Sunday, March 2, 2008

Black Saturday

I stole the title, Black Saturday, from a KABOBfest post, which I recommend you read. According to AlJazeera, at least 60 people were killed in Gaza yesterday, more than 96 since Wednesday.

I have spent all morning reading the news accounts. It's just so awful. I can handle it if I just look at the statistics, x number dead. Each time we checked the news yesterday the number went up. AlJazeera's English news reports make me say "Ya Haraam"......

but the Arabic station has more live coverage and leaves me in tears.


When I read the individuals' stories, it tears my heart apart. There were the kids playing foot ball a couple days ago, and 4 died. Mohammad from Rafah Today spoke with one of the kids that survived, a 9 year old that saw his cousin decapitated. Two teenage girls were killed. A mother died while she was preparing breakfast for her children. A young man lost both his legs when he stepped out to feed the family's goats. He was 20 years old with a new wife and baby on the way. A 6 month old baby was killed by shrapnel while lying in bed between his mother and father.


There are more, and more and more stories.

My kids went to school today. I can't believe there wasn't a strike. Yesterday they closed down all the shops in Ramallah, when people began to hear about how many had died. Many times they close the schools when there is a big Israeli action, but today, it seems they left them open. I usually object to anything that closes the schools, since I think educating these kids should be our first priority, but today, it just doesn't seem right to just go on with my day as if everything was normal.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Horrifying, inhumane, uncivilized, disgusting ... man's inhumanity to man is sadly alive and well. How do you cope?

alajnabiya said...

The area we live in is much safer than living in Gaza, or even in many places in the West Bank, so honestly, I don't have as much to cope with as other people. We are surrounded by walls and checkpoints, but we are not being bombed. The economy is in shambles, but we are not being blockaded like they are in Gaza. Still, there are days when it is hard, so I hold on to my faith and my kids, vent to my friends online, and some days I just walk around my garden counting the flowers. And some days, truth be told, I just cry. That was today.

Anonymous said...

Dear Sister,
You have been in my thoughts. Although I cannot understand Arabic, seeing the footage on Al Jazeera over the weekend was too much, we just got satellite. It is horrifying, and I was disgusted by our local media's lack of coverage. I have always known this, but seeing it is entirely different and I cried and cried.

May Allah help us all.

alajnabiya said...

Maybe if we could just force the people of each country at war to watch exactly what their troops are doing to the other side, there would be a lot less support for the warmongers in office. Thanks for thinking of me Saha, and for the mention on your blog.