Syria: Bloggers Infuriated by Israeli Massacre in Palestine

Let’s be crystal clear. Israel’s massive attacks on Gaza today have one overarching goal: conflict management. How to end rocket attacks on Israel from a besieged and starving Gaza without ending the impetus for those attacks, 41 years of increasingly oppressive Israeli Occupation without a hint that a sovereign and viable Palestinian state will ever emerge.

Indeed, the Occupation, in which Israel controls Gaza under a violent siege which violates fundamental human rights and international law, is not even mentioned in Israel’s PR campaign. Speaking to the international community, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni insists that no country would tolerate its citizens being attacked, a seemingly reasonable statement were it not for Israeli sanctions on Gaza supported by the US and Europe – sanctions that preceded the rocket fire on Israel – or the fact of Israeli Occupation in general…

The responsibility for the suffering both in Israel and Gaza rests squarely with successive Israeli governments, Labor, Likud and Kadima alike. Had there been a genuine political process (remember, the closure of Gaza began in 1989), Israelis and Palestinians could have been living together in peace and prosperity already for 20 years. After all, already in 1988 the PLO accepted the two-state solution in which a Palestinian state would arise on only 22% of historic Palestine, alongside the state of Israel on the other 78%. A truly generous offer.

-From ICAHD

Following Yazan‘s coverage of the Syrian blogosphere in English, I will be covering those in Arabic.

Yaman, blogging from the US, sums up the Arab feelings towards the ongoing massacre in Gaza:

دور النظام الصهيوني في حصار غزة ومجزرة شعبها لا يلفت النظر مثل الدور العربي.

The role of the Zionist regime in the siege on Gaza and in the massacre of its people does not attract attention as the Arab role does.

Free Man, a blogger who rarely blogs has posted three posts so far. He shares with us his thoughts on the Gaza massacre:

أقل ما يقال عنها أنها مجزرة بشعة. أكثر من 155 شهيداً و200 جريح في غزة التي مازالت تطعن فوق جراحها ولما تخر صريعة بعد!القوادين أمثال نمر حماد، الذي حمل حماس مسؤولة الهجوم البربري الإسرائيلي
على غزة. لا مجال للفكر هنا ولامجال لأي توازن واتزان أمام هذه المشاهد الدامية. هل كانت إسرائيل بحاجة لذرائع عندما احتلت فلسطين وقتلت وهجرت أهلها وارتكتبت المجازر بحق سكانها الآمنين في بيوتهم وأرضهم؟ هل كانت احتلت إسرائيل شبراً واحداً من الأرض لولا أمثاله وأمثال حسني مبارك وأزلامه الذي شارك في قتل وتجويع وحصار الغزيين.

The least you can say is it a horrific massacre. More than 155 martyrs and 200 injured [now 318 martyrs and 1400 injured] in Gaza which is still being stabbed whilst wounded and haven't died yet![…] those pimps, Nimr Hamed, who blamed Hamas for the Israeli barbaric attack on Gaza. There is no room for intellect here, there is no possibility for balance when you see such bloody images.
Did Israel need excuses when it occupied Palestine, killed and displaced them as refugees and now committing massacres against the peaceful people in their homes and land? Would Israel occupied one inch of the land if it weren't for those like Husni Mubarak and his men who participated in killing and starving and blockading the Gazans?

Mr. Blond from Syria comments on the mechanism of the western mainstream media:

لو أن صهيونياً جرح بشظايا صاروخ انطلق من قطاع غزة .. لقامت الدنيا وما قعدت، ولحشدت اسرائيل كل قواهالو أن صهيوني العسكرية وجميع أجهزتها الإعلامية، ولطالبت العالم كله أن يقف معها في مواجهة هذا الإرهاب الفلسطيني .. ولكن أن تقتل هي العشرات والمئات من سكان هذا القطاع المحاصر المحروم من الإنسانية خلال يوم واحد .. فهذا لن يواجه إلا بالصمت والتخاذل والحقد وفي أحسن الأحوال التعاطف الساذج !!!

