ZORIAH - A PHOTOJOURNALIST AND WAR PHOTOGRAPHER'S BLOG: Middle East

Middle East

January 05, 2009

Gaza - Islamic Jihad Training Camp/ Israel Incursion Civilian Toll

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

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

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January 02, 2009

Afghan Boy During Military Raid - Afghanistan Pakistan Border

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A young boy climbs down stairs during a military raid on his home in northeastern Afghanistan, 2007

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December 30, 2008

Behind the Image – July 4th Independence Day in Baghdad, Iraq

In the summer of 2007 I was based at a tiny Joint Security Station (JSS) in Baghdad's Ghazaliya neighborhood. It was infamous at the time for being extremely violent and still plagued with roaming death squads and insurgents, and prone to bombings, rocket attacks and sniper fire.

The JSS was a small cluster of Iraqi homes that had been "requisitioned" by the U.S. Army and was being shared by both U.S. and Iraqi military forces. The homes had an otherworldly feel about them, with their large columns, front lawns and ornate interiors. There was something bizarre about this small taste of luxury in the middle of a war zone; a palace with windows packed with sand bags, whose roof was home to snipers and .50 caliber machine guns. It made me wonder what it had been like a few years before — who lived there, what where their lives like and how different those lives were from those of the troops occupying the space beneath its roofs.

I happened to be living in the home, embedded with U.S. troops on July 4, which is America's Independence Day. There was a different feeling in the air leading up to this day and everyone seemed almost happy. An armored convoy of tanks and fighting vehicles rolled up in the morning and delivered a barbecue feast, which was closely guarded until the afternoon. When the baby-pool was blown up and filled, and the non-alcoholic beer was being distributed, a soldier and I noticed the writing on boxes of food: "U.S. Beef — Military and Prison Grade ONLY." We laughed and pointed it out to a few others, whose reactions ranged from amused to infuriated.

This photo was taken that evening, after we had eaten a nice meal and played football (soccer) with the Iraqi soldiers. As we all stood around talking and munching on Fica's (the Iraqi equivalent of Lay's Potato Chips) the calmness of the night was shattered by an explosion directly above our heads. We all hit the ground and began to scramble. Then we heard laughter. The soldiers had come up with a few fireworks and when they ran out they dug into their supply of flares and shot them out of the grenade launchers on their M-4 assault rifles. I set my camera up and caught this long exposure.

Technical: This was shot wide, at 16mm with an 8-second exposure at f/2.8. My ISO rating was 500. No tripod was used, just a portion of a brick fence to prop up the camera and a rock underneath the lens to give it a good angle.

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