Day Four: Gaza War Postings

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

Comments

[BelGazou]

I don't understand the heavy-handedness of Israel here. Wouldn't the use of Predator Drones, making surgical strikes at the Hamas sites, in the end be far more effective at stopping the rocket attacks? The embargo is also wrong in that it stops food and essential supplies from reaching the Palestinians but apparently, it has not stopped the movement of rocket launchers and arms from Iran.

[Michale32086]

Israelis ARE making surgical strikes..

The problem is that Hamas is placing their military hardware in civilian neighborhoods. Hence all the collateral damage.

Michale.....

[BelGazou]

I realize that Hamas puts the population in harms way by placing their military hardware in residential neighborhoods. All the more reason for the much more accurate Predators to do the work. Rockets launched via satellite guidance from a distance are not all that "surgical" as we have seen from our own use of them in Iraq, hence the 300+ fatalities and 1800+ wounded.

[leonardox1]

You can't make surgical strikes in Gaza. It is the most densely populated place on earth!

[Michale32086]

@ObjectiveRealist

}}}
I agree. Depriving people of food is murder. Doing so to many people, is mass murder or an act of war.
{{{{

And yet, why is there no attacks by Hamas on Egypt???

Michale.....

[chaos4700]

Because firing on an erstwhile ally makes a whole lot less sense then firing on an enemy committed to your annihilation?

[Michale32086]

No where has Israel said they want to destroy the Palestinians..

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.....

[UltraClassic]

So, get the Hamas thugs to stop lobbing rockets into Israel. You know, Hamas reminds me of a stupid kid that takes a stick and pokes at a mean dog asleep on the porch. That mean dog just bit the bajezus out of the kid and he is sitting on the ground crying and wondering why that dog is so mean.

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.

[Cheesemelt]

Hamas is engaged in a proxy war with Israel as pawns of their task masters in Tehran.

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.

[chaos4700]

LOL! Yeah, right! Iraq is supporting the terrorists! Oh, wait. Iran! We meant to say Iran is supporting al Qaeda! (whispering by Joe Lieberman) Oh wait...

Cry wolf some more. See who comes running this time.

[Cheesemelt]

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1688472,00.html
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.

[Bonobo]

Hopefully, by lashing out at Gaza, the Israeli hawks will have indulged enough to distract them from airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities before they lose their American neocon cover like some of us were worried they were talking themselves into. Then again, with Obama's AIPAC booster nominees, they may just think they still have cover, and can take care of it during the summer.

[Michale32086]

@leftoflennon

}}}}
True. Someone needs to stand up to Israel
{{{{

Ahhhh

So it's all Israel's fault, eh??

Hamas is blameless?? :^/

Michale.....

[FairTalk]

Jamal, thank you for your report. I have seen some of your videos.

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

[eran24]

FairTalk, I've been reading your comments, and you are obviously new to the issue, and don't know a lot about history,
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.

[joz22]

A good book about the creation of Israel is written by Israeli scholar Ilan Pappe's The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.

[lungfish]

Rice and Bush undertook a secret campaign to arm Fatah against Hamas after Gazans elected the Hamas government.... so there was no sincerity in the negotiations with Israel and the US when Hamas knew that they were really trying to undermine and expell them. All of these claims of victimization by Israel while it bombs university students and children is a smokescreen for ethnic cleansing and removing the duly elected government of Gaza.

[Nexttt]

I think Palestinians should take responsibility for their own civil war. There was no ethnic cleansing in Gaza in fact.

[lungfish]

This civil war was cynically financed and undertaken by the US and Israel while it abused the duly elected Hamas gov of Gaza...


www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804

[joz22]

Ethnic cleansing started in 1948. Well documented in a book by Israeli scholar Ilan Pappe: The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.

[ObjectiveRealist]

I agree. Depriving people of food is murder. Doing so to many people, is mass murder or an act of war.
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=

[nycerbarb]

Free Gilad Shalit!

[jad114]

Free an entire nation held hostage in gaza and the west bank!

[lungfish]

free the Palestinians, stop the torture, detentions and abuse, end the ethnic cleansing!

[mamiejane]

Everyone talks about Israel's need to take action because of the Hamas rocket fire but no one talks about the necessity of a Palestinian response to Israeli settlement building. The settlements are a violation of international law and every peace agreement between the parties. More importantly, the settlements constitute a permanent impediment to a peaceful resolution between the parties. The settlements are a far more violent act of war than the Hamas rockets. If settlement building continues, there can only be two possible solutions: The elimination of the Palestinian people and the creation of Greater Israel or a one state solution; Palestine; where Israelis and Palestinians are forced to live together.

