Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumMustafa Barghouti on Gaza, the unity government and Palestinian elections
'I want to tell them the truth about what happened in Gaza,' he says. 'What I've seen there is unprecedented in terms of devastation and acts of genocide. The way the Israeli army behaved and the violation of human rights. There were war crimes and crimes against humanity.'
Amelia Smith
Tuesday, 16 September 2014 13:58
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
"Immediately after the war Israel initiated a political and a propaganda campaign, including distributing false information about a coup d'état that was prepared in the West Bank, to divert Palestinians from unity. In other words Netanyahu is trying to achieve in political means what he failed to achieve in military ways. And we should not let him."
Sitting in a central London hotel, the General Secretary of the Palestinian Initiative is recounting a story from Israel's latest war on the Gaza Strip. Mustafa Barghouti was in the besieged territory during the latest Israeli bombardment; he met an 82 year-old man who had spent his life building a home for his family of 28 children and grandchildren. One day the old man woke up, went to the mosque for prayers and when he came back he found nothing. The whole house had been destroyed and all 28 members of his family had been killed.
"What can you say to such a man?" he asks. "It's so inhuman; I don't know what's happening to the world. I've seen atrocities beyond description. If somebody told me that story maybe I'd find it difficult to believe, but this is what I've seen with my own eyes. I've seen many families completely annihilated."
Barghouti has come to the UK to speak at the National Lobby of Parliament on Palestine. "I want to tell them the truth about what happened in Gaza," he says. "What I've seen there is unprecedented in terms of devastation and acts of genocide. The way the Israeli army behaved and the violation of human rights. There were war crimes and crimes against humanity."
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/resources/interviews/14168-mustafa-barghouti-on-gaza-the-unity-government-and-palestinians-elections
Mao Shung
(55 posts)This story about a man returning home to find the 28 people in his house all dead. Exactly why haven't I heard this story reported elsewhere? A story that sensational would be all over the press if it happened.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)The old man's relatives came to the total of 28:
As soon as he left the house, the blast crashed down, sending him flying "like a bird" into the air and far away. "My leg was broken and I suffered a cut as well. I kept my head down and watched as death took away 28 of my family."
( 7/23/2014 )
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/23/us-palestinians-israel-families-idUSKBN0FS1BY20140723
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)This is the kind of ignorance that makes it hard to take the rest of what he says seriously.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)accuracy. The unprecedented devastation of Gaza is accurate.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Not even close.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)last month.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)The statement is saying that this level of devastation is unprecedented. But surely, you would agree that there have been higher levels of devastation in other parts of the world. He is using hyperbole to make a rhetoric point, but I think that weakens the rest of his points since clearly that is over the top.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)That doesn't seem possible.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)If he is saying this attack on Gaza is the worst one Gaza has ever faced, then I would agree with that.
I really don't think that's what he is saying, but I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.