Wednesday, January 14, 2009

How does one prepare for a war crime?


Maha Mehanna writing from the occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 13 January 2009
(Maha Mehanna is based in al-Rimal, Gaza, and is a freelance Arabic-English translator. She can be reached at maha_2711@yahoo.com)

"As the war in Gaza, where I live, enters its third week, the death toll of civilians continues to rise. There is nowhere safe in Gaza. The Israeli warplanes have bombed -- and continue to do so -- homes, ministerial buildings, municipal buildings, mosques, schools, universities and charities throughout the densely-populated Gaza Strip. Every day in Gaza is more painful and heartbreaking than the past. Everyone here is terrorized and traumatized from the never-ending bombardments. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic beyond words and it is very hard to make sense of the current situation or make future predictions. The Israeli attacks on Gaza are escalating, and the Israeli military navy is shelling from the sea, the F-16 warplanes and Apache helicopters from the sky, and the tanks from the ground ... where to hide?!.....

What's happening in Gaza is a real crime against humanity. If any Israeli spokesperson does not believe it, I ask them to visit for him or herself. Despite this extremely difficult situation, we are still holding on, waiting for the siege to end and hoping with it the 41 years of occupation will also leave our lives once and for all."

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