refrigerator cell, a Palestinian woman... 127 00:11:19,008 --> 00:11:25,008 recognize her husband's amputated hand. That was all that was left of her husband... 128 00:11:25,008 --> 00:11:30,016 along with the wedding band on her finger, a remnant of the eternal love they had sworn to one another. 129 00:11:30,016 --> 00:11:36,016 Out of a house once inhabited by two families, very little remained of their bodies. 130 00:11:36,016 --> 00:11:39,032 They showed their relatives half of one torso and three legs. 131 00:11:39,032 --> 00:11:46,024 Right now, one of our Free Gaza Movement boat is leaving the port in Larnaca, Cyprus. 132 00:11:46,024 --> 00:11:52,052 I spoke to my friends on board. They've heroically amassed medicine and packed it tightly onto the boat. 133 00:11:52,052 --> 00:11:56,006 It should reach the port of Gaza tomorrow around 8.00pm. 134 00:11:56,006 --> 00:12:00,088 Here's to hoping that the port will still exist after another night of non-stop shelling. 135 00:12:00,088 --> 00:12:03,076 I'll be in touch with them during the entire night. 136 00:12:03,076 --> 00:12:05,076 Please, someone stop this nightmare. 137 00:12:05,076 --> 00:12:10,036 Choosing to remain silent means somehow lends support to the genocide unfolding right now. 138 00:12:10,036 --> 00:12:14,024 Shout out your indignation, in every capital of the 'civilised' world... 139 00:12:14,024 --> 00:12:19,056 in every city, in every square, covering our own screams of pain and terror. 140 00:12:19,056 --> 00:12:23,064 A slice of humanity is dying while pitifully listening out for a response. 141 00:12:23,064 --> 00:12:54,008 Stay human. 142 00:12:54,008 --> 00:12:58,092 30th December 2008 143 00:12:58,092 --> 00:13:02,024 The Angel Factories 144 00:13:02,024 --> 00:13:14,092 Jabilia, Bet Hanun, Rafah, and Gaza City are the legs of the journey in my personal map of hell. 145 00:13:14,092 --> 00:13:22,000 Whatever the press releases from the summit of the Israeli military may say, 146 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:31,016 recited parrot-style all over Europe and the US via the disinformation experts, 147 00:13:31,016 --> 00:13:42,032 in the last few days Iíve been an eyewitness to the bombing of mosques, schools... 148 00:13:42,032 --> 00:13:51,008 universities, hospitals, markets and many, many civilian buildings. 149 00:13:51,008 --> 00:13:57,064 The medical director at Al-Shifa Hospital has confirmed... 150 00:13:57,064 --> 00:14:04,004 ...he received calls from members of the IDF, the Israeli Army, 151 00:14:04,004 --> 00:14:23,000 ordering him to evacuate the hospital, or else face being showered by missiles. But they never let the Army intimidate them. 152 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:28,088 I should be sleeping at the port (though we havenít shut our eyes once in Gaza for at least four days), 153 00:14:28,088 --> 00:14:35,024 but its being constantly bombed at night. 154 00:14:35,024 --> 00:14:45,092 You no longer hear the sirens of ambulances in a mad chase, 155 00:14:45,092 --> 00:15:02,000 simply because there isnít a living soul left at the port or its environs. Everyone is dead, 156 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:11,084 and it feels like treading a cemetery in the aftermath of an earthquake. 157 00:15:11,084 --> 00:15:23,036 The situation is really that of an unnatural catastrophe, a hate-fuelled and cynical upheaval... 158 00:15:23,036 --> 00:15:35,008 ...catapulted onto the people of Gaza like molten lead, tearing human bodies apart. 159 00:15:35,008 --> 00:15:45,008 Contrarily to all predictions, it unites all Palestinians, brought together by their collective endurance of a horrific massacre. 160 00:15:45,008 --> 00:15:59,076 These are people who may not even have greeted one another until recently, 161 00:15:59,076 --> 00:16:09,044 on account of belonging to opposing factions. 162 00:16:09,044 --> 00:16:20,002 But when the bombs shower down from the sky from a height of 10,000 metres, 163 00:16:20,002 --> 00:16:34,012 you can be sure they wonít make a distinction between a Hamas or Fatah banner hanging from your window. 164 00:16:34,012 --> 00:16:43,096 Thereís no such thing as a surgically precise military operation. 165 00:16:43,096 --> 00:16:56,084 When the Air Force and the Navy start bombing, the only surgical operations... 166 00:16:56,084 --> 00:17:06,084 ...are those tackled by the doctors, unhesitatingly amputating limbs reduced to a pulp, 167 00:17:06,084 --> 00:17:14,012 even when those arms and legs might have been spared. 168 00:17:14,012 --> 00:17:28,024 Thereís no time, you have to run, and the time you use to treat a seriously injured limb... 169 00:17:28,024 --> 00:17:38,044 ...may spell death for the next wounded patient in line awaiting a transfusion, or worse. 170 00:17:38,044 --> 00:17:55,012 At Al-Shifa Hospital, 600 inpatients are in very serious condition, with only 29 breathing machines available. 171 00:17:55,012 --> 00:18:03,024 Theyíre short of everything, especially experienced staff. 172 00:18:03,024 --> 00:18:11,048 For this precise reason, exhausted as we were (not so much by the sleepless nights... 173 00:18:11,048 --> 00:18:24,072 ...as by the apathy and compliance of Western governments with Israelís crimes), 174 00:18:24,072 --> 00:18:37,016 we decided that last night was time for one of our Free Gaza Movement boats to leave the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, 175 00:18:37,016 --> 00:18:44,044 ferrying over medical staff and three tonnes of medicine. 176 00:18:44,044 --> 00:18:56,032 I waited for them in vain ñ they ought to have docked the boat at 8am this morning. 177 00:18:56,032 --> 00:19:07,096 Instead, they were intercepted by 11 Israeli war ships at 90 nautical miles from Gaza, 178 00:19:07,096 --> 00:19:13,008 trying to sink them in full international waters. 179 00:19:13,008 --> 00:19:19,028 They rammed into them three times, 180 00:19:19,028 --> 00:19:25,076 provoking an engine failure and a leak in the hull. 181 00:19:25,076 --> 00:19:32,072 By pure chance the crew and passengers are all still alive, 182 00:19:32,072 --> 00:19:41,068 and have managed to dock the boat at the port of Tiro, in southern Lebanon. 183 00:19:41,068 --> 00:19:51,024 Feeling increasingly frustrated by the ëcivilizedí worldís deafening silence, 184 00:19:51,024 --> 00:19:58,006 my companions will make a second attempt soon. 185 00:19:58,006 --> 00:20:06,036 Theyíve in fact unloaded the medicine from our damaged boat, the Dignity, 186 00:20:06,036 --> 00:20:17,016 and filled another boat ready for departure, heading straight for Gaza. 187 00:20:17,016 --> 00:20:31,076 Many journalists who interview me ask me about the humanitarian situation of Palestinians in Gaza, 188 00:20:31,076 --> 00:20:40,048 as if the problem amounted just to food, water, electricity and fuel shortages, 189 00:20:40,048 --> 00:21:04,044 rather than the matter being about who is actually causing all of this... 190 00:21:04,044 --> 00:21:10,028 At the Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia Iíve seen corpses and wounded bodies flooding... 191 00:21:10,028 --> 00:21:25,032 ...in not only in ambulances, but on animal-drawn wooden carts. 192 00:21:25,032 --> 00:21:37,068 Tanks, fighter planes, drones, Apache helicopters ñ the worldís fiercest army... 193 00:21:37,068 --> 00:21:54,008 ...attacking a people who use donkeys as their main means of transportation, like in Jesus Christís time. 194 00:21:54,008 --> 00:22:02,064 According to Al-Mizan, a human rights monitoring centre, 195 00:22:02,064 --> 00:22:10,002 while we speak 55 children have been caught in bombings, 196 00:22:10,002 --> 00:22:16,004 20 are dying and 40 are seriously injured. 197 00:22:16,004 --> 00:22:26,008 Israel has turned the Palestinian hospitals and morgues into angel factories, 198 00:22:26,008 --> 00:22:37,006 not realizing just how much hatred they are generating in Palestine and the rest of the world. 199 00:22:37,006 --> 00:22:47,004 The angel factories are churning out angels at the rate of a non-stop production line tonight as well: 200 00:22:47,004 --> 00:22:59,008 I can tell from the rumbles of explosions outside my window. 201 00:22:59,008 --> 00:23:13,002 Those tiny dismembered and amputated bodies, those lives snuffed out before they had a chance to blossom, 202 00:23:13,002 --> 00:23:23,000 will be a recurrent nightmare for the rest of my life. 203 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:29,006 If I can still find the strength to talk about this, 204 00:23:29,006 --> 00:23:49,004 itís only because I want to bring justice to those who no longer have a voice, those whoíve never had a hint of a voice, 205 00:23:49,004 --> 00:23:56,052 perhaps for the benefit of those whoíve never had ears. 206 00:23:56,052 --> 00:24:41,096 Stay human. 207 00:24:41,096 --> 00:24:44,016 1st January 2009 208 00:24:44,016 --> 00:24:46,008 The Unnatural Catastrophe 209 00:24:46,008 --> 00:24:52,028 The New Year just came in with the same omens of bleakness and death as the old one, increasing its destructive power tenfold. 210 00:24:52,028 --> 00:24:55,044 Iíve never seen so many bombs drop all around my apartment in front of the port. 211 00:24:55,044 --> 00:25:00,068 An explosion just 100 metres away violently shook our seven-storey building, 212 00:25:00,068 --> 00:25:03,088 making it rock like a crazed pendulum. 213 00:25:03,088 --> 00:25:08,092 For an instant, while the window panes exploded, we dreaded it would topple over. 214 00:25:08,092 --> 00:25:15,016 It was a major moment of panic in which I prayed and clung to the unlikely illusion that our building had been built... 215 00:25:15,016 --> 00:25:17,064 ...using earthquake-proof criteria, 216 00:25:17,064 --> 00:25:21,016 even though Gaza is perched upon a strip of land that never quakes. 217 00:25:21,016 --> 00:25:25,012 Around here earthquakes are of the unnatural kind, and theyíre called Israel. 218 00:25:25,012 --> 00:25:30,024 I continue with my desperate search for those friends who no longer pick up their phone. 219 00:25:30,024 --> 00:25:33,000 I heard from Ahmed at his place, 220 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:38,048 one of the few houses still standing in the centre of the Tal El-Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza city, 221 00:25:38,048 --> 00:25:39,068 now surrounded... 222 00:25:39,068 --> 00:25:44,088 ...by a post-apocalyptic scenario so reminiscent of the Shiite neighbourhood in Beirut... 223 00:25:44,088 --> 00:25:48,012 ...after the bombs razed it to the ground in 2006, 224 00:25:48,012 --> 00:25:52,096 those bombs having been produced in the same part of the world as those falling on our heads right now. 225 00:25:52,096 --> 00:25:54,064 Ahmed is OK... 226 00:25:54,064 --> 00:25:56,008 ...and so are his relatives, 227 00:25:56,008 --> 00:25:59,044 though his mother had a brush with death last Saturday. 228 00:25:59,044 --> 00:26:03,012 She teaches at the United Nationsí Balqees School. 229 00:26:03,012 --> 00:26:06,088 On that day sheíd stayed on in the classroom for a little longer than usual, 230 00:26:06,088 --> 00:26:08,084 which ended up saving her life. 231 00:26:08,084 --> 00:26:10,056 Many of her students, standing at the bus stop, 232 00:26:10,056 --> 00:26:17,068 were buried by the rubble produced after an explosion. 233 00:26:17,068 --> 00:26:20,076 A bomb fell onto Ahmedís car, 234 00:26:20,076 --> 00:26:22,092 a pistachio-green economy car, 235 00:26:22,092 --> 00:26:27,008 the very same with which he roamed the city the previous evening, in search of some bread... 236 00:26:27,008 --> 00:26:31,004 ...in a city where flour is being sold at the price of gold. 237 00:26:31,004 --> 00:26:34,052 As for Rafiq, in the end I reached him on the phone. 238 00:26:34,052 --> 00:26:37,092 His cavernous voice seemed to rise up from a deep well, 239 00:26:37,092 --> 00:26:40,064 a pit of desperation and sadness... 240 00:26:40,064 --> 00:26:47,008 ...from having just heard of the death of three best friends during the attack at the port. 241 00:26:47,008 --> 00:26:50,006 In one of the last cafÈs still operating in Gaza, 242 00:26:50,006 --> 00:26:54,028 providing caffeine and an internet connection, 243 00:26:54,028 --> 00:26:58,088 smiling wryly I showed a couple of friends an article of news from my laptop... 244 00:26:58,088 --> 00:27:02,048 ...speaking of "one victim and 382 wounded". 245 00:27:02,048 --> 00:27:07,092 This wasnít an estimate of the victims provoked by the Qassam "rockets" shot against Israel yesterday, 246 00:27:07,092 --> 00:27:10,008 thankfully harming no one, 247 00:27:10,008 --> 00:27:15,016 but the aftermath of the "massacre" our New Yearís Eve firework displays had provoked in Italy. 248 00:27:15,016 --> 00:27:18,072 I told my friends that Hamas are wet behind the ears... 249 00:27:18,072 --> 00:27:22,076 ...if they think they can compete with Israel using those homemade toys of theirs. 250 00:27:22,076 --> 00:27:30,076 They ought to take lessons in Naples to produce truly lethal rockets. 251 00:27:30,076 --> 00:27:36,036 As a pacifist and non-violent person, I abhor any form of Palestinian attack against Israel, 252 00:27:36,036 --> 00:27:39,048 but out here weíre sick to the back teeth of hearing that tired old adage... 253 00:27:39,048 --> 00:27:42,044 ...that this massacre of civilians... 254 00:27:42,044 --> 00:27:47,028 ...was Israelís answer to the Palestinians launching their modest, homemade "rockets". 255 00:27:47,028 --> 00:27:50,088 For precisionís sake, from 2002 to the present-day... 256 00:27:50,088 --> 00:27:54,036 ...the Qassam rockets against Israel have produced 18 dead, 257 00:27:54,036 --> 00:27:57,028 while only last Saturday, in just a couple of hours, 258 00:27:57,028 --> 00:28:03,032 we counted more than 250 civilian casualties in the hospitals. 259 00:28:03,032 --> 00:28:09,012 At the cafÈ I enquire about the ceasefire proposed by the European Union and rejected by Israel, 260 00:28:09,012 --> 00:28:15,028 clearly still in possession of the vast supplies of war equipment it needs to use up from its arsenals. 261 00:28:15,028 --> 00:28:17,096 They all shake their heads grimly. 262 00:28:17,096 --> 00:28:19,072 Had there ever really been a truce... 263 00:28:19,072 --> 00:28:23,084 ...before this fierce attack upon an unarmed population commenced? 264 00:28:23,084 --> 00:28:28,088 In November alone, the Israeli Army killed a good 17 Palestinians 265 00:28:28,088 --> 00:28:32,044 43 in total from the start of the "ceasefire". 266 00:28:32,044 --> 00:28:36,028 And even before that, the criminal siege of Gaza... 267 00:28:36,028 --> 00:28:40,008 ...had produced more than 200 dead among the Palestinian sick. 268 00:28:40,008 --> 00:28:45,096 Sick, with their papers in order, and waiting to find treatment in foreign hospitals, 269 00:28:45,096 --> 00:28:50,004 but prevented from getting anywhere with the borders being sealed off. 270 00:28:50,004 --> 00:28:54,036 The criminal siege of Israel has destroyed an already shaky economy, 271 00:28:54,036 --> 00:28:57,036 producing a rate of more than 60% unemployed, 272 00:28:57,036 --> 00:29:02,068 forcing 80% of Palestinian families to live off humanitarian aid. 273 00:29:02,068 --> 00:29:08,036 This is aid trickling through with huge difficulty, crossing the iron curtain erected by Israel... 274 00:29:08,036 --> 00:29:14,064 ...around the largest open-air prison in the world: Gaza. 275 00:29:14,064 --> 00:29:17,092 We were soon forced to evacuate that cafÈ, and fast. 276 00:29:17,092 --> 00:29:24,000 The umpteenth threatening phone call had come in: the cafÈ would be bombed within a few minutes. 277 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:27,006 Yesterday at the Jabilia refugee camp... 278 00:29:27,006 --> 00:29:32,008 ...an F16 plane dropped some missiles onto an ambulance. 279 00:29:32,008 --> 00:29:36,008 A doctor, Ihab El-Madhoun, 280 00:29:36,008 --> 00:29:39,088 and his trusted nurse, Mohamed Abu Hasira, both died. 281 00:29:39,088 --> 00:29:44,064 For this reason, today, we ISM volunteers... 282 00:29:44,064 --> 00:29:46,096 ...have appeared at a press conference... 283 00:29:46,096 --> 00:29:50,088 ...before the cameras of the most popular Palestinian television stations. 284 00:29:50,088 --> 00:29:54,036 We informed Israel... 285 00:29:54,036 --> 00:29:58,032 ...that weíll hop on to those ambulances, 286 00:29:58,032 --> 00:30:03,032 hoping that our presence as internationals may act as a slight deterrent... 287 00:30:03,032 --> 00:30:06,096 ...against these inhumane and bloody crimes. 288 00:30:06,096 --> 00:30:12,024 Sometimes, our conversations get pretty bleak: 289 00:30:12,024 --> 00:30:15,032 itís likely that at the end of this massive, blood-curdling attack, 290 00:30:15,032 --> 00:30:21,036 some of us will have to go out there and do a final count of the dramatic toll of the dead and missing. 291 00:30:21,036 --> 00:30:25,032 We try not to think about it for now. 292 00:30:25,032 --> 00:30:58,012 Stay human. 293 00:30:58,012 --> 00:31:00,036 3rd January 2009 294 00:31:00,036 --> 00:31:03,012 Ghosts demanding Justice 295 00:31:03,012 --> 00:31:06,072 While I type this, Israeli tanks have just entered the Strip. 296 00:31:06,072 --> 00:31:10,024 The day has begun the same way as the previous one ended, 297 00:31:10,024 --> 00:31:13,008 with the earth shaking beneath our feet, 298 00:31:13,008 --> 00:31:16,056 the sky and sea conniving endlessly against us overhead, 299 00:31:16,056 --> 00:31:19,006 hanging over the destinies of a million-and-a-half people... 300 00:31:19,006 --> 00:31:22,044 whoíve gone from the tragedy of living under siege to the catastrophe... 301 00:31:22,044 --> 00:31:26,044 ...of a targeted attack on civilians. 302 00:31:26,044 --> 00:31:29,008 My horizon is devastated by the flames, 303 00:31:29,008 --> 00:31:36,048 and thereíve been cannon shots rumbling from the sea and bombs raining from the sky all morning. 304 00:31:36,048 --> 00:31:40,088 The same fishing boats we accompanied into the open sea just a few days ago, 305 00:31:40,088 --> 00:31:45,056 well beyond the six miles imposed by Israel in their illegal and criminal siege, 306 00:31:45,056 --> 00:31:48,036 are now reduced to charred wrecks. 307 00:31:48,036 --> 00:31:52,008 If the fire-fighters tried to put out the fires, 308 00:31:52,008 --> 00:31:56,008 theyíd instantly become the targets of the F16ís machine guns, 309 00:31:56,008 --> 00:31:59,024 this already happened yesterday. 310 00:31:59,024 --> 00:32:01,072 After yet another attack, 311 00:32:01,072 --> 00:32:07,024 once the exact estimate of the dead is out, if this will ever be possible, 312 00:32:07,024 --> 00:32:11,006 the city will have to be rebuilt over a desert of rubble. 313 00:32:11,006 --> 00:32:14,088 Israelís Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, 314 00:32:14,088 --> 00:32:19,036 is declaring to the world that "there is no humanitarian emergency in Gaza". 315 00:32:19,036 --> 00:32:23,032 Clearly, "being in denial" isnít the sole preserve... 316 00:32:23,032 --> 00:32:28,004 ...of figures like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president. 317 00:32:28,004 --> 00:32:32,048 The Palestinians are in agreement on one thing with Tzipi Livni, 318 00:32:32,048 --> 00:32:38,002 as Joseph, an ambulance driver, who calls her "an ex-serial killer with the Mossad", tells me: 319 00:32:38,002 --> 00:32:41,012 more food is indeed coming in through the borders, 320 00:32:41,012 --> 00:32:44,032 simply because in December, 321 00:32:44,032 --> 00:32:47,068 next to nothing had managed to make it across the barbed wire fence stretched out by Israel. 322 00:32:47,068 --> 00:32:53,024 But what point is there in serving freshly baked bread in a cemetery? 323 00:32:53,024 --> 00:32:57,004 The first priority ought to be stopping the bombing immediately, 324 00:32:57,004 --> 00:33:01,016 well before bringing any supplies to the survivors. 325 00:33:01,016 --> 00:33:03,000 Corpses donít eat; 326 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,004 they can only provide compost for the earth, 327 00:33:05,004 --> 00:33:11,004 and, at the moment, Gaza has never been more fertile from decomposition. 328 00:33:11,004 --> 00:33:15,006 On the other hand, the disembowelled bodies of the children in the morgues... 329 00:33:15,006 --> 00:33:19,068 ...ought to increase the sense of guilt in the indifferent lookers-on, 330 00:33:19,068 --> 00:33:22,004 those who could have done something. 331 00:33:22,004 --> 00:33:27,008 The images of a smiling Barack Obama, the US President, playing golf... 332 00:33:27,008 --> 00:33:30,096 ...were shown on all the Arabic satellite TV stations, 333 00:33:30,096 --> 00:33:34,056 as if to scorn the shroud of mourning covering this land, 334 00:33:34,056 --> 00:33:38,068 and, as it happens, out here no one is under any illusion that the colour of oneís skin... 335 00:33:38,068 --> 00:33:43,096 ...will do wonders to change Americaís foreign policy radically. 336 00:33:43,096 --> 00:33:47,012 Yesterday, Israel opened the Erez Pass... 337 00:33:47,012 --> 00:33:51,012 ...to evacuate all foreigners who are still currently in Gaza. 338 00:33:51,012 --> 00:33:53,028 We internationals of the ISM... 339 00:33:53,028 --> 00:33:55,088 ...are the only ones to have remained. 340 00:33:55,088 --> 00:34:00,024 Today we addressed the Israeli government by means of a press conference, 341 00:34:00,024 --> 00:34:04,048 explaining the motives that commit us to staying put. 342 00:34:04,048 --> 00:34:09,028 Weíre disgusted by the passes being opened for the evacuation of foreigners, 343 00:34:09,028 --> 00:34:12,064 the only possible eyewitnesses to this massacre, 344 00:34:12,064 --> 00:34:15,002 while they are being kept well shut... 345 00:34:15,002 --> 00:34:18,024 ...to the flow of international doctors and nurses... 346 00:34:18,024 --> 00:34:24,064 ...pressing to get in and bring their heroic Palestinian colleagues some relief. 347 00:34:24,064 --> 00:34:26,016 Weíre not going anywhere 348 00:34:26,016 --> 00:34:28,006 because we believe that our presence is essential... 349 00:34:28,006 --> 00:34:34,008 ...to provide eyewitness accounts of the crimes inflicted against an unarmed civilian population... 350 00:34:34,008 --> 00:34:37,036 ...hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute. 351 00:34:37,036 --> 00:34:40,044 Weíre now up to 445 dead, 352 00:34:40,044 --> 00:34:45,024 with over 2,300 wounded and many, many more missing. 353 00:34:45,024 --> 00:34:50,048 As I write this, 63 minors have been torn apart by bombs. 