Gaza...Eye Witness Account

There's been a lot of talk about Palestine, Gaza, Israel, the US involvement in the region, a lot of talk, a lot of debate. Today I was asked by Martin to join this group, to explore geopolitical issues. Quite honestly, I am not sure I am qualified for this, but I said I would join and post "something". What follows is what I chose for my first submission. With all the debating going on as to who, why, and what surrounding the attacks on Gaza, here is something you won't find in the news. An eye witness account from a young man from Egypt, sent to Gaza on a special mission. This is reality. It may not have all the political trappings of a traditional news source, but it is REAL. This is what happened. Read on, and thank you. MF. (Defiance)

I have a friend, a brother. He told me some time ago he was going to be going to a dangerous place, asked me to always remember him. I didn't know at the time he was headed to Gaza. I assumed that was the destination. I assumed correctly.

He's back in his home now. But what he related to me in the following exchange...it scarred him for life, and it has left its scar on me too, just reading it. This is a man who is very familiar with war, and has seen much of it. But as he says, what he saw in Gaza was NOT war.....it was something far more sinister.

This is a first hand account of what one young man, a soldier saw while in Gaza during the holocaust leveled against the people of Palestine by the Israeli's. An eye witness account. The only thing I changed was our IDs, his current location, and his name. You will see these as stars (****) Everything else is just as it was related to me, not one word altered.

This young man will need help to recover from the trauma, and he is not alone. All the people who went to help, to fight, to aide in any way, the people of Gaza, the Palestinian nation...all will need help. I plead with anyone who sees this to do whatever they can. Whether by words, actions, donations..... DO SOMETHING!

This was NOT a war. It was murder, crimes against humanity of the most vile scale I have known. Demand your country's leaders take action. Demand that aide is delivered. Demand an end to this sickness. Read these words. And remember Gaza. Remember "Him" and remember Palestine.

