WHAT US PAPERS DO NOT PUBLISH-- GAZA MASSACRE

LE MONDE, PARIS FRANCE

Gaza, des habitants racontent l'acharnement de l'armée israélienne sur des civils
LE MONDE 23.01.09 09h55 • Mis à jour le 23.01.09 20h30 http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2009/01/23/a-gaza-des-habitants-racontent-l-acharnement-de-l-armee-israelienne-sur-des-civils_1145435_3218.html


Le Monde reports by special envoy from Gaza this distressing story about the Samouni clan who live in Zeitoun, a small village in central Gaza (about 1.4 miles from the Israeli border) where 21 houses and a mosque were reduced to ruins. The IDF (Tsahal) has passed here.

Moussa Samouni, a 19 year old, recounts how on January 4th Israeli helicopters descended on Zeitoun, and soldiers dropped down onto the rooftops. "Everyone went down into the basements (to hide) where we remained during that night. There were about 120 of us. There was total panic, the children were crying. They were all cold. We opened the door to go and search for wood. I found my father in the road, he was dead. The soldiers ordered us back inside. Then there was a heavy bombardment and then a second one, in which the shells had fallen on our roof. Twenty-two people were killed. I have lost my father, my mother,my uncle and several cousins. There were people everywhere bleeding."

Moussa was not hurt. When he attempted to get away, he was arrested by the soldiers who tied his hands and covered his eyes. He found himself a prisoner with one of his uncles. That was a hard three days.

Three days of hard interrogation followed. "The soldiers have accused me of being a Hamas. They beat me on my back (so hard). I said to them kill me if you think I am Hamas! They put grenades in my uncle's pockets (held) behind me, and threaten to explode them. My uncle said he would prefer to die by being shot. They wanted to burn him by lighting (the cloth)of his (bed) covers Then (to extinguish the fire?) they jumped on his head."

On the morning of January 7, the two were finally released. The soldiers had privately ordered them not to say a word (about their treatment?) and had given them white flags. After the retreat of the Israelis on the 20th of January, the bodies of 22 victims were removed form the ruins and buried. On January 22 a big bereavement tent was raised over the area of the ruins for (services and) condolences. On a white canvas banner was written the names of the 22 dead, plus those of seven other victims, with this inscription: "The martyrs of the massacre of Gaza of the Samouni family". Masses of people pressed by under this decoration of apocalypse to make homage to the 29 missing members of the Samounis.

Near by, on one of the few standing buildings, the walls are covered with chalk graffit: "The place for the Arabs is under the ground," "If you are a true Givati (elite amphibious brigade akin to our marines) you must kill the Arabs", "Jerusalem is for Israel" Many stars of David and other "cris de guerre" war cry graffiti are seen. These and evidences that the soldiers established their fire positions on the roof are evidenced by scattered shell boxes and sacks of sand on the floor of the flat roof.

THIS WAS A GAME FOR THE SOLDIERS

There are the other dramas that unfold (as one speaks to survivors). One Fahed Saoumi recounts: "My father, Atiyeh has worked in Israel. He speaks Hebrew and (thought) he knew what to do. He left our door open. But they began by shooting everywhere. When they came in they demanded we raise our hands and they (pushed us ) to go out. There are eight or ten of them. Then they began to fire. My father was killed by the attack. He had thirty bullets in his body. He was killed right before my eyes! Everyone began to scream and weep. They then began to fire again. Several other members of the family were hit, as well as the child of my brother Ahmed, aged four years. He took two bullets in his chest and shrapnel in his head. Then they fired an incendiary piece. We could not see anything (from the bright light). We choked (on the fumes and smoke). After about ten minutes, we were authorized to leave and were directed across the main road. I had my (Ahmed) brother in my arms. The Israelis they spit on my back. (Outside in the street there was no help)The ambulances could not get through. We finally found refuge in a house. But my brother Ahmed died in my arms."

According to several other witnesses, they state: "Five other members of the Samouni family were killed by gun fire, among them was a young by of 17 years who had been hiding in a house. The obviously wounded stare blankly at their own blood. There is no help. A 75 year old grandfather was crushed by a wall, pushed over my an Israeli bulldozer."

Zahwa, the widow of Atiyeh, recounts in detail with tears in her eyes, what she had lived through. "This was just a game for the soldiers. They laughed", she said. There was Zeinab, who is 12 years old, she lost her father, her mother, two brothers and several cousins. Shiffa, 19 years has also buried her father, her mother, her aunt and her uncle. Almass, 13 years old, remembered how a soldier fired at Messaouda, who had her baby of six months in her arms, and who is now dead. All have lost several close relatives.

"Why why? repeats Nabayia, over again. "We made no resistance, we are not combatants we are not armed." What is our crime? What faults have we committed? What can the entire world respond to this question. We can never more have peace with Israel! My next son, he will be go to learn to be a mujaheddin, to wreak vengeance for all the lost children and all these deaths."

Questioned, by the press ,the agent of the Israeli army, Ms Avital Leibovitch, has assured (Le Monde) on Thursday, that "an inquiry is on course. But I want you to know that the Givati Brigade is not trained to kill women and children and that the (?) of mortars are the action of Zeitoun (Zeitoun is the village where this event took place and where Israelis of the Givati Brigade are thought to have committed war crimes). The the UN Bureau for Humanitarian affairs (OCHA) has initiated an investigation at Zeitoun for the most grave incidents of the Israeli offensive.

The Samouni family are farmers. Their fields and olive groves all around the village have been ravaged the the tanks and personnel carriers of the Israelis. Now at least three hundred of them are today homeless. "How would you want us to be friends of the Israelis?" screams Mouna. "They kill for pleasure and never say anything. Out blood is worth nothing (to them). This is the greatest massacre ever committed in Gaza! How long will it be, before they come to us (again) to terrorize and massacre again?"

Michel Bole-Richard

Translated from the French: rjk