354 00:34:50,048 --> 00:34:54,064 At the moment Israel has counted three victims in total. 355 00:34:54,064 --> 00:34:56,024 We havenít fled, 356 00:34:56,024 --> 00:34:59,024 as our consulates have advised us to do, 357 00:34:59,024 --> 00:35:04,068 because weíre well aware that our contribution as human shields on the ambulances in giving first aid... 358 00:35:04,068 --> 00:35:08,092 ...could be decisive in saving lives. 359 00:35:08,092 --> 00:35:14,016 Once again yesterday, an ambulance was hit in Gaza City. 360 00:35:14,016 --> 00:35:17,032 On the previous day two doctors at the Jabalia refugee camp... 361 00:35:17,032 --> 00:35:21,096 ...had died when they were hit by a missile shot from an Apache helicopter. 362 00:35:21,096 --> 00:35:24,056 Personally, Iím not budging from here... 363 00:35:24,056 --> 00:35:27,008 ...because my friends have implored me not to abandon them, 364 00:35:27,008 --> 00:35:30,088 my surviving friends, as well as the dead ones, 365 00:35:30,088 --> 00:35:33,008 who crowd my sleepless nights like ghosts. 366 00:35:33,008 --> 00:35:37,048 Their diaphanous faces are still smiling at me. 367 00:35:37,048 --> 00:35:39,032 7.33pm, 368 00:35:39,032 --> 00:35:42,004 Red Crescent Hospital in Jabalia. 369 00:35:42,004 --> 00:35:46,004 While I was connected via phone to the demonstrating crowds in Milan, 370 00:35:46,004 --> 00:35:49,000 two bombs fell in front of the hospital. 371 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:50,096 The front windows were shattered, 372 00:35:50,096 --> 00:35:55,056 and, by pure chance, the ambulances were not damaged. 373 00:35:55,056 --> 00:36:00,012 The shelling has become more frequent and powerful in the last few hours. 374 00:36:00,012 --> 00:36:03,092 Nearby, Ibrahim Maqadme Mosque... 375 00:36:03,092 --> 00:36:06,068 ...has just crumbled under the bombs: 376 00:36:06,068 --> 00:36:08,006 itís the tenth in a week. 377 00:36:08,006 --> 00:36:12,012 Eleven victims for now, and about 50 wounded. 378 00:36:12,012 --> 00:36:15,092 An elderly Palestinian lady I met in the street this afternoon... 379 00:36:15,092 --> 00:36:21,008 ...asked me whether Israel thought it was still in the Middle Ages rather than in 2009, 380 00:36:21,008 --> 00:36:26,008 considering the way it continues to hit mosques with such precision. 381 00:36:26,008 --> 00:36:33,076 Itís as if it is concentrating on a personal holy war against all the Muslim places of worship in Gaza. 382 00:36:33,076 --> 00:36:38,084 Yet another downpour of bombs hit Jabalia, and then the tanks came in. 383 00:36:38,084 --> 00:36:43,024 They, which had tormented the borders by day with their creaking, 384 00:36:43,024 --> 00:36:49,048 are now entering north-west Gaza and razing the houses, metre by metre. 385 00:36:49,048 --> 00:36:55,032 Theyíre burying the past and the future, whole families and an entire population, 386 00:36:55,032 --> 00:36:58,052 illegitimately dismissed from its own land, 387 00:36:58,052 --> 00:37:04,036 a people who havenít found any form of shelter except for huts in refugee camps. 388 00:37:04,036 --> 00:37:11,012 We rushed out here to Jabalia after another terrible menace showered down from the sky last Friday evening. 389 00:37:11,012 --> 00:37:13,092 Hundreds of leaflets were thrown out of the planes... 390 00:37:13,092 --> 00:37:17,016 ...ordered the general evacuation of the refugee camp. 391 00:37:17,016 --> 00:37:20,044 This threat has unfortunately materialized. 392 00:37:20,044 --> 00:37:25,048 The most fortunate have managed to escape instantly, taking a few possessions with them, 393 00:37:25,048 --> 00:37:27,008 a TV, a DVD player, 394 00:37:27,008 --> 00:37:33,016 and a few pieces of memorabilia from the life that once existed in Palestine, 395 00:37:33,016 --> 00:37:36,002 a land lost about 60 years ago. 396 00:37:36,002 --> 00:37:39,036 The vast majority havenít found anywhere to go. 397 00:37:39,036 --> 00:37:43,016 They will face those tanks hankering after their lives... 398 00:37:43,016 --> 00:37:45,084 ...with the only weapon the Palestinians have left, 399 00:37:45,084 --> 00:37:49,036 the dignity of dying with their heads held up high. 400 00:37:49,036 --> 00:37:54,002 My companions and I are aware of the enormous risk weíre coming up against... 401 00:37:54,002 --> 00:37:57,084 ...tonight more than any other. 402 00:37:57,084 --> 00:38:01,064 But weíre more at ease in the midst of this Gazan hell... 403 00:38:01,064 --> 00:38:05,008 ...than relaxing in a metropolitan heaven in Europe or America, 404 00:38:05,008 --> 00:38:08,024 where people celebrating the New Year... 405 00:38:08,024 --> 00:38:11,092 ...and arenít really aware of just how complicit they are... 406 00:38:11,092 --> 00:38:16,028 ...with the butchering of all these innocent civilians. 407 00:38:16,028 --> 00:38:51,004 Stay human. 408 00:38:51,004 --> 00:38:55,000 5th January 2009 409 00:38:55,000 --> 00:39:03,032 Doctors with Wings: Arafa Abed Al-Dayem R.I.P. 410 00:39:03,032 --> 00:39:09,084 "To the innocent people of Gaza, our war is not against you but against Hamas. 411 00:39:09,084 --> 00:39:16,004 If they donít stop shooting rockets against us, youíll be in danger." 412 00:39:16,004 --> 00:39:24,044 Itís the transcription of a recording you can hear when answering the phone in Gaza just now. 413 00:39:24,044 --> 00:39:28,008 The Israeli Army is under the illusion that 414 00:39:28,008 --> 00:39:31,006 the Palestinians have no eyes or ears. 415 00:39:31,006 --> 00:39:38,008 No eyes to see that the bombs are hitting civilian targets almost exclusively, 416 00:39:38,008 --> 00:39:40,068 such as mosques 417 00:39:40,068 --> 00:39:47,056 (15, the last being the Omar Bin Abd Al-Azeez in Beit Hanoun), 418 00:39:47,056 --> 00:39:53,076 schools, universities, markets and hospitals. 419 00:39:53,076 --> 00:39:59,024 No ears to hear the cries of pain and terror of the children, 420 00:39:59,024 --> 00:40:01,036 innocent victims... 421 00:40:01,036 --> 00:40:07,024 ...and yet, at the same time, the pre-determined targets of each one of these bombings. 422 00:40:07,024 --> 00:40:11,016 According to hospital records, as Iím writing, 423 00:40:11,016 --> 00:40:15,036 120 minors were struck by the bombs, 424 00:40:15,036 --> 00:40:19,052 548 being the total death toll so far, 425 00:40:19,052 --> 00:40:26,000 in addition to 2,700 wounded and many, many more missing. 426 00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:33,008 Two days ago, night time never came to the Red Crescent Hospital in the Jabalia refugee camp. 427 00:40:33,008 --> 00:40:39,006 Apache helicopters hovering constantly overhead shower us with luminescent devices, 428 00:40:39,006 --> 00:40:43,036 to the point that we could no longer tell the difference between day and night. 429 00:40:43,036 --> 00:40:48,088 The repeated cannon fire from a tank positioned less than a kilometre from the hospital... 430 00:40:48,088 --> 00:40:52,032 ...seriously cracked open the buildingís walls, 431 00:40:52,032 --> 00:40:58,056 but it managed to stand more or less intact until morning. 432 00:40:58,056 --> 00:41:03,012 Around 10 white phosphorous bombs were dropped on the neighbouring field, 433 00:41:03,012 --> 00:41:07,024 with machine gun fire exploding all around. 434 00:41:07,024 --> 00:41:13,002 To the doctors of the Red Crescent Hospital, this was clearly a message from the Israeli Army 435 00:41:13,002 --> 00:41:16,044 ordering an immediate evacuation 436 00:41:16,044 --> 00:41:18,072 (or face destruction). 437 00:41:18,072 --> 00:41:21,056 We moved the wounded into other hospitals, 438 00:41:21,056 --> 00:41:26,096 and the operative ambulance base is now on Al-Nady Street. 439 00:41:26,096 --> 00:41:31,016 The medical staff sits on the sidewalk waiting for the calls... 440 00:41:31,016 --> 00:41:34,024 ...that follow one after the other, frantically. 441 00:41:34,024 --> 00:41:37,004 For the first time since the Israeli attack started, 442 00:41:37,004 --> 00:41:41,052 Iíve actually seen corpses of members of the Palestinian Resistance. 443 00:41:41,052 --> 00:41:45,072 A handful of individuals, next to the hundreds of civilian victims, 444 00:41:45,072 --> 00:41:52,036 the numbers of whom have risen exponentially since the land attacks started. 445 00:41:52,036 --> 00:41:54,096 Following the shooting at Jabalia Mosque, 446 00:41:54,096 --> 00:41:59,012 which left 11 dead and about 50 wounded and all of which took place while the tanks were coming in, 447 00:41:59,012 --> 00:42:04,088 for the whole of Saturday on board the ambulances... 448 00:42:04,088 --> 00:42:11,088 ...we realized just how terrifyingly powerful the howitzers shot by the Israeli tanks were, 449 00:42:11,088 --> 00:42:16,024 as if destructive power had been lacking in the previous few days. 450 00:42:16,024 --> 00:42:17,088 At Beit Hanoun, 451 00:42:17,088 --> 00:42:21,008 a family huddled in front of a wood stove in their house, 452 00:42:21,008 --> 00:42:24,056 was struck by one such killer cannon shot. 453 00:42:24,056 --> 00:42:27,032 We carried 15 wounded away, 454 00:42:27,032 --> 00:42:30,032 four of whom were in a hopeless condition. 455 00:42:30,032 --> 00:42:31,084 Later, 456 00:42:31,084 --> 00:42:34,044 towards 3.30am, 457 00:42:34,044 --> 00:42:36,048 we replied to an emergency call, 458 00:42:36,048 --> 00:42:38,092 but we ended up being too late. 459 00:42:38,092 --> 00:42:42,008 Standing by their front door, three women in tears... 460 00:42:42,008 --> 00:42:46,008 ...handed us a four-year-old girl wrapped in a white sheet, 461 00:42:46,008 --> 00:42:49,084 shroud, she was stone cold by then. 462 00:42:49,084 --> 00:42:54,008 Another family was hit in full, this time by the Air Force in Jabalia, 463 00:42:54,008 --> 00:42:58,002 with two adults injured by shrapnel. 464 00:42:58,002 --> 00:43:01,068 Their two children were only slightly hurt, 465 00:43:01,068 --> 00:43:06,000 but from their screaming it was obvious they were suffering from psychological trauma, 466 00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:10,032 something they would carry with them for the rest of their lives, 467 00:43:10,032 --> 00:43:14,024 an injury much deeper than a cut on the cheek. 468 00:43:14,024 --> 00:43:16,084 Even though no one ever remembers to mention them, 469 00:43:16,084 --> 00:43:20,088 there are thousands of children suffering from serious mental illnesses 470 00:43:20,088 --> 00:43:25,006 caused by the terror of constant bombing, 471 00:43:25,006 --> 00:43:33,048 or, worse, by the sight of their parents or siblings being torn apart by the explosions. 472 00:43:33,048 --> 00:43:39,008 The crimes that Israel is staining its bloodied hands with in these hours... 473 00:43:39,008 --> 00:43:42,096 ...go well beyond the boundaries of what can be imagined. 474 00:43:42,096 --> 00:43:46,036 The soldiers actually prevent us from running to the aid of the survivors... 475 00:43:46,036 --> 00:43:48,016 ...in this immense unnatural catastrophe. 476 00:43:48,016 --> 00:43:54,064 When the wounded are close to the armoured vehicles they were just attacked by, 477 00:43:54,064 --> 00:44:01,088 we, in our Red Crescent ambulances, arenít allowed anywhere near, 478 00:44:01,088 --> 00:44:06,096 as the soldiers take pot shots at us. 479 00:44:06,096 --> 00:44:10,096 Before we can hope to run in aid of any human lives, 480 00:44:10,096 --> 00:44:17,004 we need to be escorted by at least one Red Cross ambulance, 481 00:44:17,004 --> 00:44:21,096 thanks to an agreement of the latter with the Israeli Armyís senior command. 482 00:44:21,096 --> 00:44:25,032 Just try and imagine how long such proceedings would take 483 00:44:25,032 --> 00:44:27,076 a death sentence... 484 00:44:27,076 --> 00:44:31,036 ...for all those awaiting transfusions or urgent care. 485 00:44:31,036 --> 00:44:38,036 This is even truer considering the Red Cross has its own wounded to care for, 486 00:44:38,036 --> 00:44:44,000 leaving them without a chance of answering our every call. 487 00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:50,044 We must thus park in a "protected" area, this term being a euphemism in Gaza, 488 00:44:50,044 --> 00:44:58,006 and wait for people to bring us their languishing relatives, often carrying them on foot. 489 00:44:58,006 --> 00:45:01,064 Thatís what happened around 5.30 this morning. 490 00:45:01,064 --> 00:45:05,084 We stopped the ambulance with the engine on, in the middle of a crossing, 491 00:45:05,084 --> 00:45:11,036 communicating our whereabouts via phone to the relatives of some patients on their way. 492 00:45:11,036 --> 00:45:13,092 After 10 unnerving minutes, 493 00:45:13,092 --> 00:45:17,032 when weíd already decided to evacuate the area... 494 00:45:17,032 --> 00:45:20,092 ...in response to another call, we noticed them as they turned the corner, 495 00:45:20,092 --> 00:45:26,096 advancing towards us slowly, a mule-drawn cart carrying some people. 496 00:45:26,096 --> 00:45:29,096 It turned out to be a couple and their two children. 497 00:45:29,096 --> 00:45:34,076 The best possible illustration of this non-war. This isnít really a war. 498 00:45:34,076 --> 00:45:37,008 There arenít two armies battling it out on one front, 499 00:45:37,008 --> 00:45:42,028 but a people enduring a siege by an Air Force, a Navy, 500 00:45:42,028 --> 00:45:47,004 and what is now one of the worldís most powerful infantries, 501 00:45:47,004 --> 00:45:52,072 certainly the most technologically advanced when it comes to military equipment. 502 00:45:52,072 --> 00:45:56,012 Here they are, attacking a miserable strip of land, 503 00:45:56,012 --> 00:45:59,032 just 360 square kilometres, 504 00:45:59,032 --> 00:46:04,076 a place where its inhabitants still use mules to move around, 505 00:46:04,076 --> 00:46:12,088 with a hotchpotch resistance whose only real strength is their readiness for martyrdom. 506 00:46:12,088 --> 00:46:17,036 When that mule-drawn cart got close enough, 507 00:46:17,036 --> 00:46:22,008 approached them and beheld its macabre cargo with horror. 508 00:46:22,008 --> 00:46:25,076 A child was lying with his skull cracked open, 509 00:46:25,076 --> 00:46:29,028 his eyeballs literally hanging out of their sockets, 510 00:46:29,028 --> 00:46:35,004 swaying onto his face like those at the end of a crabís stalks. When we picked him up, he was still breathing. 511 00:46:35,004 --> 00:46:39,002 His little brother had a disembowelled chest, 512 00:46:39,002 --> 00:46:44,064 and you could distinctly count his white ribs through the tatters of his torn flesh. 513 00:46:44,064 --> 00:46:48,044 Their mother pressed her hands on to that eviscerated chest, 514 00:46:48,044 --> 00:46:52,048 as if trying to fix what the fruit of her love had managed to create, 515 00:46:52,048 --> 00:46:56,000 and which the anonymous hatred of a soldier, obeying orders, 516 00:46:56,000 --> 00:46:58,076 had now forever destroyed. 517 00:46:58,076 --> 00:47:03,028 Yet another crime I want to report, 518 00:47:03,028 --> 00:47:05,006 and our umpteenth personal mourning. 519 00:47:05,006 --> 00:47:10,002 The Israeli Army continues to target the ambulances. 520 00:47:10,002 --> 00:47:14,036 After the butchering of the doctor and nurse in Jabalia four days ago, 521 00:47:14,036 --> 00:47:21,088 odayís new victim was a friend of ours: 35-year-old Arafa Abed Al-Dayem, 522 00:47:21,088 --> 00:47:23,092 a father of four. 523 00:47:23,092 --> 00:47:29,006 Around 8.30 yesterday morning, we received a call from Gaza City. 524 00:47:29,006 --> 00:47:33,044 Two civilians had been struck down by a tankís machine-gun fire. 525 00:47:33,044 --> 00:47:39,044 One of our Red Crescent ambulances rushed to their aid. 526 00:47:39,044 --> 00:47:43,024 Arafa and one of the nurses were loading the two wounded onto the ambulance... 527 00:47:43,024 --> 00:47:45,048 ...and, while shutting the ambulance doors, 528 00:47:45,048 --> 00:47:48,006 they were hit by a howitzer from a tank. 529 00:47:48,006 --> 00:47:54,008 The shot decapitated one of the wounded and also killed our friend. 530 00:47:54,008 --> 00:47:58,088 Nader, the nurse accompanying them, managed to survive... 531 00:47:58,088 --> 00:48:02,056 ...although he is now a patient in the same hospital that he works in. 532 00:48:02,056 --> 00:48:08,084 Arafa, an elementary school teacher, was a voluntary paramedic in emergencies. 533 00:48:08,084 --> 00:48:15,008 We were being showered with bombs and, yet, hadnít had the heart to call Arafa in such a high-risk situation. 534 00:48:15,008 --> 00:48:20,024 He showed up of his own accord, working with a full awareness of the risks involved, 535 00:48:20,024 --> 00:48:23,072 convinced as he was that, aside from his family, 536 00:48:23,072 --> 00:48:27,096 there were other human beings in need of protection and aid. 537 00:48:27,096 --> 00:48:30,012 We miss his jokes, 538 00:48:30,012 --> 00:48:34,002 his irresistible and contagious sense of humour, 539 00:48:34,002 --> 00:48:38,024 and a balm for the soul in our bleakest moments. 540 00:48:38,024 --> 00:48:41,008 Someone has to stop this massacre. 541 00:48:41,008 --> 00:48:44,068 In the last few days Iíve seen things, heard uproars... 542 00:48:44,068 --> 00:48:50,072 ...and smelt pestilential miasmas that Iíll never have the courage to talk about, 543 00:48:50,072 --> 00:48:56,024 if I should ever have children of my own. 544 00:48:56,024 --> 00:48:59,016 Is there anyone out there? 545 00:48:59,016 --> 00:49:05,092 The desolation of feeling isolated and abandoned is equivalent to a view of a Gaza neighbourhood after a heavy air raid campaign. 546 00:49:05,092 --> 00:49:07,028 Saturday evening, 547 00:49:07,028 --> 00:49:11,052 I was connected via phone to the protesting crowds in Milan, 548 00:49:11,052 --> 00:49:17,008 and I handed my cell phone over to the heroic doctors and nurses Iím working with at the moment. 549 00:49:17,008 --> 00:49:21,004 They looked reassured for a few moments. 550 00:49:21,004 --> 00:49:25,008 Demonstrations the world over are a sign that you can still believe in someone, 551 00:49:25,008 --> 00:49:32,068 but these demonstrations are still not large enough to exercise the necessary pressure on Western governments, 552 00:49:32,068 --> 00:49:35,064 which should be forcing Israel into a corner, 553 00:49:35,064 --> 00:49:44,036 making it take responsibility for its war crimes and crimes against humanity. 554 00:49:44,036 --> 00:49:50,032 Many terrified pregnant women are prematurely giving birth right now. 555 00:49:50,032 --> 00:49:55,068 I was personally present with three of them as they were rushed to the delivery room. 556 00:49:55,068 --> 00:49:59,052 One of these, Samira, seven months pregnant, 557 00:49:59,052 --> 00:50:03,012 gave birth to a beautiful, tiny baby called Ahmed. 558 00:50:03,012 --> 00:50:06,084 Rushing to the Al-Auda Hospital on board the ambulance with her... 559 00:50:06,084 --> 00:50:11,006 ...and leaving behind in our rear-view mirrors the scenarios of death and destruction 560 00:50:11,006 --> 00:50:16,006 (the places where just a moment before weíd been picking up corpses) 561 00:50:16,006 --> 00:50:21,008 I thought for a moment that this new life, on the point of blossoming, 562 00:50:21,008 --> 00:50:24,008 could be a harbinger for future hope and peace. 563 00:50:24,008 --> 00:50:28,036 But the illusion melted away with the first rocket... 564 00:50:28,036 --> 00:50:32,088 ...falling by the side of our ambulance from the centre of Jabalia. 565 00:50:32,088 --> 00:50:36,002 These brave mothers sadly give birth to creatures... 566 00:50:36,002 --> 00:50:41,004 ...who take in nothing but the military green of tanks and jeeps... 567 00:50:41,004 --> 00:50:45,076 ...or the blinking flashes that precede an explosion. 568 00:50:45,076 --> 00:50:51,076 What kind of adults will they grow up to be? 569 00:50:51,076 --> 00:51:34,088 Stay human. 570 00:51:34,088 --> 00:51:38,000 6th january 2009 571 00:51:38,000 --> 00:51:40,064 Al-Nakba 572 00:51:40,064 --> 00:51:44,008 They parade in fear, their eyes turned upwards, 573 00:51:44,008 --> 00:51:49,016 surrendering to the sky which keeps raining terror and death down upon them, 574 00:51:49,016 --> 00:51:51,096 and fearing the earth that keeps shaking under them with every step they take, 575 00:51:51,096 --> 00:51:56,006 craters opening up where there were once houses, 576 00:51:56,006 --> 00:52:02,064 schools, universities, markets and hospitals. 577 00:52:02,064 --> 00:52:07,012 I've seen caravans of desperate Palestinians... 578 00:52:07,012 --> 00:52:13,006 ...evacuate Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and all the refugee camps in Gaza, 579 00:52:13,006 --> 00:52:20,084 crowding the United Nations' schools like earthquake survivors, 580 00:52:20,084 --> 00:52:23,052 like the victims of a tsunami... 581 00:52:23,052 --> 00:52:30,044 ...eating into the Gaza Strip and its civilian population, 582 00:52:30,044 --> 00:52:37,004 without pity or compliance with human rights and the Geneva Conventions. 583 00:52:37,004 --> 00:52:48,004 Most of all, without a single Western government lifting a finger to stop this massacre, 584 00:52:48,004 --> 00:52:57,008 or sending medical staff out here, or stopping the genocide that Israel is smearing its hands with in these hours. 585 00:52:57,008 --> 00:53:06,016 The indiscriminate attacks against the hospitals and their medical staff continue. 586 00:53:06,016 --> 00:53:12,096 Yesterday, after having left the Al-Auda Hospital in Jabalia, I received a call from Alberto, 587 00:53:12,096 --> 00:53:16,044 a Spanish colleague with the ISM. 588 00:53:16,044 --> 00:53:20,004 A bomb had been dropped there 589 00:53:20,004 --> 00:53:25,006 and Abu Mohammed, a nurse, had been seriously injured to his head. 590 00:53:25,006 --> 00:53:34,068 Just moments before, in front of a cafÈ, 591 00:53:34,068 --> 00:53:39,036 I'd been listening to the stories of the heroic deeds of the communist Abu Mohammed's heroes... 592 00:53:39,036 --> 00:53:50,032 ...the leaders of the Popular Front: George Habbash, Abu Ali Mustafa and Ahmad Al-Sadat. 593 00:53:50,032 --> 00:53:54,088 His eyes lit up when I told him... 594 00:53:54,088 --> 00:54:04,008 ...that the first understanding of Palestine and its immense tragedy had been passed onto me by my parents, 595 00:54:04,008 --> 00:54:08,028 both communists through and through. 596 00:54:08,028 --> 00:54:17,044 He asked me who'd been the truly revolutionary leaders of the italian left, 597 00:54:17,044 --> 00:54:23,076 and I'd replied, "Antonio Gramsci". 598 00:54:23,076 --> 00:54:31,076 As for those of the present-day, I'd said I'd think it over and tell him the next day. 599 00:54:31,076 --> 00:54:41,008 But Abu Mohammed now lies in a coma, in the same hospital where he works. 