Morocco: War on Gaza a ‘Crime’
Written byAmira Al Hussaini
On the war on Gaza, Moroccan Laila Lalami notes: “When I think about all those who have died (like the five daughters of the Balousha family, Tahir Balousha, 17; Ikram Balousha, 14; Samar Balousha, 12; Dina Balousha, 8; and Jawaher Balousha, 4, all of whom were killed by an Israeli bomb that fell on the mosque next door to their house) I feel that our collective humanity is diminished. This war is a crime.”
Written byAmira Al Hussaini
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I am sad for all the people, Israeli and Palestinian. It is a shame that Hamas has created this war, all of the children need to be able to sleep in peace. I can only pray that the Palestinians will find better and more meaningful leadership. I truly do wish them a better and bright future. I don’t see it happening with the failed leadership they have in the Gaza. I also pray that Israel stops soon, though I think that formula is very simple…no Rockets, no attacks.
How could you say that Hamas has created this war… this is completely none sense. Jews were not even there 60 years ago, Hamas people have been there for centuries they are defending themselves from the 5th most powerful army in the world with miserable rockets.. while Israel is ripping off the kids legs and arms from land, sea and air…don’t yu see the videos on youtube, don’t you use a little bit of logic. even jews are against the war.
Israel returned Gaza to the palestinians 3 years ago. Israel destroyed all the settelelments and army bases, and gave everything back to the palestinians. What did they do in return ??? instead of building Gaza , investing in education health and infrastructure, they spend millions on weapons and for 8 years they fire them into Israel…
What do you expect Israel to do ? to continue and get shot at ?? israel has the right to defend itself, and the Hamas who stole the leadership, have to understand that Israel will not tolerate missiles on its towns and every time they shoot the reaction will be Harsh
Wake up, Scorpio, you are obviously in another planet. This is a crime against humanity, and May God help Hamas fight the evil zionists.
Even though Israel was founded 60 years ago, it doesn’t mean that its citizens are lesser than others, or that they should not be able to live in peace. I’d like to share my point of view as an Israeli, and tell you a bit about the everyday life in my country. The fact of the matter is that, generally, we live in fear. and i’m not only talking about the recent war in Gaza, but more on the last 15 years or so. Growing up in Israel, i never realized how much our life were different and dictated by the terror that we were living in. It was only when i grew up and started touring the world that i have discovered that.I remember when i visited Munich, Germany, for the first time, and i forgot a bag with all my stuff in it at a mall there. when i realized i have forgotten it, i became so stressed and was sure that by the time i get back to the mall, the mall would be evacuated and my bag wil be blown up to pieces by the police. When i got there i was shocked to find out that my bag was right where i left it, and people around were not even paying attention to it. That day, i realized how affected our lives were by the costant fear. In Israel, every time you want to go out to a public place (like the mall, restaurant or a bar) all your bags are opened and checked for explosives. in kindergartens and schools students are aswell go through the routine checking every day. this is how we lead our lives, in fear of the occasional suicide bombers. we rarely use public transportation, because it’s not safe. there had been numerous suicide bombers that exploded themselves on busses. those attacks were never on military personnel, but always targeted citizens, regardless of sex and age. We got so used to the killing, that we have became nummed. if you ever talk to an Israeli about a bomb explosion that resulted in the deaths of 10-15 citizens, you will probably be shocked by the indifferent and laconic response, only because we got so accustumed to living our lives in that horror situation we got stuck in. The separation wall we built was not built in order to seclude the palastinians, but mainly because there was no other way to try and tone down the great number of suicide bombers that infiltrated our cities, with the least amount of damage to both sides. I do realize that it may not look so for an outsider, but the results speak for themselves in respect to the number of attacks and suicide bombers incidents, which have lowered significantlly ever since. And about the latest in Gaza, it is a bit more complicated than it is portrayed in the media. In the last 5-6 years or so, the southern part of Israel has become a one-sided war zone. 60-70 rockets are fired everyday from the Gaza strip to Israeli territories sometimes with casulies to our side, though most of the time only with damage to property. While firing the rockets, the palestinians raised their demand for an evacuation of the settlements in that area, and in return they said there would be no more fire. We withdrew, and deposited those areas to them. What they did thereafter was they used the land we have given them as launching areas to insreased number of rockets that reached closr and closer into our main cities. We tried our hardest not to respond, and when we did so, we aleays targeted specific high-ranked people in the Hamas, to the best of our ability to keep civilians’ life as safe as possible on both sides. in the past year it has become intollerable, and although we are aware of the fact that we are dealing with human life, our lives are no lesser to theirs, and we also have a right to live in relative calmness,even if not in peace. one thing that is bothering me though, or should i say was bothering me for a long time, is why don’t i see or hear any opposition to the attacks on Israel by the Hammas from the palastinian side? why don’t they demonstrate against the attacks against Israel? (i do realize that now it’s a little bit to late, and impossible on their part to sound their opinion, but where were these voices before, when we got bombed every day for 5 years without responding?) in Israel, even now,people are speaking their minds, and demonstrations against the war in Gaza are taking place all over Israel, where were the palastinians when our cities got bombed? when have they shown concern to our right to live? i feel as if the world expects us to “be the bigger person” in this situation, but how can we when our lives are so shaken, when we live in terror (that is, fear) and under constant terrorist attacks, and the (mostly) one sided media coverages, that seem to ignore the misery and fear that have taken over our lives here. do our lives really count for less than other people lives?
