'People Are Resisting By Existing': Gaza After the Bombing

by Sharif Abdel Kouddous

"....."It was a horrible nightmare," says Dr. Mona El-Farra, director of Gaza Projects for the Middle East Children’s Alliance. "Everywhere we were surrounded with death and horror."......

The destruction of Gaza is severe. Dozens of houses, apartments blocks and offices have been reduced to rubble. The Israeli military targeted numerous civil institutions, including a main bridge on the coastal road connecting Gaza City with the rest of the enclave, as well as several police stations, farms, the Islamic National Bank, and a sprawling government compound housing ministries that once issued identification cards, passports and other official papers.

"In eight days the Israelis inflicted the same amount of destruction as they did in twenty-two days in Cast Lead four years ago," Sourani says. "I think the Israelis wanted to inflict pain and terror in the hearts and minds of the civilian population.".....

"The Israeli talk about ceasefire is not true," El-Farra says. "They did not talk about siege-lifting or lifting of the occupation. What they are really talking about is freedom of movement between Gaza and Cairo. In the long-term I am not optimistic."......

Yet one effect of the Israeli assault on Gaza has been to significantly boost Hamas's popularity—which had been waning in the face of growing dissatisfaction with their rule. "Their popularity is on a peak,” Sourani says. “There is unprecedented, overwhelming support for them.".......

"People are resisting to by existing," says El-Farra. "There was strong social solidarity during this attack. People were staying strong on the ground. This was the real courage and steadfastness.""