600 00:54:41,008 --> 00:54:46,028 He spared himself my disappointing reply. 601 00:54:46,028 --> 00:54:50,028 Towards midnight I received another call, from Eva this time. 602 00:54:50,028 --> 00:54:54,008 The building she was in was under attack. 603 00:54:54,008 --> 00:55:00,064 I know that building well: it's in downtown Gaza City. 604 00:55:00,064 --> 00:55:10,008 I'd once spent the night there along with some Palestinian photojournalist, 605 00:55:10,008 --> 00:55:14,006 whose job it is to try and capture through images and words... 606 00:55:14,006 --> 00:55:22,000 ...something of the unnatural catastrophe we've been enduring these last 10 days. 607 00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:29,052 Reuters, Fox News, Russia Today and many, many other local or foreign agencies 608 00:55:29,052 --> 00:55:36,004 were under fire from seven rockets shot by an Israeli helicopter. 609 00:55:36,004 --> 00:55:43,036 They managed to evacuate everyone in time before anyone could be seriously injured 610 00:55:43,036 --> 00:55:50,024 all those cameramen, photographers, reporters, all Palestinian, 611 00:55:50,024 --> 00:55:59,004 given that Israel won't allow any international journalists into Gaza. 612 00:55:59,004 --> 00:56:04,008 There are no "strategic" targets around that building, 613 00:56:04,008 --> 00:56:12,064 nor a resistance fighting off the deadly armoured Israeli vehicles, 614 00:56:12,064 --> 00:56:17,048 currently located only a long way away towards the north. 615 00:56:17,048 --> 00:56:26,076 Clearly, someone in Tel Aviv cannot bear the images of the massacres of civilians... 616 00:56:26,076 --> 00:56:36,008 ...clashing with those briefings the Israeli officers provide, while offering mercenary journalists their aperitifs. 617 00:56:36,008 --> 00:56:41,002 These press conferences are persuading the world... 618 00:56:41,002 --> 00:56:47,076 ...that the bombing targets are solely targeting Hamas terrorists, 619 00:56:47,076 --> 00:56:58,012 not one of those atrociously mutilated children we pull out of the rubble every day. 620 00:56:58,012 --> 00:57:02,028 In Zeitoun, about 10 kilometres from Jabalia, 621 00:57:02,028 --> 00:57:09,002 a bombed building crumbled over a family, leaving about 20 dead. 622 00:57:09,002 --> 00:57:14,092 The ambulances had to wait several hours before they could reach the spot, 623 00:57:14,092 --> 00:57:19,048 as the military persist in shooting at us. 624 00:57:19,048 --> 00:57:24,032 They shoot at ambulances and bomb hospitals. 625 00:57:24,032 --> 00:57:29,044 A few days ago, while I was being interviewed live on a well-known Milanese radio station, 626 00:57:29,044 --> 00:57:33,044 an Israeli "pacifist" clearly spelt out to me... 627 00:57:33,044 --> 00:57:41,002 ...that this was a war where both sides used all the weapons at their disposal. 628 00:57:41,002 --> 00:57:53,064 I then invited Israel to drop one of its many atomic bombs upon us, 629 00:57:53,064 --> 00:57:59,006 those they keep secretly stashed away, defying all treaties against nuclear proliferation. 630 00:57:59,006 --> 00:58:04,004 Why not just drop that decisive bomb of theirs 631 00:58:04,004 --> 00:58:17,024 and put an end to the inhuman agony of thousands of bodies, lying in tatters in the overcrowded hospital wards that I visit? 632 00:58:17,024 --> 00:58:24,052 I took some black-and-white photos yesterday, the caravans of mule-drawn carts, 633 00:58:24,052 --> 00:58:31,052 overloaded beyond belief with children waving white drapes pointing skywards, 634 00:58:31,052 --> 00:58:38,048 their faces pale and terrified. 635 00:58:38,048 --> 00:58:48,084 Looking through those snaps of fleeing refugees today, shivers went down my spine. 636 00:58:48,084 --> 00:58:59,004 If they could only be superimposed with those portraying the Nakba of 1948, the Palestinian catastrophe, 637 00:58:59,004 --> 00:59:02,084 they would be the perfect mirror image of them. 638 00:59:02,084 --> 00:59:09,002 The cowardly passiveness of self-styled democratic states and governments... 639 00:59:09,002 --> 00:59:13,004 ...are responsible for a new catastrophe in full swing, 640 00:59:13,004 --> 00:59:21,012 a new Nakba, a brand new ethnic cleansing befalling the Palestinian population right now. 641 00:59:21,012 --> 00:59:29,008 Until a few moments ago we counted 650 dead, 153 murdered children, 642 00:59:29,008 --> 00:59:35,012 in addition to 3,000 injured, and innumerable missing. 643 00:59:35,012 --> 00:59:43,076 The number of civilian deaths in Israel has thankfully remained at four. 644 00:59:43,076 --> 00:59:52,028 But after this afternoon the death toll on the Palestinian side requires an urgent recount, 645 00:59:52,028 --> 00:59:59,000 ever since the Israeli Army has started attacking the United Nations schools, 646 00:59:59,000 --> 01:00:08,008 the very same that had been offering shelter to the thousands evacuated under threat of an imminent attack. 647 01:00:08,008 --> 01:00:17,092 They chased them out of the refugee camps, the villages, only to collect them all in one place, 648 01:00:17,092 --> 01:00:21,006 an easier target. 649 01:00:21,006 --> 01:00:31,002 Three schools were attacked today, the last being at Al-Fakhura, in Jabalia, 650 01:00:31,002 --> 01:00:36,028 which was hit smack bang in the middle. Over 40 dead: 651 01:00:36,028 --> 01:00:41,028 in a heartbeat, men, women, elderly people and children were wiped away, 652 01:00:41,028 --> 01:00:51,044 who believed themselves to be safe within those blue-tinted walls adorned by a United Nations logo. 653 01:00:51,044 --> 01:00:58,002 The peole sheltered within the other 20 UN schools are now shaking with fear. 654 01:00:58,002 --> 01:01:01,064 There's no way out anywhere in the Gaza Strip. 655 01:01:01,064 --> 01:01:07,006 This isn't Lebanon, where the civilians in the southern villages targeted by the Israeli bombs... 656 01:01:07,006 --> 01:01:13,004 ...could flee to the north, or to Syria or Jordan. 657 01:01:13,004 --> 01:01:26,012 From being one enormous open-air prison, the Gaza Strip has become a deadly trap. 658 01:01:26,012 --> 01:01:28,072 We look at one another in bewilderment... 659 01:01:28,072 --> 01:01:34,028 ...and ask ourselves whether the UN Security Council will finally... 660 01:01:34,028 --> 01:01:41,004 ...and unanimously condemn... 661 01:01:41,004 --> 01:01:47,008 ...these attacks after their own schools have been targeted. 662 01:01:47,008 --> 01:01:52,072 Someone out there has really decided... 663 01:01:52,072 --> 01:01:57,092 ...to turn this place into a desert, and then call it peace. 664 01:01:57,092 --> 01:02:07,084 A long night on the ambulances awaits us now, even though the arrival of down has become nothing but an illusion around here. 665 01:02:07,084 --> 01:02:17,068 Antenna towers all along the Strip have been destroyed and we've stopped relying of them for our mobile phones. 666 01:02:17,068 --> 01:02:26,084 I hope I may one day be able to see all the friends I can no longer contact, but I'm under no illusions. 667 01:02:26,084 --> 01:02:37,004 Bar none, everyone in Gaza is a walking target. 668 01:02:37,004 --> 01:02:47,008 The Italian Consulate has just contacted me, saying that tomorrow they'll evacuate a fellow italian, 669 01:02:47,008 --> 01:02:55,028 an elderly nun who'd lived near the Catholic church in Gaza for the last 20 years, 670 01:02:55,028 --> 01:03:01,052 and who had by now been adopted by the Palestinians in the Strip. 671 01:03:01,052 --> 01:03:07,092 The consul gently urged me to seize this last opportunity... 672 01:03:07,092 --> 01:03:14,012 ...and escape from this hell with the nun. 673 01:03:14,012 --> 01:03:22,056 I thanked him for the offer, and told him I'm not moving from here, I just can't. 674 01:03:22,056 --> 01:03:26,088 For the sake of the losses we endured... 675 01:03:26,088 --> 01:03:37,002 ...before being Italian, Spanish, British or Australian, right now we are all Palestinian. 676 01:03:37,002 --> 01:03:48,048 If only we could do that for just one minute a day, 677 01:03:48,048 --> 01:03:53,096 the way we were all Jewish during the Holocaust, 678 01:03:53,096 --> 01:04:03,096 I think we would have been spared this entire massacre. 679 01:04:03,096 --> 01:04:32,004 Stay Human 680 01:04:32,004 --> 01:04:34,084 7th January 2009 681 01:04:34,084 --> 01:04:38,088 Slingshots vs. White Phosphorous Bombs 682 01:04:38,088 --> 01:04:42,068 "Take some kittens, some tender little moggies in a box", 683 01:04:42,068 --> 01:04:47,024 said Jamal, a surgeon at Al-Shifa, Gazaís main hospital, 684 01:04:47,024 --> 01:04:52,008 while a nurse actually placed a couple of blood-stained cardboard boxes in front of us. 685 01:04:52,008 --> 01:04:56,088 "Seal it up, then jump on it with all your weight and might, 686 01:04:56,088 --> 01:05:03,076 until you feel their little bones crunching, and you hear the last muffled little mew." 687 01:05:03,076 --> 01:05:08,032 I stared at the boxes in astonishment, and the doctor continued: 688 01:05:08,032 --> 01:05:12,068 "Try to imagine what would happen after such images were circulated. 689 01:05:12,068 --> 01:05:15,052 The righteous outrage of public opinion, 690 01:05:15,052 --> 01:05:18,008 the complaints of the animal rights organizations...." 691 01:05:18,008 --> 01:05:20,068 The doctors went on in this vein, 692 01:05:20,068 --> 01:05:24,008 and I was unable to take my eyes off the boxes at our feet. 693 01:05:24,008 --> 01:05:29,092 "Israel trapped hundreds of civilians inside a school as if in a box, 694 01:05:29,092 --> 01:05:35,072 including many children, and then crushed them with all the might of its bombs. 695 01:05:35,072 --> 01:05:38,006 What were the worldís reactions? 696 01:05:38,006 --> 01:05:40,008 Almost nothing. 697 01:05:40,008 --> 01:05:44,084 We would have been better off as animals rather than Palestinians, 698 01:05:44,084 --> 01:05:48,076 we would have been better protected." 699 01:05:48,076 --> 01:05:54,032 At this point the doctor leans towards one of the boxes, and takes its lid off in front of me. 700 01:05:54,032 --> 01:06:00,092 Inside it are the amputated limbs, legs and arms, some from the knee down, 701 01:06:00,092 --> 01:06:08,064 others with the entire femur attached, from amputees injured at the Al-Fakhura United Nations school in Jabalia, 702 01:06:08,064 --> 01:06:12,024 which resulted in more than 50 casualties. 703 01:06:12,024 --> 01:06:15,092 Pretending to be taking an urgent call, I took my leave of Jamal, 704 01:06:15,092 --> 01:06:19,044 actually rushing to the bathroom to throw up. 705 01:06:19,044 --> 01:06:25,008 A little earlier Iíd been involved in a conversation with Dr. Abdel, an ophthalmologist, 706 01:06:25,008 --> 01:06:29,012 regarding the rumours that the Israeli Army had been showering us... 707 01:06:29,012 --> 01:06:33,024 ...with non-conventional weapons, forbidden by the Geneva Convention, 708 01:06:33,024 --> 01:06:36,088 such as cluster bombs and white phosphorous. 709 01:06:36,088 --> 01:06:41,004 The very same that the Israeli Army used during the last Lebanese war, 710 01:06:41,004 --> 01:06:47,044 as well as the US Air Force in Falluja, in violation of international norms. 711 01:06:47,044 --> 01:06:51,004 In front of Al-Awda Hospital we witnessed and filmed white phosphorous bombs... 712 01:06:51,004 --> 01:06:55,096 ...being used about 500 metres from where we stood, 713 01:06:55,096 --> 01:07:02,008 too far away to be absolutely certain there were any civilians underneath the Israeli Apaches, 714 01:07:02,008 --> 01:07:05,072 but so terribly close all the same. 715 01:07:05,072 --> 01:07:08,000 The Geneva Treaty of 1980... 716 01:07:08,000 --> 01:07:13,006 ...forbids white phosphorous being used directly as a war weapon in civilian areas, 717 01:07:13,006 --> 01:07:18,006 allowing it only as a smoke screen or for lighting. 718 01:07:18,006 --> 01:07:21,056 Thereís no doubt that using this weapon in Gaza, 719 01:07:21,056 --> 01:07:25,008 a strip of land concentrating the highest population rate in the world, 720 01:07:25,008 --> 01:07:28,072 is a crime all on its own. 721 01:07:28,072 --> 01:07:32,012 Doctor Abdel told me that at Al-Shifa Hospital... 722 01:07:32,012 --> 01:07:36,016 ...they donít have the medical and military competence 723 01:07:36,016 --> 01:07:42,064 to say for sure whether the wounds they examined on certain corpses were indeed caused by illegal weapons. 724 01:07:42,064 --> 01:07:46,044 But he gave his word that, in 20 years on the job, 725 01:07:46,044 --> 01:07:51,048 he had never seen casualties like these that were now being carried into the ward. 726 01:07:51,048 --> 01:07:54,032 He told me about the traumas to the skull, 727 01:07:54,032 --> 01:08:02,012 with the fractures to the vomer bone, the jaw, the cheekbones, the tear ducts, the nasal and palatine bones, 728 01:08:02,012 --> 01:08:08,036 all showing signs of the collision of an immense force against the victimís face. 729 01:08:08,036 --> 01:08:12,084 What he finds inexplicable is the total lack of eyeballs, 730 01:08:12,084 --> 01:08:18,048 which ought to leave a trace somewhere within the skull even with such a violent impact. 731 01:08:18,048 --> 01:08:24,052 Instead, we see Palestinian corpses coming into the hospitals without any eyes at all, 732 01:08:24,052 --> 01:08:30,044 as if someone had removed them surgically before handing them over to the coroner. 733 01:08:30,044 --> 01:08:35,052 Israel has let us know that weíve been generously granted a three-hour daily ceasefire, 734 01:08:35,052 --> 01:08:38,016 from 1.00 to 4.00pm. 735 01:08:38,016 --> 01:08:42,076 These statements from the Israeli military leadership are considered by the people of Gaza... 736 01:08:42,076 --> 01:08:50,068 ...as having the same reliability as the Hamas leadersí declarations that theyíve just provoked a massacre of enemy soldiers. 737 01:08:50,068 --> 01:08:58,056 Just to be clear on this point, Tel Avivís worst enemy is the very same that fights under the Star of David. 738 01:08:58,056 --> 01:09:02,032 Yesterday, a warship off the coast of Gazaís port... 739 01:09:02,032 --> 01:09:06,076 ...picked out a large group of alleged guerrilla fighters from the Palestinian Resistance, 740 01:09:06,076 --> 01:09:10,016 moving as a united front around Jabalia. 741 01:09:10,016 --> 01:09:12,056 They shot their cannons at them. 742 01:09:12,056 --> 01:09:18,092 But as it turned out, they were their own fellow soldiers, with the shooting resulting in three being killed... 743 01:09:18,092 --> 01:09:22,036 ...and about 20 injured. 744 01:09:22,036 --> 01:09:26,016 No one here believes in the ceasefires that Israel calls, 745 01:09:26,016 --> 01:09:32,004 and as it happens, today at 2.00pm Rafah was under attack by Israeli helicopters. 746 01:09:32,004 --> 01:09:36,076 There was also yet another massacre of children in Jabalia: 747 01:09:36,076 --> 01:09:41,076 three little sisters aged two, four and six... 748 01:09:41,076 --> 01:09:44,076 ...from the Abed Rabbu family were slaughtered. 749 01:09:44,076 --> 01:09:51,076 Just half-an-hour earlier in Jabalia, once again the Red Crescent Hospitalís ambulances were under attack. 750 01:09:51,076 --> 01:09:59,012 Eva and Alberto, my ISM companions were on board that ambulance and managed to film everything, 751 01:09:59,012 --> 01:10:03,048 passing those videos and photos on to all the major media. 752 01:10:03,048 --> 01:10:08,048 Hassan was kneecapped, fresh from mourning the death of his friend Araf, 753 01:10:08,048 --> 01:10:14,064 a paramedic who was killed two days ago as he was going in aid of the injured in Gaza City. 754 01:10:14,064 --> 01:10:18,092 They had stopped to pick up the body of a man languishing in the middle of the road, 755 01:10:18,092 --> 01:10:23,076 when they were showered by about 10 shots from an Israeli sniper. 756 01:10:23,076 --> 01:10:29,052 One bullet hit Hassan in the knee and the ambulance was filled with holes. 757 01:10:29,052 --> 01:10:34,056 Travelling towards Al-Quds Hospital, 758 01:10:34,056 --> 01:10:39,002 I raced along on board one of the very few fearless taxi drivers left, 759 01:10:39,002 --> 01:10:42,004 zigzagging to avoid the bombs, 760 01:10:42,004 --> 01:10:48,002 and, on the corner of one street, I saw a group of dirty street urchins in tattered clothes, 761 01:10:48,002 --> 01:10:53,032 looking exactly like the "sciusci‡" kids of the Italian post-war period. 762 01:10:53,032 --> 01:10:57,032 They threw stones towards the sky with slingshots, 763 01:10:57,032 --> 01:11:01,088 at a remote and unreachable enemy toying with their lives. 764 01:11:01,088 --> 01:11:10,012 This is a crazy metaphor, which could serve as a snapshot of the absurdity of this place at the moment. 765 01:11:10,012 --> 01:11:37,016 Stay human. 766 01:11:37,016 --> 01:11:39,032 8th january 2009 767 01:11:39,032 --> 01:11:42,056 I won't leave my country! 768 01:11:42,056 --> 01:11:47,036 My toothpaste, toothbrush, razors and shaving foam. 769 01:11:47,036 --> 01:11:53,012 The clothes I'm wearing, the cough medicine I'm using to get rid of a persistent cough, 770 01:11:53,012 --> 01:11:58,004 the cigarettes I bought for Ahmed, and some tobacco for my arghile. 771 01:11:58,004 --> 01:12:08,044 My cell phone, the laptop onto which I compulsively type eyewitness accounts from the hell surrounding me. 772 01:12:08,044 --> 01:12:14,052 All that's needed for a modest, yet dignified, existence in Gaza comes from Egypt, 773 01:12:14,052 --> 01:12:21,004 and arrives onto the shop shelves through the tunnels. 774 01:12:21,004 --> 01:12:30,004 These are the very same tunnels that the Israeli F16s haven't stopped bombing heavily in the last 12 hours, 775 01:12:30,004 --> 01:12:36,044 destroying thousands of Rafah houses near the border. 776 01:12:36,044 --> 01:12:41,036 A few months ago I had three dodgy teeth fixed, 777 01:12:41,036 --> 01:12:49,032 and at the end of the operation I asked my Palestinian dentist where he'd gotten all of his dental equipment from 778 01:12:49,032 --> 01:12:54,016 the anaesthetic, the syringes, the ceramic inlays and all the other tools. 779 01:12:54,016 --> 01:12:59,088 With a sly look on his face, he'd made a certain gesture with his hand: from underground. 780 01:12:59,088 --> 01:13:06,002 There's no doubt that explosives and weapons were also smuggled through the tunnels underneath Rafah, 781 01:13:06,002 --> 01:13:15,044 the very same that the resistance is using today to try and contain the terrifying advance of the Israeli tanks. 782 01:13:15,044 --> 01:13:22,096 But it's next to nothing compared with the tonnes of consumer goods flowing into famished Gaza... 783 01:13:22,096 --> 01:13:26,092 ...under this criminal siege. 784 01:13:26,092 --> 01:13:36,068 It's easy enough to find photos on the web showing how even livestock comes in from Egypt through the tunnels. 785 01:13:36,068 --> 01:13:44,052 Sedated, strapped-up goats and cows are lowered into an Egyptian well, 786 01:13:44,052 --> 01:13:50,016 re-emerging on this side to provide milk, cheese and meat. 787 01:13:50,016 --> 01:13:55,052 Even the main hospitals in the Strip stock up surreptitiously at the border. 788 01:13:55,052 --> 01:14:03,004 The tunnels were the only means by which the Palestinians could survive the siege. 789 01:14:03,004 --> 01:14:10,068 Long before the current bombing, this siege became the cause of a 60% unemployment rate, 790 01:14:10,068 --> 01:14:17,036 forcing 80% of families to live off humanitarian handouts. 791 01:14:17,036 --> 01:14:23,092 Our ISM colleagues in Rafah describe the umpteenth mass exodus they've witnessed: 792 01:14:23,092 --> 01:14:33,008 caravans of desperate refugees leaving their homes for Egypt, on mule-drawn carts or hodgepodge vehicles. 793 01:14:33,008 --> 01:14:41,008 A dÈj‡-vu scenario. In recent days, leaflets were raining down from the planes, intimidating the Palestinians into evacuating. 794 01:14:41,008 --> 01:14:48,006 Since Israel always keeps her threatening promises, bombs are now pouring down from her planes. 795 01:14:48,006 --> 01:14:53,048 Today's new homeless will spend the night with their relatives, friends or acquaintances in Gaza. 796 01:14:53,048 --> 01:15:00,092 After yesterday's massacre in Jabalia, no one dares take shelter in the United Nations schools anymore. 797 01:15:00,092 --> 01:15:07,024 But a considerable number haven't gone anywhere, as they have nowhere safe to go. 798 01:15:07,024 --> 01:15:11,032 They shall be spending the night praying to God that they'll be spared, 799 01:15:11,032 --> 01:15:16,064 since no one on earth seems to take any interest whatsoever in their existence. 800 01:15:16,064 --> 01:15:26,012 The death toll at present is of 768 Palestinians, with 3,129 wounded, and 219 children dead. 801 01:15:26,012 --> 01:15:34,000 The count of civilian victims on the Israeli side is thankfully still only four. 802 01:15:34,000 --> 01:15:39,068 In Zeitoun, a neighbourhood East of Gaza City, the Red Cross ambulances... 803 01:15:39,068 --> 01:15:45,006 ...could only rush to the scene of a massacre after several hours, 804 01:15:45,006 --> 01:15:49,012 with permission from the Israeli military leadership. 805 01:15:49,012 --> 01:15:54,008 When they finally got there, they picked up 17 corpses and 10 injured, 806 01:15:54,008 --> 01:15:58,088 all belonging to the Al-Samouni family. 807 01:15:58,088 --> 01:16:00,084 It was a perfect execution: 808 01:16:00,084 --> 01:16:04,048 in the tiny bodies of the children it was possible to notice... 809 01:16:04,048 --> 01:16:10,008 ...bullet holes rather than wounds caused by shrapnel. 810 01:16:10,008 --> 01:16:15,044 The last two nights in the Gaza City hospitals were quieter than usual, 811 01:16:15,044 --> 01:16:19,052 as we assisted a number of injured in the dozens rather than in the hundreds. 812 01:16:19,052 --> 01:16:23,016 Obviously after the massacre at the Al-Fakhura school... 813 01:16:23,016 --> 01:16:28,004 ...the Israeli Army surpassed the daily total of civilian casualties... 814 01:16:28,004 --> 01:16:34,006 ...as an offering to its bloodthirsty government in view of the imminent elections. 815 01:16:34,006 --> 01:16:41,024 We have a feeling though that the morgues will be filled to bursting point again tonight. 816 01:16:41,024 --> 01:16:48,084 With our sirens screaming, we continue to rush pregnant women into hospital as they give birth prematurely. 817 01:16:48,084 --> 01:16:53,036 It's as if nature and the conservation instinct... 818 01:16:53,036 --> 01:17:00,024 ...were inducing these brave mothers to pre-empt the due-date of these newly-born... 819 01:17:00,024 --> 01:17:03,032 ...making up for the growing number of the dead. 820 01:17:03,032 --> 01:17:07,068 The first cries of the newborn, when they survive... 