As the fifth day of Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip begins, Rafah and Gaza City, the two main targets, have witnessed hundreds of deaths. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas blames Hamas, the ruling party in Gaza, for inciting Israel’s attack. Hamas, vows to keep shelling Southern Israel with rockets fired from the Gaza Strip. Lia Tarachansky spoke to Fida Qishta in Rafah, located in Southern Gaza. Qishta reports one of the first targets of the Israeli bombardment were the tunnels dug by Palestinians under the wall, which separates Rafah in two, half in Palestine and half in Egypt. These tunnels, says Qishta, have been used since the beginning of the siege to smuggle food, and according to Israel, weapons. Qishta also reports of the wall being breached by Palestinians desperate to escape to Egypt. Though unsuccessful, this is the fifth attempt since the beginning of the second Intifadah to breach it. Bio Fida Qishta is a freelance journalist and schoolteacher. Qishta has founded a children's center and an afterschool program in Rafah, where she teaches English, French, Arabic, and German from Rafah, Gaza. In 2004 Qishta survived her home being demolished by Israeli Forces.
Comments from Registered Members | (Register or log in to make your comment.) | neekoso 2009-01-07
Shel-Take a look at the average Israeli, and if you can't see their obvious European ancestry, you're being willfully blind. The Palestinians on the other hand are textbook Semitic and have lived in Palestine for thousands of years, why the fuck do you think it's called Palestine? The Israeli's are nothing more than carpetbagging Eastern Europeans, who stole Palestine after WW2. Trying to justify colonialism and murder with bronze age religious fables is a bad idea. If the US loves the idea of Israel so much, maybe they should have given Florida or New York (or better yet a part of Germany) over for New Israel. | shel_tr 2009-01-06
To JanT: I went to the link you provided. Thank you. We really have to begin by acknowledging that there's truth on all sides in this complex issue. Bottom-line, though, is that the Palestinians' latest round of misery was self-inflicted. Eight years of Israel's restrained response to ongoing rocket/mortar attacks on Israel proper (Israel PROPER mind you, not in Gaza / the West Bank / Lebanon / etc.) had already led to shattered civilian-living in Sderot, Ashkelon, etc. Compare this situation to that in the West Bank. Progress there may be glacial, but it's light-years better than the horrible situation that Hummus has brought to its population. Any other voter population would have recognized that their elected officials DO NOT have the voters' best interests at heart. When will Gazans begin to help themselves?? | shel_tr 2009-01-06
To neekoso: Interesting how anybody who provides exclusively rational arguments, is met not with countervailing rational arguments, but with personal attacks. In answer to your innane accusation, I am totally unaffiliated with any advocacy groups, either for or against Israel or the Palestinians. Let's return to facts, shall we? Stolen land? The Jewish presence in Israel/Palestine predates Muslims (whose conquest of Palestine in 800 A.D. evicted most, but not all, of the Jews). The Jewish presence even predated the Christians. Unquestionably, we have a situation where two groups have valid claims to the same, small tract of land. Until you can approach this issue responsibly, RATIONALLY, you really won't help anybody, esp. the Palestinians. | neekoso 2009-01-04
Shel is nothing more than a Zionist apologist, probably works for AIPAC or one of its afilated groups. Ask yourself this-if a group of people came to your land and stole it, wouldn't you fight back and do anything in your power to destroy them? Of course you would, as would any other self respecting human being. Israel is nothing more than a continuation of European colonialism, based on the false history of a book of fairy tales. | JanT 2009-01-03
shel_tr:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/29/israel-gaza-attack-palestinian-reaction
Are all there people lying then? If so, why - what do they stand to gain? | JanT 2009-01-03
Hello
I agree with boydcster: this issue has to be dealt with in-depth. The "history"/history needs to be presented. | shel_tr 2009-01-02
Hi jpeterse! Aren't you forgetting that Egypt, too, has sealed its border with Gaza? Isn't it just possible that it's not all just Israel's fault? Israel is attempting to limit the suffering of Gazans (although clearly Gazans are suffering). Are Israel's actions the "right" way to go? Ultimately, the sober response is that nobody, yet, has "the long-term answer". But I do know that Hummus' terrorist rocket & mortar attacks must be stopped! | jpeterse 2009-01-02
