Blogging Gaza
What Israelis, Palestinians and Canadians are saying online.
Published: January 7, 2009
TheTyee.ca
One predictable result of the Israeli attack on Gaza: North American bloggers prefer to attack each other rather than discuss the war.
Glenn Greenwald, a prominent left-winger, accuses Michael Goldfarb of displaying a racist attitude towards the Palestinians in Gaza. Right-winger Robert Stacy McCain ("The Other McCain") then criticizes Greenwald.
Canadian bloggers also prefer to discuss compatriots they don't agree with. Dust My Broom criticizes pro-Hamas demonstrators in Toronto and asks: "How long before our good guys throw off their 'free-Gaza' cloaks and simply release their inner Jew hater?"
Meanwhile, Sean at Beyond Robson offers an anecdote on a cordial encounter with an old acquaintance who was demonstrating for Israel while Sean, across the street, was demonstrating for Gaza.
Going to the sources
While some bloggers do debate the war, they generally do so in terms of what they read in the mainstream media and one another's blogs. In the age of the World Wide Web, why not go to the closest possible sources?
The Israelis themselves are blogging hard about Gaza. Even the Israel Defense Force has its own blog, IDF Spokesperson, offering up-to-date reports.
But plenty of ordinary Israelis are blogging the war as well. One is A Soldier's Mother, who chronicles her anxiety about the safety of her son, while providing links to many other Israeli and pro-Israel blogs. At Not a Fish, "Imshin" reports on the general state of affairs inside Israel.
The war's moral issues are important to Israeli bloggers. At The Magnes Zionist, the pseudonymous Jerry Haber grapples with the moral justification for bombing the whole family of a Hamas leader. Yael at Aliyah discusses the concept of "proportional force" in international law.
The view from Gaza
The bloggers in Gaza include Dr. Mona El-Farra, who runs From Gaza, with Love, where Mohammed Fares El Majdalawi writes:
"We and my family cannot communicate with our relatives and friends because of the lack of the connecting network also every hour we have a martyr or even more because of the raining missiles on our homes, mosques, and even hospitals, There is no safeplace we can go to."
Gaza Strip, The Untold Story is run by Sameh A. Habeeb, who even provides his e-mail and Skype address. Since foreign journalists haven't been able to enter Gaza, he's doubtless getting a lot of calls.
The author of In Gaza appears to be an English-speaking woman named Eva. She's been in Gaza for some time and provides up-to-date news reports and a long list of Palestinian and Gaza blogs. At Tales to Tell, another English speaker posts minute-by-minute reports.
At least one Palestinian expatriate is blogging the war. At Raising Yousouf and Noor, Laila El-Haddad, a journalist based in Durham, North Carolina, talks about both the war and her own reporting of it on CNN.
During the Lebanon war in the summer of 2006, Israeli and Lebanese bloggers were actually talking to one another, but no such dialogue seems to have emerged as yet in this conflict. Still, it's extraordinary that we can, if we wish, follow the war through the eyes of ordinary people on both sides of this conflict -- and we can even post responses on their blogs.
If we prefer to discuss it only among ourselves, when we could talk to the combatants, we engage in a dialogue of the willfully deaf.
Related Tyee stories:
- Canadian blogosphere divided over Gaza
- Talking with Rachel Corrie's Mom and Dad
Their daughter, killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, speaks in a controversial play. - The Cartoon 'Palestine'
Joe Sacco's brilliant journalism in cartoon form.
Thanks for info
Had been reading (and blogging about) a couple of the blogs from Gaza, plus reports from Israel and from sources other than our and the USian MSM.
Hadn't known of some of the other middle eastern blogs you mention. Thank you.
War crimes are war crimes,
War crimes are war crimes, no matter by which side, even when they claim "divine orders" by their priesthoods and the pseudo priesthoods of economists and the military, scripturally legalizing crime and mass murder.
I have seen the indiscrimnate mass murder of civilians by the terror bombing of Europe by the Western Allies during WW2, lost friends, including one of my best, in the gas ovens of Auschwitz, the disappearance of more friends during the Soviet terror and can not understand why humanity always permits and follows the biggest crooks and murderers into more and bigger crime waves?
Will humanity ever learn to become human?
Ed Deak.
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http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/rss
The Independent (London) Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Robert Fisk: Why do they hate the West so much, we will ask
What are these?
