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<h1 class="title" id="page-title">The overwhelming silence of Gaza’s
streets</h1>
<div class="field-author">
<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/people/rami-almeghari"
typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel"
datatype="">Rami Almeghari</a> </div>
<div class="field-publisher">
<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/people/electronic-intifada"
typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel"
datatype="">The Electronic Intifada</a><br>
<b><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://electronicintifada.net/content/overwhelming-silence-gazas-streets/13573">http://electronicintifada.net/content/overwhelming-silence-gazas-streets/13573</a></small></small></small></b><br>
<br>
</div>
<div class="field-publication-date">
<span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date"
datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2014-07-14T23:44:00+00:00">14
July 2014</span> </div>
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<div id="file-27861" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg
media-element file-full" style="width:618px;"><br>
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<p><a href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/mahmoud-darwish">Mahmoud
Darwish</a>, the great Palestinian poet, once <a
href="http://mondoweiss.net/2012/11/mahmoud-darwish-silence-for-gaza.html">called</a>
<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/gaza-strip">Gaza</a>
“an incomparable moral treasure for Arabs.” No matter what our
enemies do, Gaza will “not repeat lies and say ‘yes’ to
invaders,” he wrote.</p>
<p>Here is the truth about what our Israeli invaders have done to
us in recent days. They have <a
href="http://www.mezan.org/en/details.php?id=19229&ddname=IOF&id2=9&id_dept=9&p=center">killed</a>
more than 170 people. More than thirty of them are children.</p>
<p>They have injured more than one thousand. Most of our victims
are <a
href="http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10484:ongoing-israeli-offensive-on-gaza-162-palestinians-killed-of-whom-137-are-civilians-including-34-children-and-28-women-and-1058-others-wounded-mostly-civilians-including-332-children-and-212-women&catid=145:in-focus">civilians</a>.</p>
<p>Everyone in Gaza is a potential target for Israel’s warplanes.
We can all be killed — whether we stay at home, go to work, go
to a marketplace or pray in a mosque.</p>
<h2>No ambition for martyrdom</h2>
<p>In Gaza, we call our victims “martyrs,” whether they intended
to die or not. Some people in the West find this puzzling. We
make no apology for doing so. We have always believed that those
who are killed by the Israeli occupation will be rewarded by God
in paradise.</p>
<p>I have not been trying to become a martyr. I am a journalist
trying to do my job.</p>
<p>Last week, I was trying to ensure that the voices of Gaza are
heard in the outside world, something I do all the time.</p>
<p>While I was taking a taxi home after conducting some
interviews, I <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/eis-gaza-correspondent-witnesses-israeli-drone-attack">narrowly
missed</a> an Israeli <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/drones">drone</a>
attack on a motorcycle. Two martyrs died instantly in that
attack.</p>
<p>Protecting my children is not easy.</p>
<p>Each day I go to a market near where I live, so that I can buy
some food for my family. Munir, my fifteen-year-old son,
accompanied me on one of these recent visits. We had to race
home. Munir started running first, as we heard the thunderous
roar of an Israeli airstrike. I felt compelled to run, too.</p>
<p>When we got back home, I started thinking about what could have
happened. What if the Israelis had bombed us?</p>
<h2>Too much suffering</h2>
<p>Too many people have already lost loved ones. Too many families
are suffering.</p>
<p><a href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/muhammad-hamad">Muhammad
Hamad’s</a> wife, three of his sons and his sixteen-year-old
granddaughter were all <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/why-did-they-kill-my-entire-family-asks-gaza-bombing-survivor">killed</a>
in a bomb attack on <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/beit-hanoun">Beit
Hanoun</a> in northern Gaza.</p>
<p>Eighteen people were <a
href="http://www.maannews.net/eng/viewdetails.aspx?id=712486">wiped
out</a> when Israel hit a house and mosque in the Tuffah
neighborhood of <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/gaza-city">Gaza City</a>.</p>
<p>Mohammed Khalaf Awad al-Nawasara was just two years old. His
brother, Nidal, was four. They were among a family of four <a
href="http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10465:israeli-offensive-on-gaza-continues-69-palestinians-killed-of-whom-60-are-civilians-including-22-children-and-13-women-and-469-others-wounded-mostly-civilians-including-166-children-and-85-women-driver-of-press-vehicle-killed-70-houses-destroyed&catid=36:pchrpressreleases&Itemid=194">killed</a>
when Israel bombed al-Meghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.</p>
<h2>Risking their lives</h2>
<p>Ambulance drivers are risking their lives to bring victims to
hospitals. At least two ambulance crew members have been <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/number-keeps-rising-dr-mona-el-farra-gaza-assault#Mona%20El-Farra">wounded</a>
in eastern Gaza City. There are few other vehicles on the road.</p>
<p>It is <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/ramadan">Ramadan</a>.
Usually during this blessed month, we hear vendors calling out
to us from their market stalls. They plead with us to buy treats
for the <em>iftar</em>, the meal that ends a day of fasting.</p>
<p>Over the past few days, the marketplaces have been silent.</p>
<p>The silence is overwhelming. People on the street look as if
they are attending a funeral, as if they are about to bury their
dead. Many faces look pale.</p>
<p>This is the third time in less than six years that Israel has
subjected us to an all-out attack.</p>
<p>We are traumatized. We are terrorized.</p>
<p>But we are still here. All 1.8 million of us.</p>
<p>Mahmoud Darwish was right. We will never say “yes” to our
invaders. They will never defeat us.</p>
<p><em>Rami Almeghari is a journalist and university lecturer
based in the Gaza Strip.</em></p>
</div>
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