Both Israel and Gaza, as well as the greater Middle East and America, if we can look at the long run, need a cease-fire. Email jpeterse@iastate.edu if you would like to help me search for petitions to sign, for ways to inform, or to discuss. | jpeterse 2009-01-02
I'm responding to Shel first. You have to remember, ever since Hamas was elected, Israel has enacted a strict blockade, and this entails a lot of sufforing on civilians. Would you consider this terrorism or collective punishment? True: Hamas is a natural enemy of Israel, desiring the end of the Jewish state. But from the Palestinian point of view, if you can empathize with it, this is understandable. I have read also that during the cease-fire both sides were guilty of breaking it. And lastly, this collective punishment of the past week, what good will it do in the long run? Why doesn't Israel exercise patience instead of brute force? They could try to help the Gazans rather than kill their family members. | shel_tr 2009-01-02
(cont'd) The IDF has exercised great restraint, and has only responded "proportionately". What has that accomplished?? Hummus continued their attacks since they knew they would never be held accountable for them! And compare Gaza's plight to that of the West Bank. Since the West Bank does not attack Israel, the West Bank is safe! Hummus, and their supporters, are acting exclusively out of pride. I hope Hummus will be pressed to act rationally, and end their rocket and mortar terror attacks. Until the terror is ended, there can be no ceasefire. Israel's actions were the result of Hummus terror. If you want peace for the Gazans, press them to vote-out Hummus. Otherwise, they are doing nothing to help themselves. No Western nation would tolerate such foolishness from their elected representatives? Why should the Gazans, or anybody else for that matter, tolerate it from Hummus? | shel_tr 2009-01-02
This "report" is a perfect example of why "Unreal News" will never go anywhere. It is simply a soapbox for emotional pleas of little/no critical evaluation. Undisputably, Gazan civilians are suffering. But what to do about that, who should be blamed? Israel and the IDF? What foolishness! Clearly, the IDF is targetting Hummus and Hummus' structures, not civilians. Israel HAS been remarkably restrained! It has endured years of rocket & mortar attacks targetting civilians (terrorist attacks, by definition, since they are violence that deliberately targets civilians in order to advance political, nihilistic agendas). Think about the Nazi's V-1 and V-2 attacks on Britain. Those attacks, too, were intended to kill civilians, but failed to kill many Britons since the Britons (like the Israelis) took appropriate Homeland Security measures. Would anybody in their right mind suggest that the British should simply have tolerated Nazi terrorism?!?! The IDF has exercised great restraint, and | boydcster 2009-01-01
I was pleased to see this report. However, as an RN sustainer, I would like to see more reports that give context to these attacks. For instance, an interview with Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada would help to show the larger political context. These humanitarian stories bring home the human cost very graphically and are valuable. However, I had hoped that RN might be able to present a more historical perspective to this. An interview with Ilan Pappas might help in this regard. The mainstream media can be depended on to present contextless human interest reports on the tragedy in Gaza. The potential of alternate media is to show the historical background and the linkage of this outrage with related struggles for liberation. |
TranscriptReport from Rafah
Real News Network Staff
MISHUK MUNIER, TRNN: Just days before the December 27 bombardment of Gaza by Israeli forces, Justin Alexander, Palestine analyst for The Economist intelligence unit, had predicted that there is a heightened risk of major conflict in Gaza following the expiry of a six-month ceasefire. According to him, this was a result of the heightened political competition between Israel's main parties in the run-up to the general election on February 10. At least 340 Palestinians have died from the bombardment of Gaza City in Rafah in the last few days; more than 1,400 are injured. The UN Relief and Works Agency said on Monday that at least 51 of the dead were Palestinian civilians, including women and children, although Israeli leaders have stated they will only target Hamas infrastructures. We talked with Fida Qishta, a school teacher and freelance journalist in Rafah, to tell us more about the bombardment and its impact over the past few days.
