What Do Gazans Really Think of Their Devastation?

"Shocked and Grieving Gazans Find Bodies Under the Rubble of Homes"
A6, Monday 1/19/09
By Sabrina Tavernise and Taghreed El-Khodary

“The question of what [Gazans] thought Israel’s goal was elicited a response from the entire throng:

“It’s a war against us as people. What happened to Hamas? Nothing!”

Is the sentiment disingenuous? Thinking like this makes for discomfort. Still, the sentiment is curious. Hundreds of Hamas militants were killed, the group took pains to hide the this and word like that travels fast in Gaza. Still, this group of people should know better. They surely know about the rocket attacks against Israel and Hamas’ sworn commitment to armed struggle, tangling it with the average Gazan family.

We can only speculate. It could also be an uninformed view. Take for instance an “analogy [a Gazan] thought would strike a chord: ‘In the U.S., when someone shoots someone, is his entire family punished?’”

“Someone” in this case would be Hamas, which actually isn’t one person, but a government, with many people and institutions and plenty of firepower. Further, Hamas isn’t just shooting “someone,” but entire communities in southern Israel. Lastly, the “entire family” in this case are Gazans – or at least those Gazans located near Hamas military targets. The family also elected Hamas knowing that armed struggle against Israel was its central tenet – not to mention an election platform.

The gentleman added that “Israel is breeding extremists.”

It wasn’t asked if the militants who we then read “launched a rocket not far away” from a funeral, could have been some of these newly-bred extremists. Hamas, while its citizens bury their dead, is still firing rockets that can only invite more destruction. This tragic note should’ve been spelled out.

The four pictures printed with the article are morbid. They show a hastily-arranged funeral, exhumed corpses and grieving relatives. The publishing of these photos so prominently may or may not capture recent events, but they're a necessary part of Hamas' war strategy: death will bring bad press to Israel, which will bring it political pressure.

This is another emotive piece on the real suffering of Gazans that begs new questions be asked. For one, just how shocked are Gazans of this devastation?

Gazans are reluctant to articulate to the media the knowing sacrifice they are making in the name of armed struggle against Israel. These gruesome images are the inevitable result of that sacrifice. Hamas sets the agenda so it matters little when others disagree. That this sacrifice may be counterproductive is an idea rarely expressed by Gazans, due either to fear or personal politics. Yet it is an obvious issue that demands attention.