Me: I was so worried for you
Me: I am THRILLED to see you
HIM: well , unluckily !! i survived this time too !! LOL
ME: every time
HIM: yeah !! it's becomming annoying !!! lol
ME: looool
ME: not to me!
ME: I would be very annoyed if you got hurt
HIM: Ohh Mary ! believe me ! in the most heavenly scenarios i wouldn't be back from where i went that time !!! and i dont know how , all of a sudden i found the game was over and found myself in ***** !
ME: I'm HAPPY to know you're in *****
ME: seriously, I was beginning to worry
HIM: oh Mary ! u r too good to be true ! am sure sinatra meant you
HIM: mwah
ME: loool
HIM: my sweeeeeeeeeet cousins didnt even leave a mail LOL
ME: oh....bad cousins.
ME: maybe I didn't either
HIM: well , at least u worried , they diodnt
HIM: didnt*
ME: I really did, I even talked to Iriani about it, about you.
HIM: who's Iriani ?
ME: Iri, she used to go to CC1
ME: Iriani********
HIM: OHhh Iri with the broom LOL
ME: yesssss.
ME: loool
HIM: she was a nice lady as i can remember , so caring and angelic
ME: she is still so very nice.
ME: she quit chat but we stay in touch on Multiply
HIM: very nice , good ppl are very few those days
ME: true
HIM: this time was my worst ever mary
ME: Oh....****, sorry to hear this.
ME: Were you in Gaza?
HIM: sorry dc
ME: I asked if you were in Gaza.
HIM: well , i hope u didnt type the name LOL i was avoiding so
HIM: yes i was in , you know where
ME: yea.
ME: I'm so sorry to hear this
HIM: this time was my worst ever mary
HIM: the only time i cried in front of a human being
HIM: all i saw there
HIM: dead kids
HIM: dead babies
ME: yea, too many of them.
HIM: all i did was burying kids and babies
HIM: i see them in my sleep mary
ME: fucking bastard Israelis
ME: Oh ****. I wish I could take some of it for myself
HIM: i wish u wont take any of it to urself...it's a horrible feeling...i've seen death so many times before...i  saw men , cowards , brave ones..i saw death in every possible ways...i took many souls away....but that time
HIM: i saw like i never saw before
HIM: it's like...oh my god...even if they were targetting babies it wont be that disgusting and accurate
ME: I hated what happened
ME: I felt so useless to do anything
HIM: i heared there screams under the ruins...me and a lady kept digging with our bare hands and fingers...the screams began to be less , then ended after 2 days....and...just becuase we have no gas to run the loader
HIM: i cannot sleep mary
HIM: i've been a rock...a senseless creature for all my life
HIM: this time
HIM: i couldnt sleep till now
HIM: idont sleep mary
ME: you need to talk about this.
ME: share it and get it out
HIM: i take pills that can make a horse sleep...and i still cant
HIM: i.
HIM: i dont know
ME: its ok ****.
ME: I'm here to sit quietly with you, or listen..or laugh with you.
ME: anything you need
HIM: after the screams were gone for the last time..i didnt see...i was not awake or alive...and i was not unconcious either...the screams of the lady were to high ! maybe reached *****...i dont remember what happened after , i dont even remember how long i hugged that young woman...maybe for hours...maybe for minutes...ilostsense
HIM: i've seen death...i've seen men !....but NO...not kids ! not that young...not this disgusting and brutal
HIM: not that much
HIM: kids of god
HIM: oh god
ME: yea
ME: they're in Paradise
HIM: what makes me feel dead and makes me feel more horible
HIM: i..
HIM: i've never seen something like this
HIM: those cowards dont fight ! they are afraid from a bunch of men with baby guns and few generades !!...they make huge fences and  shoot from behind them....all they do is air striking
HIM: and more air striking
HIM: they killed kids everywhere even in UN shelters
HIM: no where was safe
HIM: i couldnt reach them to fight , and i couldnt reach those who needed help
HIM: every night ...every night...i lie down or faint..doesnt matter....i dont know if i'll get a bomb over my head...i didnt care...but the kids and the women
HIM: this's  not war
HIM: this's not the war i know
HIM: this is NOT a war
ME: its murder
HIM: for every kid and woman i have a scar...for every deed i have scar,,,on my body or inside my soul
HIM: i dont look like a human being now
HIM: i dont act like human beings now
HIM: i dont '' belong ''
HIM: anywhere
ME:
HIM:  
HIM: thank u for listening mary
HIM: thank u
ME: you know you will always have a place in my heart
ME: and my full respects
HIM: mary
HIM: this was not war
HIM: the war i know men fight men
HIM: doesnt matter who has the rocks and who has the nukes ! but still men fight men
HIM: they dont fight
HIM: they didnt fight
HIM: they made fences around an area...and bombarded it every second and every microsecond for 22 days
ME:
HIM: and when they decided to have combat on the land...i saw...with my own eyes that couldn't lie to me....a bunch of soldiers running away under the cover of AMERICAN Abatchis from...from 3 young men with Ak's maybe or Klashinkovs...they oldest of them cant exceed 21 years old by anyway
HIM: where's war here ?
HIM: where's honour ?
HIM: where is the WAR !!!!!!!!!! I WANT A GOD DAMN WAR AND I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL DRINK THE BLOOD OF EVERY ISRAELI ON THIS EARTH
ME: yes, the sons of dracula, its more than they deserve
HIM: a Kid from northern gazza , the only survivor from the whole neighbourhood....after destroying every standing building there....they collected men...told them to dig , then shooted them and u know the rest...women and kids...they digged a big big whole for them and kept them alive in it for 5 days...the injured ppl were left to bleed and die..they asked for bullets to end their suffering...the bastards laughed and refused...and the women and kids in the whole...with no food or water...and israeli soldiers laughing at them cuz they are hungry and thirsty and throw the empty wrappers and cans of food on them
ME: omg
HIM: i talked to that kid personally Mary...he's gone insane...he's gone literally crazy...he talks to himself and repeats some hebrew sentences the soldiers used to say
HIM: he scratches himself
HIM: and panics everytime he see food or food cans
HIM: he remembers those who died begging for them , or those who had their heads bleeding till death from the boxes and sharp cans thrown on them
ME: omg
HIM: maybe...
HIM: maybe u can ask them urself about that war
HIM: as u know...i cant tell anyone who am i...actually  you know the MOST ! i believe in u.....but...i have some phone numbers of some mates there u cantake
ME: ok
ME: yessss
HIM: although..well...i think it'll be dangerous for u , they might arrest u there in OHio
HIM: god damn assholes
ME: I don't care about being arrested
ME: fuck that
HIM: u have a lot to do in ur life Mary including having that Kurdish handsome ass in ur bed
HIM: u r a good girl
ME: I've been working hard ****
ME: on the boycott campaign
ME: its working
ME: we're hurting them financially
ME: I wish to do more
HIM: Pardon me , who will u boycott ??...can an American boycott America ?? how come ? u breathe american air u use american gas u eat eat american food u wear american undies , u have american furniture....this's hard...all i ask u for Mary...seriously...a life time promise...if i was live or not....transport the message...transport the case....transport the reality those who were made blind
HIM: promise me mary
HIM: that role is so BIG , maybe bigger than those who fight in field
ME: I'm doing it ****
ME: and I'm making those around me do it too
HIM: i love u Mary !
HIM: trust me if i was there i would hug u and never let go !! and i cant handle some kurdish anger lol
ME: hold me as long as u need
ME: he'll understand
HIM: bless both of u
ME: and bless you double.
ME: You have been to hell and back
ME: maybe still in a private hell.
ME: I love you so much
HIM: i love you too !! u r my sister ! and i am proud to be ur brother since u dont have one
ME:
ME: you do have a place, in my heart, forever...always
HIM: Grazie Maria ! shokran Mariam , Todah Mariem , Gracias Maria , thank you Mary , salamat Mary , Merci Mary , Danke Mary
ME:
ME: afwan, thanks, de nada......
ME: thats all I know
ME: oh...I got the english one wrong
ME: you're welcome**
ME: and its my mother tongue
HIM:  i adore u
ME: looool
HIM: listen...it's been ages since i last had fun ! how are the (chatrooms**'s) nowadays !!?

From here we go into more private conversation, some of our antics would likely get us barred from yahoo for life.....but it was just what he needed. We were able to laugh. And he needed to feel laughter again after what he's been thru. This, as he said, was NOT war. What he witnessed was genocide, murder. God be with him and let his heart and mind know some peace.

Please Please don't forget Him, don't forget Gaza. Write, talk, get angry...do something. Please.

****I have spoken to this young man once since this "interview". He is recovering from the mental trauma, slowly. But his anger is still alive and well. As is the anger of those who survived this incident. One thing to remember, for every dead father, there remains an angry son, for every dead mother, there are angry children, and husbands, every death leads to a living anger. This is exactly why wars, and insurgencies and "terrorists" exist. Fancy men in fancy suits can talk all day in conference rooms, and pass legislation and resolutions and bla bla till they are blue in the face. This matters not at all to the young boy who watched his mother die, nor to the man who's daughters were gunned down. Nor to the mother who buried her 3 sons. This anger cannot, EVER, be talked away, or made smaller by some resolution passed down by shiny shoe wearing men. This is reality. Discuss.