Humanizing Hamas: An NYTimes objective gone wrong
The New York Times recently published an interview with Hamas's political chief, Khaled Mashal, entitled Addressing US, Hamas Says It Grounded Rockets. In the interview, the Times takes a very sympathetic approach to Hamas leader, who was just elected to his fourth term as Hamas's political bureau chief, the post he has held since 2004. The Times attempts to portray a new more "moderate" Mashal, in the hopes that Hamas is actually turning a new leaf. In the article, The Times quotes Mashal as asking Americans to disregard the Hamas charter, (steeped in anti-Semitic declarations), while also stating that Iran does "not control or affect Hamas policies." The Times also quotes Mashal saying that Hamas has no interest in bringing strict Muslim law into Gaza. Waiting for Peace to Make an Appearance
As I travel down to Sderot to begin another week working at our Sderot Media Center office, I'm reminded of Shakespeare's famous line: "All the world's a stage." Sderot, a small Israeli city located less than a mile away from Gaza, is in its own right a stage for weekly rocket attacks, post trauma victims and visiting politicians. Iran, Hamas and Obama
As US President Barack Obama makes historic overtures in attempting to foster open dialogue with Iran, the rest of world watches in optimistic anticipation. The UK's Guardian recently reported that Obama's administration drafted a letter to Iran "aimed at unfreezing US-Iranian relations and opening the way for face-to-face talks." Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has welcomed US overtures saying that:
Change or no change, residents of southern and northern Israel have reason to be wary of Iran, a country that continues to fund Hamas and Hizbullah terrorism operations. Human Rights for Sderot residents
Liraz Madmony, 23 of Sderot, grew up under Palestinian rocket fire. Although a rocket has never directly hit her home, Liraz has experienced the terror of rocket explosions countless times over the past eight years. "We don't have a bomb shelter in our house," she says. "Every time, the Tzeva Adom is set off, our family races to the shower, the only room that is most 'secure' from a rocket attack." Liraz, a law student in a Ramat Gan college in central Israel, is heavily involved with student organizations such as WUJS (World Union of Jewish Students). "Many times I've missed my law classes and student activities because of the rocket attacks. It's almost impossible to lead a normal life when you are forced to live under with warning alerts and raining rockets." Averaging one grad per hour
There we were, a sunny Monday morning, averaging maybe one grad per hour from about 10:30 am when once again, the siren wailed. We ran downstairs under a hallway in my mother-in-law's house. My neice and one of my sons were with her and just as we got to the hall, this enormous "BOOM!" shook the house. "It's here!" my son and husband yelled together. "Nobody move!" We waited for less than a minute (although you have to wait 5 but we couldn't) and ran outside, noticing that the window over the kitchen sink had a huge hole in it and what was left was all cracked. Smoke was coming from the houses across the street and at first, we thought it was there. Then we thought it had landed around our friends' house behind those houses and knowing Miki was alone and on the hysterical side, ran over to her house. Hamas's winning strategy
The international media coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict generally portrays Israel as an aggressive occupier and militant state. Not to mention the headlines that appeared following this week-end's Gaza operation, take a look at some of the headlines and articles that made the international news scene in the coverage following the recent Hamas-Israel ceasefire which expired on Dec 19. Yousef Munayyer writes for the Boston Globe (Dec. 21) that "The lights are out in Gaza again and few are paying attention. The 1.5 million Palestinians living in the densely-populated strip are being collectively punished once more, while Israel attempts to strangle the Hamas government." The falafel and the bulldozerComing to Jerusalem to work for a few days seemed like a welcome break from the Kassam rockets that Arab terrorists fire at Sderot. In Jerusalem, the method Arab terrorists prefer to kill random civilians is suicide-bombing. The Israeli army has largely controlled that kind of murder by building a barrier to prevent Arab terrorists from infiltrating Israel. Whenever I come to Jerusalem, I feel liberated, because I do not automatically look around me for a wall to crouch behind as I walk down the street. People living in Sderot develop skills to use when the alarm announces that a rocket is flying in their general direction and will detonate in about fifteen seconds. We automatically, almost unconsciously, look for potential shelter wherever we go. In Jerusalem I need not do this. Craters, glass and shrapnel
Throughout Saturday afternoon, I heard a number of alarms followed by a number of loud explosions as several rockets hit Sderot. I did not know where they had hit and I decided to go looking for them when the sun went down and the Sabbath ended. A constant problem here is that we hear the loud KABOOM! when the rocket lands, but we often have no way of knowing exactly where the explosion occurred - unless, of course, the rocket went through the roof of someone's house. We too are dependent on the news media to learn exactly what has happened, but the TV and radio do not mention the address where the rocket fell, because most of their audience does not live in Sderot. Skewed perceptions
Last Sunday, several South African diplomats and a political science professor from an American university came to visit Sderot. It was a typical tour through Sderot with rather atypical reactions from the visitors. Usually, foreign visitors express shock and sympathy towards the victims of rocket terror. I was then, more than surprised when the visitors asked a Sderot grandmother whose home was recently wrecked by a Kassam rocket, the following questions. "Do you feel for the Palestinian grandmother who is in the same condition as you?" "What would you say to the women in Gaza who are also suffering?" An eerie week
Shalom from Sderot! It was a very eerie week - it was so quiet and the helicopters and fighter planes reminded us of the hornet's nest less than a kilometer (1/2 a mile) away in Gaza. We were able to function normally for almost a whole week (last Friday until last night, Wednesday). Of course, we still knew that, though we had a small breather, it wouldn't be forever. |
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