Dr. Nicolas Doussis-Rassias and many other volunteer doctors have been
waiting in Rafah, Egypt for days.
Nicolas and the other physicians
came to Rafah to go through the border into Gaza to help the 3000
people wounded by Israeli bombs and heavy weapons.
Rafah is a heavily armed Egyptian border crossing into Gaza, a four
hour drive away from Cairo. Sonic booms of high flying jets cut
through the stark blue sky. Military drones hover over the border as
the air smells of burning.
The United Nations' most senior human rights official said last night that the Israeli military may have committed war crimes in Gaza.
The warning came as Israeli troops pressed on with the deadly offensive
in defiance of a UN security council resolution calling for a ceasefire.
WASHINGTON - Decrying U.S. "complicity" in what they say amounts to Israeli violations of international law, human rights groups
are calling on the U.S. government to demand an immediate cessation of
indiscriminate violence against civilians and increased humanitarian aid to Gaza inhabitants.
It all depends where you live. That was the geography of Israel's propaganda, designed to demonstrate that we softies - we little baby-coddling liberals living in our secure Western homes - don't realize the horror of 12 (now 20) Israeli deaths in 10 years and thousands of rockets and the unimaginable trauma and stress of living near Gaza. Forget the 600 Palestinian dead; traveling on both sides of the Atlantic these past couple of weeks has been an instructive - not to say weirdly repetitive - experience.
On his PBS Journal Show last night, Bill Moyers delivered a
poignant essay on Israel/Gaza (video below). The whole segment is
worth watching -- it begins with coverage of a mostly ignored anti-war
march this week in Washington (while media hordes, down the street,
fixated on the Roland Burris circus) -- but Moyers' essay begins at
roughly the 2:20 mark.
This war, perhaps more than its predecessors, is
exposing the true deep veins of Israeli society. Racism and hatred are
rearing their heads, as is the impulse for revenge and the thirst for
blood. The "inclination of the commander" in the Israel Defense Forces
is now "to kill as many as possible," as the military correspondents on
television describe it. And even if the reference is to Hamas fighters,
this inclination is still chilling.
Ironically, it was in Palestine,
20 years ago, that I concluded that there is no God. For how could a
God, who claims to love all and treat all with impartiality, allow such
horrors like those in Palestine to happen?
The first response to word that Barack Obama is prepared to make contact – albeit low-level and clandestine – with Hamas should be caution.
We have officially entered uncharted waters. Never before in my
years of reporting has a sports team been forced to abandon the field of
play due to political protest from fans. Never before have fans become the
central actors in turning a sporting event into a political melee.
It's time. Long past time. The best strategy to end the increasingly
bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of
global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa.
