The Independent's Justin Huggler is a shining example of how to report the current atrocities in Gaza (and the Arab-Israeli conflict in general) - intelligent analysis, vivid detail, accurate context, and an emphasis on the humanity and pain of innocen
t Palestinian civilians.
Please thank the newspaper for his article in the October 22 edition, entitled "Civilians pay with lives under Gaza's skies of death." It only takes a minute, and as well as encouraging more such reporting, it will offset predictable criticism from the pro-Israel lobby.
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The article should be read in full, but extracts are below:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=455857
When Dr Zein al-Abedin Shahin heard the first missile hit, he immediately ran to help the wounded.
Outside the clinic where he was working late, on Abu Bakr al-Siddiq street, he found 12-year-old Mohammed al-Barood lying injured.
According to colleagues at the clinic who rushed out after him, Dr Shahin was holding the boy in his arms when the second missile hit. Both doctor and child were killed in Monday night's attack, the fifth Israeli air strike in Gaza in 24 hours and the most devastating in terms of civilian casualties.
A piece of shrapnel pierced Mohammed's heart.
It was not clear whether the pilot of the Israeli helicopter saw the doctor holding the boy before he fired the second missile. But what he must have seen as he pulled the trigger was the crowd of civilians who had run into the street to help the wounded. There were hundreds of people on Abu Bakr al-Siddiq street when the second missile was fired, according to witnesses. Many of them were children.
At least nine people died in the two strikes. Seven of the dead were civilians. More than 100 civilians were wounded. The director of the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs' hospital said that of the cases it received, 11 of the 30 wounded were younger than 14.
Air strikes are part of daily life in Gaza. Radio Freedom, a local station, broadcasts alerts when helicopters are seen in the sky over Gaza.
The announcer warns where the helicopter has been spotted. Everyone keeps their radios tuned - including The Independent.
The 30-year-old doctor left behind a wife and a four-year-old child. His widow is Russian: Dr Shahin met her when he was training as a doctor in Russia and she chose to return to Gaza with him.
The other civilian dead were identified by hospital staff as Atiya Mo'oens, 20, Abd al-Hamin Tabaza, 23, Ahmad Khalife, 49, and Mahdi Isma'il, age unknown.
Even an Israeli government minister, Yosef Paritzky, yesterday urged the army to admit a mistake and compensate innocent victims.
But from the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, and the ministers close to him, there was no remorse. The most the deputy Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, would say was that the deaths of seven innocent civilians killed outside their homes were "distressing".
The military strikes, he said, would continue.