Puzzled in Gaza

March 2009, just after the war:

THERE WERE empty beds at Shifa Hospital and a threatening atmosphere. Hamas is reduced to wielding its unchallengeable authority from extensive air raid shelters which, together with the hospital, were built by Israel 30 years ago. Terrorized Gazans used doublespeak when they told me most of the alleged 5,500 wounded were being treated in Egypt and Jordan. They want it known that the figure is a lie, and showed me that the wounded weren't in Gaza. No evidence exists of their presence in foreign hospitals, or of how they might have gotten there.

From the mansions of the Abu Ayida family at Jebala Rayes to Tallel Howa (Gaza City's densest residential area), Gazans contradicted allegations that Israel had murderously attacked civilians. They told me again and again that both civilians and Hamas fighters had evacuated safely from areas of Hamas activity in response to Israeli telephone calls, leaflets and megaphone warnings.

Seeing Al-Fakhora made it impossible to understand how UN and press reports could ever have alleged that the UNWRA school had been hit by Israeli shells. The school, like most of Gaza, was visibly intact. I was shown where Hamas had been firing from nearby, and the Israeli missile's marks on the road outside the school were unmistakeable. When I met Mona al-Ashkor, one of the 40 people injured running toward Al-Fakhora - rather than inside it as widely and persistently reported - I was told that Israel had warned people not to take shelter in the school because Hamas was operating in the area, and that some people had ignored the warning because UNWRA previously told them that the school would be safe. Press reports that fatalities numbered 40 were denied.

...

THE GAZA I saw was societally intact. There were no homeless, walking wounded, hungry or underdressed people. The streets were busy, shops were hung with embroidered dresses and gigantic cooking pots, the markets were full of fresh meat and beautiful produce - the red radishes were bigger than grapefruits. Mothers accompanied by a 13-year-old boy told me they were bored of leaving home to sit on rubble all day to tell the press how they'd survived. Women graduates I met in Shijaya spoke of education as power as old men watched over them.

No one praised their government as they showed me the sites of tunnels where fighters had melted away. No one declared Hamas victorious for creating a forced civilian front line as they showed me the remains of booby trapped homes and schools.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1235898327903&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Sometimes, especially when I read articles like the above and when I wander through Arab neighbourhoods in Jerusalem, I wonder how much of this conflict is totally made up by the media.

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the same paper did run another opinon saying, in part at least, the very opposite......

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1255694838474&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

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the same paper did run another opinon saying, in part at least, the very opposite......

That guy has already been sufficiently debunked by not only Zionists and Israeli authorities but also by British and Canadian military commanders.

He made up some of the stuff he "saw" and was later upset that the "human rights council" ignored half of what he said (namely everything he mentioned about Hamas).

However, the author I quite brings up an interesting point: How did the "5,500 wounded" manage to get to Egypt and Jordan and is there evidence for their presence, then, in such hospitals? And why are Gaza's hospital beds empty, if they are? Did anybody else look into this?

Neither you nor I have first-hand evidence and both of us read stories written by others. But is it not strange that although two versions of the story exist, the vast majority believe the anti-Israel version and do not even question the contradictory elements in that version?

How on earth did over 5000 people manage to get to Jordan and Egypt while wounded without anybody but Hamas noticing it? If they can smuggle out thousands of wounded people, what kind of blockade do we really have there?

The author you link to is also lying: "Five weeks after the release of the Report of the Fact Finding Mission on Gaza, there has been no attempt by any of its critics to come to grips with its substance." That is simply not true. While he might not agree with the people who debunked him, he is dishonest if he claims that there has been no attempt by critics to "come to grips" with its substance. People have pointed out where he erred and where he lied. They obviously came to grips with its substance (or with what little substance there was).

If I read an article that starts with a lie, I tend to ignore the rest of what it says.

He continues to lie:

I did not anticipate that the IDF would have targeted civilians and civilian objects.

He doesn't know that. He wasn't there. People might have told him that the IDF "targeted civilians", but that is NOT proof that they did. If he BELIEVES accusations, that's his choice. But if he propagates accusations and pretends they are proof, he becomes a liar.

I did not anticipate seeing the vast destruction of the economic infrastructure of Gaza including its agricultural lands, industrial factories, water supply and sanitation works.

I do not believe that he is really that dumb. After I heard the media reports I fully expected to see vast destruction. If he didn't, I wonder what sources he has. As someone (who claims to be) experienced with these things, he seemed rather surprised to see what a war is like.

These are not military targets. I have not heard or read any government justification for this destruction.

And that is another lie. Not only does everything become a military target when used by fighters (and Hamas fired from schools and homes and hid in hospitals), but Israel has also said what they targeted and why. In fact the IDF has published videos that showed Hamas and other fighters fire from homes and booby-trap a zoo and similar scenarios.

If he honestly missed all these, I cannot imagine why anybody would think that he is competent or even at all capable to author a report on a situation.

An official who after months and months of official explanations from Israel does not reject those explanation but claims that he has never heard of them belongs in a disciplinary court but not before a "human rights" council. He clearly has no idea what went on in Israel and Gaza, although he does at least point out that Hamas also fired at Israel.

Seriously, show me a criticism of Israel by someone who at least has the decency not to admit directly that he refused to look at certain evidence, and we can talk.

Note that I do not think that Goldstone is evil or a bad person. I just think that he is incompetent. That's probably why the human rights council choce him to prepare the report: he is Jewish, pro-Israel and is officially experienced. The fact that he would also point the finger at Hamas could easily be overlooked (as the "human rights" council did at the end) and the result is another condemnation of Israel.

When I claim that Hamas target civilians or use civilians at human shields, I can easily verify my own claims. I can go to Sderoth and wait for a rocket and I can watch the videos the IDF show of Hamas fighters hiding behind children and firing. Oddly enough the opposite accusations are never backed up with video evidence but are still believed by a populace who claim niot to be prejudiced against Jews.

With thousands of journalists covering the conflict and constantly criticising Israel you would thank that at least one of them would be capable of coming up with video evidence for the sort of crime people like Goldstone claim happen so often that it must be regarded as systematic.

But then of course there is always step 2: the Jews probably covered it up. (They "control the media", after all.)

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