The destruction in the Gaza Strip

I thought I would post a few pics that I took last week whilst down in the Gaza Strip.   The destruction in Gaza City itself is minimal given how long and intense the Israeli attack was – however, some of the outlying areas have been completely flattened…..and in many cases I saw little evidence of a military reason for the destruction.   This was quite simply the Israeli’s making the people on the street pay for the rockets that Hamas have been firing – indeed in some residential areas, it was obvious that houses and apartment blocks had been destroyed by Engineers, long after they had been taken over by the Israeli military.

The argument that I hear all the time from Israeli’s to justify this operation is; “What would the UK do if France had fired a couple of rockets each day in to London” – well of course any state reserves the right to defend itself and take the appropriate action.   The question I always ask in return is…”What do they think the UK would of done if France had blockaded all the ports, taken over the airspace and allowed no air travel and had built a huge fence around the country, limiting access to humanitarian aid (usually less than that required) and only allowing a handful of people to enter and leave each day?”   Not surprisingly, they never have an answer to that one – and that is essentially what the people of Gaza have been reduced to.  

There are 1.5 million people living in what is essentially an open prison.   Other than the tunnels from Egypt, nothing goes in or out of Gaza without Israeli say so – even diplomats and UN workers need permission to enter.   Nobody is saying that the rockets Hamas have been firing in to Israel is right – but surely the outside world can see that the rockets are a reaction – nobody ever bothers to ask what is the cause!!

The pictures below are mainly of areas to the North and North-East of Gaza City.   They are predominantly residential areas, and of little military benefit to anybody.

Sadly, for many of the people we talked to, they have no future and no hope.   To rebuild, they are reliant on the very people who caused all this destruction – without Israeli assistance and say so, Gaza will remain a pile of rubble.

Had this occurred anywhere else in the world, we would now all be shouting for those responsible to be brought to justice for war crimes – that will never happen here, firstly because if you criticise Israel you are instantly accused of anti-semitism and secondly because America will support and protect Israel no matter what – ah what a brave new world we live in!!!