821 01:17:07,068 --> 01:17:12,048 ...can, only for a moment, rise over the rumbling of the bombs. 822 01:17:12,048 --> 01:17:22,088 Leila, a colleague at the ISM, asked our neighbours'children to write some of their impressions of the atrocious tragedy we're enduring. 823 01:17:22,088 --> 01:17:29,044 Here are some extracts of their words, the horrors of war seen through the pure and innocent... 824 01:17:29,044 --> 01:17:32,016 ...gaze of Gaza's children: 825 01:17:32,016 --> 01:17:34,072 Suzanne, aged 15: 826 01:17:34,072 --> 01:17:39,028 "Life in Gaza is very difficult. Actually we can't describe everything. 827 01:17:39,028 --> 01:17:43,008 We can't sleep, we can't go to school and study. 828 01:17:43,008 --> 01:17:47,004 We feel a lot of feelings, sometimes we feel afraid... 829 01:17:47,004 --> 01:17:52,084 ...and worry because the planes and the ships, they hit [us] twenty-four hours [a day]. 830 01:17:52,084 --> 01:18:01,036 Sometimes we feel bored because there is no electricity during the day, and in the night, it comes for just four hours... 831 01:18:01,036 --> 01:18:05,008 ...and when it comes we are watching the news on TV. 832 01:18:05,008 --> 01:18:11,036 And we see kids and women who are injured and dead. So we live under siege and war." 833 01:18:11,036 --> 01:18:14,032 Fatma, aged 13: 834 01:18:14,032 --> 01:18:17,002 "It was the hardest week in our lives. 835 01:18:17,002 --> 01:18:21,064 The first day we were to school, having the final exam of the first term... 836 01:18:21,064 --> 01:18:27,006 ...then the explosions started, and many students were killed and injured... 837 01:18:27,006 --> 01:18:32,036 ...and the others surely lost a relative or a neighbour. 838 01:18:32,036 --> 01:18:35,044 There's no electricity, no food, no bread. 839 01:18:35,044 --> 01:18:38,092 What can we do? It's the Israelis! 840 01:18:38,092 --> 01:18:45,072 All the people in the world celebrated the New Year; we also celebrate but in a different way." 841 01:18:45,072 --> 01:18:49,006 Sara, aged 11: 842 01:18:49,006 --> 01:18:56,056 "Gaza is living under a siege, like a big jail: no water, no electricity. 843 01:18:56,056 --> 01:19:01,008 People feel afraid, [they] don't sleep at night, and every day more people are killed. 844 01:19:01,008 --> 01:19:08,088 Until now, more than 700 are killed and more than 3,000 injured. 845 01:19:08,088 --> 01:19:18,024 And students had their final first-term exams, so Israel hit the Ministry of Education, and a lot of ministries. 846 01:19:18,024 --> 01:19:21,072 Every day people are asking, "When will it end?", 847 01:19:21,072 --> 01:19:27,036 and they are waiting for more ships with activists like Vittorio and Leila." 848 01:19:27,036 --> 01:19:30,032 Darween, aged 8: 849 01:19:30,032 --> 01:19:35,024 "I am a Palestinian kid: I won't leave my country... 850 01:19:35,024 --> 01:19:39,008 ...so I will have lots of advantage, because I won't leave my country... 851 01:19:39,008 --> 01:19:45,002 ...and I hear a sound of rockets, so I won't leave my country." 852 01:19:45,002 --> 01:19:47,016 Meriam is four. 853 01:19:47,016 --> 01:19:51,072 Her siblings asked her, "What do you feel when you hear the rockets?" 854 01:19:51,072 --> 01:19:54,068 And she said, "I'm scared!", 855 01:19:54,068 --> 01:20:00,024 before running to take cover behind her father's legs. 856 01:20:00,024 --> 01:20:04,064 Sadly, Gaza has been shrouded in obscurity these last 10 days. 857 01:20:04,064 --> 01:20:08,088 I can recharge my computer and phone only in the hospitals. 858 01:20:08,088 --> 01:20:15,036 We watch TV with the doctors and paramedics while waiting for an urgent call. 859 01:20:15,036 --> 01:20:21,004 We listen to the rumblings in the distance, and after a few minutes the Arab satellite networks... 860 01:20:21,004 --> 01:20:25,032 ...report exactly where the explosions took place. 861 01:20:25,032 --> 01:20:36,002 We often watch ourselves pull bodies out of the rubble, as if having seen it all in the flesh weren't enough already. 862 01:20:36,002 --> 01:20:40,084 Last night I switched over to an Israeli channel with the remote. 863 01:20:40,084 --> 01:20:48,056 They were showing a traditional music festival, complete with scantily-clad showgirls and firework displays at the end. 864 01:20:48,056 --> 01:20:53,072 We went back to our horror, not on screen, but in the ambulances. 865 01:20:53,072 --> 01:21:01,084 Israel has every right to laugh and sing even while they're massacring their neighbours. 866 01:21:01,084 --> 01:21:07,084 Palestinians only ask to die a different kind of death, 867 01:21:07,084 --> 01:21:13,000 say, of old age. 868 01:21:13,000 --> 01:21:45,048 Stay Human 869 01:21:45,048 --> 01:21:50,052 9th January 2009 870 01:21:50,052 --> 01:21:54,008 Killing Hippocrates 871 01:21:54,008 --> 01:21:59,016 In Gaza, a firing squad... 872 01:21:59,016 --> 01:22:06,044 ...put Hippocrates up against a wall, aimed and fired. 873 01:22:06,044 --> 01:22:13,096 The absurd declarations of an Israeli secret servicesí spokesman, 874 01:22:13,096 --> 01:22:19,088 according to which the army was given the green light to fire at ambulances... 875 01:22:19,088 --> 01:22:27,004 ...because they allegedly carried terrorists, 876 01:22:27,004 --> 01:22:33,076 , is an illustration of the value that Israel assigns to human life these days 877 01:22:33,076 --> 01:22:38,072 the lives of their enemies, that is. 878 01:22:38,072 --> 01:22:41,084 Itís worth revisiting... 879 01:22:41,084 --> 01:22:45,008 ...whatís stated in the Hippocratic Oath, 880 01:22:45,008 --> 01:22:48,016 which every doctor swears... 881 01:22:48,016 --> 01:22:51,008 ...before practising their profession. 882 01:22:51,008 --> 01:22:58,068 The following passages are especially worthy of note: 883 01:22:58,068 --> 01:23:09,002 "I solemnly pledge myself to consecrate my life to the service of humanity. 884 01:23:09,002 --> 01:23:18,000 I will practise my profession with conscience and dignity. 885 01:23:18,000 --> 01:23:31,000 I will cure all patients with the same diligence and commitment. 886 01:23:31,000 --> 01:23:38,032 I will not permit considerations of religion, nationality, race, 887 01:23:38,032 --> 01:23:44,002 party politics, or social standing to intervene between my duty and my patient.í 888 01:23:44,002 --> 01:23:52,032 Nine doctors and voluntary nurses have been killed since the start of the bombing campaign, 889 01:23:52,032 --> 01:23:58,004 and about 10 ambulances were shot at by the Israeli artillery. 890 01:23:58,004 --> 01:24:01,064 The survivors are quaking with fear, 891 01:24:01,064 --> 01:24:04,004 but refuse to take a step back. 892 01:24:04,004 --> 01:24:07,008 The crimson flashes of the ambulances... 893 01:24:07,008 --> 01:24:14,056 ...are the only bursts of light in the dark streets of Gaza, 894 01:24:14,056 --> 01:24:19,092 bar the flashes that precede an explosion. 895 01:24:19,092 --> 01:24:25,052 Regarding these crimes, the last report comes from Pierre Wettach, Head of the Red Cross in Gaza. 896 01:24:25,052 --> 01:24:34,004 His ambulances had access to the spot of a massacre, in Zeitoun (east of Gaza City)... 897 01:24:34,004 --> 01:24:38,004 ...only 24 hours after an Israeli attack. 898 01:24:38,004 --> 01:24:40,076 The rescue workers state... 899 01:24:40,076 --> 01:24:45,004 ...that they found themselves facing a blood-curdling scenario. 900 01:24:45,004 --> 01:24:53,048 "In one of the houses four small children were found near the body of their dead mother. 901 01:24:53,048 --> 01:24:58,068 They were too weak to stand on their feet. 902 01:24:58,068 --> 01:25:07,006 We also found a grown man, also too weak to stand upright. 903 01:25:07,006 --> 01:25:13,008 About 20 corpses were found lying on the mattresses." 904 01:25:13,008 --> 01:25:21,088 The witnesses to this umpteenth massacre describe how the Israeli soldiers, 905 01:25:21,088 --> 01:25:24,064 after arriving in the neighbourhood, 906 01:25:24,064 --> 01:25:31,008 gathered the numerous members of the Al-Samouni family into one building... 907 01:25:31,008 --> 01:25:38,008 ...and then proceeded to bomb it repeatedly. 908 01:25:38,008 --> 01:25:45,002 My ISM companions and I have been driving around in the Red Crescent ambulances for days, 909 01:25:45,002 --> 01:25:48,068 suffering many attacks. 910 01:25:48,068 --> 01:25:56,092 Our duty on the ambulances is to rescue the injured, not to carry guerrilla fighters. 911 01:25:56,092 --> 01:26:02,064 When we find someone lying in the street in a pool of their own blood, 912 01:26:02,064 --> 01:26:09,008 we donít have the time to check their papers or ask them whether they support Hamas or Fatah. 913 01:26:09,008 --> 01:26:16,072 Most of the seriously injured canít talk, much like the dead. 914 01:26:16,072 --> 01:26:19,016 A few days ago, 915 01:26:19,016 --> 01:26:23,052 while picking up a badly-wounded patient, 916 01:26:23,052 --> 01:26:32,028 another man with light injuries tried to hop onto the ambulance. 917 01:26:32,028 --> 01:26:35,000 We pushed him out, 918 01:26:35,000 --> 01:26:39,064 just to make it clear to whoeverís watching from up above... 919 01:26:39,064 --> 01:26:45,096 ...that we donít serve as a taxi to carry members of the resistance around. 920 01:26:45,096 --> 01:26:53,044 At Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City, seventeen-year-old Miriam was carried in, 921 01:26:53,044 --> 01:26:55,072 in full-blown labour. 922 01:26:55,072 --> 01:27:05,068 Her father and sister-in-law, both dead, had passed through the hospital in the morning, 923 01:27:05,068 --> 01:27:12,016 both victims of the indiscriminate bombing. 924 01:27:12,016 --> 01:27:16,028 Miriam gave birth to a gorgeous baby during the night, 925 01:27:16,028 --> 01:27:18,064 not aware of the fact... 926 01:27:18,064 --> 01:27:22,032 ...that while she lay in the delivery room, 927 01:27:22,032 --> 01:27:30,048 her young husband had arrived in the morgue one floor below her. 928 01:27:30,048 --> 01:27:32,012 In the end, 929 01:27:32,012 --> 01:27:36,024 even the United Nations has started to see that... 930 01:27:36,024 --> 01:27:40,028 ...weíre all in the same boat here in Gaza. 931 01:27:40,028 --> 01:27:44,056 Weíre all walking targets for the snipers. 932 01:27:44,056 --> 01:27:50,064 The death toll is now at 789 dead, 933 01:27:50,064 --> 01:27:53,068 3,300 wounded 934 01:27:53,068 --> 01:27:58,004 with 410 in critical condition, 935 01:27:58,004 --> 01:28:03,092 230 children killed and countless missing. 936 01:28:03,092 --> 01:28:07,064 The death toll on the Israeli side... 937 01:28:07,064 --> 01:28:12,036 ...has thankfully remained at four. 938 01:28:12,036 --> 01:28:19,088 John Ging, Director of UNRWAís (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees)... 939 01:28:19,088 --> 01:28:23,088 ...Field Operations in Gaza, has related the UN announcement that theyíll suspend... 940 01:28:23,088 --> 01:28:28,056 ...their humanitarian activities in the Gaza Strip. 941 01:28:28,056 --> 01:28:33,004 I bumped into Ging at the Ramattan press office... 942 01:28:33,004 --> 01:28:41,004 ...and saw him wagging his finger with disdain at Israel before the cameras. 943 01:28:41,004 --> 01:28:48,048 The UN stopped its work in Gaza after two of its operators were killed yesterday, 944 01:28:48,048 --> 01:28:58,092 ironically during the three-hour ceasefire that Israel had announced and, as usual, had failed to stick to. 945 01:28:58,092 --> 01:29:08,008 "The civilians in Gaza have three hours a day at their disposal in which to survive, 946 01:29:08,008 --> 01:29:12,084 the Israeli soldiers have the remaining 21... 947 01:29:12,084 --> 01:29:16,068 ...in which to try and exterminate them", 948 01:29:16,068 --> 01:29:22,028 I heard Ging state, two steps away from me. 949 01:29:22,028 --> 01:29:29,008 Yasmine, the wife of one of the many journalists waiting in line at the Erez Pass, wrote to me from Jerusalem. 950 01:29:29,008 --> 01:29:41,008 Israel wonít grant these journalists a pass to let them in and film or describe the immense unnatural catastrophe 951 01:29:41,008 --> 01:29:43,004 She said: 952 01:29:43,004 --> 01:29:47,088 "The day before yesterday I went to have a look at Gaza from the outside. 953 01:29:47,088 --> 01:29:53,044 The worldís journalists are all huddled on a small sandy hill... 954 01:29:53,044 --> 01:29:57,016 ...a few kilometres from the border. 955 01:29:57,016 --> 01:30:01,028 Innumerable cameras are pointed towards us. 956 01:30:01,028 --> 01:30:05,006 Planes circle overhead, you can hear them but you canít see them. 957 01:30:05,006 --> 01:30:09,068 Theyíre like hallucinations, 958 01:30:09,068 --> 01:30:14,008 like something in your head until you see the black smoke rising from the horizon, in Gaza. 959 01:30:14,008 --> 01:30:21,004 The hill has also become a tourist site for Israelis in the area. 960 01:30:21,004 --> 01:30:27,016 With their large binoculars and cameras, 961 01:30:27,016 --> 01:30:32,006 they come and watch the bombings live." 962 01:30:32,006 --> 01:30:39,024 While I write this piece of correspondence in a mad rush, 963 01:30:39,024 --> 01:30:44,000 a bomb has been dropped on to the building next to the one Iím in right now. 964 01:30:44,000 --> 01:30:47,048 The windowpanes shake, my ears ache 965 01:30:47,048 --> 01:30:56,032 I look out the window and see that the building holding the major Arabic media agencies has been struck. 966 01:30:56,032 --> 01:31:00,000 Itís one of Gaza Cityís tallest buildings, 967 01:31:00,000 --> 01:31:03,028 the Al-Jawhara building. 968 01:31:03,028 --> 01:31:07,024 A camera crew is permanently stationed on the roof, 969 01:31:07,024 --> 01:31:09,096 and I can now see them all waving their arms... 970 01:31:09,096 --> 01:31:15,016 ...and asking for help as theyíre covered by a black cloud of smoke. 971 01:31:15,016 --> 01:31:22,002 Paramedics and journalists, the most heroic occupations in this corner of the world. 972 01:31:22,002 --> 01:31:26,088 Yesterday I paid Tamim a visit at the Al-Shifa Hospital, 973 01:31:26,088 --> 01:31:31,032 heís a journalist whoís survived an air raid. 974 01:31:31,032 --> 01:31:36,036 He explained how he thinks that Israel is adopting the same, 975 01:31:36,036 --> 01:31:39,096 identical terrorist techniques as Al-Qaeda: 976 01:31:39,096 --> 01:31:42,004 bombing a building, 977 01:31:42,004 --> 01:31:45,004 waiting for the journalists and ambulances to rush in, 978 01:31:45,004 --> 01:31:48,004 then dropping another bomb... 979 01:31:48,004 --> 01:31:51,012 ...to finish the latter off as well. 980 01:31:51,012 --> 01:31:54,052 In his view thatís why... 981 01:31:54,052 --> 01:31:59,016 ...thereíve been so many casualties among the journalists and paramedics. 982 01:31:59,016 --> 01:32:03,064 As he said this, the nurses around his bed all nodded in agreement. 983 01:32:03,064 --> 01:32:09,052 Smilingly, Tamim showed me his two stubs for legs. 984 01:32:09,052 --> 01:32:15,012 He was happy he was still around to tell the story, 985 01:32:15,012 --> 01:32:18,002 while his colleague, Mohammed, 986 01:32:18,002 --> 01:32:24,006 had died with a camera in his hand when the second explosion had proved fatal. 987 01:32:24,006 --> 01:32:30,096 In the meantime I asked about the bomb that had just been dropped on the building next door, 988 01:32:30,096 --> 01:32:35,056 where two journalists, both Palestinian, 989 01:32:35,056 --> 01:32:41,012 one from Libyan TV and the other from Dubai Television, have been injured. 990 01:32:41,012 --> 01:32:52,088 This is a harsh new reminder that this massacre must in no way be described or recorded. 991 01:32:52,088 --> 01:32:55,006 All thatís left for me to hope... 992 01:32:55,006 --> 01:33:00,064 ...is that among the Israel's military leaders, 993 01:33:00,064 --> 01:33:03,016 no one reads Il Manifesto, 994 01:33:03,016 --> 01:33:09,036 or habitually visits my blog. 995 01:33:09,036 --> 01:33:30,024 Stay human. 996 01:33:30,024 --> 01:33:36,024 10th January 2009 997 01:33:36,024 --> 01:33:40,048 Total Destruction: Work in Progress 998 01:33:40,048 --> 01:33:49,028 Some Palestinian families have handed us some leaflets that had fallen from the sky in the last few days, 999 01:33:49,028 --> 01:33:56,084 courtesy of the Israeli Air Force, in lieu of the customary bombs. 1000 01:33:56,084 --> 01:34:01,096 The first leaflet, translated from the Arabic, reads: 1001 01:34:01,096 --> 01:34:05,064 To all the people living in this area. 1002 01:34:05,064 --> 01:34:14,000 Due to the terrorist acts with which the terrorists from your area are attacking Israel, 1003 01:34:14,000 --> 01:34:22,008 the Israeli Army Forces were forced to take immediate action in your area. 1004 01:34:22,008 --> 01:34:29,008 We thus urge you, for your own safety, to immediately evacuate the area. 1005 01:34:29,008 --> 01:34:32,088 The Israeli Army. 1006 01:34:32,088 --> 01:34:41,032 In short, the Israelis are sticking a "work in progress" at every door, 1007 01:34:41,032 --> 01:34:46,048 before razing whole neighbourhoods to their foundations, 1008 01:34:46,048 --> 01:34:52,068 and forever dashing hopes of a life in the present or in the future. 1009 01:34:52,068 --> 01:35:01,084 Apparently, those who havenít got anywhere to flee to are consigned to be buried under tonnes of rubble. 1010 01:35:01,084 --> 01:35:08,008 A little while ago they had warned us they intended to throw more leaflets, 1011 01:35:08,008 --> 01:35:13,076 threatening us with a "third phase of war of terror [that] is about to start". 1012 01:35:13,076 --> 01:35:18,052 Israeli military commanders are indeed polite, 1013 01:35:18,052 --> 01:35:24,036 they ask the population of Gaza to cooperate before crushing them like insects. 1014 01:35:24,036 --> 01:35:27,088 If the leaflets arenít persuasive enough, 1015 01:35:27,088 --> 01:35:34,076 itís up to the Air Force to knock gently on the roofs of Gazaís houses. 1016 01:35:34,076 --> 01:35:43,044 Itís a brand new tactic, slightly less powerful bombs are dropped, 1017 01:35:43,044 --> 01:35:54,076 though powerful enough to tear the roofs clear off the houses, "gently" persuading their occupiers to evacuate them. 1018 01:35:54,076 --> 01:36:05,048 After two or three minutes the planes drift past again, and nothing remains of the buildings. 1019 01:36:05,048 --> 01:36:09,000 Where should the evacuees go? 1020 01:36:09,000 --> 01:36:13,048 There are no safe shelters in the whole of the Strip, 1021 01:36:13,048 --> 01:36:20,072 and personally I fear for my own life more when walking past a mosque or a school, 1022 01:36:20,072 --> 01:36:29,012 than when standing in front of any of the government buildings, which are still standing intact. 1023 01:36:29,012 --> 01:36:32,076 Last night, 20 metres from my home, 1024 01:36:32,076 --> 01:36:36,048 Israeli jet fighters tore down the fire station. 1025 01:36:36,048 --> 01:36:45,052 This morning, on the street running parallel to the port, I discovered some craters several metres deep, 1026 01:36:45,052 --> 01:36:56,004 as if meteors had rained down from the sky, as are often featured in sci-fi movies. 1027 01:36:56,004 --> 01:37:03,028 The difference here is that the special effects are pretty damn painful. 1028 01:37:03,028 --> 01:37:08,084 Visiting the wards of Al-Shifa Hospital, crowded with injured patients awaiting treatment, 1029 01:37:08,084 --> 01:37:12,036 you can bump into a doctor who doesnít look very Arab. 1030 01:37:12,036 --> 01:37:18,072 Mads Gilbert is a Norwegian doctor from the NGO Norwac. 1031 01:37:18,072 --> 01:37:27,068 Gilbert, an anaesthetist, confirms our suspicion regarding the use of forbidden weapons by Israel on Gazaís civilians: 1032 01:37:27,068 --> 01:37:35,008 "Many injured arrive with extreme amputations, with both their legs reduced to a pulp, 1033 01:37:35,008 --> 01:37:40,016 which I suspect is an effect of Dime weapons." 1034 01:37:40,016 --> 01:37:44,076 (The Dime bomb is an innovative explosive... 1035 01:37:44,076 --> 01:37:57,076 ...made to strike specific targets and cause as much damage as possible.) 1036 01:37:57,076 --> 01:38:05,000 This is happening while Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 1037 01:38:05,000 --> 01:38:14,088 reports that "extremely serious violations possibly constituting war crimes" are taking place. 1038 01:38:14,088 --> 01:38:21,076 The last instance of one such crime happened a few hours ago, east of Jabalia, 1039 01:38:21,076 --> 01:38:27,002 where a family, at the point of evacuating their house, 1040 01:38:27,002 --> 01:38:30,032 was stocking up on some food supplies at a small shop. 1041 01:38:30,032 --> 01:38:36,024 When it was promptly bombed, eight were killed, and all members of the Abed Rabbu family, 1042 01:38:36,024 --> 01:38:39,068 in addition to two others, were left severely injured. 1043 01:38:39,068 --> 01:38:46,008 People I speak to in the street are under the impression that Israel is biding its time, 1044 01:38:46,008 --> 01:38:52,004 even while the bombs are being dropped non-stop and the land artillery is slowly advancing. 1045 01:38:52,004 --> 01:39:01,072 The soldiers have no problems in stocking up with "K-rations", the individual military food rations, 1046 01:39:01,072 --> 01:39:07,044 unlike many people in Gaza who can no longer get any bread. 1047 01:39:07,044 --> 01:39:20,044 The bakers, having run out of flour, have resorted to mixing it with animal flour with which to make buns. 1048 01:39:20,044 --> 01:39:26,016 Itís week-old bread, green with mould. 1049 01:39:26,016 --> 01:39:30,056 You cook it over a small fire lit with a couple of pieces of wood... 1050 01:39:30,056 --> 01:39:38,072 ...and I can assure you that, even then, itís not exactly a delicacy. 1051 01:39:38,072 --> 01:39:50,096 All over the net, Israel is uploading dozens of films featuring birdís eye-view images, 1052 01:39:50,096 --> 01:39:55,002 allegedly showing how precise its bombings... 1053 01:39:55,002 --> 01:40:02,008 ...against the "terrorists" are, or against hypothetical enemy warehouses stocking weapons and explosives. 1054 01:40:02,008 --> 01:40:07,032 The dizzying count of civilian casualties is enough to discredit these videos. 1055 01:40:07,032 --> 01:40:17,028 I wonder how Israel can call itself civilized and democratic, 1056 01:40:17,028 --> 01:40:20,072 when its army, in trying to drive out and kill an enemy, 1057 01:40:20,072 --> 01:40:30,008 wonít hesitate to knock down an entire, crowded building, burying dozens of innocent victims alive in the process. 1058 01:40:30,008 --> 01:40:37,068 Itís as if the Italian army hunting down a dangerous mafia criminal... 1059 01:40:37,068 --> 01:40:43,006 ...started heavily bombing the centre of Palermo. 1060 01:40:43,006 --> 01:40:54,006 As sit here I writing this, there are 821 Palestinians dead, 1061 01:40:54,006 --> 01:41:03,076 93 being women, and 235 children. 1062 01:41:03,076 --> 01:41:16,064 Twelve paramedics were killed while fulfilling their duty and three journalists died with cameras hanging round their necks. 1063 01:41:16,064 --> 01:41:22,004 A good 3,350 are among the injured, 1064 01:41:22,004 --> 01:41:25,076 with more than half being under 18 years of age. 1065 01:41:25,076 --> 01:41:32,008 According to the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights based in Jabalia, renowned for its reliability, 1066 01:41:32,008 --> 01:41:41,024 they make up 85% of the Palestinian civilian casualties massacred in the last two weeks. 1067 01:41:41,024 --> 01:41:48,004 The death toll on the Israeli side has thankfully remained at four. 1068 01:41:48,004 --> 01:41:53,004 If the United Nations cannot protect the Palestinian civilian population... 1069 01:41:53,004 --> 01:41:58,076 ...from the massive Israeli violations of their own international humanitarian obligations, 1070 01:41:58,076 --> 01:42:10,004 my friends from the Free Gaza Movement will give it a shot, ready as they are to sail to Gaza in a few days. 1071 01:42:10,004 --> 01:42:15,064 Among them are doctors, nurses and human rights activists, 1072 01:42:15,064 --> 01:42:25,036 who consider it their personal moral duty to do whatever is humanly possible to provide some measure of protection. 1073 01:42:25,036 --> 01:42:33,072 They had already tried to get here on the 31st December, on board the Dignity. 1074 01:42:33,072 --> 01:42:38,004 But the Israeli Navy had rammed our boat in international waters, 1075 01:42:38,004 --> 01:42:47,064 trying to sink it, and had subsequently spoken of "an accident". 1076 01:42:47,064 --> 01:42:54,088 I will wait for my friends with their load of humanitarian aid among the ruins of whatís left of the port. 1077 01:42:54,088 --> 01:43:02,004 Hereís to hoping that no more "accidents" will occur off the coast this time. 1078 01:43:02,004 --> 01:43:12,072 The second leaflet dropped from planes that weíve translated is a scream: 1079 01:43:12,072 --> 01:43:18,088 Citizens of Gaza, take responsibility for your destiny! 1080 01:43:18,088 --> 01:43:24,088 In Gaza the terrorists and those who launch rockets against Israel represent a threat to your lives... 1081 01:43:24,088 --> 01:43:27,084 ...and to those of your families. 1082 01:43:27,084 --> 01:43:32,006 If you wish to help your families and brothers in Gaza, 1083 01:43:32,006 --> 01:43:39,008 all youíll have to do is call the number below and give us information... 1084 01:43:39,008 --> 01:43:43,004 ...on the whereabouts of those responsible for launching rockets. 1085 01:43:43,004 --> 01:43:48,008 The terrorist militia has turned you into the first victims of their actions. 1086 01:43:48,008 --> 01:43:55,016 Avoiding more atrocities being committed is now your responsibility! 1087 01:43:55,016 --> 01:44:00,004 Donít hesitate! Complete discretion is guaranteed. 1088 01:44:00,004 --> 01:44:03,004 You can contact us at the following number... 1089 01:44:03,004 --> 01:44:07,072 Otherwise write to us at the following email, 1090 01:44:07,072 --> 01:44:15,024 giving us any information you may have on terrorist activities. 1091 01:44:15,024 --> 01:44:27,044 Many write to me from Italy, filled with frustration at not being able to do anything against the genocide currently taking place. 1092 01:44:27,044 --> 01:44:34,036 I would urge you to continue showing your indignation and supporting human rights. 1093 01:44:34,036 --> 01:44:39,004 If you then have five minutes to spare and a phone card, 1094 01:44:39,004 --> 01:44:48,096 the details contained in the last leaflet could come in useful in communicating your disdain... 1095 01:44:48,096 --> 01:44:59,032 ...to those who cynically gamble with the lives of a million-and-a-half people via air, sea and land. 1096 01:44:59,032 --> 01:45:05,032 Never would a phone card have been better spent. 1097 01:45:05,032 --> 01:45:15,008 Those 235 massacred children are asking for it. 1098 01:45:15,008 --> 01:45:47,002 Stay human. 1099 01:45:47,002 --> 01:45:51,052 13th January 2009 1100 01:45:51,052 --> 01:45:54,076 Vultures and Bounty Hunters 1101 01:45:54,076 --> 01:45:59,008 We still try to create routes of salvation via the sea, 1102 01:45:59,008 --> 01:46:06,028 to make a breakthrough into this tormented land, now confiscated and imprisoned, 1103 01:46:06,028 --> 01:46:14,044 every inch of it raped and reduced to a cemetery for corpses that are being denied a peaceful repose. 1104 01:46:14,044 --> 01:46:16,012 For a few days now, 1105 01:46:16,012 --> 01:46:20,092 even funerals have become the targets of the Israeli Air Force, 1106 01:46:20,092 --> 01:46:27,068 as if murdered Palestinians deserve additional punishment in death as well. 1107 01:46:27,068 --> 01:46:32,044 If a humanitarian passage is struggling to make its way... 1108 01:46:32,044 --> 01:46:36,036 ...and come in aid of a people at the end of their tether, 1109 01:46:36,036 --> 01:46:38,004 the Spirit of Humanity, 1110 01:46:38,004 --> 01:46:44,036 one of our Free Gaza Movement boats, will try to be there for them. 1111 01:46:44,036 --> 01:46:47,008 It sailed from Larnaca, Cyprus, today 1112 01:46:47,008 --> 01:46:51,096 and will bring tonnes of medicine to Gazaís port, 1113 01:46:51,096 --> 01:46:57,000 in addition to about 40 doctors, nurses, journalists, 1114 01:46:57,000 --> 01:47:05,024 European parliamentarians, and human rights activists representing 17 different nations in all. 1115 01:47:05,024 --> 01:47:08,000 Human beings, like myself, 1116 01:47:08,000 --> 01:47:10,084 like many who vent their indignation, 1117 01:47:10,084 --> 01:47:13,044 are ready to risk their lives... 1118 01:47:13,044 --> 01:47:16,088 ...rather than lounge passively in their living rooms, 1119 01:47:16,088 --> 01:47:18,008 watching news bulletins... 1120 01:47:18,008 --> 01:47:27,036 ...that reveal only a tiny fraction of what the massacre being inflicted upon us is doing here. 1121 01:47:27,036 --> 01:47:30,056 On the 29th December, 1122 01:47:30,056 --> 01:47:35,000 my friends gave it a shot with Dignity: 1123 01:47:35,000 --> 01:47:39,084 but they were attacked by the Israeli Navy. It tried to sink them. 1124 01:47:39,084 --> 01:47:44,028 They had to send out an SOS and fled to Lebanon... 1125 01:47:44,028 --> 01:47:48,064 ...with engine failure and a leak in their hull. 1126 01:47:48,064 --> 01:47:53,006 On that occasion it was only by pure chance that no one was badly hurt, 1127 01:47:53,006 --> 01:47:54,084 so we hope... 1128 01:47:54,084 --> 01:48:01,012 ...human rights as well as the lives of the activists will be spared tomorrow. 1129 01:48:01,012 --> 01:48:06,088 There are terrifying catastrophes in this world, such as earthquakes and hurricanes, 1130 01:48:06,088 --> 01:48:09,072 inevitable natural phenomena. 1131 01:48:09,072 --> 01:48:15,024 But Gaza endures an unnatural humanitarian catastrophe... 1132 01:48:15,024 --> 01:48:18,012 ...being perpetuated by Israel, 1133 01:48:18,012 --> 01:48:23,064 damaging a people long reduced to abject poverty and submission. 1134 01:48:23,064 --> 01:48:29,052 Gazans are a desperate people without bread or milk to feed their children. 1135 01:48:29,052 --> 01:48:33,004 They no longer shed any tears when mourning, 1136 01:48:33,004 --> 01:48:37,028 as their eyes are also on a strictly imposed diet. 1137 01:48:37,028 --> 01:48:40,008 The entire world cannot ignore this tragedy and, 1138 01:48:40,008 --> 01:48:45,068 if they continue to do so, we donít want any part of it. 1139 01:48:45,068 --> 01:48:50,052 Every day we invoke someone above us to stop the genocide, 1140 01:48:50,052 --> 01:48:52,012 but for tomorrow... 1141 01:48:52,012 --> 01:48:56,052 ...all we ask is for our small boat to land in Gaza... 1142 01:48:56,052 --> 01:49:00,068 ...with its cargo of compassion and empathy. 1143 01:49:00,068 --> 01:49:05,076 May the Palestinians also receive the same rights that Israelis, 1144 01:49:05,076 --> 01:49:10,048 or any other people on earth enjoy. 1145 01:49:10,048 --> 01:49:13,024 The sea can be an anchor of hope, 1146 01:49:13,024 --> 01:49:16,012 or a scenario of destruction. 1147 01:49:16,012 --> 01:49:22,084 According to the Maían Press Agency, with Reuters echoing their statement, 1148 01:49:22,084 --> 01:49:28,008 the United States are about to ship 300 tonnes of weapons to Israel... 1149 01:49:28,008 --> 01:49:31,076 ...via cargo ships sailing from Greece. 1150 01:49:31,076 --> 01:49:36,068 Weapons and enormous amounts of explosives and fuses, 1151 01:49:36,068 --> 01:49:38,004 and all thatís needed... 1152 01:49:38,004 --> 01:49:43,036 ...to raze thousands of houses to their foundations. 1153 01:49:43,036 --> 01:49:50,000 There are 120,000 homeless displaced from Gaza to Jabalia already. 1154 01:49:50,000 --> 01:49:53,032 But most, including many of my friends, 1155 01:49:53,032 --> 01:49:56,092 havenít budged and have nowhere to flee. 1156 01:49:56,092 --> 01:50:00,006 Journalists, doctors and gravediggers: 1157 01:50:00,006 --> 01:50:08,072 for 16 days non-stop now these have been the busiest professionals in Gaza. 1158 01:50:08,072 --> 01:50:17,064 The circling vultures in follow in the wake of the bomber planes stir up more hatred among the Palestinians, 1159 01:50:17,064 --> 01:50:24,006 especially towards those seated where the late lamented Yasser Arafat... 1160 01:50:24,006 --> 01:50:33,084 ...(1929-2004), the former Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, used to sit. 1161 01:50:33,084 --> 01:50:41,088 They now itch to come and take over the throne towering over Gazaís ashes. 1162 01:50:41,088 --> 01:50:45,048 The death toll is now at 923, 1163 01:50:45,048 --> 01:50:48,084 with 4,150 wounded, 1164 01:50:48,084 --> 01:50:55,088 including 255 horrendously butchered Palestinian children. 1165 01:50:55,088 --> 01:51:01,068 The number of dead on the Israeli side has thankfully stayed at four. 1166 01:51:01,068 --> 01:51:10,002 Rumour has it that Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, had told his side... 1167 01:51:10,002 --> 01:51:21,056 ...that hitting a death toll of 1,000 civilians marked the limit after which this brutal attack and infanticide would be halted. 1168 01:51:21,056 --> 01:51:27,028 Itís a bit like what happens at the Vucciria markets in Palermo, 1169 01:51:27,028 --> 01:51:32,048 where quarters of beef are hung up to drip blood out in the open, 1170 01:51:32,048 --> 01:51:37,012 and you haggle for the meat, so much per kilo. 1171 01:51:37,012 --> 01:51:49,032 Few Palestinians now miss tuning in for Ismail Haniyehís appearances on the small screen here in the Gaza Strip. 1172 01:51:49,032 --> 01:51:56,076 You canít speak of a ceasefire without simultaneously establishing an end to the siege. 1173 01:51:56,076 --> 01:52:03,008 Continuing to keep Gaza under siege now that itís been reduced to a heap of rubble, 1174 01:52:03,008 --> 01:52:06,072 not allowing provisions and medicine to come through, 1175 01:52:06,072 --> 01:52:09,076 preventing the sick and injured from getting out, 1176 01:52:09,076 --> 01:52:14,084 is equivalent to condemning them to more prolonged agony. 1177 01:52:14,084 --> 01:52:20,084 These in brief were the words spoken by Hamasís leader, 1178 01:52:20,084 --> 01:52:30,072 spoken from an underground bunker from God knows where. These words find an echo in Gazan public opinion. 1179 01:52:30,072 --> 01:52:36,096 This was the speech of a leader who could have fled and taken refuge elsewhere. 1180 01:52:36,096 --> 01:52:44,004 To the contrary, he decided to risk a bomb being dropped on his head like everyone else. 1181 01:52:44,004 --> 01:52:48,092 I was just interrupted, while typing this piece, 1182 01:52:48,092 --> 01:52:52,052 by the usual intimidating phone call... 1183 01:52:52,052 --> 01:52:56,084 ...ordering us to evacuate the building before a bombing. 1184 01:52:56,084 --> 01:53:03,068 Iím currently in the building where the main international media agencies operate, 1185 01:53:03,068 --> 01:53:10,036 these being, among others, Al-Jazeera, Ramattan and Reuters. 1186 01:53:10,036 --> 01:53:17,012 We were forced to unplug our PCs, rush downstairs and crowd the street, 1187 01:53:17,012 --> 01:53:21,068 where we kept our eyes glued to the sky, trying to pick out... 1188 01:53:21,068 --> 01:53:26,008 ...where the destructive thunder would strike from this time. 1189 01:53:26,008 --> 01:53:33,036 There wonít be any cameras or reporters around to document the civilian massacre tonight, 1190 01:53:33,036 --> 01:53:40,076 as we suspect that Gazaís innocent casualties will be more numerous than usual. 1191 01:53:40,076 --> 01:53:46,064 Still standing in the street, I stared at Alberto, winking at him. 1192 01:53:46,064 --> 01:53:50,044 He came up closer and, whispering, 1193 01:53:50,044 --> 01:53:58,024 I asked him whether he thought it plausible that the threatening phone call had been made especially for the two of us, 1194 01:53:58,024 --> 01:54:01,088 after the discovery of the American website... 1195 01:54:01,088 --> 01:54:05,008 ...singling us out as targets: 1196 01:54:05,008 --> 01:54:10,008 ALERT THE IDF MILITARY TO TARGET ISM 1197 01:54:10,008 --> 01:54:17,092 Number to call if you can pinpoint the locations of Hamas with their ISM members. 1198 01:54:17,092 --> 01:54:20,068 From the US call, 1199 01:54:20,068 --> 01:54:28,016 ...011-972-2-5839749. 1200 01:54:28,016 --> 01:54:31,096 From other countries drop the 011. 1201 01:54:31,096 --> 01:54:35,084 Help us neutralize the ISM, 1202 01:54:35,084 --> 01:54:40,084 now definitely a part of Hamas since the war has begun. 1203 01:54:40,084 --> 01:54:46,052 #1 ISM TARGET FOR THE ISRAELI AIR FORCE AND IDF GROUND TROOPS: 1204 01:54:46,052 --> 01:54:54,092 VITTORIO ARRIGONI (PICTURED BELOW) IS CURRENTLY IN GAZA ASSISTING HAMAS 1205 01:54:54,092 --> 01:54:59,084 This is copied from "stoptheism.com". 1206 01:54:59,084 --> 01:55:02,044 Don't bother to visit this website... 1207 01:55:02,044 --> 01:55:06,072 ...or provide a link to it from your own websites. 1208 01:55:06,072 --> 01:55:13,048 Itís a sociological case to be passed on to future generations for study. 1209 01:55:13,048 --> 01:55:16,092 On closer analysis of the present, 1210 01:55:16,092 --> 01:55:21,006 the future will pronounce its sentence without appeal: 1211 01:55:21,006 --> 01:55:26,016 of how hatred was the purest of all feelings. 1212 01:55:26,016 --> 01:55:32,044 Spite against anything thatís different could fuel whole armies, 1213 01:55:32,044 --> 01:55:37,008 becoming the feeling that brings masses of people together. 1214 01:55:37,008 --> 01:55:41,002 Thereís no need for my enemies... 1215 01:55:41,002 --> 01:55:46,012 ...and those who wish for my martyrdom to dial that number. 1216 01:55:46,012 --> 01:55:50,028 The Israeli Army knows exactly where to find me tonight, 1217 01:55:50,028 --> 01:55:55,000 on the Al-Quds Hospital ambulances in Gaza City. 1218 01:55:55,000 --> 01:55:57,088 Stay human. 1219 01:55:57,088 --> 01:56:39,028 Stay human. 1220 01:56:39,028 --> 01:56:42,056 14th January 2009 1221 01:56:42,056 --> 01:56:48,048 The children of a lesser God.They continue to atone for the spite passed on from one generation to the next, 1222 01:56:48,048 --> 01:56:51,052 through no fault of their own. 1223 01:56:51,052 --> 01:56:57,028 The soldiers bearing the Star of David are perfectly at ease in their roles as so many contemporary Herods, 1224 01:56:57,028 --> 01:57:02,024 with 253 massacred Palestinian children so far. 1225 01:57:02,024 --> 01:57:04,008 An endless horror, 1226 01:57:04,008 --> 01:57:07,008 for which no soldier, no Israeli army officer, 1227 01:57:07,008 --> 01:57:15,012 nor the Israeli government will ever be put in front of its responsabilities of war criminal. 1228 01:57:15,012 --> 01:57:18,092 If these innocent victims are spared for a few hours, 1229 01:57:18,092 --> 01:57:21,084 it might not necessarily be so for the buildings and courtyards providing a backdrop for their games, 1230 01:57:21,084 --> 01:57:24,096 dreams and ambitions, their fantasies of growing up. 1231 01:57:24,096 --> 01:57:29,000 The places filling the void left by their deceased fathers and mothers, 1232 01:57:29,000 --> 01:57:33,088 that is, orphanages, have become a favourite nesting place for a species of Israeli mechanical bird. 1233 01:57:33,088 --> 01:57:37,096 Itís there that the fighter planes go and lay their bombs. 1234 01:57:37,096 --> 01:57:41,056 My fellow ISM volunteers in Rafah have written to me, saying: 1235 01:57:41,056 --> 01:57:45,092 On Sunday, 11th January, at about 3.00am, 1236 01:57:45,092 --> 01:57:51,012 the F16s bombed the orphanage of the Dar al-Fadila Association, 1237 01:57:51,012 --> 01:57:55,004 which included a school, a college, a computer centre... 1238 01:57:55,004 --> 01:58:02,044 ...a mosque in Taha Hussein Street, in the Kherbat al-Adas neighbourhood, north-east of Rafah. 1239 01:58:02,044 --> 01:58:08,084 Parts of the buildings were severely damaged. 1240 01:58:08,084 --> 01:58:13,006 The school assisted 500 orphaned children. 1241 01:58:13,006 --> 01:58:19,004 This very personal Israeli jihad against Islamís sacred places along the Strip... 1242 01:58:19,004 --> 01:58:23,048 ...is still under way as well, with blessings from the international communityís lack of anything resembling a protest. 1243 01:58:23,048 --> 01:58:25,092 Including the Kherbat al-Adas Mosque, 1244 01:58:25,092 --> 01:58:29,048 20 Muslim places of worship have been razed to the ground up till now. 1245 01:58:29,048 --> 01:58:34,024 Thankfully, no Qassam "rocket" has as yet even brushed the walls of a synagogue. 1246 01:58:34,024 --> 01:58:41,024 Otherwise, weíre certain that weíd have heard rightful cries of disdain from every corner of the world. 1247 01:58:41,024 --> 01:58:46,008 God must be paying a tax for receiving prayers from the Palestinians. 1248 01:58:46,008 --> 01:58:51,064 Out of almost 950 victims, 85% are civilians. 1249 01:58:51,064 --> 01:58:58,008 The infernal Israeli death machine is slowly advancing, taking over the whole of Gaza, 1250 01:58:58,008 --> 01:59:02,004 knocking down houses, schools, universities, hospitals, 1251 01:59:02,004 --> 01:59:08,096 without any tangible sign from the international community of a will to boycott these actions. 1252 01:59:08,096 --> 01:59:11,024 Itís now our turn, 1253 01:59:11,024 --> 01:59:13,052 as ordinary citizens without citizenship, 1254 01:59:13,052 --> 01:59:18,000 if not without the feeling of belonging to the one and only community of people, 1255 01:59:18,000 --> 01:59:19,088 the Human family. 1256 01:59:19,088 --> 01:59:25,002 it's time we put a spoke in this this hellish contraption. 1257 01:59:25,002 --> 01:59:30,076 I recently met Doctor Haidar Eid, a Professor at Al-Quds University in Gaza City. 1258 01:59:30,076 --> 01:59:36,008 A leftist intellectual type, tough as nails and simultaneously good-humoured, passionate and generous, 1259 01:59:36,008 --> 01:59:38,012 the likes of which is completely extinct in Italy today. 1260 01:59:38,012 --> 01:59:41,068 And if they're still to be found their type is likely to be imprisoned in some basement, removed from the collective memory. 1261 01:59:41,068 --> 01:59:44,052 Itís impossible to adapt their type to the bipartisan... 1262 01:59:44,052 --> 01:59:48,032 ...trend whereby post-fascists and post-socialists walk arm in arm, 1263 01:59:48,032 --> 01:59:54,028 reciting in unison their refrain to defend every single massacre Israel carries out. 1264 01:59:54,028 --> 01:59:57,008 Haidar also happens to be a spokesman for PACBI 1265 01:59:57,008 --> 02:00:01,016 (The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel), 1266 02:00:01,016 --> 02:00:06,092 and BNC (The Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions Campaign National Committee), 1267 02:00:06,092 --> 02:00:10,056 and with him i discussed about the boycott. 1268 02:00:10,056 --> 02:00:13,004 History is a teacher, but it has no students. 1269 02:00:13,004 --> 02:00:17,088 Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi are at the moment unable to hold remedial lessons. 1270 02:00:17,088 --> 02:00:24,000 Thankfully, the history lesson offered by South Africaís example can show us the way towards forcing a racist and colonialist Israel... 1271 02:00:24,000 --> 02:00:26,028 ...towards compromise. 1272 02:00:26,028 --> 02:00:31,052 Refraining from boycotting the regime of apartheid back then was a little like being an accomplice to it. 1273 02:00:31,052 --> 02:00:33,048 What has possibly changed today? 1274 02:00:33,048 --> 02:00:40,006 Like myself, the vast majority of Palestinians donít think the answer to the Israeli occupation and the ongoing massacre... 1275 02:00:40,006 --> 02:00:44,048 ...is suicide bombings, ëkamikazesí and ërocketsí against Sderot. 1276 02:00:44,048 --> 02:00:47,032 Boycotting is peaceful and non-violent, 1277 02:00:47,032 --> 02:00:54,024 the most humanly acceptable answer to a conflict so depraved it has turned every gesture into something inhuman. 1278 02:00:54,024 --> 02:00:57,002 Itís the best weapon in our arsenal of non-violence, 1279 02:00:57,002 --> 02:01:01,072 as Naomi Klein reminds us in the London Guardian. 1280 02:01:01,072 --> 02:01:06,088 Haidar even manages to look on the bright side despite the bloody pit weíre sinking into. 1281 02:01:06,088 --> 02:01:12,024 Just as the world felt the time had come to say "Enough!" after the Sharpeville massacre of 21st March 1960... 1282 02:01:12,024 --> 02:01:21,016 ...when 78 black citizens were torn to pieces by the will of a barbaric regime in South Africa, 1283 02:01:21,016 --> 02:01:28,028 the incomparable massacre of 1,000 Palestinian civilians could breathe life into an equally strong activist campaign... 1284 02:01:28,028 --> 02:01:30,088 ...to punish Israeli crimes. 1285 02:01:30,088 --> 02:01:35,012 Haidar also supports the idea of Israel and Palestine as a sole, 1286 02:01:35,012 --> 02:01:38,004 secular, democratic, and inter-religious state: 1287 02:01:38,004 --> 02:01:44,072 he sees no other pragmatic way out of the conflict. 1288 02:01:44,072 --> 02:01:48,064 More intimately, he speaks to me of al-Nakba, which he was spared from by a few years, 1289 02:01:48,064 --> 02:01:52,068 as if it had been very much brought to life by the stories he had inherited from his family. 1290 02:01:52,068 --> 02:01:56,008 As the child of a post-catastrophe, he speaks without mincing his words. 