[Tulka2]

Amen. Also....? Could the goal be to drive all Palastinians into Egypt before Obama steps up? This also cannot be said often enough: Half the people in Gaza are under the age of 15.

[Doris]

no I don't think that is the goal. The goal is to weaken Hamas. Also, I doubt there is going to be any big change in policy once obama takes office. You talk like he's got some kind of magical power. No US president can really change things that much.

[lungfish]

This is at the root of the problems of the most recent round of violence....

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.

[Doris]

I'll agree with you on the settlement building - but I think the answer is to give up the settlements and have 2 states. They yanked all those people out of Gaza - so they can do it again. I do think the Jews need their own home because of their long history of being driven out of various countries. It would happen again, I can assure you.

[nycerbarb]

And just how many people have been killed by building a settlement?

[unclesmedley]

Killed....? hard to say. Here's a better question: How many lives have been ruined by building a settlement?

[Nexttt]

There are no Israeli settlements in Gaza. That was their old excuse.

[mattheweste]

Absolutely correct.

In the long term it's Democracy or genocide.

[ENOS]

Imagine being forced into a small neighborhood, filled with millions of jobless people, whose water and electricity is cut off a few days every week. Then imagine having huge missiles sent in by an overruling government to demolish your friends and family.

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?

[Samalabear]

I think this is the best way to do things, too. Cut off aid to all of them. Fat chance of that happening.

[bdb]

Perhaps that's the root of the problem: a nation state devoted exclusively to the betterment of one ethnic group. Such a state would not value the interests of an ethnic minority. What's more, the majority may even fear that one day the minority will become a majority, and therefore make every effort to keep the minority a minority lest a state devoted to one ethnic group become a state entirely devoted to preserving the interests of another ethnic group. Naturally, the exclusive concern for the protection and well-being one ethnic group results in the resentment of those whose interests are not valued as much. The only solution I can think of is for Israelis and Palestinians to set aside concerns for ethnic cohesion and the dictates of religion to establish a government which truly represents the interests of all inhabitants equally (or to create two states pursuing the best interests of its inhabits). The solution is a democracy which values the lives and interests of everyone regardless of ethnicity/religion. Will the inhabitants ignore their concerns for ethnic primacy or religious dogma to regard each other as fellow human beings with more to lose fighting one another? Not likely. Not when there are enough extremists who think compromise and concessions are cowardly. For enough people, it's all or nothing. But no one wants to leave, and why should anyone? So they'll have to work it out, and they can start by treating those of differing ethnicity/religion as equals.

[Nexttt]

Gaza is not part of Israel to be a minority region. Gaza in a self ruling territory that had once belonged to Egypt.

[Nexttt]

Gazans have not been forced out or forced in to any neighborhood. They are living in the same Gaza as they have always have. Gaza was region belonging to Egypt that was occupied but not cleansed by Israel after the winning the war. Israel is no longer occupying Gaza and neither has it ever cleansed Gaza.

[Galen]

If you can't get Jamal's Link TV, the videos(including Al Jazeera coverage) can be watched here:
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.

[ReesieKitty]

I wish this reporter the best of luck- I hope he comes through this safely. If all Palestinians are to be blamed for Hammas and what they stand for, then aren't all Americans responsible for Bush and any of his government's policies, whether we agreed with them or voted for him or not? Indeed, if we were all barricaded into a tiny corner of our country, denied passports, food, access to medical supplies and care and placed under military authority, then we might rebel too. If a much stronger nation did this to us, using the most sophisticated military technology available ( courtesy of my tax dollars, no less) to keep us penned up without basic rights or necessities, then would it be understandable if we rebelled against them with any means we could find? Hammas is absolutely wrong, but punishing the Palestinians indiscriminately does Israel no good and is not right either.

[mattheweste]

OK I am reading all this and then I get to the total non-sequitur "Hamas is absolutely wrong".

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?

[Nexttt]

Hamas has been brutal and it has killed it's apposition within Gaza since it got election. They have very little redeeming feature but they must have done something to get your approval. What would that be.

[bdb]

Well said. Considering that the people in Gaza are imprisoned, for all intents and purposes, I'm surprised they haven't been more disgruntled. Limiting access to food and supplies and keeping the people there at or below the subsistence level will always provide for a wellspring of resentment. It's there and until Palestinians are better off, it will always be there. Of course, they'll always been disgruntled about losing their homes but with the means to better themselves, they can start building towards the future. Then again, there's the fear that allowing the Palestinians to rebuild and better themselves will only make them greater threats (which may be true if Hamas is in power). Nonetheless, the people suffer for the undisguised anger and hatred of those in power. Unfortunately for them they can't leave and find a better life somewhere else. They have to stay and if someone drops bombs on them, so be it. It seems that Israel wants a quiescent and completely cowed Palestinian populace, but that's not what they'll get; and the longer they wage war the more enemies they'll make. Fear doesn't destroy the enemy, it emboldens it and it's sad to think that Israel will continue to get more of what it doesn't want. The Palestinians aren't going to disappear or all die ... problem solved. They are there because it's home ... even if it's a nightmarish one. They're judged by the actions of their leaders and suffer accordingly.

