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<a href="http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/campaigns/english/aftermath/5.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/campaigns/english/aftermath/5.html<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>Aftermath (5) Coming
home<br><br>
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<dd><font size=2>18 March 2009<br><br>
<dd> In this new series of personal testimonies, PCHR looks at the
aftermath of Israel’s 22 day offensive on the Gaza Strip, and the ongoing
impact it is having on the civilian population. <br><br>
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<dd><font size=3>Words by Malian/PCHR<br><br>
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<dd><font size=1>Message written by Israeli soldiers in a bedroom of the
Abu Hajaj home in Johur-ad-Dik © Kent Klich<br><br>
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<dd><font size=3>One of the most important factors in recovery from
trauma is the ability to find sanctuary in the comfort of one’s home. The
right to safety and security. For many people in Gaza, this right has
been repeatedly violated, in the form of the destruction of their
personal property, often wantonly, by Israeli military forces. <br><br>
<dd>Alongside the 1,000s of homes partially or completely destroyed by
bulldozers, tank shells and bombs dropped by F-16 fighter jets, are the
homes that have been defaced by graffiti left by individual Israeli
soldiers and the vandalisation of civilian property within them.
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<dd>At Mos’ab Dardona’s home in Jabal Al Rayes, northeast Gaza, Israeli
soldiers who had taken up positions in civilian houses in the area left
behind intricate drawings on the walls, some depicting soldiers urinating
on toppled mosques, or devouring Palestinian villages. In the house next
door, belonging to Ibrahim Dardona, soldiers left behind dozens of bags
of faeces in the bedrooms, despite the presence of a functioning toilet,
and left crude sexual diagrams on the walls. <br><br>
<dd>“The writing left by Israeli soldiers in the homes in Gaza provides
an insight into the disturbing culture of hatred and racism towards
Palestinians and Arabs which exists among parts of Israeli society,” says
Hamdi Shaqqura, PCHR’s director of democratic development. “In light of
the evidence PCHR has gathered of the wilful and wanton killing of
Palestinian civilians in Gaza, this graffiti is even more
disturbing.”<br><br>
<dd>The thousands of people who have been unable to return to what
remains of their homes after Israel’s offensive are hard to count
precisely. Hastily erected refugee tent camps that are unsuitable at this
time of year have been largely abandoned and internally displaced people
have moved in with extended family members. <br><br>
<dd>Others have had to move back into their partially destroyed homes,
clear up the debris and sometimes the evidence of the deaths of loved
ones, and try to get on with their lives. The Dardona families have
moved back into their houses, and are torn between unwillingness to
destroy evidence of the behaviour of Israeli soldiers and reluctance to
endure the constant reminders of the horrors that took place here. And
there are similar cases in other parts of the Gaza Strip.<br><br>
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<dd><font size=1>Graffiti in the home of Mos’ab Dardona, Jabal al Rayes
area, northeastern Gaza Strip © S. Al Tartour/PCHR<br><br>
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<dd><font size=3>In the largely agricultural area of Johr-ad-Dik, Israeli
forces established bases in some of the homes in the early days of their
ground offensive. Tank tracks cut huge swathes through the fields and
hundreds of olive and citrus trees were destroyed. Half the population of
2,500 was displaced. <br><br>
<dd>At dawn on 4 January 2009, the first full day of Israel’s ground
offensive, a shell landed near the home of Saleh Abu Hajaj in
Johur-ad-Dik. Radio interceptions made by the Israeli military ordered
local residents to evacuate their homes. Saleh’s 36 year old daughter
Majeda Abu Hajaj tied a white scarf to a stick and led a group of
civilians out of her neighbour’s house. <br><br>
<dd>As they were trying to escape, tanks opened fire on the group and
Majeda was shot dead, allegedly in the back. Moments later her 64 year
old mother Raya, was also shot and bled to death a few metres from her
daughter. Majeda and Raya’s bodies were not recovered until Israel’s
declaration of a unilateral ceasefire sixteen days later. These attacks
may constitute willful killings, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions
and war crimes. <br><br>
<dd>Israeli soldiers set up military positions in the Abu Hajaj house
after the killings, and left graffiti in every room. Above Majeda’s bed
are the words “Death will find you soon” scrawled in red pen. Other parts
of the house carry the words “Have you ever wondered what hell looks
like? Well… look around you -----! Ha ha ha”<br><br>
<dd>In the Zeytoun district, where 27 members of the Samouni family were
killed by an airstrike while sheltering in a building they had been
placed in by the Israeli army, there are more chilling messages on the
walls. In Talal Al Samouni’s home Israeli soldiers wrote the words “Die
you all”, “Make war not peace”, “Arabs need to die” and a gravestone
engraved with the words “Arabs 1948-2009” referring to the dates between
the creation of the state of Israel and its latest military offensive.
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<dd>A stairwell in Rashad Helmi Al Samouni’s house a few doors down
includes the following sentences written in chalk:<br><br>
<dd>“There will be a day when we kill all the Arabs”<br><br>
<dd>“Bad for the Arabs is good for me”<br><br>
<dd>“A good Arab is an Arab in the grave”<br><br>
<dd>“Peace now, but between Jews and Jews, not Jews and Arabs”<br><br>
<dd>While much of the graffiti is inflammatory and disturbing, there are
also more human expressions written by weary Israeli soldiers such as:
“How much longer will we be here…?”, “Until when?”, “We want to go home”
and “I have no other country”.<br><br>
<dd>There have been many serious allegations made about the conduct of
Israeli soldiers who were operating in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian
Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is currently investigating many of these
cases and will be bringing evidence to light in due course. But whatever
the outcome of such investigations, it will do little to comfort the
thousands of civilians whose sense of safety they should feel in the
privacy of their own homes has been so categorically violated.<br><br>
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