1291 02:01:56,008 --> 02:01:59,000 The Nakba has been passed down to him as a nightmare... 1292 02:01:59,000 --> 02:02:03,012 ...that has fed into the collective unconscious of thousands of Palestinians. 1293 02:02:03,012 --> 02:02:08,008 The nightmare has come to life again, knocking on the rooftops on the 27th December 2008. 1294 02:02:08,008 --> 02:02:12,056 It still hasnít finished inflicting sleepless nights ever since. 1295 02:02:12,056 --> 02:02:16,006 Haidar encourages me to divulge all this, so I jot down his appeal in my tattered notebook... 1296 02:02:16,006 --> 02:02:22,008 ...to no longer buy anything "made in Israel". 1297 02:02:22,008 --> 02:02:28,048 You can pick out Israeli products on the shelves from their barcodes, 1298 02:02:28,048 --> 02:02:32,016 with 729 being the first three numbers. 1299 02:02:32,016 --> 02:02:38,044 To obtain the complete list of products you can access at www.boycottisraeligoods.org. 1300 02:02:38,044 --> 02:02:46,002 Get hold of a list and stick it on your fridge door for safe keeping until your next shopping trip. 1301 02:02:46,002 --> 02:02:50,000 "if you buy just one glass of water that was imported from Israel, 1302 02:02:50,000 --> 02:02:57,076 you might be funding one of the bullets that might lodge itself into one of our childrenís bodies,í said Haidar. 1303 02:02:57,076 --> 02:03:02,002 The boycott movement that saw the light in Palestine in 2005... 1304 02:03:02,002 --> 02:03:07,044 ...is now taking gigantic steps forward and is spreading among millions of consumers around the world. 1305 02:03:07,044 --> 02:03:11,052 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who expelled the Israeli Ambassador... 1306 02:03:11,052 --> 02:03:15,004 ...and stopped all relations with the state thatís currently strangling us, 1307 02:03:15,004 --> 02:03:18,096 is an example for all of our politicians to emulate. 1308 02:03:18,096 --> 02:03:25,004 The South African leaders of the struggle against apartheid, Nelson Mandela, Ronnie Kasrils and Desmond Tutu... 1309 02:03:25,004 --> 02:03:31,064 ...have stated that Israelís oppression of Palestine is far worse than South Africaís of the blacks ever was. 1310 02:03:31,064 --> 02:03:35,072 Voices certainly most authoritative than italian politicians Frattini and Fassino. 1311 02:03:35,072 --> 02:03:39,044 Some Israeli Jews have joined the boycotting campaign, 1312 02:03:39,044 --> 02:03:43,004 about 500 so far, among them Ilan PappÈ and Neta Golan, 1313 02:03:43,004 --> 02:03:48,004 the descendent of Holocaust survivors, who protests, ëNever again!í 1314 02:03:48,004 --> 02:03:51,092 The Israeli poet Aharon Shabtai also urges us to act: 1315 02:03:51,092 --> 02:03:54,004 "My hopes rest on Europeís support, 1316 02:03:54,004 --> 02:03:57,092 hoping that the descendents of Voltaire and Rousseau might help Israel, 1317 02:03:57,092 --> 02:04:03,064 because Israel wonít end its occupation until Europe says "Enough!" 1318 02:04:03,064 --> 02:04:10,096 Only pressure from civilized and democratic nations can change the situation and bring us peace. 1319 02:04:10,096 --> 02:04:14,088 The current situation, with the army in charge, 1320 02:04:14,088 --> 02:04:17,008 cannot be changed from the inside. 1321 02:04:17,008 --> 02:04:23,056 For the values that it represents, Europe must refuse to continue cooperating with Israel. 1322 02:04:23,056 --> 02:04:28,000 729 must therefore become our Shoah: 1323 02:04:28,000 --> 02:04:31,004 never again!" 1324 02:04:31,004 --> 02:05:06,002 Stay human. 1325 02:05:06,002 --> 02:05:09,008 15th January 2009 1326 02:05:09,008 --> 02:05:13,008 Jabaliaís Circles of the Inferno 1327 02:05:13,008 --> 02:05:23,024 Dante Alighieri could never have imagined circles as hellish as the wards of the damned in Jabaliaís hospitals. 1328 02:05:23,024 --> 02:05:26,008 The laws of divine justice are turned on their head around here: 1329 02:05:26,008 --> 02:05:33,036 the more innocent the victim, the less likely that theyíll be spared martyrdom through shelling. 1330 02:05:33,036 --> 02:05:40,088 At Kamal Odwan and Al-Auda Hospitals, the ceramic tiles in the first aid units are always pristine. 1331 02:05:40,088 --> 02:05:46,002 The cleaners are kept permanently busy wiping away the blood dripping copiously... 1332 02:05:46,002 --> 02:05:52,032 ...from the stretchers constantly being brought in carrying massacred bodies. 1333 02:05:52,032 --> 02:06:01,016 Iyad Mutawwaq was walking in the street when a bomb tore open a building not far from him. 1334 02:06:01,016 --> 02:06:05,016 He and other passers-by rushed over to try and help... 1335 02:06:05,016 --> 02:06:09,004 ...when a second bomb was dropped on the same building. 1336 02:06:09,004 --> 02:06:13,064 It killed a father of nine, two brothers... 1337 02:06:13,064 --> 02:06:20,048 ...and another passer-by who had rushed over to help. 1338 02:06:20,048 --> 02:06:25,036 The same story could be told over ten or a hundred times. 1339 02:06:25,036 --> 02:06:33,088 The perfect terrorist technique is being carried out immaculately by the Israeli Army. 1340 02:06:33,088 --> 02:06:37,008 You drop a bomb, wait for the first-aiders, 1341 02:06:37,008 --> 02:06:40,044 then drop another bomb on the wounded and the people rushing in to help. 1342 02:06:40,044 --> 02:06:48,084 In Iyadís eyes, these were American bombs, but they also carry the stamp of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian dictator 1343 02:06:48,084 --> 02:06:55,004 who rivals Ehud Olmert here in Gaza when it comes to stirring up resentment. 1344 02:06:55,004 --> 02:07:03,048 Behind Iyadís bed, an elderly man with both his arms in plasters is lying staring at the ceiling. 1345 02:07:03,048 --> 02:07:09,012 Iím told heís lost everything, his family and his home. 1346 02:07:09,012 --> 02:07:11,088 Khaled stares at the cracks in the falling plaster, 1347 02:07:11,088 --> 02:07:18,052 as if seeking an answer for the sheer destruction of his existence. 1348 02:07:18,052 --> 02:07:24,012 He worked in Israel for 25 years, prior to the first Intifada. 1349 02:07:24,012 --> 02:07:28,024 In recognition, Tel Aviv hasnít even granted him a pension, 1350 02:07:28,024 --> 02:07:32,028 only a series of missiles from land and air onto his house. 1351 02:07:32,028 --> 02:07:36,052 He suffers from shrapnel wounds all over his body. 1352 02:07:36,052 --> 02:07:41,096 I ask him where he plans to go after heís been discharged from hospital. 1353 02:07:41,096 --> 02:07:46,036 He says heíll join his family, out on the streets. 1354 02:07:46,036 --> 02:07:50,092 Not unlike Khaledís, many families donít know where to find shelter. 1355 02:07:50,092 --> 02:07:56,024 The most fortunate were offered hospitality by relatives and acquaintances, 1356 02:07:56,024 --> 02:08:04,024 but can you really say that 100 people crammed into two apartments having three rooms each is really a life? 1357 02:08:04,024 --> 02:08:08,076 Two bombs were dropped onto Ahmed Jaberís home and though his family initially fled, 1358 02:08:08,076 --> 02:08:12,032 it wasnít third time lucky for some of them. The third explosion... 1359 02:08:12,032 --> 02:08:16,044 ...buried seven of his relatives under the rubble, 1360 02:08:16,044 --> 02:08:21,008 including two children aged eight and nine, plus his neighbourís children. 1361 02:08:21,008 --> 02:08:28,044 He says: "They made us leap back in time, back to 1948. 1362 02:08:28,044 --> 02:08:32,002 This is their punishment for our attachment to our country. 1363 02:08:32,002 --> 02:08:40,006 They can tear my arms and legs off from my body, but they wonít make me leave my land". 1364 02:08:40,006 --> 02:08:47,048 A doctor takes me aside and tells me that Ahmedís seven-year-old daughter was just brought in, or what was left of her, 1365 02:08:47,048 --> 02:08:52,012 inside a tiny cardboard box. 1366 02:08:52,012 --> 02:08:59,004 They donít have the heart to tell him and make his already precarious health condition any worse. 1367 02:08:59,004 --> 02:09:06,028 In the evening they took the phone away from Iyad as well, to prevent him from receiving any more bad news. 1368 02:09:06,028 --> 02:09:12,048 A tank had hit his sisterís house, beheading her in the process. 1369 02:09:12,048 --> 02:09:17,024 In the end, our Free Gaza Movement boat never got to the port in Gaza. 1370 02:09:17,024 --> 02:09:21,028 About 100 miles from their designated destination, they were intercepted in international waters... 1371 02:09:21,028 --> 02:09:25,084 ...by four Israeli war ships, 1372 02:09:25,084 --> 02:09:33,088 poised to open fire and kill its cargo of doctors, nurses and human rights activists. 1373 02:09:33,088 --> 02:09:40,076 No one must dare to obstruct the massacre of civilians, now in full swing for the last three weeks. 1374 02:09:40,076 --> 02:09:44,044 East of Jabalia, in front of the border, 1375 02:09:44,044 --> 02:09:50,008 eyewitnesses speak of numerous decaying bodies in the streets. 1376 02:09:50,008 --> 02:09:53,036 Their rotting flesh is being devoured by dogs. 1377 02:09:53,036 --> 02:09:59,012 There are also hundreds of people unable to get anywhere, many of whom are injured. 1378 02:09:59,012 --> 02:10:06,096 The ambulances simply cannot get anywhere near, with trigger-happy snipers all over the place. 1379 02:10:06,096 --> 02:10:13,004 Palestinians are sick of languishing in the midst of this general indifference, 1380 02:10:13,004 --> 02:10:17,092 and many even accuse the International Red Cross and the UN of not doing enough, 1381 02:10:17,092 --> 02:10:25,056 including not fulfilling their duties, nor risking their lives to save hundreds. 1382 02:10:25,056 --> 02:10:32,052 We of the ISM will thus equip ourselves with some stretchers and proceed on foot to the areas 1383 02:10:32,052 --> 02:10:40,012 where humanity has surpassed all boundaries, eclipsing itself in the process. 1384 02:10:40,012 --> 02:10:43,088 The heavy-bottomed settlers sitting in the pristine lounges of armchair politics... 1385 02:10:43,088 --> 02:10:46,096 ...harp on about military strategies against Hamas. 1386 02:10:46,096 --> 02:10:51,004 Meanwhile, weíre being literally massacred out here. 1387 02:10:51,004 --> 02:10:53,002 They bomb hospitals, and yet there are some... 1388 02:10:53,002 --> 02:10:57,004 ...who still champion Israelís right to self-defence. 1389 02:10:57,004 --> 02:11:02,004 In any self-styled civilized country, 1390 02:11:02,004 --> 02:11:06,072 self-defence is proportionate to the attack. 1391 02:11:06,072 --> 02:11:13,002 In these 20 days weíve counted 1,075 dead Palestinians, 85% of whom were civilians, 1392 02:11:13,002 --> 02:11:19,004 and over 5,000 injured, of whom half were under 18 years of age. 1393 02:11:19,004 --> 02:11:24,072 303 children were atrociously massacred. 1394 02:11:24,072 --> 02:11:31,004 Thankfully, there were still only four victims on the Israeli side. 1395 02:11:31,004 --> 02:11:34,002 Itís equivalent to saying that for Israel, 1396 02:11:34,002 --> 02:11:43,008 butchering at least 250 Palestinians is a justified blood-bath in avenging each civilian victim on its own side. 1397 02:11:43,008 --> 02:11:49,064 How can this lop-sided reaction not take one back... 1398 02:11:49,064 --> 02:11:55,092 ...to some of modern European historyís bleakest periods? 1399 02:11:55,092 --> 02:12:00,008 Letís get straight to the point: are we seriously talking about self-defence? 1400 02:12:00,008 --> 02:12:05,016 For journalists who support the refrain that Hamas bears full responsibility for this genocide, 1401 02:12:05,016 --> 02:12:14,008 as well as for breaking the truce between Israel and Palestine, 1402 02:12:14,008 --> 02:12:19,008 I would like to remind them of the UN's position on the matter. 1403 02:12:19,008 --> 02:12:25,000 Professor Richard Falk, a special rapporteur for human rights at the UN, 1404 02:12:25,000 --> 02:12:28,004 has clearly expressed his views: 1405 02:12:28,004 --> 02:12:32,000 it was in fact Israel that broke the ceasefire in November, 1406 02:12:32,000 --> 02:12:36,064 by literally exterminating 17 Palestinians. 1407 02:12:36,064 --> 02:12:41,036 In the same month, no Israeli victims had been recorded, 1408 02:12:41,036 --> 02:12:46,024 none in October and none in the previous two months. 1409 02:12:46,024 --> 02:12:53,006 We were also recently reminded of this by Nobel Peace Prize winner and ex-US President Jimmy Carter. 1410 02:12:53,006 --> 02:12:56,056 It really is a crying shame that a journalist like Marco Travaglio, 1411 02:12:56,056 --> 02:13:03,004 whoís earned our admiration as a proud upholder of freedom of the press, 1412 02:13:03,004 --> 02:13:06,088 is now sporting an IDF helmet... 1413 02:13:06,088 --> 02:13:11,008 ...and entertaining the masses on TV 1414 02:13:11,008 --> 02:13:15,028 while amusing himself with the pastime most in vogue at the moment: 1415 02:13:15,028 --> 02:13:18,032 infant-shooting in Gaza. 1416 02:13:18,032 --> 02:13:22,024 As I franticly tap at my keyboard in the Ramattan Press Agency office, 1417 02:13:22,024 --> 02:13:28,044 all the Palestinian reporters around me are wearing bullet-proof vests and helmets. 1418 02:13:28,044 --> 02:13:32,006 They havenít come in straight from driving a tank, 1419 02:13:32,006 --> 02:13:36,004 theyíve simply been sitting in front of their computers the whole time. 1420 02:13:36,004 --> 02:13:41,064 Two floors above, the Reuters offices were recently struck by a rocket, 1421 02:13:41,064 --> 02:13:44,002 which seriously injured two. 1422 02:13:44,002 --> 02:13:49,096 Almost all the floors in the building are empty at the moment, and only the most heroic of journalists are still around. 1423 02:13:49,096 --> 02:13:54,064 The story of this hell must somehow continue to be told. 1424 02:13:54,064 --> 02:14:00,000 And yet earlier this week, the Israeli Army had assured Reuters it wouldnít need to evacuate, 1425 02:14:00,000 --> 02:14:03,004 as they would be safe staying in their offices. 1426 02:14:03,004 --> 02:14:08,048 This morning the bombing of the United Nations building also caused many casualties, 1427 02:14:08,048 --> 02:14:12,096 built, among others, with money from the Italian government. 1428 02:14:12,096 --> 02:14:15,084 Silvio Berlusconi, where are you? 1429 02:14:15,084 --> 02:14:18,000 There were many dead and wounded. 1430 02:14:18,000 --> 02:14:21,004 John Ging, Director of UNRWAís Field Operations in Gaza, 1431 02:14:21,004 --> 02:14:26,064 spoke frankly about white phosphorous bombs. 1432 02:14:26,064 --> 02:14:33,012 In the Tal El-Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza City, a whole wing of Al-Quds Hospital is presently in flames. 1433 02:14:33,012 --> 02:14:41,016 Leila, an ISM colleague is trapped inside, alongside 40 doctors and nurses and about 100 patients. 1434 02:14:41,016 --> 02:14:46,006 She described these last dramatic hours to us by phone. 1435 02:14:46,006 --> 02:14:51,016 She described these last dramatic hours to us by phone. 1436 02:14:51,016 --> 02:14:57,044 A tank is stationed in front of the hospital. There are snipers everywhere, ready to shoot at anything. 1437 02:14:57,044 --> 02:15:00,064 Destruction is all around. 1438 02:15:00,064 --> 02:15:06,002 At night, from their windows, they could observe a building going up in flames after having been shelled. 1439 02:15:06,002 --> 02:15:10,028 They heard the cries of whole families with children, 1440 02:15:10,028 --> 02:15:12,044 pleading for help. 1441 02:15:12,044 --> 02:15:15,096 hey were impotent to help, 1442 02:15:15,096 --> 02:15:20,052 watching people being devoured by flames, running out on to the street... 1443 02:15:20,052 --> 02:15:23,016 ...and then being reduced to ashes. 1444 02:15:23,016 --> 02:15:30,072 Hell has switched places and come to the centre of Gaza, 1445 02:15:30,072 --> 02:15:33,096 and we are the damned, 1446 02:15:33,096 --> 02:15:36,076 designated as such by an inhuman hatred. 1447 02:15:36,076 --> 02:16:22,004 Stay human. 1448 02:16:22,004 --> 02:16:24,088 16th January 2009 1449 02:16:24,088 --> 02:16:27,004 Turning Geography on its Head 1450 02:16:27,004 --> 02:16:33,028 Thereís a story of an elderly Palestinian who leaves his house in search of his next meal... 1451 02:16:33,028 --> 02:16:36,016 ...during one of our rare morning ceasefires. 1452 02:16:36,016 --> 02:16:39,092 But he is then unable to find his way back home. 1453 02:16:39,092 --> 02:16:44,012 Shelling and bombing has radically changed Gazaís cityscape, 1454 02:16:44,012 --> 02:16:47,076 warping its social structure with it as well. 1455 02:16:47,076 --> 02:16:53,092 Hundreds of families are forced to flee to different destinations all over the whole of the Strip, 1456 02:16:53,092 --> 02:16:58,002 and hundreds who used to live alongside one another before... 1457 02:16:58,002 --> 02:17:01,008 ...are now no longer even in touch. 1458 02:17:01,008 --> 02:17:06,024 In order to reach the Tal El-Hawa neighbourhood in south-eastern Gaza City, 1459 02:17:06,024 --> 02:17:09,052 you have to walk across a lunar landscape. 1460 02:17:09,052 --> 02:17:12,088 Leaving behind a trail of craters and mounds of rubble, 1461 02:17:12,088 --> 02:17:18,006 the Israeli tanks yesterday have pulled away after a 48-hour siege. 1462 02:17:18,006 --> 02:17:26,072 Ever-present in this desolate scenario is the lingering, pestilent and unmistakable stench of death. 1463 02:17:26,072 --> 02:17:34,028 Struggling past what remains of entire buildings and houses, carcasses of burnt-out cars and ambulances, 1464 02:17:34,028 --> 02:17:37,016 I started searching for Ahmedís house. 1465 02:17:37,016 --> 02:17:43,032 It wasnít an easy task because of the radical transformation that whole neighbourhoods... 1466 02:17:43,032 --> 02:17:49,068 ...razed to the ground and burnt to cinders had endured at the hands of the Israeli military. 1467 02:17:49,068 --> 02:17:54,096 I remembered that Ahmed lived at the end of a dirt road, impossible to recognize... 1468 02:17:54,096 --> 02:18:01,008 ...now that I was struggling to tread over one whole vast surface of debris... 1469 02:18:01,008 --> 02:18:03,092 that had been chewed and spat out by the tanks. 1470 02:18:03,092 --> 02:18:09,004 If a satellite photo of Gaza were taken at the end of this massive genocidal attack, 1471 02:18:09,004 --> 02:18:18,076 it would be difficult to convince anyone that the city in the photo was the same one pictured just 20 days earlier. 1472 02:18:18,076 --> 02:18:21,064 I had a chance to put my arms around Ahmed again, 1473 02:18:21,064 --> 02:18:24,008 it was as if we hadnít seen one another in years... 1474 02:18:24,008 --> 02:18:28,006 ...after a long journey from somewhere far off. 1475 02:18:28,006 --> 02:18:32,076 Unfortunately, our journey at the end of the night had no new dawn in sight, 1476 02:18:32,076 --> 02:18:41,036 except the one set alight by the hatred of those ordering the generals and troops into action for this massacre. 1477 02:18:41,036 --> 02:18:45,012 My friend showed me where an Israeli tank had stood for two days, 1478 02:18:45,012 --> 02:18:47,048 right in front of his garden. 1479 02:18:47,048 --> 02:18:54,004 During all that time his entire family had remained huddled underneath a stairwell, 1480 02:18:54,004 --> 02:18:59,092 terrified that a shell shot by a howitzer might wipe them out at any minute. 1481 02:18:59,092 --> 02:19:04,084 Only last night, Ahmed went against the orders of his apprehensive father... 1482 02:19:04,084 --> 02:19:11,096 ...and, dragging himself across the floor, dared to look out the window at the hellish scenario all around. 1483 02:19:11,096 --> 02:19:14,072 He saw the tank moving about 30 metres away, 1484 02:19:14,072 --> 02:19:20,004 smashing into the shutters of a supermarket and opening a hole in it. 1485 02:19:20,004 --> 02:19:23,064 He then watched soldiers emerge from the armoured vehicle... 1486 02:19:23,064 --> 02:19:27,092 ...who cheerfully wandered in to "do some shopping". 1487 02:19:27,092 --> 02:19:31,088 "They filled the tank to the point that they were struggling to get back in." 1488 02:19:31,088 --> 02:19:37,056 He then described the jubilant laughs, the mocking songs, 1489 02:19:37,056 --> 02:19:40,032 providing a soundtrack to the explosions all night long: 1490 02:19:40,032 --> 02:19:46,002 "Ali, Mohammed, this is a message to your Allah Akbar!" 1491 02:19:46,002 --> 02:19:52,044 The resistance, which for some days had stoically succeeded in limiting the advance of the Israeli tanks, 1492 02:19:52,044 --> 02:19:55,006 fizzled out within a couple of hours. 1493 02:19:55,006 --> 02:19:59,024 Kalashnikovs can only tickle plated tank armour, 1494 02:19:59,024 --> 02:20:03,008 while the shells of howitzers can blow up a house from wall to wall. 1495 02:20:03,008 --> 02:20:07,004 The residential neighbourhood of Abraj Towers, 1496 02:20:07,004 --> 02:20:14,036 mainly inhabited by the families of the teaching staff from Al-Aqsa University and in large part sympathetic with Fatah, 1497 02:20:14,036 --> 02:20:19,024 certainly does not host any "Hamas terrorists". 1498 02:20:19,024 --> 02:20:25,052 The same way that Iím aware of this, Iím certain that itís also common knowledge in Tel Aviv. 1499 02:20:25,052 --> 02:20:32,004 It didnít seem to matter, though, as the neighbourhood was reduced to a pile of rubble all the same. 1500 02:20:32,004 --> 02:20:38,008 Next to the crumbled buildings stands the Al-Quds Hospital, set on fire only yesterday. 1501 02:20:38,008 --> 02:20:42,024 My ISM companions have assisted the hospital staff... 1502 02:20:42,024 --> 02:20:49,008 in evacuating the 300 wounded there to Gaza Cityís other hospital, Al-Shifa. 1503 02:20:49,008 --> 02:20:54,004 It took them many hours, especially since moving seriously-injured patients... 1504 02:20:54,004 --> 02:20:59,052 ...required the use of specialist ambulances that the Palestinians donít have. 1505 02:20:59,052 --> 02:21:05,008 We waited for the last evacuees with Dr Dagfinn Bjorklind from the Norwegian NGO Norwac... 1506 02:21:05,008 --> 02:21:11,052 and asked some questions of the nurses whoíd survived the Al-Quds fire. 1507 02:21:11,052 --> 02:21:18,004 These were blood-curdling stories, backed up by my companionsí own eye-witness accounts. 1508 02:21:18,004 --> 02:21:24,012 About 200 metres from the hospital lay about 30 bodies, 1509 02:21:24,012 --> 02:21:27,000 among them many women and children, many of whom were still alive. 1510 02:21:27,000 --> 02:21:32,006 They couldnít be rescued as the snipers on the roofs shot at anything that moved. 1511 02:21:32,006 --> 02:21:37,056 Those bleeding bodies in the street were what was left of civilians whoíd escaped from their own homes... 1512 02:21:37,056 --> 02:21:40,036 ...when theyíd caught fire after being shelled. 