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The Bombs Came Today – There Is Nowhere to Go

Posted by: Michael Langford on January 13, 2009 at 7:09PM EST

GAZA (January 13, 2009, 6:15 p.m) - The leaflets came yesterday, telling us our neighbourhood would be attacked. The whole population of the area is terrified. We have nowhere to go. My neighbour checked at the UNRWA shelter, but it was full. Overflowing. There is nowhere to go. We waited to be bombed.

The bombs came today. It was terrifying. We have nowhere to run. There was an air strike every five minutes. Thick black smoke 100m-150m away from us. People were scared, ran outside of their houses and gathered together in the street. 300-350 people in the street. The street was the safest place. If our house is bombed, we'll get trapped and die like the people we saw on television.

My children have seen the dead bodies of children on television. They cry, they are crying now, they are terrified. When will this end? There was screaming. It is dark and cold, but most of us are still outside. My family is outside next to the house. We are terrified to go inside.

It is quiet for 20 minutes now but we don't know if it will start again. What if it is just a short break? We can't take the risk. My children are shivering. It is getting so cold. Some neighbours went back inside, but they are staying on the first floor, next to the door, so they can run outside. We don't know what will come next. This is the closest it has come to our house. The neighbourhood next to ours was bombed. What do we do? We don't know. We have nowhere to go. Nowhere to go.

Jawad Harb is a Palestinian living in Rafah, Gaza, with his wife and six children. Harb has worked with CARE since 2002, managing a program supporting women's centers in Gaza. Since the conflict began Dec. 27, Harb's program has stopped operating because of the constant bombing.

CARE has unique access to first-hand information from Gaza and the West Bank, where our work includes programs in health, economic development, water and sanitation. We began providing aid in Israel and the Palestinian territories in 1949, concluding our programming in Israel in 1984 as the Israeli government improved its own capacity to address poverty.

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(8) Comments

Posted by: Dawn on January 14, 2009 1:20PM EST

I read your post with horror and sadness. I can only hope that those of goodwill and integrity on both sides of this situation will come to realize that it is not just a need, but an obligation, that any community that seeks to espouse itself as honorable does not take actions that causes damage to the innocent.

Israel must be open to a true Palestinian state. Palestinians must accept the right of Israel to exist. The lives of each are bound together by ties deeper than you differences. I hope and pray that this conflict ends quickly and without the loss of more innocent lives.

Posted by: Steven on January 14, 2009 2:50PM EST

Nice comment Dawn.

But I also have an answer for when it will stop. It will stop when the Arab Palestinians throw out the terrorist Hamas group. It is Hamas that is to blame for the bombing of their own citizens.

Perhaps if Hamas had any care for its citizens it would have built bunkers for them instead of building tunnels to bring in weapons with which to terrorize Israelis.

I do feel bad for the children that have to endure this that is why the Palestinians must take real control of their future and demand peace with Israel.

Posted by: Badtux on January 14, 2009 5:07PM EST

URL: http://blog.badtux.net

There is a word for what is going on here, that we use in civilized nations. It is 'hostage situation'. If a bank robber who just killed a bank teller holds twenty customers at gunpoint and puts them between himself and the police outside, the police here in civilized nations do not start shooting. And they certainly do not blame the unarmed civilians for not rushing the bank robber and throwing him out of the bank. Sad to say, civilization is far, far away from the current situation in Gaza, where Israel apparently does not care that women and children and CARE workers are in the way of their pursuit of the few hundred criminals who have fired rockets at Israel, and instead is demanding that unarmed women and children throw out armed criminals somehow...

Posted by: sophie on January 14, 2009 6:32PM EST

To be caught in the crossfire, to be bombarded, to have no escape and no defense—it would make a radical of me.

Would it make a radical of you?

No good will come of this horror.

Posted by: Denton on January 14, 2009 7:04PM EST

Steven,

Stop spreading misinformation. Hamas held to the cease-fire they agreed with Israel. They also offered to extend it, all they asked for was that Israel actually do what they agreed to in the first cease-fire, an opening of the borders. Israel refused!

By any true definition of terrorism, Isreal is also a terrorist entity, who has broken an uncountable number of international laws.

Hamas is a terrorist organization, we can all admit that. So how about we be a little more even handed and admit that Israel is not the innocent victim their propaganda operation tries to portray.

Posted by: Ali Sanaei on January 23, 2009 6:43PM EST

URL: http://www.alisanaei.com

Israel has occupied the Palestinian land. How can someone occupy and kill members of the owners and expect to stay there in peace? This is not a war between Jews and Muslims only. Reason is there has always been Jews living in that region as Palestinians. As they were in Lebanon and other countries. This is a war between Zionists and Palestinians, mainly Muslims because they are the ones who are still united and have the courage to fight for their mother land.

Posted by: Eugene Leger on February 2, 2009 8:27AM EST

Being a father of a young daughter, I was very affected by this piece and the sound collage inspired by it at: http://loontheory.wordpress.com/

I strongly disagree with the second poster: there is no justification for the wholesale slaughter of innocents because of some ragtag resistance to the Israeli occupation. Aid isn't given to Israel by CARE anymore because they receive 30% of all US foreign aid which they use to impoverish and kill innocents. Thanks Jawad Harb, your courage in the face of barbarious actions is amazing; I hope you and your family have survived this invasion.

Posted by: Smadar on May 18, 2009 7:52AM EST

I hope that this conflict will end and I hope that you and your famely are ok. Im sorry for inocent ppl that die. I think abut ppl in Gaza every day. do we have hope to live in peace together? Im against ocupation and I will never live in the west bank. Qasam rocket fell just next to me, its not good for Israeli and Palstinien to fight. we are not so difrent.
SALAM ALECUM
Smadar