FIDA QISHTA, RAFAH SCHOOL TEACHER, FREELANCE JOURNALIST: They say that they're just attacking military base or attacking the government in Gaza, but this is not true. Most of the people who were killed were in the streets or children going to their schools. On the last Sunday, a mother and her children, a mother and her four children, and the fifth also died. One just survived. Can you imagine your family like that, to be among your sisters or brothers and to be the only survivor? It was a general situation in the Gaza Strip, not just in Rafah. But for me, I live in Rafah. The attack was too many buildings in Rafah, including the police station and the municipality of Rafah. The last attack was this morning for a Palestinian house. Three children killed. This morning they targeted many houses in Jabalya, and they've targeted many mosques. They've targeted five mosques; they targeted a hospital, four houses. In Rafah they targeted a house, a family. And the last thing that I hear from the television, that they said they're going to attack the main hospital in the Gaza Strip, which is the Al Shifa Hospital. And if they do, it's going to be a genocide. Listen, listen. This is a message from the Israeli army. [an incoherent message plays] That was a message for the people's phones from the Ministry of Defense. I didn't catch all of it; my sister did. So the message was saying, "Don't deal with Hamas as a government, because they're smuggling weapons and they are making, digging tunnels with Egypt. And all of you who listen to this message are responsible about your options."
MUNIER: The Israeli Ministry of Defense is reported to be contacting the Red Crescent and residents of Rafah. Are they urging you to evacuate?
QISHTA: People on the border with Egypt [were] informed by the Red Crescent to leave their houses and to leave the border, because the Red Crescent got a message from the Ministry of Defense asking the people to leave their houses because they're going to attack the area and maybe occupy the borders. They're emptying the camps, they're emptying the houses on the border area. Old friends' houses, families' houses, cousins', they are not on the border; they are somewhere else in Rafah. Yesterday people got so angry after the Israelis' F-16s attacked the borders that after the attack they went to the wall. They wanted to just show their anger, to ask the Egyptians to open the wall to let these injured to go for treatment. So they didn't try to [inaudible], but they tried [inaudible] to make the Egyptians accept these patients and take them for treatment. People tried to get inside Sinai, inside the border, but they shot at them, and one killed. And today they started to accept the Palestinian injured, and they got to Egypt, some got to Egypt.
MUNIER: In an interview with Al Jazeera, President Mahmoud Abbas said that he had warned Hamas of the upcoming attacks and said these deaths could have been avoided. What is the attitude in Gaza towards President Abbas right now?
QISHTA: Some people's angry with all presidents, not just Abbas. They're angry with all the presidents in the world because they kept helping the Israelis on this attack. The president, Abbas, said something, that he doesn't like what Israel is doing, but also didn't take any positive steps to stop that, and I don't think that the president, Abbas, can do, because the Israelis didn't listen to any country in the world. So we are enemies for the Israelis; so our president, Abbas, still is enemy for the Israelis too. When the ceasefire started months ago, six months ago, both sides accept the ceasefire, Palestinian side and Israeli side, but how many times the ceasefire broken? They used to go with the fishermen on their boat. Every single day, the Israeli Army and the Israeli Navy broke the ceasefire by shooting at the fishermen. So the ceasefire wasn't there by the Israeli side; it was just a ceasefire to show to the world media. After the resistance accepted, it's not just the government here, it's not just Hamas, it's all the resistance accept the ceasefire. So now all the resistance refuse the ceasefire, including Hamas.
MUNIER: In a recent press conference, Hamas warned of a resurrection of resistance, including suicide missions, which is a tactic Hamas had abandoned in 2005. Do you foresee an escalation of violence for revenge?
QISHTA: I don't think that the revenge could come from the government. Revenge could come from the people who lost friends family, neighbors, or lovers. Like the child who survived today and saw her brothers and sister—she was in the middle of them, and they are killed, and she was the only survivor in the family. These are the big suicide bombers for Israel. They're going to grow up with revenge because they can't forget the scene that they saw, they can't forget that they were in their houses and the Israelis targeted these houses and she was the only survivor, all her family killed.
MUNIER: Two Israelis were killed in rocket fire from Gaza recently, supporting Israel's justification that these attacks are done in the name of security. What is your comment?
QISHTA: The world kept saying, "It's for Israeli security, so we can destroy the Gaza Strip." And the one reason is the Israelis' security, which has no end. I don't know when the Israeli security is going to be and when they're going to feel secure. After they've killed all the Palestinians? | |
 
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