Gaza Strip

Clashes turn ugly as riot squads evict last of hardline resistance

"ISRAELI police and troops broke the last bastions of resistance to the Gaza pullout yesterday after storming synagogues in two hardline settlements.

Clashes were much uglier than previously, with troops using water cannon on fellow Jews in Kfar Darom and protesters throwing acid at riot police, wounding several."

When you are on the other side fo the world, it is very difficult to understand and empathise with the raw reality of others. Sometimes you are totally oblivious to the fact others actually have a reality. Much can be said about bringing other people's problems into your lounge room when you have your own life to deal with. By now, we work out our own position on that because we are "media savvy". I was wondering how exactly the media in Australia would manage the Gaza Strip pull out. It has been quite clear it would be a tense and difficult time and an event with a massive impact on the people actually there. I have been more than pleased that Australia has not pussy footed around the event, has not seen it as news we don't really need to know about and has shown a remarkable diversity of coverage. It has , by far, been the best reporting we have had and we have had some excellent reporting just lately. Our reporters have shown intelligence, verve, initiative and have abandoned the pedestrian in favour of more meaningful and personal news. Every day our radio and our TV news have brought us carefully constructed and thought provoking news from the Gaza Strip. It has been reported. We haven't had a "line" or "spin" and that has what has been remarkable about the reports. Where possible, not often, we have heard how individuals are thinking and coping. We have seen people in the Gaza Strip walk away from their homes with dignified resignation. We have seen people whose hearts are hurting and whose homes must be abandoned. We have seen their anger, their tears, their frustration. We have seen soldiers trying to manage the anguish and be burnt by acid and yet still manage it all because it was agreed and it had to be done. Because my news hasn't told me what to think, I have felt sorrow for the people who have made that area their home. One lady who had been there for 23 years said her whole life was there. I understood that. So much happens in a family in 23 years and when you bring up your family then where you live becomes a focal point. We heard one lady smash all the windows in her home so she could get out her anger before she went on with her new life. Tonight, at the end of the news, they showed two old Palestinian men looking on in their white robes and their amazingly calm faces full of wisdom. We have seen angry Palestinians too, and Palestinians showing they know what this means to the Israelis, and yet the images in some way have shown that this is the stuff of life and as heart rending and gut choking it all is, it also means a new beginning. I have been so glad the Israelis who wanted to get so emotional and angry have been allowed to do so. It is a terrible thing which is happening to them even though it has been decided this is right. I cannot comment on that. The old Palestinian men seemed to have a calmness about them which made me think they have learnt a lot in their life and knew that this would help and just had to be gone through. I do not think the Israeli people would be thinking that but half of them had accepted it. It's not something I can comment on so far away. I am just glad we have been able to see and hear it each day without the overlay of an "angle". I am so glad it has been our first class reporting. I think it is better , given that it has to be done, for it to be over and done with so everyone can get on with it and I hope the people can talk about what happened to them for as long as they need for them to get it out of their system. I also hope that all those people sprayed with the blue water dye will not be treated too harshly, because, this is such a traumatic thing for them to leave the Gaza Strip. I know that and I am here. Miles away. It was their home, but it was also the Gaza Strip. It meant so much to them and they cannot be condemned for fighting for what they believe in and it was really not fighting...it was resistance. They made a stand, that's all. The acid, though, that wasn't one of their better ideas.