The trauma of life in Gaza

Women for Palestine today put out this email bulletin:

Dr. Mona Elfaraa
Al Awda Hospital
Jabalya, Gaza:

"No-one is safe. This morning little five and six-year old children,
wounded in a missile attack, were brought to our hospital. They were
shaking and crying with fear. Their teacher Najwa Kholeef had been
wounded in the head. A sixteen-year old boy and twenty-year old man had
been killed.

I have seen some of the shrapnel that was recovered from the previous
day's injuries , marked clearly with USA, the shrapnel and the kinds of
wounds are unusual , surgeons have not come across them before , some
of the bodies with totally burnt, limbs are missing and one of the
bodies was covered with hundreds of pieces of small shrapnel. We do
not have the time and facilities to investigate the causes.

Tanks and armored vehicles have been surrounding the Beit Hanoun
hospital for the last six days and preventing medical volunteers and
victims of violence from reaching it.

On Sunday our colleagues, 21 year old ambulance driver Ahmad Madhun and
medical volunteer Mustafa Habib were murdered and Dannielle Abu Samra
was wounded while trying to tend to the wounded.

BREAKING NEWS: A 12 year old who was at the computer typing was killed on
the spot when a bullet came through the window, went in the left side of his
neck and came out the right side."

Comments

Reading the Chilcot Inquiry Report more closely

Most commentary on the Chilcot Inquiry Report of and associated with the Iraq War, has been "lifted" from the Executive Summary. The Intercept has actually gone and dug into the Report, with these revelations : "THE CHILCOT REPORT, the U.K.’s official inquiry into its participation in the Iraq War, has finally been released after seven years of investigation. Its executive summary certainly makes former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who led the British push for war, look terrible. According to the report, Blair made statements about Iraq’s nonexistent chemical, biological, and nuclear programs based on “what Mr. Blair believed” rather than the intelligence he had been given. The U.K. went to war despite the fact that “diplomatic options had not been exhausted.” Blair was warned by British intelligence that terrorism would “increase in the event of war, reflecting intensified anti-US/anti-Western sentiment in the Muslim world, including among Muslim communities in the

Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives? In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t

An unpalatable truth!

Quinoa has for the last years been the "new" food on the block for foodies. Known for its health properties, foodies the world over have taken to it. Many restaurants have added it to their menu. But, as this piece " Can vegans stomach the unpalatable truth about quinoa? " from The Guardian so clearly details, the cost to Bolivians and Peruvians - from where quinoa hails - has been substantial. "Not long ago, quinoa was just an obscure Peruvian grain you could only buy in wholefood shops. We struggled to pronounce it (it's keen-wa, not qui-no-a), yet it was feted by food lovers as a novel addition to the familiar ranks of couscous and rice. Dieticians clucked over quinoa approvingly because it ticked the low-fat box and fitted in with government healthy eating advice to "base your meals on starchy foods". Adventurous eaters liked its slightly bitter taste and the little white curls that formed around the grains. Vegans embraced quinoa as

Mahler's Prodigal Son

Search This Blog