Nightly Vigil for Gaza Online

international | anti-war / imperialism | event notice Thursday January 15, 2009 16:58 by Miriam

Israel does its worst at night and in the early dawn

While the attack on Gaza is pretty much continuous, reports from people in Gaza on Al Jazeera English say that the worst of it is always at night - with noticeable intensification at dawn. The dawn raids are deliberately timed to coincide with the early morning call to prayers from the minarets. It makes a hideous contrast.
Anyway, a bunch of media activists have decided to stay with the people of Gaza each night and to watch what is going on via A J English, if you can get it, and to post commentary on the Medialens messageboard. We're a small group yet, but hopefully more will join us each night.

http://www.medialens.org/board/

We meet up at 12.00 and watch footage live from Ramattan (still operating in Gaza) and AJ English (who are getting their footage of Gaza city from Ramattan too as well as from their own reporters in the area.) The AJ Washing bureau has two or three excellent presenters who are making complete twits out of any of the mainstream broadcasters anywhere else. You won't agree with everything you hear but the reporting is five thousand times better than most other msm media outlets.

Robert Fisk, Jeff Halper and others were on last night and 'allowed' to say things you will never hear in the mainstream. Fisk was clearly enraged. Halper says 5-10K homes have been razed.

Re vigil: - the idea is to try to share in some small way the reality of the thing as it is happening. Ive been putting the word out where I can and hopefully people in Gaza will get to hear of it (anyone know anyone who runs the Free Gaza website?).

Join us between 12.00am and 4.00am ((2-6am Gaza time) - share thoughts views ideas as we watch wichever sources we prefer and feedback. We might come up with some other decent ideas for NVDA between us too.

Last night people in Gaza described variously:

Elderly man
'my wife has been trembling in fear besdie me all night long"'

Father of three children
'My children used to cry incessantly and cling to us all the time at first. Now they are silent with fear and trauma - which is more frightening than anything. One of my daughters thinks that if she lies down and pretends to be dead the bombs wont hit us.'

4 year old girl
"I saw a soldier. Then everything went dark and I could not see my mother. A bullet hit me in the arm. Then another bullet hit me in the back and came out through my stomach' She's now paralysed.

It woud hopefully make people feel less abandoned to their fate if we could find some way of letting them know we are there with them as it goes on.

The UN-backed bullshit is also exposed for what it is on AJ, notably by Marwan Bishara AJ Senior Political Correspondent whose own brother Azmi was an Israeli MP and forbidden in 2002 from participating in elections for criticising the occupation.

Anyway see you here at 12.00 if you are up for it, literally:

http://www.medialens.org/board/