A picture of Gaza now

Today a ceasefire was announced, but even after this morning’s start Palestinians accused Israel of continuing it’s occupation while missiles were fired into Israel from Gaza in response. With exits from Gaza continually blocked Gaza is a prison.
The link goes to Al Jazeera’s portrait of Gaza now with a range of illustrations and articles, including an interview with Uri Avnery. Avnery is Jewish who was born in Germany and formerly a Zionist. He is now passionate about the plight of the Palestinians and an outspoken critic of the Israeli Government.


Avnery discusses his first meeting with Yasser Arafat and the conseqences for him:
“In 1982, during the Lebanese civil war, I crossed the front lines during the battle of Beirut and met Yasser Arafat – the first meeting between Arafat and any Israeli.
“We had a very long conversation. As a personality I found him very different to how he seemed on television.
“When I left I heard on the radio that four cabinet ministers had demanded that I be put on trial for treason for meeting him.
“Within minutes of our first meeting I established very warm relations with him that continued until his last days.
“I admired Arafat – he was a great leader and one of the great personalities of his age, and a man of incredible physical and moral courage.
“I can say only that I miss him very very much.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.