Tuesday night by the sea.
-------------------------
“Last night was a hectic scramble to get to our
Jabalia house soon after dark; the further into the
night, the greater the danger. On Sunday night,
other commitments had delayed us, and then
over the phone the family said any car on the
road late would for sure be hit and they couldn’t
bear any more loss, even new friends like us. So
we arrived at about 6 yesterday evening, and F
told us they hadn’t spent more than brief
moments up from the basement that day, since
heavy bombing had begun at 5am.
“The night was manageable; an Apache
helicopter seemed perched above the house for a
lot of it, but that meant it was firing rockets away
from us. Nearer to morning we had some hours
of it being the other way round and the
explosions being pretty loud. During the night, the
Islamic University was bombed for a second time,
and the port continued to receive attacks - as did
pretty much all Gaza.
“In the morning we went to document some of the
attacks of the preceding 48 hours about which F
had told us. Fairly soon after we’d left, we heard
the “whoosh” of a rocket (gives you long enough
to worry but not long enough to get away), heard
the impact and saw smoke rise, from the
direction of the house we’d just left. E phoned F
and found it had fallen beside the one from
Saturday night, everyone was alright but upset
and scared.”
Taken from the blog of a human rights activist in
Gaza. Read more at:
www.talestotell.wordpress.com

excerpts from www.talestotell.wordpress.com as a poster


Israeli Navy rams Gaza-bound aid boat
-------------------------
The captain of a boat carrying medical
supplies and peace activists to the
Gaza Strip has told how his vessel was
rammed by an Israeli gunboat.
Denis Healey, 53, a marine engineer
from Portsmouth managed to guide the
Dignity to a Lebanese port after the
collision, which left it badly damaged.
Two Israeli gunboats had shadowed
the 20-metre yacht in the early hours
'shining powerful search-lights at us,
blinding us,' Healey said, before one of
them rammed it without warning.
On board were 15 passengers and
crew, among them four Britons,
including Dr David Halpin, an
orthopaedic surgeon who had
volunteered his help to Gazan
hospitals and clinics.
Free Gaza made history in 2008 by
getting two boats to Gaza through
Israel’s sea blockade


From the Kabariti girls in Gaza
-------------------------
I’ve been asked to send some messages to a
couple of the worldwide rallies on Saturday
(yay!), and decided that I would much prefer to
let Palestinians speak for themselves,
especially some of the 50% of Gaza’s
population who are under 18 years old. (If you
can only remember one statistic, that’s the
one you want.) I slept last night in a sea of
blankets with the Kabariti girls, and thank
goodness, there were less attacks on the port
than the night before and they could get a little
sleep. They have provided me with very neatly
written messages to you, which I promised
would be on this page before their bedtime.
So here you go:
From Suzanne, 15 (in English):
“The life in Gaza is very difficult. Actually we
can’t describe everything. We can’t sleep, we
can’t go to school and study. We feel a lot of
feelings, sometimes we feel afraid and worry
because the planes and the ships, they hit 24
hours. Sometimes we feel bored because
there is no electricity during the day, and in the
night, it is coming just four hours and when it
comes we are watching the news on TV. And
we see kids and women who are injured and
dead. So we live in the siege and war.”
From Fatma, 13 (in English):
“It was the hardest week in our life. In the first
day we were in school, having the final exam
of the first term, then the explosions started,
many students were killed and injured, and
the others surely lost a relative or a neighbour.
There is no electricity, no food, no bread.
What can we do - it’s the Israelis! All the
people in the world celebrated the new year,
we also celebrate but in a different way.”
From Sara, 11 (in Arabic, translated by
Habeeb, 18):
“Gaza is living in a siege, like a big jail: no
water, no electric power. People feel afraid,
don’t sleep at night, and every day more
people are killed. Until now, more than 400 are
killed and more than 2000 injured. And
students had their final first term exams, so
Israel hit the Ministry of Education, and a lot of
ministries. Every day people are asking when
will it end, and they are waiting for more
activist ships like the Dignity.”
From Darween, 8 (in English):
“I am a Palestinian kid
I won’t leave my country
so I will have lots of advantages
because I won’t leave my country
and I hear a sound of rockets
so I won’t leave my country.”