Saturday, February 7, 2009

A Week in Gaza - Khaled El Fiqi

The first photographer from Egypt to enter Gaza since the invasion ended writes his reflections and shares his photos.

Al Ahram Weekly, February 5-11 2009 -
....Being the first Egyptian photographer to cross into Gaza, I was horrified by the scale of destruction, by scenes of ruin unseen since 1967. Gaza's infrastructure -- roads, electricity and water -- is gone. Houses that still stand bear the signs of shelling. Even mosques were not spared. This was the first time for me to see mosques so damaged. Even in Bosnia, the Serbs shied away from demolishing mosques.

During their respective periods of occupation, the French or British refrained from tearing down mosques in Egypt. What I saw were scenes reminiscent of the acts of the Nazis and the fascists. And it all happened because Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak decided that waging such a brutal attack would boost their chances in domestic elections.....

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