[Nexttt]

People in Gaza are not imprisoned. Gaza was separated from Egypt and has no claim to any other territory. The question is why Egypt which once owned Gaza closes its door to them although many and most of them are in fact Egyptians.

[Doris]

It's not the Palestinian people firing rockets. It's Hamas. This is not a revolution or protest.

[Nexttt]

Of course that is true, but they knowingly elected this violent radical party. They have had an ongoing civil war since electing them. Hamas has been killing it's apposition in Gaza.

[mattheweste]

It's not Hamas either.

I mean have Hamas said they did? It's probably just some kids.

[hah13]

As soon as The Jewish population that existed from WW2 was given a tiny bit of land(look at a map of arab area compared to israel), Israel was attacked by arab countries.
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

[Tulka2]

The United Nations called for the establishment of a Jewish and Palastinian homeland. Terrible ideas both. Those people lived side by side with no pogams against J e w s for centuries. An ethnic requirment for citizenship is a disasterous idea. When Germany said only one kind of ethnic people could be Germans, we knew what to call that.

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?

[mattheweste]

The UN said no such thing. That's just a pack of lies by the usual liars.

The UN suggested a democracy with equal treatment for both races. Just the opposite of Israel.

[leonardox1]

That "tiny bit of land" was the HOMELAND of a million Palestinians who lived on it for centuries. Why weren't they given a "tiny bit of land" from Germany?

[alnb]

The Palestinian people are being disastrously misled by Hamas. Hamas's policy of relentless shelling of Israel's sovereign territory does nothing but strengthen the political position of the radical religious right in Israel. There is no sovereign nation on earth that is capable of defending itself that would allow the bombardment of its citizens month after month, year after year. One can only assume that Hamas has been attempting to provoke the response we are witnessing. Where is the morality in the enthusiastic sacrifice of one's own innocents?

[Doris]

I agree - I asked this on another thread: what did Hamas think it was going to achieve by firing those rockets??

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.

[maigoro]

Abbas is hated because he and his ruling elite take most of the aid money and live lavishly in big homes and bigs cars and lots of bodyguards. Hamas on the other hand spends the majority of their money feeding and caring for the poor. This is not an endorsement of Hamas, it is just the truth.

[NotesFromME]

Abbas is useless because he is seen as a Quisling in the pay of the Israelis.

[mattheweste]

There is no "relentless shelling of Israel's sovereign territory".

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?

[alnb]

Hamas and its proxies have launched more than 1,000 rockets at Israel since the violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. These rockets purposefully target vulnerable southern Israeli cities such as Sderot and nearby environs, landing in or near private homes, schools, colleges, and daycare and recreation centers. In March 2008, Hamas stepped up the intensity and effectiveness of these attacks, using more powerful and longer range Grad (Katyusha-like) missiles to hit the city of Ashkelon. Israeli military officials have noted that some of these missiles have components that likely were manufactured in Iran and they warn that Hamas artillery may soon be able to reach well inside Israel, threatening millions of Israeli civilians. These are not "homemade fireworks". Are we to consider Hamas's stated aim ,"...to obliterate the Zionist entity", is child's play?

[jackie2]

First of all, you are being seriously misled by whoever led you to believe that Hamas has been relentlessly shelling Israel's sovereign territory-Hamas continued to honor the 6 month truce it had agreed upon with Israe, which expired last week, even though it was not honored by th Israelis, who relentlessly murdered Gazans (every single day of the truce) on Palestinian sovereign territory-2nd, since the Palestinians have no army or navy or air force, no helicopters or bomber planes or sattelite tracking, no nukes or tear gas, all those handy things the American taxpayer gives to Israel, just how exactly would you have them fight back?-When they have peaceful demonstrations, the Israelis turn fire hoses on them & often shoot them-Gandhi's strategy only works against civilized people-The U.N. can't help them-Everytime they try, America uses its Security Council veto for Israel-Other nations are afraid to help them, because America makes it very clear that we have a "special relationship" with Israel, which pretty much means they are never held accountable like the rest of the world is-They can do no wrong-So if another country wants to help the Palestinians we'll either turn said country into another Iraq or cut off financial aid to them & use our considerable influence to get other nations to boycott them-Again I ask, what do you think they should do to defend themselves against the combined power of Israel & the world's greatest superpower, us?