Near Nahal Oz, Israel -- The Israeli "all-out war" on Gaza has entered its fourth day leaving more than 363 dead and 1,800 wounded. Israeli troop movements on the Gaza border point to an imminent ground battle in the upcoming few days. On Monday, the Israeli military declared the Gaza border, where tanks, artillery and troops are massing for a possible ground offensive, a closed military zone.
Reporters are being barred by Israel from going into Gaza to cover the carnage. Many have been relegated to reporting from behind Israel's declared military zone, some report from Jerusalem or Tel Aviv and rely on phone dispatches by stringers in the Gaza Strip. The best television coverage I've seen so far comes from Al Jazeera; the most provocative comes from Hezbollah's Al Manar. The Israeli coverage on IBA TV and Ch 10 reminds me of FOX News during the Iraq War with a focus on military strategies, graphics and interviews, with Israeli government spokesmen and generals.
At Beit Agron, the Israeli Government Press Office has not yet issued my "visiting journalist credentials." I went there in person three days ago, thinking they would be processed and delivered to me the same day. As I waited, a steady stream of international reporters applied for and received theirs. The press office liaison hands a British journalist his credentials and smiles, "don't forget to report that we were first attacked by Qassam rockets; they're hitting us we're not hitting them." The office wall is adorned with rockets fired by Hamas on the Israeli town of Sderot. A Korean journalist poses in front of them and does a "stand-up." The polite but evasive liaison keeps making excuses for the delay in issuing my press card. He keeps uncovering additional material that is missing in order to complete my application. He finally tells me that he won't have an answer for me until the next day... I won't bore you with the details, but I am Palestinian American.
I've been zigzagging my way between Israel and the West Bank to avoid IDF checkpoints. When we enter the Palestinian territories where emotions ran high, my Palestinian driver almost has a fit when he finds out that my cameraman is an Israeli. The Israeli strikes on Gaza are being broadcast in grisly detail almost continually on Arab satellite networks. In Bethlehem, an angry mob attacks the fortified Rachel Tomb Compound with stones and set tires on fire, but they are quickly dispersed by the Palestinian Authority riot police. Most West Bank towns have demonstrations and riots, and the Palestinian Authority forces keep them under control while Israeli soldiers watch and fire tear gas from a distance.
"Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) is a Zionist dog," screams a demonstrator in Hebron.
Many demonstrators are angry with Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas. They are blaming him of collusion with Israel. They are also angry with Egypt for not opening Rafah's border crossing to let in desperately needed medical supplies and food, which have been all but depleted by the ongoing siege on Gaza.
Two miles away from the Gaza border is the Israeli soldiers' staging area, and foreign journalists gather in anticipation as if it is minutes before the start of the Super Bowl or the start of the Olympics. No one talks about the death and destruction that will follow. IDF spokesmen keep saying that a ground force invasion was a distinct possibility but had not yet been decided upon. As I write helicopters hover overhead, their sound reminds me of a scene from Apocalypse Now.
Jamal Dajani produces the Mosaic Intelligence Report on Link TV
Follow Jamal Dajani on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jamaldajani
The problem is that Hamas is placing their military hardware in civilian neighborhoods. Hence all the collateral damage.
Michale.....
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I agree. Depriving people of food is murder. Doing so to many people, is mass murder or an act of war.
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And yet, why is there no attacks by Hamas on Egypt???
Michale.....
Can you say the same of Hamas??
No, you cannot..
Regardless of that, Egypt actually has MORE responsibility towards Gaza than Israel does..
Egypt blockades the border, just like Israel does..
So, what makes Egypt the ally and Israel the bad guys??
Michale.....
Of course, what is sadly obvious about this entire episode is that Hamas preplanned this event in an effort to get Israel to over react which they have done nicely. Now, Hamas will use this over reaction to gain sympathy for their cause. Pretty pathetic.
Even Egypt acknowledges as much:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081230/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt_gaza
The larger goal of Hamas and Iran (and Hezbollah) is the ultimate destruction of Israel. This war is one Hamas welcomes with that savage bloodlust of the hardcore Islamist.
Death is just a free e-ticket ride to the glories and virgin babes awaiting martyrs.
