Fatal Random Shells,
a report by Yousef Alhelou
Foreign visitors to the Gaza Strip are well acquainted with the band of taxi drivers who work at the entrance to the Palestinian side of the Erez crossing point between the Gaza strip and Israel. This is a permanent group, a kind of closed guild, which is entitled to work there because of the fact that the Israeli Shin Bet security services do not suspect its members of "terrorist activity". Most of them speak Hebrew, because in the past they worked in Israel or thanks to their close work with Israeli journalists. A few of them know how to recite Jewish prayers by heart. Most of them are inhabitants of the northern Gaza Strip, and this week the long arm of the Israel army reached into their homes as well !!
Ahmad is a regular driver for Israeli Journalists, who lives in Beit Hanun. Several tanks parked at the entrance to his home during the days of Operation Autumn Clouds. Like other families in the small town, his family had to cope with the acute shortage of water, food and electricity during the course of the action. On the fifth day of the operation, Ahmad was arrested, not because he had been involved in "resistance activities" or the firing of Qassam rockets, but because he is an adult male. The Israel army arrested for questioning all of the town's adult males. Ahmad was relatively lucky; he was released in less than 24 hours.
Raad al-Athamna, one of his cabbie colleagues, had a far worse week. Raad lived with his wife and children in the home of his extended family in the Hamad neighborhood, which is on the western edge of Beit Hanun. Early on Wednesday morning he set out for work. A few minutes later, when he was at the entrance to Gaza, his mobile phone rang. His brother Wael informed him that the family home had been bombarded and there were many people injured there; he asked him to call for first aid.
Raad drove back to the house in a frenzy. "You don't understand. It's impossible to forget this sight", he says. "Children without hands, without feet, flung in every corner, tremendous destruction. Our whole family lives there. The stairwell was completely destroyed and in every corner there was someone who was wounded or killed. Blood was everywhere and amputated limbs. Even our neighbors, who came to help, were wounded by the last shells."
According to him, the house was hit by at least seven shells. "I don't know what to tell you. We have five children in the family who are seriously wounded and it is not clear to me whether they will survive. My children, praise God, are alive. But I have sent them to friends, because we don't have anywhere to sleep. In the meantime I'll sleep at the neighbors' house."
Raad, who works regularly with Israeli journalists, finds it hard to understand the bombardment. "There wasn't any problem with Israel in our family. Ever. But even if there had been anything like that, how is a 4-year-old little boy or little girl to blame; how is a 7-year-old girl whose foot was amputated to blame?"
Basem Athamna whose brother reciving treatment in an israeli hospital has said: "My borther Bassam, 39, suffering from severe wounds sustained in the latest massacare in Beit hanoun”, he added: “they demand us to pay $450 for hospital fees; they have no feelings. Is it not enough that they commit this mascare against us ? Instead they should offer all teatment for free and be ashamed.”
The Al-Atamna family lost 17 members, who were buried Saturday afternoon. The other two people killed belonged to a different family. Those who remained alive had to find a place to erect their mourning pavilion, which will join the dozens of pavilions scattered around the town.
The damage that the action left in Beit Hanun is considerable. From the Nasser Mosque, only the minaret remains standing, after Israeli Occupation Forces bulldozers knocked down some of its external walls. The water and telephone infrastructure has been damaged, as have hundreds of cars and homes. To visitors from the outside, it seems as though during the days of the operation, the IOF tried to exact a price, along the lines of Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank in 2002, to make it clear to the inhabitants what the consequences of an Israeli occupation are liable to be.
In the meantime, it appears that the Palestinians have drawn an entirely different conclusion. "We will avenge our children's blood even if we die", says an inhabitant who was lightly wounded in the bombardment. "If our children are do not take revenge, our grandchildren will."