i am fully awake, it’s just the hypocracy of the world including yours, that is amazing. 4 months ago Russia practicaly wiped out Georgia, And no one blamed them for crimes against humanity, Turkey is bombing Kurd villages in Iraq on a regular basis, and no one blames them for crimes against humanity, 70,000 people were killed in Srilanka because terrorists and government are fighting and the world is silent. One month of terrorism in Iraq in which Shiites kill Sunnis and visa-versa costs ten folds the number of people who died in Gaza and no one utters a f***** word, Only when Israel is excercizing it’s basic right to protect it’s civilians against terrorism which rains thousands of missiles at them the whole world shouts out that Israel is commiting crimes against humanity.
this is Hypocracy per-say, I wonder what any other country would have done if terrorists would have shot thousands of missisles at the civilian population??? do you realy think that all of them would have done nothing ??? no reaction??? no retaliation???
If the Palestinians would have been peacfull non of this would have happened to them
Jonathan,
I have carefully read your comments, thank you for that.
I can see from what I read that you and all the jews who were brought to Palestine are victim of your own leaders, your own government.
Let’s face it Jonathan: “YOU HAVE OCCUPIED PALESTINE” you cannot deny that it’s here were all began, why don’t you admit this fact at least … and I am not talking here only about Gaza and West Bank I am talking about all Palestine.
What would you do if in a shiny morning I come to your home and say :”Jonathan your house is mine you have to leave now !” this is exactelly what Jews have been doing to the landlords the Palestinians since 1948.
What would you expect from peolpe who were chased up from their homes, peolple that all relatives have been slaughtered (Deer Yassine, Sabra, Shateela, Jeneen….the list is too long) , people that are living in an open prison but resistance.
Jonathan, no one has to be blamed but your grand fathers the zionists, do not blame the Palestinians for firing rockets, resistance is a normal reaction to jews action (Occupation).
I am Moroccan, do you think that the french occupation will be still in my country if my Grandfathers did not make resistance, it was the same in Algeria, Libya..everywhere, and you know what? it will be the same in Palestine.
Frankly, I had some hope for the peace process but now after what I saw it is all dead, the whole world is shocked by what your troops did and I am sure now more than ever that Salah Eddin way is the way, that Omar Ibn Alkhattab way is the way, to get Palestine back… all Palestine.
Jonathan… my advice to you… do a self critic before it is late, be honest and the truth will come to you :)
let me tell you what crimes against humanity are:
1) Hamas shooting deliberatly at civilian population with intention to kill as many civilians as possible. Targeting schools hospitals shopping malls etc…
2) Hamas using the Humanitarian windows israel opens daily to target israeli towns , knowing that Israel will not shoot back during these hours
3) Hamas shooting from schools UNWRA facilities etc, knowing that Israel will not shoot at them
4) Hamas is holding an Israeli soldier for 2 and a half years without allowing anyone to visit him including the red cross
5) Hamas using children as shields knowing that Israel will not shoot at them
6) Hamas stealing the Israeli Humanitarian aid Israel is allowing to enter Gaza and giving the aid to it’s activists.
These are crimes against humanity !!!!!!!!!!
Dear Mohamed,
First of all, i’d like to say that i respect and partially agree to some of the things that you’re saying, and it’s nice to be able to converse about these issues without the need for us to bash eachother.