So once again, Israel has opened the gates of hell to the Palestinians. Forty civilian refugees dead in a United Nations school, three more in another. Not bad for a night's work in Gaza by the army that believes in "purity of arms". But why should we be surprised?
All Roads Lead to the US Imperialsim
AS a result of US imperialsim and their fateful decision to conquer the oil rich Middle East, it has become a significant flash point for conflict. This is critical to understand. Without the US investment, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would likely have resolved many years ago. But now, we have a convergence of US military and financial backing of a regime that has used it to defeat its enemy. Age old consequences of intermeddling with other nation states. Now, Israel is dominated by neocon governments and policies which moderates are unable to oppose. Much like the last 8 years in the US (and now under Canada's Harper).
The population of those who identify themselves as Jewish is modest (under 20 million). Without the backing of the US empire, Israel would operate under very different circumstances.
The strategy of accusing critics of Israel foreign policy as anti-semites is growing, sadly. But this is truly a red herring, albeit used ruthlessly by those who seek to support the current regime. The most articulate critics of Israeli foreign policy are the many Jewish peace movements, the most respected of which is Gush Shalom, headed by former Knesset member and former military officer Uri Avnery.
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/index_en.html
Probably the best analysis of the relationship between US imperialism and right wing Israel is "The Israel Lobby" by noted academics John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt. Like many, many critics of Isreal foreign policy, Mr. Mearsheimer is Jewish, and accusations of anti-semitism fall flat.
The propensity of accusing everyone and their dog oif anti-semitism is weighed, measured and found wanting in the superb "Politics of Anti-Semitism", a collection of well written essays, half of which are penned by, yes, Jewish authors. It can be found via the Counterpunch website.
http://www.counterpunch.org/
It is imperative that the public understand the rhetoric which is promulgated daily in support of the US-Israeli neocon policies. It's not about Jewishness. Its about war and imperialism and intolerance and fear. Its wrong. It needs to stop.
Great coverage of a pivotal issue effecting all of us.
Ludicrous
The attempt to equate the analysis by Greenwald with the name calling by McCain is ludicrous in my opinion. I suggest readers of this article be sure to activate the links to the two sources to make up their own minds, and not accept Killian's facile attempt at balance.
humane, not human
Ed, I think a better question would be, "Will humanity ever become more humane?" Unfortunately, being "human" isn't about being only good (kind, altruistic, caring etc)...it also encompasses the potential to be bad (greedy, selfish, power-hungry etc.)
And "religion" of any brand hasn't been a very good vehicle for retarding the "bad" side of being " human".
Religions have been the
Religions have been the biggest destroyers, killers and exploiters in history.
Followed close by ideologies and the teachings of the pseudo priesthoods of economists of all hues.
Ed Deak, Big Lake.
When nukes seem logical
Ghandi's quote of many years ago perfectly applies to this conflict where both sides claim the moral high ground.
"An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, only makes the whole world blind".
Thanks for the links
Any media coverage of this current conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is limited because of Israeli refusal to permit any journalists inside Gaza. CBC has had a few spokespersons on giving the Palestinian POV, Robert Fisk most recently. "Democracy Now has good radio coverage, mostly in the form of a debate.
Al Jazeera has journalists within Gaza (TV not available to North Americans) and they have an English language website and a "youtube site showing clips of the carnage inflicted on the Palestinian people for their refusal to accept the Israeli attrocities perpetrated now for many decades. What is missing in almost all of this coverage is the context in which this violence is occuring; the theft of their land, ongoing colonization, brutal occupation and apartheid conditions that they are forced to live under. Only a couple of things will change this situation: a BDS, boycott, divest and sanctions against Israel which is`nt going to happen (US ally) and would take far too long for any results. I think that the Pals. should stop their infighting, throw down their weapons and every man woman and child should leave their villages, towns and cities and march en mass to the borders of their cage and demand that this violence stop.
Quite possibly the Israelis would see this as an opportunity to speed up the ethnic cleansing which has been going on in slow motion and drop one of their nukes on them
No matter what they call it, it's a War Crime
Israel has already stated they were the ones who started the action.
Four billion dollars worth of natural gas that belongs to Gazans that was just recently proved by BP will "administered by Israel".
In another week or so Israel will finally admit to all the crimes but nobody will give much of a shit. By then the zi-onists will attacking Hezbolah in Lebanon.
The only hope appears to be a total collapse of the US dollar as in Peter Schiff's forecast.
Will the Chinese continue to prop up the US buck?
This is mass murder
There has been no food or water going into Gaza, those people are starving.