Monday, May 19, 2008

THE SOPRANOS OF GAZA


When former Fairfax Jerusalem Bureau man Ed O'Loughlin would write about events in the region, the abiding impression he gave was that the militants operating in places like Gaza were veritable boy scouts. The Australian's Martin Chulov paints an entirely different picture today in Cameras record Gaza's gruesome reality.

"A POPULAR pastime in Gaza is swapping gruesome footage of dead or dying victims of the Strip's incessant violence.

"The images used to be almost exclusive legacies of clashes with Israeli forces but last year that changed. Now being far more keenly traded are snapshots of Palestinian fratricide, gruesome images taken by "militia-cams' that record scenes for posterity.

"Spend any time near the emergency ward of Gaza's Shifa Hospital and security staff or ward workers will offer a look at their mobile phones, which they'll quickly switch to video mode to show images of victims of intra-Palestinian clashes being wheeled in agony from ambulances."

I'm truly gobsmacked. After 5½ long years of reading O'Loughlin I can't believe these people could possibly be capable of such shocking conduct.

Go figure!

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