Diaries: Live from Palestine

How does one prepare for a war crime?

Maha Mehanna Gaza Strip 13 January 2009


Since the start of the Israeli offensive on Gaza, Israeli warplanes have been bombing and shelling several locations in the area near our house, very near our house. With each bombardment, we feel our house shake like an earthquake and windows break, not to mention our utter fear and horror. Maha Mehanna writes from the besieged Gaza Strip. 

Targeting a cup of tea in Gaza

Rami Almeghari Gaza Strip 12 January 2009


Only a tea cup, a broken chair and some spots of blood were left where a short time before five members of the the Abu Jbarah family had been sitting in al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The Electronic Intifada correspondent Rami Almeghari writes from besieged Gaza. 

Israel is targeting medics

Eva Bartlett Gaza Strip 12 January 2009


On 7 January, as Spanish human rights advocate and documentary filmmaker, Alberto Arce, and I accompanied Palestinian medics to retrieve the body of a man shot earlier by invading Israeli forces, we were also shot at as the medics carried the body towards the ambulance. It was in Dawwar Zimmo, eastern Jabaliya, near the area which has been occupied by Israeli soldiers since the land invasion began. Eva Bartlett writes from the besieged Gaza Strip. 

We talk in silence, we stand together

Laila El-Haddad Durham, United States 12 January 2009


I receive the dreaded 9pm call from my father. My heart skipped a beat — late night calls always bear bad news. “More bombings, I can’t sleep. Israeli navy gunships are bombarding Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, you know where Amo Musab lives, where he built his new house,” he says, referring to his cousin. Laila El-Haddad writes from the US. 

Gaza is sinking in a river of blood

Mohammed Fares Al Majdalawi Gaza Strip 11 January 2009


There is no safe place we can go. We cannot communicate with our relatives and friends — networks are down as missiles rain on our homes, mosques and even hospitals. Our life is centered around the burials of those who have died, our martyrs. At night our camp, Jabaliya refugee camp, is a ghost town, with no sounds other than those of Israeli military aircraft. Mohammed Fares Al Majdalawi writes from the besieged Gaza Strip. 

All signs point to systematic targeting of civilians

Ewa Jasiewicz Gaza Strip 11 January 2009


Last night was a quiet one in Jabaliya. “Only” six homes bombed into the ground, the market, again, maybe four lightly injured people — shrapnel to the face injuries — and no martyrs. Beit Hanoun saw a young woman, Nariman Ahmad Abu Owder, just 17, shot dead as she made tea in her family’s kitchen. Ewa Jasiewicz reports from the besieged Gaza Strip. 

Phoning my in-laws in Gaza

Xen Hasan Manchester, United Kingdom 11 January 2009


We haven’t been able to get hold of my sister-in-law for a couple of days. It’s nerve wracking. Soul destroying. I find myself doing horrifying mental arithmetic. I don’t know why, I can’t seem to help it. The UN stated on Thursday that 758 people had been killed. That’s one person for each 2,000 in Gaza. What are the odds that one of them might be Nareman, or one of her family? Xen Hasan writes from the UK. 

Tunnel vision

Kathy Kelly al-Arish, Egypt 10 January 2009


I heard some people here in Egypt wonder if the Israeli Air Force must be running out of places and people to target. But perhaps the surveillance drones we heard and saw flying over the Rafah border crossing today hunted down more spots on which bombers could fix their cross-hairs. Kathy Kelly writes from al-Arish, Egypt. 

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