If a Zionist was wounded by missile shrapnel launched from the Gaza Strip .. the world would be outraged and Israel would have gathered its military and media strength, and would have demanded the whole world to side with it in the face of Palestinian terrorism .. But for Israel to kill dozens and hundreds of people from this sector besieged, deprived of humanity in one day .. This will only be faced with silence and inaction and hatred at best naive sympathy!!!

Yaser Orwani, also blogging from Syria, informs us with a campaign launched for Gaza:

تحت عنوان ” كلنا غزة ” تطلق مجموعة من المبرمجين والمصممين والصحفيين والمراسلين موقعا الكترونيا عاجلاً تضامنا مع الاهل الصامد في قطاع غزه في ظل المجازر الصهيونيه الكبيره التي ترتكب وما زالت مستمره حتى اللحظه

لزيارة الموقع : http://www.nowgaza.com

Under the title “We are all Gaza,” a group of programmers, designers, journalists and correspondents have launched a website in solidarity with the steadfast families in the Gaza Strip in light of the huge Zionist massacres committed which is still continuing up to this moment.
To visit the site: http://www.nowgaza.com

Yaser also have compiled a video which he dedicated to those who were killed by Israel in Gaza:

Many Syrian bloggers feel depressed and paralyzed over what's happening in Gaza now. Most of the Syrian blog-posts reflect this feeling. Some of the bloggers narrate how they feel, some of them blogged their silence as we will see later on in this coverage.

Syriangavroche in Spain shares with us an incident he had with his Gazan friend whose friend in Gaza had just lost his two brothers in the recent Israeli war on Gaza. He also shares with us his feeling of helplessness towards what can be done to help the innocent people in Gaza from being killed:

تلقّيت في ساعات المساء الأولى اتصالاً من صديق غزّاوي يخبرني فيه باستشهاد شقيقَي صديق غزّاوي آخر كانا يعملان في شرطة غزّة, و أن الجميع سيذهب لتقديم واجب العزاء و دعمه بما نستطيع, فواعدته فوراً و توجّهنا إلى منزل هذا الصديق. عندما وصلنا وجدت بعض الزملاء الذين كانوا قد سبقونا, و لم أجد صديقنا فقد كان قد دخل الحمّام ليغسل وجهه, و عندما خرج رآنا فقدم نحونا و كنت أول من تلقاه بالأحضانعانقني بشدة و انفجر باكياً مرة أخرى بشكل جمّد كل قدراتي على النطق, و لم أعد أدري ماذا أقول, فلزمت الصمت ثوانِ طويلة قاربت الدقيقة حتى وصول نقطة شعرت فيها أن عليّ أن أقول شيئاً.. لكنني لم أجد ما أقول إلا كلمة lo sientoبالاسبانية, التي تقال في المآتم و تعني حرفياً بأنني أشعر بما تشعر به و لكنها تعني أيضاً آسف“.لا أعلم إن كنت أريد بهذه الكلمة المعنى الأول أم الثاني, أم كلاهما..لا أدري إن كان سبب اعتذاري هو عجزي عن تقديم شيء ما عدا الكلام.. لا أدري إن كان شعوري بالذنب عائد إلى أنني جبان يخاف أزيز الذبابة بينما يتحمّل أطفال فلسطين هدير كسر جدار الصوت..نعم.. أشعر بالذنب, و نعم.. غالباً أنا مذنب..