Stay safe, Jamal.
Cry wolf some more. See who comes running this time.
http://www.cfr.org/publication/9362/
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/12/iran_activating_its_proxies.php
You remind of the profound truth written by Emerson in his essay "Self-Reliance."
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
I would ask you to educate yourself on this matter, but if past is prologue, and it is, your mind is so closed it remains as empty as your hollow laughter.
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True. Someone needs to stand up to Israel
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Ahhhh
So it's all Israel's fault, eh??
Hamas is blameless?? :^/
Michale.....
Many folks here in the USA do not understand the basics of the conflicts that israel becomes caught up in. First, folks confuse the Muslim faith with being an Arab. Secons folks do not know how Israel became Israel, they do not know the early UN rulings. In addition most folks have never heard of the right of return, and cannot understand the tremendous impact of the long term refugee "problem."
I hope you send more reports, and work into them some of the basics so folks have a context from which to understand what you are writing.
take care, Kathy
I
can you please provide me with a link from a NEUTRAL website that supports your ideas about the creation of Israel? Because you keep on making comments that have no connection to reality!
And you should also read about the consequences of Israel accepting the "right of return". you dont understand that subject completey.
www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/30-10
And the great irony is that the Geneva Conventions were adopted in response to conduct against Jews that was deemed too heinous even for wartimes.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=29161&Cr=gaza&Cr1=
www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804
As for building settlements...... Palestine was a soveriegn nation until it was overthrown by terrorism, intimidation and ethnic cleansing. Settlements are part of that program. After forcing the Palestinians to leave or ghetto-izing them, the next step was to destroy moderates until nothing but militancy remains. Then its an easy excuse to cry "victim" yet again while murdering innocents and bombing some more.
In this case, the Gazans elected a Hamas government and Rice, Dubya and Israel consipred against it, see the Vanity Fair article. The result is that Hamas doubted the sincerity of negotiations and continued resisting.
By the way, I think a good question to ask would be, Is Israel fighting America’s fight against Islam, or is America fighting Islam for Israel?
Maybe it’s time that America no longer supports any racially segregated nation?
http://www.linktv.org/mosaic
It's an invaluable resource to learn what's really going on in the ME but I was sorry to hear it's on hiatus until January 5.
Wuh?
Everything you just said proved Hamas is 100% right.
You bottled out didn't you?
Were the French resistance wrong? Was the Warsaw Ghetto uprising wrong? Was Crazy Horse wrong?
Israel has ben attacked on all fronts even on their holy days
Gaza wasgiven back in hopes of peace, so we got an area closer to israel to fire rockets from
Where has the press been all the years the arabs sent rockets into Israel? Where were the reporters or the UN or foreign diplomats conmening all this?
Yet, when Israel finally has enough, and decides to fight back, 1/2 the world condemns this and demands an immediate halt.
And the stated goal of the arabs..to not rest in peace till the Jews are driven into the sea?
Sorry..I can't hear you
Harvey Hertz
For most of sixty years, we have heard the reason there must be a J e w i s h homeland was so J e w s would always be safe. How's the working out?
The UN suggested a democracy with equal treatment for both races. Just the opposite of Israel.
And wouldn't Abbas be more able to bring about a Palestinian state and peace for the Palestinian people? I don't understand why he is not in charge and why the Palestinian people are so mad at him. Why do they want to keep Hamas in power when having them in power makes their lives so miserable? It seems obvious that they don't want to be a neighbor to Israel under any circumstances.
The Israelis probably made the whole thing up although it might have been a couple of kids with big fireworks. That's what these so-called rockets are btw. Home made big fireworks. Hamas has no control over this sort of thing.
Do you understand that a shell is a thing shot by a field gun of some sort? artillery. The Palestinians have no weapons. They have no army. They have no shells, no artillery, no bombs, no planes, no tanks. They're just defenceless people being murdered.
Now for example when the Serbs of Kosovo were being attacked by the US-backed KLA those terrorists really did have artillery pieces thanks to by Uncle Sam. But you probably felt that the Serbs should NOT have responded to that REAL shelling of their country by REAL terrorists, right?