Now, i’d like to comment about several things that you wrote.
Firstly, i DO agree that in a way we are all victims of our leaders, and i stress the “in a way” part. after all, real peace is formed not between countries but between the people that inhabit them. now let’s go back to reality.Flipping through history pages will show you that before the State of Israel was founded, the British empire ruled the land of Israel (palestine), before them there were the Ottoman empire, the Mamluks, the Crusaders, the Arabs, Bizants, Romans, and the Israelies… depends on how far back you want to go with it..it’s also not correct to say that Israel occupied palastine as a whole, since it was given to them by the british empire followed by a U.N. resolution. However, it is very well true that Israel has occupied several territories since its establishment, and for that let’s take a trip to the past again..and i’m trying not to be boring here, while sticking to historical facts. All the territories that were occupied by Israel were taken during wars that started with Israel’s surrounding countries attacks,these lands were used as vantage points for those countries to attack israel.that includes the much talked about Golan Hights (formerly Syrian land) that was used as a launching place for numerous attacks against Israel, and so were all other occupied territories..it’s not like we woke up one day and decided that we want more land. One thing i’d like to add here is that throughout our latest history (i.g. last 60 years) Israel has never, and i repeat, never initiated any of the wars it was dragged into and those include the past wars against Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan. Believe me, if we were confident enough that once we gave these lands back they won’t be used against us to re-launch strikes against our country we would gladly do that, but our short history teaches us differently. But all this aside, my friend, we can argue about history all we want, the fact of the matter is that this issue needs to be solved. We are not going anywhere, and so are the Palastinians, so we are stuck here together, and that is the reality. and it is this reality that Hamas refuses to accept. for hamas the goal is a total destruction of the satate of Israel by any means necessary. They have stated numerous times that they will not agree to a 2 states solution, and are trying their hardest to prove that whenever they get the chance to, again, by any means they have.. if it means slaughtering our youngest, or sacrificing their own for that cause. and having said that, if to you rockets are a normal reaction, then you cannot expect us to sit quietly and absorb, retaliation must come, and that’s how instead of trying to solve a problem using our heads we have to solve it temporarily by force. did you know that out of all the terrorist attacks we suffered, the worst were before signing peace agreements? did you know we offered our hand in peace to all our neighbors.. the ones that accepted were Egypt and Jordan..our only demand was for them to stop firing at us.. we have asked the same from the palastinians, they launched attacks on us in return..
Jonathan,
Many thanks for keeping this dialogue civilized, I appreciate.
We are all victims of our leaders, this is ironic but true, we as arabs are victims of our leaders who are ruling us without our conscent, without a democratic process that is why there is a huge void between arab leaders positions and arab people heartbeat in the street about the matter of Gaza and so many other issues.
You as Israelis your are victims of your leaders who use kids blood as an electoral compaign. leaders like Theodor Herzl who started all this mess.
You have not completed flipping through history, you stopped at “Israelis”, you forgot to mention that the Kan’anis and the Yaboussi were living in Palestine long long time before the first Israeli put his foot there, I assume then that if I am a Kan’ani I could claim the ownership of the land of Palestine… so you see even historically it is looking bad.
You said: “Palestine was given to Israelis by the british empire followed by a U.N. resolution” so you are admitting that a colonial power “gave” a country to the Israelis… what is that? a peace of cake that changes hands… it is a COUNTRY a LAND and PEOPLE in it… come on Jonathan it is obvious here that the whole thing was a filthy game mastered by the Brits, I knew tha Oganda was a candidate coutry for Jews to live in !!!??? very weird!!!
NB. when I say Occupied Land I do not mean The Golan or Sinae I mean Palestine (Tel Aviv, Akka, Yafa , Ashkelon… included) or what you call “state of israel”.
Occupying land to prevent rocket firing is none sense, you know that there are rockets now that can reach thousands of kilometers, what would you do about that? Occupy the whole world? occupy Iran, Pakistan.
Jonathan, all what I can say to you from my islamic background that I have been looking at handreds of brothers being killed without a reason, save the rocket firing pretxt, these people were under siege, starvation and chaos for years, Israel has just signed off a graduation of a new generation of thousands of new resistant tougher and moe violent.
Jonathan, listen to the voice of truth from the mouth of jew rabbi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCKD6u1gGzs&feature=related
Regards.