'Only the gunmen are walking the street

[barb162]

'Only the gunmen are walking the streets'


Hazem Balousha, a Gaza-based journalist, tells of the hardship and danger in a city gripped by chaos

Friday June 15, 2007
The Guardian


Late yesterday afternoon the shooting appeared to die down. It's been going on now for five days - bullets and bombs going off day and night. The most important thing is keeping my niece and nephew occupied. They have heard gunfire at weddings before, so I have told them it's just a big wedding. They replied that it was such a big wedding that it must be the president's. If only they knew - he has other matters on his mind at the moment.

But worse than the noise of war is the noise of loudspeakers at the mosque. They are saying: "We are Hamas. We are the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades. We will defeat Fatah. We will liberate Gaza from the collaborators and the traitors." The loudspeaker is never quiet. We live close to the intelligence headquarters which has been under attack. The loudspeakers call on the fighters to surrender. If they do, they will survive, if they don't they will be killed.

My apartment is on the fourth floor, but it is too exposed and dangerous so I moved to my parents' place on the ground floor, which has some cover. Since Sunday several bullets have hit my apartment and the windows have been smashed. When the shooting stops for five or 10 minutes, I try and take a look out the window. The streets are deserted of cars and people. Only the Hamas gunmen are walking the streets. Everyone else is holed up inside.

snip
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2103775,00.html

[IndyOp]

1. Only Allah can stop this now --

We no longer trust anyone in the Palestinian government, we no longer trust the Israeli government, we no longer trust the international community. Only Allah can stop this now...
------------------

This morning's BBC News featured an interview with a man who was fleeing Gaza with his family -- his apartment building with 50+ families had been taken over by Fatah and so it had become a battleground. He was in despair. I've paraphrased above what he said.

:cry:

[barb162]

2. I bet it is becoming a common story

I wonder where he was going. Did he say?


Here is another story
Gaza witness: Today was the worst
THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2007

Palestinian civilians have been caught up
in the clashes


Shelly Smith, a 42-year-old teacher from the US living in Gaza, spoke to Al Jazeera about the horrors of the the factional fighting between Hamas and Fatah.

Our neighbour Waseem Arafat had gone to the Shifa hospital in Beit Hanoun to visit someone and when he came out a gunman shot him four times in the head.


I don't know if he was allied to any faction but I don't think he was in Hamas.
snip

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A6B46FB2-E1B0-4637-9682-B4CB9A897FDC.htm

[IndyOp]

3. I didn't catch everything he was saying - I was driving to work and

the audio wasn't entirely clear. He was definitely leaving Gaza at great risk.

Thank you for your posts.

[barb162]

4. Yours too.

:hi: