Palestinians and Hamas leaders living in the Gaza Strip believe it is their right to defend themselves from Israel, who they see as agressors. Many Palestinians see no difference between a Palestinian suicide bomber detonating themselves on bus and a high-tech Israeli rocket landing in one of their schools. Both result in the loss of human life, many being civilians. On my first trip to Gaza a man told me something that has stuck with me, "Terrorism is the military of countries that cannot afford a military." There are always two sides to every story. With both sides labeling each other the agressor, vowing to cease fire only after the other side does, it seems to be a desperate situation that will, as usual, make innocent individuals pay the highest price.
As Israeli forces enter Gaza, I fear the humanitarian crisis there will escalate dramatically. The Gaza Medical Crisis two years ago was spurred by far less of a dramatic situation than is currently going on. The main stream media often fails to mention the fact that Hamas rockets only account for a portion of those that leave Gaza bound for Israel. As IDF forces enter the Gaza Strip, they will come up against dozens of militant groups such as this Islamic Jihadist group I photographed this past August. In black tactical gear and carrying weapons they are easy to identify but when they blend into the civilian population, it is literally a recipe for disaster to start a gorilla war that will claim the lives of countless individuals.
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Militant fighters train to launch rockets into Israel in an undisclosed location in the Gaza Strip, August, 2008
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Militant fighters train to launch rockets into Israel in an undisclosed location in the Gaza Strip, August, 2008
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Militant fighters train on weapons in an undisclosed location in the Gaza Strip, August, 2008
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Militant fighters train to launch rockets into Israel in an undisclosed location in the Gaza Strip, August, 2008
The end result of course will be many, many more images like these coming out of Gaza, when Israel's block on journalists ends and we are able to enter and do our jobs:
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A young man who lost both legs, one arm and most of his fingers when a rocket landed near his school in Gaza City, Gaza Strip August, 2008
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A man walks through a neighborhood severely damaged by Israeli Defense Force and settler attacks in Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip in March, 2006
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A malnourished baby in a hospital in Gaza City after US and Israeli sanctions cut of money and aid to Gaza, causing a major humanitarian crisis in March, 2006
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A Palestinian man takes care of his brother who suffered brain damage when hit in the head by Israeli bullet fire in Gaza City, Gaza Strip in August, 2008
Hey stupid,
The arab leaders are calling for a truce and condeming Israel. Yet arab leaders don't say anything abouot suicide bombers killing civilians & children. What do you think would happen if Israel started launching rockets into different arab countries. Maybe start a war?!
It's time for Palestinian civilians to be held responsible for harboring terroists/Hamas. Gaza is like a tumor/cancer and needs to be eliminated. Israel should make gaza uninhabital and kill everyone that lives ther after a 90day warning to leave.
The people elected Hamas and are responsible. Jim
Posted by: Jim | January 05, 2009 at 15:49
Wars never make better!
Posted by: Flip Video | January 05, 2009 at 16:48
any organized religion is apotentional tthreat to other unorganized religions and indigenous cultures.organized religions have swallowed thousands of such non violent ,peacce loving thousands of years old cultures.problem in middle east the clash of blind followers of inhumanity.only solution is shun god and religion-believe in humanity.as far as god and religions are there ,peace is a myth.
Posted by: venkatesha heggade .y.k. | January 05, 2009 at 16:56
Hama's and the Palestinians are evil enough to house their artillery and military hardware amongst schools, mosques and in neighbourhoods. They have no right to cry foul when a country they have been bombarding repeatedly with rockets attacks them. Only sick minded fools would use women and children as their first line of defense
Posted by: David | January 05, 2009 at 16:58
Collective guilt... collective punishment.. Do the Israelis seek to emulate their Nazi executioners?
To kill over 500 people, more than half of them - civilians, is inhumane.
And this coming from the country that demanded full payment for every soul killed 65 years ago in Europe.
Chosen people, indeed!
Posted by: irene | January 05, 2009 at 19:04
Two sides to every story indeed and yet you only drone on about one. The international media is about as one sided as the Islamic media these days. What if Israel started shooting missiles into Gaza and the Arabs responded by invading Israel. Who would speak out for Israel then? I'll tell you; nobody, just like during all the other wars where Israel was attacked by Arab armies that wanted to wipe them of the map. Who offered to help then? The world stood by and had Israel failed, how many would have been killed?
Hamas were elected by the people. The people elected a terrorist party, who denies the existence of Israel, who is given missiles by Iran and Syria and who fires them at schools intent on killing innocents. Israel doesn’t want innocent blood on its hands but how can it not have it so when Hamas sits among them. Its using them as shields. Who could support people like that?
We do not need to understand these terrorists. We don’t need to see their point of view. This Zoriah stood by and watched them fire missiles into Israel knowing they were trying to kill children. He didn’t do it because he wanted to understand them, he did it because he wanted dramatic pictures that would sell.
"Terrorism is the military of countries that cannot afford a military." So that makes it perfectly acceptable then doesn’t it. I want peace because I’m tired of the fighting and I am sorry for the Palestinians that suffer everyday. But these people have to realise that so long as they embrace terror and allow Hamas to continue they will not have peace.
The west must realise that Israel has a right to defend itself and that Hamas is as much a threat to the world as it is to Israel. When London was bombed Gazans ran through the streets and handed out sweets. The cheered and sang. Who weeps for Israel’s dead? All they get is a mention on the end of each speech.
Zoriah, I don’t like you. You need to understand that whilst there are two sides to every story only one will exist if only one is seen. This is bias and the media is full of it. So instead of sitting around doing nothing and moaning to us about being cold and wet in Egypt why don’t you get up go to Israel and start photographing victims in Israel. They would love for people to take an interest in them because so far no one has.
Posted by: Daniel | January 05, 2009 at 21:04
Matthew Taylor who used to work for Tony Blair, has an interesting article about the failure of political leadership: http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/thersa/the-israeli-action-in-gaza-a-leadership-deficit/
Posted by: Matthew Cain | January 06, 2009 at 13:34
^^There are no victims in israel mainly due to the fact that they are the oppressors and the occupiers. End of story, how can u be a victim when you are occupying other people land unjustly.
The land that all these settlements are built on belong to people who are now living in refugee camps in gaza.
I think your pictures are great!
Posted by: Yazen | January 07, 2009 at 09:25
To Daniel:
We do not need to understand these terrorists. We don’t need to see their point of view.
This is exactly the kind of narrow-mindedness that makes Western Culture reviled by the rest of the world. Wake up and see that the world is bigger than you think.
This Zoriah stood by and watched them fire missiles into Israel knowing they were trying to kill children. He didn’t do it because he wanted to understand them, he did it because he wanted dramatic pictures that would sell.
I guess he should have performed superheroic acts and flown the children to safety? A journalist's duty is to tell the truth. Not to let people like you remain comfortable in your extremely ignorant worldview.
Posted by: Spin | January 09, 2009 at 06:15
The depth of pathos depicted in your work is astounding and a poignant reminder that steps past ideology into humanity's very heartbeat.
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