1513 02:21:40,036 --> 02:21:45,024 The Israeli snipers hadnít hesitated to shoot them, one by one, 1514 02:21:45,024 --> 02:21:51,064 including the children, once they were framed by the viewfinders on their guns. 1515 02:21:51,064 --> 02:21:55,006 Iíll confess that my motto "stay human"... 1516 02:21:55,006 --> 02:22:02,008 ...has been direly tested in the last few days, but has survived intact nevertheless. 1517 02:22:02,008 --> 02:22:09,008 It pulled through, just as the pride for and attachment to oneís native land, 1518 02:22:09,008 --> 02:22:15,016 expressed as identity and the right to self-rule, has enabled Gazaís people to carry on. 1519 02:22:15,016 --> 02:22:20,004 From the university professors to the people you meet in the street, doctors and nurses, 1520 02:22:20,004 --> 02:22:23,088 reporters, fishermen, farmers, 1521 02:22:23,088 --> 02:22:30,064 men, women and teenagers, those whoíve lost everything and those who had nothing to lose, 1522 02:22:30,064 --> 02:22:34,064 all will use their last breath to say ëinshaíAllahí, for the sake... 1523 02:22:34,064 --> 02:22:40,064 ...of the sincere conviction that their roots run so deep... 1524 02:22:40,064 --> 02:22:44,012 ...that no enemy bulldozer can tear them out. 1525 02:22:44,012 --> 02:22:52,008 While I write, a TV screen not far off is showing images from the inside of the Al-Shifa Hospital. 1526 02:22:52,008 --> 02:22:57,048 Men in tears cover their faces as if to contain a flood of desperation. 1527 02:22:57,048 --> 02:23:04,012 At Shijaíiya, east of Gaza City, a shot from a tank just killed seven and wounded 25. 1528 02:23:04,012 --> 02:23:10,084 The casualties were all at a funeral commemorating a family member whoíd been killed the previous day. 1529 02:23:10,084 --> 02:23:17,000 Yesterday the Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak apologized to the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, 1530 02:23:17,000 --> 02:23:20,004 for the artillery fire against the UN Agency... 1531 02:23:20,004 --> 02:23:22,084 ...for Palestinian Refugees in Gaza City, 1532 02:23:22,084 --> 02:23:28,092 which had been built with the Italian governmentís money. (Berlusconi, where are you?) 1533 02:23:28,092 --> 02:23:31,072 "It was a grave error", Barak said. 1534 02:23:31,072 --> 02:23:38,048 There wasnít the trace of an apology to the families of the 357 Palestinian children killed up till now. 1535 02:23:38,048 --> 02:23:41,032 Clearly, that was no error. 1536 02:23:41,032 --> 02:23:48,012 I listened a Red Cross paramedic tell me the story of their arrival on the scene of a massacre at Zeitoun. 1537 02:23:48,012 --> 02:23:52,008 A visibly malnourished child crouched in front of his motherís corpse, 1538 02:23:52,008 --> 02:23:54,076 already in an advanced state of decay. 1539 02:23:54,076 --> 02:24:00,032 He had taken care of that body for four days, as if she were still alive. 1540 02:24:00,032 --> 02:24:02,052 He had dried the blood from her face... 1541 02:24:02,052 --> 02:24:05,092 ...and dragging himself through the rubble of what had been their home, 1542 02:24:05,092 --> 02:24:11,052 bringing her water, bread and tomatoes, which heíd carefully placed next to her head. 1543 02:24:11,052 --> 02:24:14,052 He thought she was only sleeping. 1544 02:24:14,052 --> 02:24:19,088 The Israeli snipers had prevented the Red Cross from rushing in to bring aid, 1545 02:24:19,088 --> 02:24:25,032 and they only managed to reach the scene of the massacre several days later. 1546 02:24:25,032 --> 02:24:58,032 Stay human. 1547 02:24:58,032 --> 02:25:01,092 17th January 2009 1548 02:25:01,092 --> 02:25:04,096 Love under the Bombs 1549 02:25:04,096 --> 02:25:10,000 Making love under the bombs. I remember a friend from Nablous once telling me... 1550 02:25:10,000 --> 02:25:16,064 ...how difficult it was during the occupation to reserve a moment of intimacy with his wife. 1551 02:25:16,064 --> 02:25:22,084 One evening, while they lay in a tender embrace, a bullet lodged itself into their headboard... 1552 02:25:22,084 --> 02:25:25,052 ...inches away from their heads. 1553 02:25:25,052 --> 02:25:31,000 In Gaza these days canoodling under the bombs is out of the question, 1554 02:25:31,000 --> 02:25:38,024 and the conjugal future of young Palestinian couples is shaping up to be quite a challenge. 1555 02:25:38,024 --> 02:25:43,006 Many have lost their homes and are forced to live huddled together in the UNRWA schools, 1556 02:25:43,006 --> 02:25:49,004 or crammed inside a tiny apartment with as many as 20 people. 1557 02:25:49,004 --> 02:25:55,092 "Tonight is Saturday and the young couples in Tel Aviv go out and have fun in the clubs or on the beach. 1558 02:25:55,092 --> 02:26:00,000 Meanwhile, out here, we canít even make love in our own beds", 1559 02:26:00,000 --> 02:26:03,064 says Wissam, who got married in November. 1560 02:26:03,064 --> 02:26:07,008 "We do have strobe lights though", 1561 02:26:07,008 --> 02:26:14,004 he says, pointing to a succession of flashes to the south, the evidence of bombing in full swing. 1562 02:26:14,004 --> 02:26:23,096 Young men like Wissam, himself aged nineteen, become fathers very early on in life and are already grandfathers by middle age, 1563 02:26:23,096 --> 02:26:33,012 being aware that ñ as they are in Palestine ñ this is the only form of survival available to them. 1564 02:26:33,012 --> 02:26:40,068 While thereís talk on the outside of a ceasefire, accepted by Hamas but, as usual, rejected by Israel, 1565 02:26:40,068 --> 02:26:44,068 in the last two days thereís been an escalation of bombings... 1566 02:26:44,068 --> 02:26:47,092 ...with a subsequent boost in civilian deaths 1567 02:26:47,092 --> 02:26:50,056 60 only yesterday. 1568 02:26:50,056 --> 02:26:55,002 About 10 were killed outside a mosque at the time of prayer. 1569 02:26:55,002 --> 02:26:59,064 What worries Palestinians the most is the call for a ceasefire... 1570 02:26:59,064 --> 02:27:04,012 ...without reopening the border crossing points at the same time. 1571 02:27:04,012 --> 02:27:08,012 Even before materials for reconstruction are let in, 1572 02:27:08,012 --> 02:27:10,008 food supplies are urgently needed, 1573 02:27:10,008 --> 02:27:15,002 and those whoíve been seriously injured need to get out. 1574 02:27:15,002 --> 02:27:18,088 Hospitals are overwhelmed from the overcrowding. 1575 02:27:18,088 --> 02:27:24,036 In the entire Strip, they have a capacity of only 1,500 beds. 1576 02:27:24,036 --> 02:27:30,006 But the number of the wounded presently hovers at around 5,320 1577 02:27:30,006 --> 02:27:38,004 In addition, Palestinian public opinion mistrusts Egypt, the chosen intermediary for the talks, 1578 02:27:38,004 --> 02:27:43,024 whose leadership is notoriously obsequious to Israel. 1579 02:27:43,024 --> 02:27:46,028 "Why not have a European country mediate? 1580 02:27:46,028 --> 02:27:49,036 The role of Germany, a truly neutral country, 1581 02:27:49,036 --> 02:27:54,008 was decisive in the resolution of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah", 1582 02:27:54,008 --> 02:27:59,008 says a heavy-hearted Hamza, a university professor. 1583 02:27:59,008 --> 02:28:03,028 This morning another UN school in Beit Lahiya, 1584 02:28:03,028 --> 02:28:08,056 in the northern Gaza Strip, was heavily hit by Israeli tanks. 1585 02:28:08,056 --> 02:28:17,006 There were 14 injured and two little brothers, Bilal and Mohammed Al-Ashqar, aged five and seven, were killed. 1586 02:28:17,006 --> 02:28:21,064 Their mother survived, but lost both her legs. 1587 02:28:21,064 --> 02:28:24,064 Along with 42,000 others, 1588 02:28:24,064 --> 02:28:31,032 they had sought shelter in the school after Israel had ordered them to evacuate their homes. 1589 02:28:31,032 --> 02:28:35,076 They believed theyíd be safe there, just like the 43 refugees 1590 02:28:35,076 --> 02:28:42,004 exterminated on the 6th January in the UNRWA school massacre in Jabilia. 1591 02:28:42,004 --> 02:28:45,006 "These two children were without a doubt innocent, 1592 02:28:45,006 --> 02:28:50,024 just as there isnít the shadow of a doubt that theyíre now dead", 1593 02:28:50,024 --> 02:28:55,056 said John Ging, the Director of UNRWAís Field Operations in Gaza, 1594 02:28:55,056 --> 02:29:04,012 who tirelessly, albeit in vein, continues to report the war crimes committed by the Israeli Army. 1595 02:29:04,012 --> 02:29:13,002 But the Israeli generals are still busy preparing the "mission accomplished" speech they intend to deliver to the world. 1596 02:29:13,002 --> 02:29:17,036 I went back to whatís left of Tal El-Hawa Hospital, 1597 02:29:17,036 --> 02:29:23,241 the part still standing after the building was set on fire by the Israelis. 1598 02:29:23,241 --> 02:29:30,052 It has now started operating as a first aid unit and logistical base for ambulances again. 1599 02:29:30,052 --> 02:29:39,068 They continue to extract casualties trapped for days under the rubble, found around its seriously-damaged buildings. 1600 02:29:39,068 --> 02:29:45,024 Al-Shifa Hospital hosts a child called Suhaib Suliman, 1601 02:29:45,024 --> 02:29:51,016 the only survivor in a family of 25, all of whom are dead. 1602 02:29:51,016 --> 02:29:56,088 A young girl, Hadil Samony, lost 11 relatives. 1603 02:29:56,088 --> 02:30:02,004 Sheíll have no one to take care of her after being discharged from hospital. 1604 02:30:02,004 --> 02:30:07,036 Excuse me, but can someone please explain what kind of mission this is? 1605 02:30:07,036 --> 02:30:11,561 Itís straight from collective punishment to mass slaughter. 1606 02:30:11,561 --> 02:30:19,721 On his blog, a frustrated Arab called Raja Chemayel sums it all up as follows: 1607 02:30:19,721 --> 02:30:25,006 "Take a strip of land about 40 km long and only five km wide. 1608 02:30:25,006 --> 02:30:27,401 Call it Gaza. 1609 02:30:27,401 --> 02:30:31,241 Then cram in 1.4 million inhabitants. 1610 02:30:31,241 --> 02:30:37,088 After that surround it by the sea to the west, Egypt with Mubarak in the south, Israel in the north, 1611 02:30:37,088 --> 02:30:41,072 and dub it "The land of terrorists". 1612 02:30:41,072 --> 02:30:48,201 After that, declare war against it and invade it with 232 tanks, 1613 02:30:48,201 --> 02:30:51,401 687 armoured vehicles, 1614 02:30:51,401 --> 02:30:54,601 43 airports for fighter jets, 1615 02:30:54,601 --> 02:30:57,084 105 war helicopters, 1616 02:30:57,084 --> 02:31:01,072 221 units of ground artillery, 1617 02:31:01,072 --> 02:31:06,096 349 mortars, three spy satellites, 1618 02:31:06,096 --> 02:31:12,006 64 informers, 12 spies and 8,000 assault troops. 1619 02:31:12,006 --> 02:31:16,006 Then call all of this "Israel defending itself". 1620 02:31:16,006 --> 02:31:20,521 After that, stop for a minute and state that 1621 02:31:20,521 --> 02:31:23,881 you will "avoid hitting the civilian population" 1622 02:31:23,881 --> 02:31:28,008 and call yourself the only democracy in action. 1623 02:31:28,008 --> 02:31:33,006 Whichever way you look at it, only a miracle could prevent you hitting those civilians, 1624 02:31:33,006 --> 02:31:41,002 or it could quite simply be a lie. But once again, just call it "Israel defending itself". 1625 02:31:41,002 --> 02:31:43,052 Now comes the question: 1626 02:31:43,052 --> 02:31:47,092 what would happen if the invader turned out to be a liar? 1627 02:31:47,092 --> 02:31:51,002 What would happen to those unarmed civilians? 1628 02:31:51,002 --> 02:31:56,201 With such firepower, how could even Mother Theresa, or Mickey Mouse, 1629 02:31:56,201 --> 02:32:02,000 avoid hitting all those civilians, considering the ... situation? 1630 02:32:02,000 --> 02:32:04,004 Call it whatever you like, 1631 02:32:04,004 --> 02:32:09,024 but Israel knew damn well those unarmed people were out there. 1632 02:32:09,024 --> 02:32:12,032 It was Israel itself that had put them there. 1633 02:32:12,032 --> 02:32:18,016 So, go ahead and call it genocide. Itís much more credible". 1634 02:32:18,016 --> 02:32:21,076 Aside from a couple of brutally-assassinated leaders, 1635 02:32:21,076 --> 02:32:25,008 Hamas hasnít suffered from this attack, 1636 02:32:25,008 --> 02:32:28,032 and certainly hasnít lost its popularity. 1637 02:32:28,032 --> 02:32:31,032 If anything, theyíve gained some more. 1638 02:32:31,032 --> 02:32:37,006 Once in a while it would be wise to remember that Hamas arenít a bunch of terrorists, nor a political party, 1639 02:32:37,006 --> 02:32:38,921 but a movement, 1640 02:32:38,921 --> 02:32:45,004 and as such theyíre impossible to neutralize with storms of cluster bombs. 1641 02:32:45,004 --> 02:32:51,241 When I ask Palestinians for their opinions on the real agenda behind this brutal massacre, 1642 02:32:51,241 --> 02:32:56,044 many say it has everything to do with the Israeli elections in February. 1643 02:32:56,044 --> 02:32:58,096 "They made successful propaganda, one vote at a time. 1644 02:32:58,096 --> 02:33:04,044 Itís always been like this on the eve of all elections". 1645 02:33:04,044 --> 02:33:09,092 Just a month ago, Benjamin Netanyahu was forecast to be the sure winner, 1646 02:33:09,092 --> 02:33:18,016 but heís now expected to lose in competing against the bloodthirsty vision of Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni. 1647 02:33:18,016 --> 02:33:28,028 Avigdor Lieberman is the leader of Yisrael Beitenu, a growing political force, that had won 11 seats after the 2006 elections, 1648 02:33:28,028 --> 02:33:31,048 but the polls show that they are gaining in popularity even with statements like the following, 1649 02:33:31,048 --> 02:33:36,000 "Gaza ought to be erased from the map with a nuclear bomb, 1650 02:33:36,000 --> 02:33:41,001 the way the Americans did with Hiroshima and Nagasaki." 1651 02:33:41,001 --> 02:33:46,004 Yesterday Israeli writer Abraham Yehoshua stated to Haaretz: 1652 02:33:46,004 --> 02:33:51,000 "We kill their children today to save many more tomorrow." 1653 02:33:51,000 --> 02:33:55,561 Iím afraid that now, his "Journey to the End of the Millennium" 1654 02:33:55,561 --> 02:34:00,004 has ended up on board a tank in front of a hospital in flames. 1655 02:34:00,004 --> 02:34:04,008 Voltaire invited us to respect all opinions. 1656 02:34:04,008 --> 02:34:07,084 I would suggest stopping the sowing of seeds of hatred, 1657 02:34:07,084 --> 02:34:12,841 sprinkling them with blood and feeding them with terminal resentment. 1658 02:34:12,841 --> 02:34:49,068 Stay human. 1659 02:34:49,068 --> 02:34:53,044 19th January 2009 1660 02:34:53,044 --> 02:34:55,052 The Living and the Dead 1661 02:34:55,052 --> 02:34:59,081 In Gaza, only the dead have seen the end of war. 1662 02:34:59,081 --> 02:35:05,068 For the living, no ceasefire can make up for the daily battle of a constant quest for survival. 1663 02:35:05,068 --> 02:35:08,008 They have no running water, gas, electricity, 1664 02:35:08,008 --> 02:35:12,072 and no bread and milk with which to feed their children. 1665 02:35:12,072 --> 02:35:14,761 Thousands of people have lost their homes. 1666 02:35:14,761 --> 02:35:19,000 Humanitarian aid seeps through the passes in drips and drabs, 1667 02:35:19,000 --> 02:35:21,004 and you get the feeling that the benevolence... 1668 02:35:21,004 --> 02:35:24,048 ...of the killersí accomplices is only temporary. 1669 02:35:24,048 --> 02:35:29,088 Tomorrow, Ban Ki-Moon, the UNís Secretary General, will travel to Gaza, 1670 02:35:29,088 --> 02:35:37,801 and weíre pretty sure that John Ging, Director of NRWAís Field Operations in Gaza, will have many stories to tell him... 1671 02:35:37,801 --> 02:35:40,092 ...after Israel bombed two UN schools, 1672 02:35:40,092 --> 02:35:43,241 assassinated four of their workers, 1673 02:35:43,241 --> 02:35:48,004 and bombed and destroyed the UNRWA Centre in Gaza City, 1674 02:35:48,004 --> 02:35:53,084 reducing tonnes of medicine and food supplies destined for the civilian population... 1675 02:35:53,084 --> 02:35:57,012 ...to ashes in the process. 1676 02:35:57,012 --> 02:36:03,036 Gazaís mountains of rubble continue to spit out corpses back on to the surface. 1677 02:36:03,036 --> 02:36:10,601 Yesterday in Jabalia, Tal El-Hawa in Gaza City and Zeitoun, the Red Crescent paramedics, 1678 02:36:10,601 --> 02:36:13,961 with some help from the ISM volunteers, 1679 02:36:13,961 --> 02:36:17,052 have pulled out a total of 95 corpses from the ruins, 1680 02:36:17,052 --> 02:36:22,281 many of which are in an advanced state of decay. 1681 02:36:22,281 --> 02:36:24,064 Walking through the streets of the city 1682 02:36:24,064 --> 02:36:31,076 and no longer feeling constantly terrified by the thought of a bomb surgically aimed to decapitate me, 1683 02:36:31,076 --> 02:36:36,024 I still tremble at the sight of stray dogs gathering in a circle, 1684 02:36:36,024 --> 02:36:39,048 imagining what could reveal itself before my eyes... 1685 02:36:39,048 --> 02:36:42,056 ...as constituting their meal. 1686 02:36:42,056 --> 02:36:47,241 Relieved-looking men go back to hanging out in their mosques and cafÈs, 1687 02:36:47,241 --> 02:36:51,721 but their attitude of feigned normalcy is easy to detect. 1688 02:36:51,721 --> 02:36:55,401 Many of them have lost a relative or have nowhere to live. 1689 02:36:55,401 --> 02:37:01,321 They pretend to go back to their everyday routine to boost their wives and childrenís morale, 1690 02:37:01,321 --> 02:37:06,032 somehow, even this catastrophe must be dealt with. 1691 02:37:06,032 --> 02:37:12,008 This morning we drove in some ambulances to the most devastated neighborhoods in the city, 1692 02:37:12,008 --> 02:37:15,002 Tal el-Hawa and Zeitoun. 1693 02:37:15,002 --> 02:37:21,076 Questionnaire in hand, we went door-to-door compiling a survey of the extent of the damage suffered by the buildings, 1694 02:37:21,076 --> 02:37:25,036 and wrote down the familiesí most urgent requirements: 1695 02:37:25,036 --> 02:37:29,052 medicine for the elderly and sick, and rice, oil and flour, 1696 02:37:29,052 --> 02:37:34,004 basically the essentials, to feed themselves with. 1697 02:37:34,004 --> 02:37:38,024 All that weíve been able to give them so far are meters of nylon, 1698 02:37:38,024 --> 02:37:43,068 to be used in lieu of their shattered windowpanes to block out the cold. 1699 02:37:43,068 --> 02:37:46,761 ISM colleagues in Rafah informed me... 1700 02:37:46,761 --> 02:37:51,044 ...that the municipality has handed out a few thousand dollars, 1701 02:37:51,044 --> 02:37:56,032 mere pennies, to the families whoíve had their houses completely razed to the ground by the bombs, 1702 02:37:56,032 --> 02:38:03,002 the very same that according to Israel, had been dropped only to destroy the tunnels. 1703 02:38:03,002 --> 02:38:05,056 After the end of the conflict with Lebanon, 1704 02:38:05,056 --> 02:38:11,004 Hezbollah had donated millions of dollars in cheques to support homeless Lebanese citizens. 1705 02:38:11,004 --> 02:38:14,068 In Gaza, embargoed and under siege, 1706 02:38:14,068 --> 02:38:18,032 Hamas is hardly able to support its people... 1707 02:38:18,032 --> 02:38:22,121 ...with what "would barely be enough to rebuild a barn for livestock", 1708 02:38:22,121 --> 02:38:25,481 says Khaled, a Rafah farmer. 1709 02:38:25,481 --> 02:38:31,561 As the truce is unilateral, Israel unilaterally decides not to respect it. 1710 02:38:31,561 --> 02:38:37,084 Khan Yunos, a Palestinian boy was killed yesterday, and another was injured. 1711 02:38:37,084 --> 02:38:40,012 East of Gaza City, 1712 02:38:40,012 --> 02:38:45,004 helicopters have showered a residential area with white phosphorous. 1713 02:38:45,004 --> 02:38:47,092 The same happened in Jabalia. 1714 02:38:47,092 --> 02:38:53,044 In Khan Younis today, the warships shot their cannons against an open plain, 1715 02:38:53,044 --> 02:38:56,201 thankfully without harming anyone. 1716 02:38:56,201 --> 02:39:01,008 But, as I write, news of advancing tanks has reached me. 1717 02:39:01,008 --> 02:39:06,084 Weíre not aware of any Palestinian rockets having been fired in the last 24 hours. 1718 02:39:06,084 --> 02:39:11,561 International journalists are clamoring for news all along the Strip. 1719 02:39:11,561 --> 02:39:18,004 They only managed to get in today. Israel granted them a pass only now that the massacre is winding down. 1720 02:39:18,004 --> 02:39:24,064 Standing by the blackened skeleton of what remains of Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City, 1721 02:39:24,064 --> 02:39:28,076 an astonished BBC reporter asked me how the army... 1722 02:39:28,076 --> 02:39:32,521 ...could possibly have mistaken the building for a terroristsí den. 1723 02:39:32,521 --> 02:39:34,048 I said: 1724 02:39:34,048 --> 02:39:39,048 "For the very same reason that children running away from burning buildings... 1725 02:39:39,048 --> 02:39:42,068 ...are put in the sights of snipers on the roofs, 1726 02:39:42,068 --> 02:39:45,161 who then donít hesitate to kill them, 1727 02:39:45,161 --> 02:39:49,028 spreading their grey matter all over the road." 1728 02:39:49,028 --> 02:39:51,561 The journalist furrowed his brow further. 1729 02:39:51,561 --> 02:39:58,008 The enormous difference between us eyewitnesses and firsthand victims of the massacre, 1730 02:39:58,008 --> 02:40:04,028 and those who heard about it through our stories, is now further highlighted. 1731 02:40:04,028 --> 02:40:07,012 From Rome Iím told that the EU intends... 1732 02:40:07,012 --> 02:40:10,004 ...to freeze the funds assigned for the reconstruction of Gaza... 1733 02:40:10,004 --> 02:40:16,006 ...while itís still being governed by Hamas. 1734 02:40:16,006 --> 02:40:19,002 He hinted. 1735 02:40:19,002 --> 02:40:27,076 The European Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, has made her point clear on this score: 1736 02:40:27,076 --> 02:40:33,001 "The aid for the reconstruction of the Strip", stated the European diplomat, 1737 02:40:33,001 --> 02:40:38,024 "will only arrive if Palestinian President Abu Mazen... 1738 02:40:38,024 --> 02:40:44,000 ...will once again re-establish his authority over the territory". 1739 02:40:44,000 --> 02:40:50,024 For Gazaís Palestinians this is an explicit invitation from the outside to engage in civil war, 1740 02:40:50,024 --> 02:40:52,048 or in a coup díÈtat. 1741 02:40:52,048 --> 02:40:56,004 Itís equivalent to legitimizing the massacre of 410 children, 1742 02:40:56,004 --> 02:41:00,016 who died because their parents support democracy... 1743 02:41:00,016 --> 02:41:05,052 ...and freely elected Hamas. 1744 02:41:05,052 --> 02:41:11,008 "The EU is diligently echoing the criminal policy of collective punishment imposed by Israel. 1745 02:41:11,008 --> 02:41:14,068 Why not entrust the funds to the UN? 1746 02:41:14,068 --> 02:41:17,052 Or some governmental organization?" 