This is the last in a series of first hand accounts of Israel and Palestine at the begining of the second intifada.
Yes, Israel has finally evacuated the settlements but it still controls the borders and still chokes the Palestinian economy. Gaza remains the world's largest outdoor prison.
I hope the following vignettes give you a sense of the time and place.
A story I heard: a boy wants to go to the clashes at Karny crossing in Gaza. He asks his brother for a shekel for the bus. His brother gives him two, one to get there, one to get back. He replies "I only need one shekel, I'll come home in the ambulance."
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During the helicopter bombing of Khan Younis, a Palestinian journalist, calls his bureau in Tel Aviv to tell them what is going on. His eight year old son hears him speaking Hebrew (he speaks it fluently; he learned it in prison) and asks, "Who are you talking to?"
He replies "Tel Aviv".
The eight-year-old says, "You are talking to Israel while they are bombing us?"
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As the machine gun bullets whizz past our heads and we scramble to safety behind pillars in an unfinished building, I think, "My tax dollars at work." Combined military, cash, and private American aid to Israel adds up to 10 billion dollars a year; that is $2000 per Israeli.
Behind the pillar I feel safer, but not safe. Machine gun firing continues. Palestinians and journalists slither on the ground, searching for cover. Firing stops then starts then stops again. I decide to make a run for it, 30 feet up a short hill to behind a store. Now I feel safe. 15 Palestinians stand there with me. They are chanting in Arabic. I ask one what they are saying. He tells me "Do it again. Do it again."
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Mustafa is an aristocrat. His family owns 7% of Gaza. He says, "In '48 we left our villages because of a few rifle shots. On Monday during the bombing children went outside to watch."
It is true. I saw it with my own eyes. Whenever a rocket left a chopper and found its target, the crowd pointed and chanted "God is Great". All the firepower America puts at Israel's disposal is not cowing the Palestinians. It is killing them and wounding them but it doesn't frighten or confuse them.
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A few hours before the helicopter attack I saw a boy who had been shot in the head at Karny crossing. He was alive, but barely. Foam came out his mouth, his eyes were glazed. He looked 14. He had been throwing stones at tanks.
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All of thewestern journalists I've talked to in Gaza are pro-Palestinian. No matter what your politics were before you got here, the evidence on the ground is so compelling you can't help but favor the Palestinians.
The funny part is that the stories we file get filtered through the Jerusalem bureau or the Tel Aviv bureau (pro Israeli) and then through New York (pro Israeli). So perhaps that is why both the Israelis and the Palestinians each think the western media favors their enemies.
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I didn't see this, even though I was thirty feet away. I was looking in the opposite direction, trying to convince Israeli soldiers to let us film. But I did see the video, a few hours later, and it goes like this:
A group of cameramen walking down a road. Out of a jeep comes a settler. He looks like Sandy Koufax's ne'er do well brother. Long curly hair, two-day stubble, baseball cap, fatigues, sunglasses, carrying an M-16. He swaggers up to Marwan, a Palestinian cameraman, his every step saying "I own this land."
He stands inches from Marwan's face. They exchange words. Then, as casually as tossing a Frisbee, he turns and slams Marwan with his rifle butt.
I've seen more brutal things but I'll never forget that image. I think it was the sense of entitlement the settler conveyed. I don't think he would have hit me, an American or Dave, a South African. But clearly to him, hitting Marwan was less reprehensible than kicking a dog. Bashing Marwan was his right, and his pleasure.
Two hours later Marwan was shot at Karny crossing. He was lucky. He was shot in the leg, the bullet missed the bone. It was the second time he was shot. Sometime it seems everybody I talk to here has been shot twice.
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Gaza is inhabited by 1.3 million Palestinians and 6000 Israelis. The Israelis are housed in massive settlements that occupy 30% of the land, and the best land at that. One settlement has just a few families, guarded by 250 IDF soldiers. One of the settlers was killed, just the other day, driving down an Israeli controlled road, in Gaza.