In the early evening I received a call from a Gazan friend telling me that two brothers of his friend from Gaza were martyred, they were working in a police station there. He told me that everyone will go to pay our condolences and support his friend in what we can. I set a date immediately and we went to the house of his friend.
When we arrived there there were some colleagues who had preceded us, and I did not find our friend who apparently had entered the bathroom to wash his face. When he showed up he approached us and I was the first to take him in the arms.[…]
He held me tight, and once again strongly burst into tears that it frozen my ability to speak, and I no longer knew what to say, I stayed silent for a minute till I felt I should say something .. I did not find anything to say but the word “lo siento” in Spanish, which is used in funerals, and it literally means that I feel what you feel, but it also means “sorry”.
I do not know if I meant the first meaning of the word, or the second, or even both ..
I do not know if the reason behind my apology is my incapability to provide anything but speech .. I do not know if my feelings of guilt is due to my cowardliness fear of a fly while Palestinian children bear the roar of the sound barrier breaking ..
Yes .. I feel guilty, and yes .. I am often guilty ..

Ayman Haykal, blogging from the US, decided that nothing can be said on the blow of horrific bloody images we see in Gaza now, he decided to be silent:

أمام رهبة الموت وبشاعة الظلم ووحشية العدو وتواطؤ الأخ والشعور الجارف باليأس …لا أملك إلا أن أصمت.

Before the terror of death and the horror of injustice and brutality of the enemy and the complicity of the brother and the feeling of hopelessness…
I can not but be silenced.

Some bloggers blogged ways with which they think they can help the Gazas, Ola from Syria has more:

حملة تبرعات في الجامعات أو المدارس أو العمل أو أي مكان لأنه أهلنا في غزة يحاتجون إلى الدواء والغذاء خصوصاً أنهم تحت وطأة الحصار

اذا كنت تجيد الانجليزية انشر ايميلات لغير العرب لتعريفهم بالأحداث الحقيقة لأن إعلامهم لاينقل لهم الحقيقة

استمر على المقاطعة ولاتقل أنها لاتؤثر وتذكر الأزمة المالية وكيف ستؤثر المقاطعة

الدعاء ثم الدعاء

انشر في المنتديات المشترك بها في موقعك أو مدونتك

ممكن تنشر صور المجازر بالانجليزي وتعملها فيديو وتنزلها على اليوتيوب

1 – Fund-raising in universities or schools or at work or anywhere (because our people in Gaza are in need for medicine and food especially that they're under siege).
2 – If you're good in English e-mail non-Arabs to familiarize them with the truth, because their mainstream media doesn't reflect truth on the ground.
3 – Continue the boycotting strategy, and don't think it is not influential.[…].
4 – pray and pray.
5 – Publish infos in forums you're in and on your site or blog.
6 – publish pictures of the massacres and subtitle them in English or make compile them as videos and upload them on Youtube.

Finally, there were strong resentment in the Syrian blogsphere towards the Arab regimes, and towards the Egyptian regime in particular.

9 comments

  • Freddy Lejeune

    Not enough. Hamas declared war on Israel and has vowed to destruct Israel, So now it pays a first installment. Hamas is the one who declared war and now gets theretirbution, Only the total obluiteration of Hamas will bring peace.Israel had exercised immense restrait against the Hamas agressor. i hope that this time , Israel will obliterate Hamas infrastructure to the stone age. i regreat any accidental civilian casulaties but all hamas members by nature of their belligerence deserve to get an express trip toAllah and the seventy virgins. Peace means obliterate Hamas , there is unfortunately no other choice when there is a war except for one party to win and the other to lose. That has been the history of conflicts all over since th beginning of time.s. Let the losers cry and yell, but only their death will bring Peace.

  • Know Dear Freddy Lejeune, that your voice stands alone among millions backing up Hamas in the Ayrab world, good luck with your “peace”.
    Ending occupation in Palestine WILL bring peace to the region.
    mark my words.

  • Excellent post ya Razan (not like I’m surprised). Freddy here wasted no time commenting, huh? C’est la vie.

  • Brian

    It seems so easy for some people to decry the violence but then just as easily dismiss it as necessary. No amount of aggression by Hamas could warrant such an unrestrained and violent response by Israel. Nothing can vindicate the deaths of over 200 people.