1747 02:41:17,052 --> 02:41:21,004 "The Unites States are free to elect a warmonger like Bush, 1748 02:41:21,004 --> 02:41:26,052 Israel can choose leaders with bloodied hands like Sharon or Netanyahu, 1749 02:41:26,052 --> 02:41:28,841 but we, the people of Gaza, 1750 02:41:28,841 --> 02:41:31,016 arenít free to chose Hamas?", 1751 02:41:31,016 --> 02:41:34,072 suggested Mohamed, a human rights activist, 1752 02:41:34,072 --> 02:41:37,641 who never voted for the Islamic movement himself. 1753 02:41:37,641 --> 02:41:41,052 I had no arguments to contradict him. 1754 02:41:41,052 --> 02:41:45,052 Living Palestinians learn from their dead; 1755 02:41:45,052 --> 02:41:49,801 they learn to live while dying, right from the youngest age. 1756 02:41:49,801 --> 02:41:55,401 Truce after truce, the general perception here is that of a macabre pause... 1757 02:41:55,401 --> 02:42:00,041 ...during which to count the dead between one massacre and another, 1758 02:42:00,041 --> 02:42:02,072 and peace has never felt so elusive. 1759 02:42:02,072 --> 02:42:08,028 Scouring Gaza City on board an ambulance with the siren switched off for once, 1760 02:42:08,028 --> 02:42:10,004 the war is still everywhere, 1761 02:42:10,004 --> 02:42:16,048 among the ruins of a city pillaged of smiles and now populated only by frightened gazes, 1762 02:42:16,048 --> 02:42:22,008 eyes that insist upon scanning the sky for the planes still flying endlessly overhead. 1763 02:42:22,008 --> 02:42:26,096 Inside a home we visited with some paramedics, 1764 02:42:26,096 --> 02:42:31,000 I noticed some pastel drawings on the floor. 1765 02:42:31,000 --> 02:42:37,001 It was clearly a childís hand that had abandoned them after evacuating the house in a mad rush. 1766 02:42:37,001 --> 02:42:39,241 I picked one of them up, 1767 02:42:39,241 --> 02:42:44,000 tanks, helicopters and a body in pieces. 1768 02:42:44,000 --> 02:42:50,008 In the middle of the drawing a child with a stone had succeeded in reaching the sunís height 1769 02:42:50,008 --> 02:42:53,052 and was damaging one of the flying death machines. 1770 02:42:53,052 --> 02:42:56,008 Itís been said that in a childís drawing, 1771 02:42:56,008 --> 02:43:01,008 the sun represents their desire to be, to exist. 1772 02:43:01,008 --> 02:43:07,036 The sun I saw was crying tears of blood coloured in red pastel. 1773 02:43:07,036 --> 02:43:14,761 Is a unilateral ceasefire enough to heal such traumas? 1774 02:43:14,761 --> 02:43:42,056 Stay human. 1775 02:43:42,056 --> 02:43:45,028 20th January 2009 1776 02:43:45,028 --> 02:43:47,052 Traces of Death 1777 02:43:47,052 --> 02:43:50,441 "When the details of Gazaís massive destruction become known, 1778 02:43:50,441 --> 02:43:54,281 my only reason to travel to Amsterdam... 1779 02:43:54,281 --> 02:43:57,961 will be to appear before The Hagueís International Court". 1780 02:43:57,961 --> 02:44:01,321 These words were ascribed by the Haaretz newspaper... 1781 02:44:01,321 --> 02:44:05,161 ...to an Israeli minister, who prefers to remain anonymous. 1782 02:44:05,161 --> 02:44:09,088 All around the world, indignant humanitarian organizations and citizens... 1783 02:44:09,088 --> 02:44:14,048 ...wish to see the Israeli Army and its government dragged in the courtroom, 1784 02:44:14,048 --> 02:44:23,048 hoping theyíll be found guilty of the war crimes their hands were bloodied with during the 22-day massacre in Gaza. 1785 02:44:23,048 --> 02:44:30,004 In their public appearances, the military and government leaderships donít seem too phased. 1786 02:44:30,004 --> 02:44:34,068 They claim to have solid proof that the sites they bombed... 1787 02:44:34,068 --> 02:44:39,004 ...were all support bases used by Hamas terrorists. 1788 02:44:39,004 --> 02:44:41,321 Let me get this straight: 1789 02:44:41,321 --> 02:44:46,002 weíre talking about over 20,000 houses damaged by the shelling, 1790 02:44:46,002 --> 02:44:49,092 including 1,300 human casualties. 1791 02:44:49,092 --> 02:44:51,096 To check out these alleged, 1792 02:44:51,096 --> 02:44:55,012 crucial strategic hide-outs of Islamic terrorism, 1793 02:44:55,012 --> 02:45:02,032 I headed to one of the most heavily bombed areas, Jabal Al-Dardour in the northern Strip. 1794 02:45:02,032 --> 02:45:05,044 Dozens of buildings had been razed to the ground. 1795 02:45:05,044 --> 02:45:11,241 The mammoth-sized, armour-plated bulldozers are custom-built by Caterpillar (boycott it!) 1796 02:45:11,241 --> 02:45:13,088 to raze Palestinian houses to the ground, 1797 02:45:13,088 --> 02:45:18,921 and are used to lend the army tanks a hand in their destructive effort. 1798 02:45:18,921 --> 02:45:25,052 Out there I saw men and women rummaging through the rubble, looking for things, such as an article of clothing, 1799 02:45:25,052 --> 02:45:31,561 a few dust-coated school bags or portrait photos of families in cracked frames. 1800 02:45:31,561 --> 02:45:34,032 Iíve never caught sight of any destroyed arsenals, 1801 02:45:34,032 --> 02:45:42,084 only buildings with their ceilings torn clear off their walls, where you can catch sight of what was once a living-room, the remains of a bedroom, 1802 02:45:42,084 --> 02:45:45,006 or a kitchen reduced to cinders. 1803 02:45:45,006 --> 02:45:48,006 Abu Omar, a molecular biologist, 1804 02:45:48,006 --> 02:45:52,056 has invited me to come and see whatís left of his apartment. 1805 02:45:52,056 --> 02:45:55,006 His neighbour, Osama, a paediatrician, 1806 02:45:55,006 --> 02:46:00,008 also showed me his house, reduced to a colander. 1807 02:46:00,008 --> 02:46:02,008 The propulsive power of the missiles... 1808 02:46:02,008 --> 02:46:08,064 ...splashed some debris from the near-by orange orchard onto the building. 1809 02:46:08,064 --> 02:46:14,072 The juice of oranges, mixed with the clotted blood splattered all over the floor, 1810 02:46:14,072 --> 02:46:18,921 looked like a naÔf painterís canvas. 1811 02:46:18,921 --> 02:46:21,801 An elderly man, his head wrapped in a kafiyeh, 1812 02:46:21,801 --> 02:46:28,024 approaches us to ask Natalie, our Lebanese companion with the ISM, where sheís from. 1813 02:46:28,024 --> 02:46:30,601 Waving his walking stick in the air, 1814 02:46:30,601 --> 02:46:34,004 as if to draw a wide arc over the devastated landscape before us, 1815 02:46:34,004 --> 02:46:36,028 he says, 1816 02:46:36,028 --> 02:46:39,881 "Beirut and Gaza, same painting, same artist." 1817 02:46:39,881 --> 02:46:44,004 Even Osamaís pigeon coop hasnít been spared by the shelling. 1818 02:46:44,004 --> 02:46:50,004 His birds lie on the ground, as if defeated by a sky too heavy for their wings, 1819 02:46:50,004 --> 02:46:52,028 as heavy as "cast lead". 1820 02:46:52,028 --> 02:46:54,096 "They tried to defeat the Palestinian air force, 1821 02:46:54,096 --> 02:46:59,064 or perhaps they thought these birds might be dispatch carriers for Hamas", 1822 02:46:59,064 --> 02:47:04,024 I told the paediatrician, causing him to smile sadly. 1823 02:47:04,024 --> 02:47:07,068 As we travelled in our broken-down taxi, 1824 02:47:07,068 --> 02:47:12,008 we crossed routes with the UNís Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon. 1825 02:47:12,008 --> 02:47:19,081 A long line of brand-new SUVs, all tinted windows and UN logos, 1826 02:47:19,081 --> 02:47:23,096 darted through Gaza as if the earth shook beneath their tires. 1827 02:47:23,096 --> 02:47:28,072 As it happens, this was actually the case until a few days ago. 1828 02:47:28,072 --> 02:47:32,072 Wandering around the impossible puzzle of Jabal Al-Dardourís ruins, 1829 02:47:32,072 --> 02:47:38,036 I heard someone call my name. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw Abu Ashrafa. 1830 02:47:38,036 --> 02:47:44,064 Iíd attended his sonís funeral when he was killed by a bomb last November, 1831 02:47:44,064 --> 02:47:50,000 a month in which, according to Israel and the Western media, a ceasefire had been called. 1832 02:47:50,000 --> 02:47:57,004 Abu Ashrafa had just lost another relative, and his house has been razed down to its foundations. 1833 02:47:57,004 --> 02:48:04,064 "They havenít left us a single head of livestock, a rock, or an olive tree standing ñ theyíre not human", 1834 02:48:04,064 --> 02:48:07,721 he said, leading me to his olive orchard. 1835 02:48:07,721 --> 02:48:14,008 Many trees ñ the centenary ones ñ have been torn down by Israeli bulldozers. 1836 02:48:14,008 --> 02:48:24,088 Itís as if they were trying to make up for not being able to erase lives that are impossible to uproot from their origins, 1837 02:48:24,088 --> 02:48:30,921 their identity and their burning desire for justice, surviving all destruction. 1838 02:48:30,921 --> 02:48:33,068 Not far away a middle-aged man approached me, 1839 02:48:33,068 --> 02:48:37,088 asking if I thought all Palestinians were Hamas guerrilla fighters. 1840 02:48:37,088 --> 02:48:42,000 From a window in his damaged home flapped a yellow Fatah banner. 1841 02:48:42,000 --> 02:48:44,681 "Our Kalashnikov is our faith and honour, 1842 02:48:44,681 --> 02:48:51,081 we will stand up for our land tooth and nail in the same way you would defend your daughter from being raped", 1843 02:48:51,081 --> 02:48:53,088 this Fatah supporter told me. 1844 02:48:53,088 --> 02:48:57,076 If Israelís objective was to isolate and rid the Strip of Hamas... 1845 02:48:57,076 --> 02:49:02,441 ...by dividing further a people already split by internal diatribes, 1846 02:49:02,441 --> 02:49:06,281 then Israel has achieved the exact opposite of what it intended. 1847 02:49:06,281 --> 02:49:10,024 The bombing has in part given Gaza back its national identity. 1848 02:49:10,024 --> 02:49:12,072 The litmus test of this new situation... 1849 02:49:12,072 --> 02:49:16,072 ...is represented by the muqawama, the Palestinian resistance, 1850 02:49:16,072 --> 02:49:20,361 heroic in its attempt to stop the Israeli Army from advancing. 1851 02:49:20,361 --> 02:49:26,024 The flowing beards of the Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigadesí Islamists, Hamasí fighting wing, 1852 02:49:26,024 --> 02:49:34,441 have fought side-by-side with the scampish, goatee-sporting Marxist guerrilla fighters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, 1853 02:49:34,441 --> 02:49:37,072 and alongside Fatahís Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. 1854 02:49:37,072 --> 02:49:42,032 Only time will tell if this newfound unity among the militias 1855 02:49:42,032 --> 02:49:48,028 is a reflection of unity within civic and political society. 1856 02:49:48,028 --> 02:49:54,064 Leaving behind us the lunar atmosphere of Jabal Al-Dardour, denuded of its buildings, 1857 02:49:54,064 --> 02:50:00,041 we paused before a frowning child sitting atop a small pile of rubble, 1858 02:50:00,041 --> 02:50:03,016 or what was left of his houseís courtyard. 1859 02:50:03,016 --> 02:50:06,064 We asked him what was going through his mind. 1860 02:50:06,064 --> 02:50:11,008 In his simple words he seemed to be saying that Hamas and its resistance... 1861 02:50:11,008 --> 02:50:14,048 ...were responsible for this catastrophe. 1862 02:50:14,048 --> 02:50:19,008 So Fida, our ISM companion took him aside in a motherly manner... 1863 02:50:19,008 --> 02:50:22,088 ...and briefly told him of their history. 1864 02:50:22,088 --> 02:50:26,008 She spoke of soldiers marching into Rafah in 2004... 1865 02:50:26,008 --> 02:50:30,000 ...and razing entire neighbourhoods to the ground, 1866 02:50:30,000 --> 02:50:34,016 exactly as had happened here and now. 1867 02:50:34,016 --> 02:50:42,441 Back then, there was no Hamas, and Fatahís leader, Yasser Arafat, was the designated terrorist, the number one enemy... 1868 02:50:42,441 --> 02:50:46,068 ...to dethrone and wipe away from Palestine. 1869 02:50:46,068 --> 02:50:55,006 But rather than targeting Fatahís headquarters, even then the Israeli troops struck indiscriminately and killed dozens of civilians, 1870 02:50:55,006 --> 02:50:59,076 razing Fidaís house in the process as well. 1871 02:50:59,076 --> 02:51:01,092 Travelling back towards Gaza City, 1872 02:51:01,092 --> 02:51:10,004 the car in which we drove plunged into a hole in the concrete created by the tanksí creaking wheels. 1873 02:51:10,004 --> 02:51:12,064 The taxi driver turned around and said: 1874 02:51:12,064 --> 02:51:16,841 "Death was here and left its footprints." 1875 02:51:16,841 --> 02:51:23,241 I wonder how long itíll take for the scars of this land to heal. 1876 02:51:23,241 --> 02:52:08,008 Stay human. 1877 02:52:08,008 --> 02:52:13,036 22nd January 2009 1878 02:52:13,036 --> 02:52:16,096 What her tears have seen 1879 02:52:16,096 --> 02:52:25,088 I crossed the threshold of my house in Almina, facing Gaza Cityís port, after several daysí absence. 1880 02:52:25,088 --> 02:52:30,004 Everything was exactly as I had left it, 1881 02:52:30,004 --> 02:52:36,012 the gas tank was still anorexic (feeding it is too expensive) 1882 02:52:36,012 --> 02:52:41,036 and the power had been cut off by a perfect strangerís pliers. 1883 02:52:41,036 --> 02:52:46,084 The pleasant panorama that had once been outside my window has changed... 1884 02:52:46,084 --> 02:52:52,096 ...and no longer raises my spirits from the miseries of living under siege. 1885 02:52:52,096 --> 02:53:03,000 To the contrary, it now rubs salt in the wound, a trauma that wonít heal with its reminders of a massacre. 1886 02:53:03,000 --> 02:53:11,000 Twenty metres from my front door, where the fire station once stood, a huge crater now gapes... 1887 02:53:11,000 --> 02:53:19,032 ...wide for children to mess around in, as if to exorcize its horror for their parents. 1888 02:53:19,032 --> 02:53:28,521 The afternoon call to prayer no longer has the same comforting quality of the muezzinís chant that I had grown accustomed to. 1889 02:53:28,521 --> 02:53:38,002 I wonder where heís gone to, and if he managed to survive at the top of one of the few minarets still left intact. 1890 02:53:38,002 --> 02:53:46,064 The last time Iíd listened to him, this anonymous muezzin had had to interrupt his solemnly chanted call to prayer... 1891 02:53:46,064 --> 02:53:50,036 ...because of a chesty cough. 1892 02:53:50,036 --> 02:53:53,076 Itís an affliction Iím familiar with myself, 1893 02:53:53,076 --> 02:53:59,081 as the gases of the bombing in Gaza have spared no one. 1894 02:53:59,081 --> 02:54:04,088 I found a note at the foot of the French window looking onto my small balcony, 1895 02:54:04,088 --> 02:54:08,681 as if it had been put there by a friend. 1896 02:54:08,681 --> 02:54:16,004 The street and garden were littered with these same leaflets. They had been dropped from Israeli airplanes... 1897 02:54:16,004 --> 02:54:24,201 ...warning the Palestinians to stay alert, and be aware that the walls had ears and eyes. 1898 02:54:24,201 --> 02:54:31,881 "At the slightest threatening action against Israel weíll be back to invade the Gaza Strip again. 1899 02:54:31,881 --> 02:54:38,068 What youíve seen these days is nothing compared with what awaits you." 1900 02:54:38,068 --> 02:54:45,001 Some kids in the streets had picked up the leaflets and folded them into paper airplanes, 1901 02:54:45,001 --> 02:54:51,016 seemingly sending the message back to its destination. 1902 02:54:51,016 --> 02:54:56,008 Over the phone, Ahmed told me about a new kidsí game. 1903 02:54:56,008 --> 02:55:05,004 Until a few days ago, they amused themselves by relighting the fires, simply kicking the fragments of white phosphorous bombs 1904 02:55:05,004 --> 02:55:08,841 scattered all over the Strip. 1905 02:55:08,841 --> 02:55:16,032 The debris left by these bombs has very long-lasting flammable properties. 1906 02:55:16,032 --> 02:55:26,921 Even when picked up several days after their detonation, they can still catch fire if shaken about. 1907 02:55:26,921 --> 02:55:33,801 The Al-Quds Hospital paramedics speak of how they have given up trying to put out the fires... 1908 02:55:33,801 --> 02:55:37,481 ...provoked by these illegal bombs, 1909 02:55:37,481 --> 02:55:42,096 their flames seemed to feed off the water being thrown at them. 1910 02:55:42,096 --> 02:55:48,681 "The consequences of all the shit thatís been thrown at us in these last three weeks... 1911 02:55:48,681 --> 02:55:55,006 ...will surface again in the near future, with new cancer cases and deformed babies", 1912 02:55:55,006 --> 02:56:01,321 Munir, a doctor at Al-Shifa Hospital told me. 1913 02:56:01,321 --> 02:56:10,601 Even Gazaís neighbours seem to be worrying about this massive use of weapons forbidden by all international conventions. 1914 02:56:10,601 --> 02:56:18,441 In Sderot, and likewise in Ashkelon, Israeli citizens have formally asked their government... 1915 02:56:18,441 --> 02:56:24,008 ...for clarification regarding the weapons that have been used to torment us. 1916 02:56:24,008 --> 02:56:30,016 Itís obvious that impoverished uranium and white phosphorous... 1917 02:56:30,016 --> 02:56:36,088 ...scattered in such a criminal manner all over the tiny patch of land that is Gaza... 1918 02:56:36,088 --> 02:56:45,801 ...wonít discriminate between Jews and Muslims when it comes to provoking generic illnesses. 1919 02:56:45,801 --> 02:56:49,161 The truce ought to have started by now, 1920 02:56:49,161 --> 02:56:54,921 but today I was awoken in my bed by the deafening rumble of cannon shots from the warships, 1921 02:56:54,921 --> 02:56:58,004 exactly like a few days ago. 1922 02:56:58,004 --> 02:57:06,096 Some brave Palestinian fishermen had ventured from the port equipped with fishing nets on their tiny boats. 1923 02:57:06,096 --> 02:57:09,801 The Israeli Navy pushed them back. 1924 02:57:09,801 --> 02:57:13,641 Nowadays, the only edible fish found in Gaza... 1925 02:57:13,641 --> 02:57:19,084 ...are the Egyptian cans of tuna that came through the tunnels months ago. 1926 02:57:19,084 --> 02:57:28,521 East of Gaza City two children were blown up when playing with an unexploded device. 1927 02:57:28,521 --> 02:57:35,096 The witnesses we heard spoke of active mines in front of the ruins of Tal El-Hawaís houses. 1928 02:57:35,096 --> 02:57:41,008 some bomb disposal experts sent over by Hamas defused them and, 1929 02:57:41,008 --> 02:57:46,064 judging by the care with which they loaded them onto an off-road vehicle, 1930 02:57:46,064 --> 02:57:59,064 I think the Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades might return that message of death straight back to its lawful owners sometime soon. 1931 02:57:59,064 --> 02:58:08,000 Looking from Naeemaís roof, the Israeli-Palestinian border has never seemed so easy to pick out. 1932 02:58:08,000 --> 02:58:13,084 On one side lie the green hills, being constantly watered by the Israeli kibbutzim. 1933 02:58:13,084 --> 02:58:20,076 On the other you see the parching thirst of a land robbed of its water springs and herds. 1934 02:58:20,076 --> 02:58:24,096 Naeema wished to tell me all about her last few days, 1935 02:58:24,096 --> 02:58:30,441 a tactile, aural and olfactory account of the massacre, 1936 02:58:30,441 --> 02:58:35,081 considering that young Naeema is blind. 1937 02:58:35,081 --> 02:58:44,088 The soldiers threateningly ordered her fellow villagers to evacuate their homes only a few minutes before storming the place. 1938 02:58:44,088 --> 02:58:51,092 The men loaded the younger children onto their shoulders and ran away, along with their women. 1939 02:58:51,092 --> 02:58:57,088 Naeema chose to stay so as not to slow down their escape. 1940 02:58:57,088 --> 02:59:03,016 She took refuge in her own home, believing herself to be safe, 1941 02:59:03,016 --> 02:59:08,028 and welcomed her neighbours, who had nowhere else to go: 1942 02:59:08,028 --> 02:59:15,004 three women, an elderly lady and a paralyzed old man. 1943 02:59:15,004 --> 02:59:20,521 Then the tanks and bulldozers came, spreading death and destruction, 1944 02:59:20,521 --> 02:59:28,681 devouring acre by acre, until they stopped in front of Naeemaís house. 1945 02:59:28,681 --> 02:59:35,048 Standing on a small hill, the building she inhabits is the tallest in the village, 1946 02:59:35,048 --> 02:59:41,004 and the Israeli soldiers, who found that it was strategically positioned, 1947 02:59:41,004 --> 02:59:46,032 let themselves in and occupied it for two weeks. 1948 02:59:46,032 --> 02:59:51,044 "They came in and pointed their weapons at us, 1949 02:59:51,044 --> 02:59:56,032 pushing us into a small room, where they locked us up for 11 days", Naeema said. 1950 02:59:56,032 --> 03:00:02,000 "During that entire time they only brought us water to drink twice, 1951 03:00:02,000 --> 03:00:07,052 and food came in the form of leftovers from the soldiersí rations. 1952 03:00:07,052 --> 03:00:15,002 hey never let us go to the bathroom, so we had to relieve ourselves one corner of the room. 1953 03:00:15,002 --> 03:00:20,032 hey wouldnít let us talk among ourselves, and would come in and beat us at night, 1954 03:00:20,032 --> 03:00:26,004 when, huddled in a circle, we tried to gather some strength from prayer. 1955 03:00:26,004 --> 03:00:32,024 Sometimes theyíd come over and, intimidating us by pressing their weapons against our napes, 1956 03:00:32,024 --> 03:00:35,721 they demanded that we confess our alleged support for Hamas, 1957 03:00:35,721 --> 03:00:40,072 insulting us when we wouldnít comply." 1958 03:00:40,072 --> 03:00:43,084 At the end of the eleventh day of imprisonment, 1959 03:00:43,084 --> 03:00:50,008 the international Red Cross finally arrived and released the six prisoners from their jailers. 1960 03:00:50,008 --> 03:00:55,081 "They didnít allow us to pick anything up, not even my sunglasses", 1961 03:00:55,081 --> 03:01:03,401 Naeema related, bringing her story to a close, adding that when she and her neighbours returned to their homes, 1962 03:01:03,401 --> 03:01:07,881 they discovered the thievery carried out by the soldiers. 1963 03:01:07,881 --> 03:01:15,064 They had taken all their gold trinkets and hidden savings, after having destroyed their few possessions: 1964 03:01:15,064 --> 03:01:23,036 two TV sets, a radio, a fridge, and the solar panels on the roofs. 1965 03:01:23,036 --> 03:01:29,481 I saw tears in this womanís eyes, hidden by her dark glasses. 1966 03:01:29,481 --> 03:01:33,036 They seemed the most vivid I had ever seen. 1967 03:01:33,036 --> 03:01:37,001 In actual fact, what Naeema "saw"... 1968 03:01:37,001 --> 03:01:43,068 ...is a lot more that any young woman her age will ever get a chance to see, 1969 03:01:43,068 --> 03:01:53,002 if she had the misfortune of being born in this tortured strip of land. 1970 03:01:53,002 --> 99:59:59,999 Stay human.