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<font size=3><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000">January 19,
2009<br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>"They Don't
Want Us to Wake Up Safe" <br><br>
<br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">
Respite in Gaza
</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>By KATHY KELLY
<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2>Rafah, Gaza. <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">L</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>ate last night, a text message notified us
that the Israeli government was very close to declaring that they would
stop attacking Gaza for one day. Shortly before midnight, we heard huge
explosions, four in a row. Till now, that was the last
attack. Israeli drones flew overhead all night long, but residents
of Rafah were finally able to get eight hours of sleep uninterrupted by
F16s and Apache helicopters attacking them. <br>
<br>
Audrey Stewart and I stayed with Abu Yusif and his family, all of whom
had fled their home closer to the border and were staying in that Abu
Yusif's brother-in-law, who is out of the country, loaned to him. <br>
<br>
The family arose this morning after a comparatively restful
slumber. For the first time in three weeks, they weren't attacked
by bombs throughout the night. This morning, while his wife
prepared breakfast, he and the children nestled together, on a mat,
lining the wall. Abu Yusif had a son under each arm, while the
youngest son playfully circled his siblings and then fell into his
father's lap. Umm Yusif prepared a mixture of date preserves and pine
nuts, served with warm bread, cheese and spices. Her daughter smiled in
contentment, while her nephew, her husband and a close family friend
talked about the news.<br>
<br>
The family isn't confident that Israel's attacks will end, nor can they
know what Hamas will choose to do, but today residents of Rafah were able
to at least begin assessing the damage. Abu Yusif and his son took
us to their home very close to the border. The house is still
standing, --he'll need to repair broken windows and doors, but he is
better off than many of his neighbors whose houses are now piles of
rubble.<br>
<br>
Very near his home are the remnants of tunnels that are now unusable. A
few dozen people picked through the rubble, salvaging wood for
fuel. <br>
<br>
Young boys carried pieces of wood in remnants of plastic formerly used to
cover tomato plants. An older man told me he is afraid to
carry even a piece of wood. Pointing upward, he explained that the
unmanned surveillance planes circle the skies all day. If it
appeared that he was carrying a rocket instead of a piece of wood, he
might be targeted for assassination.<br>
<br>
Sitting around an ashcan fire, people who had maintained the tunnels tell
us that they dream of freedom: freedom of movement and basic human
rights. Every person can dream, but human beings in Palestine can't
dream of anything else but freedom, to sleep without bombing and to live
without suffering from extreme stress. Fida, who translates for us,
tells me she has a terrible headache very day, from the stress. She
feels worse at night. Her little sister is so terrified that she
can't walk a step without help from her mother and sister. <br>
<br>
She says that if Israel opens the border there won't be any need to open
the tunnels. If borders don't open, people will rebuild the
tunnels. <br>
<br>
Hussein tells us about a doctor who worked in an Israeli hospital.
The doctor is a Palestinian who lived in Rafah. The Israeli
hospital where he works is about 100 meters from where we sat. Last
week, the Israelis destroyed his home and killed his children. "Why
do you destroy my house?" he asks. He lost his children and
his home, but he still works in the Israeli hospital. “Israel is
experimenting with us, using white phosphorous and other new kinds of
bombs.” <br>
<br>
One man, a teacher, says he hasn't had one day without sorrow. He
listens to the children he teaches tell many stories about how their
homes were destroyed. He hopes his own child and other children
like him can live like other children in the world. He hopes his
son, his only child, will have a better life. <br>
<br>
“Show the world we are friendly and we don't love war,” he tells
us. “Israel forces us to live under these forces. The war is
not only against Palestinians in Gaza. It is against all
Palestinians. They want us to leave this land, but we can't leave
it. They don’t want us to wake up safe.” <br>
<br>
All of the men speaking with us had to leave their homes and find other
places to live. <br>
<br>
The drones still fly overhead, promising the possibility of further
attack. If Hamas is accused of breaking the cease fire, the people
will pay. Many of these residents who live near the border also
fear that if they are spotted anything – even carrying even a stick, the
drones overhead will spot them and mistake them for someone carrying a
rocket and they will be attacked again. <br>
<br>
Abu Yusif examines the damage done to his house. He tries to fix a
broken water heater. His sons collect a bag of clothing so that
everyone in the family can change clothes for the first time in three
weeks. Maybe, just maybe, they'll have another night of
sleep. And, an even more distant dream, perhaps they'll return to
their homes in peace. <br><br>
<b>Kathy Kelly</b>, a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence,
is writing from Arish, a town near the Rafah border between Egypt and
Gaza. Bill Quigley, a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola New
Orleans and Audrey Stewart are also in Egypt and contributed to this
article. Kathy Kelly is the author of
<a href="http://www.easycartsecure.com/CounterPunch/CounterPunch_Books.html">
Other Lands Have Dreams</a> (published by CounterPunch/AK Press). Her
email is <a href="mailto:kathy@vcnv.org">kathy@vcnv.org<br><br>
<br><br>
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