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Israel pounds Gaza into dust

by Kristen Ess via repost
Where is the UN Security Council?
Israel pounds Gaza into dust

Kristen Ess, writing from Occupied Gaza

25 January 2003



At 9 o'clock yesterday morning the Israeli military destroyed all of the
bridges the lead in and out of Beit Hanoun in the north of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli tanks and helicopters then shelled the town for 18 hours.



Night before last Israeli occupation forces invaded Gaza City. One of the
houses they destroyed is near where I used to live, next door to where many
Palestinians still live. It is unusual for the Israeli military to invade
Gaza City by land the way they do in the rest of the Gaza Strip. In the
south, in Rafah for instance, every house I've lived in is now destroyed. I
left one house for an hour in Rafah's Block O and the Israeli military
destoyed it. But usually the IOF attacks Gaza City by air, by firing
missiles from US donated Apache helicopters, as they also did last night.



My friends from the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza City wrote
this: "In the early morning hours of Friday, January 24, 2003, the IOF
entered az-Zaytun area, west of Gaza City, and destroyed a house with
explosives. The house is owned by the family of Mas,ud Ayad, who was
assassinated by the Israeli military in 2000. Also, the IOF arrested four
Palestinians; three of them are from the Ayad family. About twenty homes
were damaged in the area due to the explosion. The same night Israeli
helicopters shelled a metal shop in Gaza with five missiles. One of the
missiles struck Saint Philips Church, which is located inside the Al Ahly
Hospital, while a second missile hit a house directly, destroying it. One
elderly woman died from a heart attack and three other people were injured."



There is more from this morning. "At approximately 9 am Friday, January 24,
2003, the IOF attacked the town of Beit Hanun, in the north of the Gaza
Strip. They destroyed four bridges at the entrances of the town isolating
the town completely. Israeli tanks and helicopters then shelled the town
until 3 am killing 18-year-old Hasan Yusif Fayad, and injuring 20 others. In
addition, numerous homes were damaged from the shelling, which also damaged
electricity and phone lines. Meanwhile, on the same day, the IOF murdered
24-year-old Muhammad al-Musadar, who was mentally disabled, from the refugee
camp of Al-Maghazi."



In Rafah the Israeli military is still smashing through people's houses.
They plowed into Block O again yesterday and destroyed twenty-one homes. The
area is already flooded with sewage and nearly unihabitable. There is
another wall next to the apartheid wall the Israeli military government is
building made of broken toys and beds, bits from the houses. The children
have nowhere to go. No one has anywhere to go. How is the Israeli proganda
machine managing to sell this to the international community?



The kids from Jenin wrote: "Whose the terrorist? You're the terrorist. How
am I the terrorist living in my homeland?"



Last week in Khan Younis 70 Israeli tanks tore through the main streets of
the town targetting auto repair shops and other similar industry. It is a
common practice of the Israeli military government to destroy any mode of
Palestinian economic sustainability. Targetted shootings are also common,
not always to kill, but often to maim in specific areas of the body making a
future of working or mobility difficult if not impossible. In Bethlehem's
Aida Refugee Camp when Israeli soldiers shot the children who threw stones
at the heavily armoured invading Israeli jeeps and tanks, they aimed at the
legs of the children. Two, one who was just 10 years old (not 12 as was
reported earlier), and a young teenager, will never walk properly again.
Last summer a young man was hit by an Apache missile. He lived through it,
but cannot walk without a limp and is in constant pain.



Another boy is about to undergo a long term operation and recovery in order
to have bullets removed from his leg. In the prisons the torture is often
disabling. Israeli soldiers broke a friend's arm at the shoulder during
interrogation. He put it back in place himself since he was denied medical
treatment. He cannot move his arm properly now and is always in pain. He has
a bullet in his back. The pain makes sleeping and using stairs difficult.
Another friend who has an illicit mobile telephone inside an Israeli
prisoner tells me that what I imagine happened to him at the hands of
Israeli soldiers is true. He is being held without charge. When he gets out,
if he gets out, the Israeli military government will be more easily able to
sell their propaganda to the international community that it's just
terrorists and felons that they are killing and that they must keep all
Palestinians under curfew in order to "protect themselves." Israeli
occupation forces abducted ten Palestinians from their sleeping homes in
Bethelehem.



As Israelis enjoy the ability to hold elections, Palestinians in the West
Bank remain under house arrest, unable to go to school, to work, and
certainly unable to conduct elections.

Kristen Ess is a political activist and freelance journalist from New York City, who has lived in the West Bank and Gaza since March 2002, where she does solidarity
work and reports for Free Speech Radio news and Left Turn magazine.
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Joe
Fri, Feb 7, 2003 8:04AM
US Values Oil More Than Human Life
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