'Gaza strike is not against Hamas, it's against all Palestinians'
By Amira Hass
December 29, 2008 "Haaretz." -- -At 3:19 P.M. Sunday, the sound of an incoming
missile could be heard over the telephone. And then another, along with the
children's cries of fear. In Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, high-rise
apartment buildings are crowded close together, with dozens of children in
every building, hundreds in every block.
Their father, B., informs me that smoke is rising from his neighbor's house and
ends the call. An hour later, he tells me that two apartments were hit. One was
empty; he does not know who lives there. The other, which suffered casualties,
belongs to a member of a rocket-launching cell, but no one senior or important.
At noon Sunday, the Israel Air Force bombed a compound belonging to Gaza's
National Security Service. It houses Gaza City's main prison. Three prisoners
were killed. Two were apparently Fatah members; the third was convicted of
collaborating with Israel. Hamas had evacuated most of the Gaza Strip's other
prisons, but thought this jail would be safe.
At 12 A.M. on Sunday, a phone call roused S. "I wasn't sleeping anyway," he
said. "I picked up the receiver and heard a recorded announcement in Arabic:
'This is to warn you that we will bomb the house of anyone who has arms or
ammunition at home.'"
Three members of one neighboring family were killed, all young men in their
twenties. None of them owned arms or ammunition; they were simply walking down
the street when the IAF bombed a passing car. Another neighbor lost a
16-year-old daughter, and her sister was seriously wounded. The IAF had bombed
a building that formerly housed the Palestinian Authority's Preventive Security
Service, and their school was located next door.
S. saw the results of some of Saturday's bombings when he visited a friend
whose office is located near Gaza City's police headquarters. One person killed
in that attack was Hassan Abu Shnab, the eldest son of former senior Hamas
official Ismail Abu Shnab.
The elder Abu Shnab, whom Israel assassinated five years ago, was one of the
first Hamas politicians to speak in favor of a two-state solution. Hassan
worked as a clerk at the local university and played in the police band for
fun. He was performing at a police graduation ceremony on Saturday when the
bomb struck.
"Seventy policemen were killed there, not all Hamas members," said S., who
opposes Hamas. "And even those who supported Hamas were young men looking for a
job, a salary. They wanted to live. And therefore, they died. Seventy in one
blow. This assault is not against Hamas. It's against all of us, the entire
nation. And no Palestinian will consent to having his people and his homeland
destroyed in this way.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