  • Gadi

    Brian, try living 10 km away from Gaza for more than a week, see what you say then.
    Try having your family killed by missile, just because they live close to Gaza.
    try living in fear for 4 years, fear that every minute of your life can end because Hamas wants to kill Israelis.
    Try working at the field, while being shot at, daily.
    Try going to work and loosing your friend because of a sniper.

    This tolerance that waited years for Hamas to calm down has now exploded in their face, much to their likeness.
    For now the world forgets the past, concentrates on the dead.

    In the past, and in the present by the way, Israel still is the sole provider of electricity, fuel, medicine, food, supplies, and water to the Gaza strip.
    And hasn’t stopped from doing it – not even once!
    (check your news – has it been reported that since the attack on Hamas started two days ago, Israel had dispatched more than 200 trucks full of medicine and supplies to the poeple of Gaza?)
    I bet not.
    I bet it also failed to report that all of them have been seized by Hamas, and controlled by them to their liking… (keep in mind that pictures of dying people are much more beneficial for them than pictures of treated injuries).

  • Gadi!

    Try being Palestinian.

  • Brian: You mean the death of 61 civilians. All the rest are Hamas people.

    I agree civilians should be minimized but that’s exactly what IDF tries to do in spite Hamas using civilian presence as human shields.

    Don’t get me wrong, I pain the destruction there cause I’m a human being too and scared, injured people is not an easy sight to any of us here. You don’t see even one person gloats here, mind you. Still, as many countries – including Arab ones *and the Palestinians in the west bank* understand the blame is solely on Hamas.

    Ever stopped to wander why Israel can have talks with Abbas and the West Bank but have to siege and fight in Gaza? It’s the same Israel! – the reason is Hamas.

  • Faye

    so let me get this right…the reason for all these atrocities is…
    hamas,hezbollah, iran, syria, bin laden, terrorists and everyone else..except of course Israel and their blatant lack of recognition to human rights of the Palestinian people.
    just a reminder..whislt children in south lebanon in 2006 were being massacred in their homes, the children of Israel were writing messages of hate to them on the missiles about to be launched at them.” a gift to the children in lebanon form the children is israel” how extremely thoughtful. Great way to defend your right to exist Israel. try teaching yourselves and the next generation how to live in peace and tolerance of others. That is what i would expect of a nation that came into existence as a result of being treated this way during ww2. or is it a case of the vistim becoming the bully-like in the children’s playground!!!
    reasons for why the innocent on boh sides are being killed are not what should be sought…try finding rasons why this is happening continuosly and how it can be solved. Neither palestinians or Israeli’s should have t live like this..and its easy for us all, sitting far away and comfortable on our computers to send these messages, andfor the US to support this…but we are not living there, we are not under threat and nor are our lives. come together people around the world with words and solutions, because when the dead are laid to rest, whose fault it is, no longer matters.

  • Manus

    This is not a war this is genocide. For a start you need two states to have a war. In this instance we have a nuclear state with the most sophisticated weapons in the world and groups of civilians that Israel is illegally occupying. The Palestinian police are still civilians under international law as the state of Palestine does not exist and does not have armed forces. Also, there is a myth that in Gaza there are areas where the Hamas guerrilla could launch attacks without being amidst the rest of the population. The fact are that it is the most densely populated open air prison in the world and there are nowhere where the legitimately elected authority in Gaza can have police station but amidst highly populated areas. The reason for the conflict is not the launching of rockets by Hamas (as the launching of rockets is a consequence of the Israeli strangulation of the Palestinian people), but the expansionist aspirations of the Israeli fanatical religious right run by Rabbis and in a fragile coalition with the Neo-Zionist left. Fred, please stop that nonsense about the Palestinian love dying as it makes you people even sicker than you really are. As far as evicting all Arabs from the Arab peninsula and ethnically cleans the area that is your ultimate goal, however you will never succeed to do so.

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