We don't even seem to have a right to exist or defend ourselves. That right, according to the United States, belongs to Israel alone.© blog.milliyet.com.trChildren of Palestine paying last respects.
At just 3 months old, my son Omar cries, swaddled in his crib. It's dark. The electricity and water are out. My wife frantically tries to comfort him, shield him and assure him as tears stream down her face. This night Omar's lullaby is Israel's rendition of Wagner's
Ride of the Valkyries, with F-16s forming the ground-pounding percussion, Hellfire missiles leading the winds and drones representing the string section. All around us crashing bombs from Israeli gunships and ground-based mortars complete the symphony, their sound as distinct as the infamous Wagner tubas.
But unlike a performance, this opera of death lasts days. Audience applause is replaced with the terrified cries of babies and children shrouded in smoke. Shrapnel zings off buildings and cars as another missile finds its mark, landing on another home. Six more are now dead. A doctor's house next door was hit by three Israeli F-16 missiles. It's hard to know what was the target. The doctor was killed, joining his mom and dad, killed in the previous war in 2008 - 09. The airstrikes are buzzing in my ears and Lina's. Omar's crying is continuing.
Now the death toll is at 186, with 1,390 injured, the majority of them are civilians, as reported by the UN.© www.presstv.irPalestinian children witness atrocity in Gaza as warplanes bomb their neighborhood.
There is no end in sight. Beyond the border we see tanks amassing, preparing for a ground assault. Above, the ever-present
thwup-thwup of hovering Apache helicopters rock Omar's cradle through vibration. Warning sirens pierce the night - another incoming missile from an Israeli warship. The border is not far. But we cannot leave.
The Gaza Strip has been under siege since 2007. Unlike Israel, we do not have bomb shelters to hide in. The 1.8 million citizens of Gaza, over half of them children under the age of 18, are packed into an area the size of Manhattan, unable to leave. We must stay and pray, pray that we don't get hit.
Comment: It looks like all it took was a minor flex of Russia's arms to scare Kiev into backing off. That, and the increasingly effective resistance offered by the self-defense militias in the east. Kiev knows what it would be up against if it followed the U.S.'s diktats in provoking Russia. But what kind of pressure will the U.S. now put on their puppet Poroshenko?