Blood does not turn to water, said Hamas policy bureau head Khaled Mashal, Saturday, in Damascus. Hamas, despite the clear danger to the life of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, sounded determined to avenge the blood of those who were killed in Beit Hanun
Yousef Alhelou is a freelance Palestinian Journalist. He can be contacted on ydamadan@hotmail.com
Please continue for Radar Fault Led to Deaths in Beit Hanoun
a report by Yousef Alhelou
Foreign visitors to the Gaza Strip are well acquainted with the band of taxi drivers who work at the entrance to the Palestinian side of the Erez crossing point between the Gaza strip and Israel. This is a permanent group, a kind of closed guild, which is entitled to work there because of the fact that the Israeli Shin Bet security services do not suspect its members of "terrorist activity". Most of them speak Hebrew, because in the past they worked in Israel or thanks to their close work with Israeli journalists. A few of them know how to recite Jewish prayers by heart. Most of them are inhabitants of the northern Gaza Strip, and this week the long arm of the Israel army reached into their homes as well !!
Ahmad is a regular driver for Israeli Journalists, who lives in Beit Hanun. Several tanks parked at the entrance to his home during the days of Operation Autumn Clouds. Like other families in the small town, his family had to cope with the acute shortage of water, food and electricity during the course of the action. On the fifth day of the operation, Ahmad was arrested, not because he had been involved in "resistance activities" or the firing of Qassam rockets, but because he is an adult male. The Israel army arrested for questioning all of the town's adult males. Ahmad was relatively lucky; he was released in less than 24 hours.
Raad al-Athamna, one of his cabbie colleagues, had a far worse week. Raad lived with his wife and children in the home of his extended family in the Hamad neighborhood, which is on the western edge of Beit Hanun. Early on Wednesday morning he set out for work. A few minutes later, when he was at the entrance to Gaza, his mobile phone rang. His brother Wael informed him that the family home had been bombarded and there were many people injured there; he asked him to call for first aid.
Raad drove back to the house in a frenzy. "You don't understand. It's impossible to forget this sight", he says. "Children without hands, without feet, flung in every corner, tremendous destruction. Our whole family lives there. The stairwell was completely destroyed and in every corner there was someone who was wounded or killed. Blood was everywhere and amputated limbs. Even our neighbors, who came to help, were wounded by the last shells."
According to him, the house was hit by at least seven shells. "I don't know what to tell you. We have five children in the family who are seriously wounded and it is not clear to me whether they will survive. My children, praise God, are alive. But I have sent them to friends, because we don't have anywhere to sleep. In the meantime I'll sleep at the neighbors' house."
Raad, who works regularly with Israeli journalists, finds it hard to understand the bombardment. "There wasn't any problem with Israel in our family. Ever. But even if there had been anything like that, how is a 4-year-old little boy or little girl to blame; how is a 7-year-old girl whose foot was amputated to blame?"
Basem Athamna whose brother reciving treatment in an israeli hospital has said: "My borther Bassam, 39, suffering from severe wounds sustained in the latest massacare in Beit hanoun”, he added: “they demand us to pay $450 for hospital fees; they have no feelings. Is it not enough that they commit this mascare against us ? Instead they should offer all teatment for free and be ashamed.”
The Al-Atamna family lost 17 members, who were buried Saturday afternoon. The other two people killed belonged to a different family. Those who remained alive had to find a place to erect their mourning pavilion, which will join the dozens of pavilions scattered around the town.
The damage that the action left in Beit Hanun is considerable. From the Nasser Mosque, only the minaret remains standing, after Israeli Occupation Forces bulldozers knocked down some of its external walls. The water and telephone infrastructure has been damaged, as have hundreds of cars and homes. To visitors from the outside, it seems as though during the days of the operation, the IOF tried to exact a price, along the lines of Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank in 2002, to make it clear to the inhabitants what the consequences of an Israeli occupation are liable to be.
In the meantime, it appears that the Palestinians have drawn an entirely different conclusion. "We will avenge our children's blood even if we die", says an inhabitant who was lightly wounded in the bombardment. "If our children are do not take revenge, our grandchildren will."
Blood does not turn to water, said Hamas policy bureau head Khaled Mashal, Saturday, in Damascus. Hamas, despite the clear danger to the life of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, sounded determined to avenge the blood of those who were killed in Beit Hanun
Yousef Alhelou is a freelance Palestinian Journalist. He can be contacted on ydamadan@hotmail.com
Please continue for Radar Fault Led to Deaths in Beit Hanoun