Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Deep Sea Diving in Israel
I was back in work yesterday for the first time since the New Year where I engaged in the usual customary water-cooler chats of "How was your New Year?" and "Good Christmas?"
During one of these little chit-chats I got a reply of "Yeh it was great, was away in southern Israel for New Year, just got back on Sunday (4 Jan)." It was said so casually I was caught slightly off-guard. After I responded with a "oh right" and a nod, I replied, "Did you say you were in southern Israel?"
"Yeh deep-sea diving in Eilat, was lovely," he said.
Could you not hear anything?
"Not a peep, had a wonderful time," he answered.
Didn't really know what to say after that. After googling Eilat as soon as he was away from his desk I realised my ignorance and discovered the town was quite a distance away from Gaza and the conflict. Still found it quite remarkable just along the border from where Palestinians are being bombed 24/7, er make that 21/7, western tourists still flock to Israel's plush areas to soak up the sea.
During one of these little chit-chats I got a reply of "Yeh it was great, was away in southern Israel for New Year, just got back on Sunday (4 Jan)." It was said so casually I was caught slightly off-guard. After I responded with a "oh right" and a nod, I replied, "Did you say you were in southern Israel?"
"Yeh deep-sea diving in Eilat, was lovely," he said.
Could you not hear anything?
"Not a peep, had a wonderful time," he answered.
Didn't really know what to say after that. After googling Eilat as soon as he was away from his desk I realised my ignorance and discovered the town was quite a distance away from Gaza and the conflict. Still found it quite remarkable just along the border from where Palestinians are being bombed 24/7, er make that 21/7, western tourists still flock to Israel's plush areas to soak up the sea.
Gaza's soap opera obsession
The Palestinian photo-journalist Mohammed Omer, based in the Gazan Rafah refugee camp, writes on how before the current conflict the holy month of Ramadan had brought Gazans together in their droves for a soap opera obsession (electricity permitting).
Published in the Washington Report on Middle-East Affairs, '“Bab Al Harra,” Gaza’s Ramadan Addiction' gives a stark reminder of what life has been like for Gazans living under the Israeli siege. But Omer's article reflects how Gazans gathered together for the "nostalgic soap opera...a comforting reminder of traditional family values, normalcy and principles."
Published in the Washington Report on Middle-East Affairs, '“Bab Al Harra,” Gaza’s Ramadan Addiction' gives a stark reminder of what life has been like for Gazans living under the Israeli siege. But Omer's article reflects how Gazans gathered together for the "nostalgic soap opera...a comforting reminder of traditional family values, normalcy and principles."
"Each night after dinner—electricity permitting—families sit down together and travel back in time to a period where life flowed easily, separation walls didn’t exist, men were gentlemen and their wives exquisite. Gazans who live in homes or neighborhoods without television or electricity gathered in cafés providing large TV monitors to watch the nightly installment, while quietly smoking waterpipes and drinking tea."
This article provides an uplifting testament to families living in hardship, yet it is also incredibly sad to read with regard to current events.
Gaza UN school bombing raises questions of war crimes
The bombing of a United Nations school yesterday had all the hallmarks of the same old excuses emanating from the Israeli army. Forty civilian dead from the raid yet the IDF insists significant fire from was coming from the area.
In the 2006 Lebanon war, when over 1000 civilians were killed, villages and civilian buildings were destroyed in their droves, where again and again it was insisted 'we were responding to enemy fire'. Now we are presented with yet another tragic example of how Arab lives have yet again become 'collateral damage'.
The UN Charter of Human Rights decrees that antagonists in a conflict much take significant measures to ensure that they distinguish between militants and civilians. Again is clearly not been the case. As in 2006, Israel may very well (although they won't) have significant questions to answer with regard to war crimes.
Robert Fisk points out in the Independent today:
"What is amazing is that so many Western leaders, so many presidents and prime ministers and, I fear, so many editors and journalists, bought the old lie; that Israelis take such great care to avoid civilian casualties. "Israel makes every possible effort to avoid civilian casualties," yet another Israeli ambassador said only hours before the Gaza massacre.
"And every president and prime minister who repeated this mendacity as an excuse to avoid a ceasefire has the blood of last night's butchery on their hands. Had George Bush had the courage to demand an immediate ceasefire 48 hours earlier, those 40 civilians, the old and the women and children, would be alive.
"What happened was not just shameful. It was a disgrace. Would war crime be too strong a description? For that is what we would call this atrocity if it had been committed by Hamas. So a war crime, I'm afraid, it was."
The killing will undoubtedly go on for a few more days or weeks until it becomes diplomatically impossible for it to continue. A select few journalists and NGOs will write reports proclaiming Israel's questionable conduct during this time. Their words will fall on deaf ears until the next conflict against Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria.....Iran.
In the 2006 Lebanon war, when over 1000 civilians were killed, villages and civilian buildings were destroyed in their droves, where again and again it was insisted 'we were responding to enemy fire'. Now we are presented with yet another tragic example of how Arab lives have yet again become 'collateral damage'.
The UN Charter of Human Rights decrees that antagonists in a conflict much take significant measures to ensure that they distinguish between militants and civilians. Again is clearly not been the case. As in 2006, Israel may very well (although they won't) have significant questions to answer with regard to war crimes.
Robert Fisk points out in the Independent today:
"What is amazing is that so many Western leaders, so many presidents and prime ministers and, I fear, so many editors and journalists, bought the old lie; that Israelis take such great care to avoid civilian casualties. "Israel makes every possible effort to avoid civilian casualties," yet another Israeli ambassador said only hours before the Gaza massacre.
"And every president and prime minister who repeated this mendacity as an excuse to avoid a ceasefire has the blood of last night's butchery on their hands. Had George Bush had the courage to demand an immediate ceasefire 48 hours earlier, those 40 civilians, the old and the women and children, would be alive.
"What happened was not just shameful. It was a disgrace. Would war crime be too strong a description? For that is what we would call this atrocity if it had been committed by Hamas. So a war crime, I'm afraid, it was."
The killing will undoubtedly go on for a few more days or weeks until it becomes diplomatically impossible for it to continue. A select few journalists and NGOs will write reports proclaiming Israel's questionable conduct during this time. Their words will fall on deaf ears until the next conflict against Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria.....Iran.
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