That's pretty wild stuff. Wow. I watched it without my head phones. When I went back with my headphones plugged in, it was pulled, no longer available.
It would be interesting to find out who pulled it and why. I've noticed that YouTube on Gaza specifically doesn't run a lot of the current video coming out of Gaza. Maybe I am doing the wrong search pattern on YouTube, i.e ``Gaza''.
Anyway, it is great to hear who she is. Huwaida Arraf. It's great to hear this too: ``Huwaida later earned a JD at American University's Washington College of Law. Her focus was on International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, with a particular interest in war crimes prosecution.''
She is smart as well as fearless and committed. She was particularly smart to pick a Korean cameraman/woman, crew. It gives the camera people at least some thin protection---and good for them for following her around.
The over all effect of the US and Israel media censorship and manipulation, is to put Palestinian and English language Arab media (and occasional Asian media) front and center as the news, or rather the only reliable news. In turn that makes anybody who wants to become aware of middle eastern journalists, and the striking difference in their persistance, committment, and guts, which is all to the good. And that has the exact opposite effect from what the US and Israel propaganda apparatus want.
The disjunction between the two media worlds is stunning. And it is certainly noticed by everyone if they look, whether they are on one side or the other.
The Gaza medics at ingaza.wordpress are particularly good at the simple human testament.
Here's brief story about Twitter from NetherlandRadio, dated Tuesday the 5th:
``From another point of view, Al Jazeera has set up a Twitter account called AJGaza and is affixing text topic identifiers, called hashtags, that are marked #Gaza, to all of its posts. Recent posts highlight President-elect Barack Obama's reaction to the crisis, near real-time reports on explosions and fighting around Gaza, and updates on the Gaza death tolls.
Another account, QassamCount, tallies Qassam rockets fired into Israel by Hamas. Overall, tweets labeled with the #Gaza hash are flowing in at a blistering pace with viewpoints and news updates from all sides in the conflict.
Twitter is only one of several social media sites tracking the conflict beyond the view of television and print media. Social media search engines like WhosTalkin and Social Mention turn up reams of online conversation about the conflict...''
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/middleeast/090106-Gaza-propaganda
I can't tell exactly from wondering around, but it seems that the IDF, probably its intelligence division is waging a propaganda war in the `alternate' media to compete with Aljazeera and others. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are all mentioned in the above link.
Of course even the above is a little suspect too. It reports. ``One of the [IDF] videos shows a group of men filmed from great altitude while loading long tubes in the boot of a car; Israel claims the tubes are Qassam rockets. A few seconds later, the car explodes...''
I may have watched a different IDF video. The one I saw showed a flat bed truck and tubes hurriedly pushed into the bed, parked next to a warehouse. Then boom, flash. Later on one of the Palestinian websites, there is a story from on the ground, with digital stills, showing blown up oxygen tanks. An older man says his son and some other workers were loading the tanks from his warehouse to take them to safer place, when the attack came. Rockets or oxygen tanks? The sheer unlikihood anyone on the ground would figure out that oxygen tanks would make a good counter propaganda excuse, makes me believe they were oxygen tanks.
It's also interesting that google is virtually useless for tracking down anything but established media sources, with the unique exception of Aljazeera English which seems to have magically slipped through the famous google search engines when searching `gaza news'.
Here is a photo of what a white phosphorous bomb going off looks like:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Alabama_(BB-8)_1921.jpg
``White phosphorus can cause injuries and death in three ways: by burning deep into tissue, by being inhaled as a smoke, and by being ingested. Extensive exposure in any way is fatal.''
There was a brief interview with a boy who had buffed out eye lids, extruding large amonts of mucous. His injury sure looked like chemical burns to me---from similar photos of WWI.
I also found a rather brief clip of Dennis Kucinich who wants to stop Israel's military aid, by pointing out they violated the terms and conditions of their military aid by using the material for offensive assaults, which is specifically prohibited. Of course the white phosphorous is of US manufacture. If it's used in Gaza either as a smoke screen, or against any personnel, civilian or otherwise, then that use is a violation of the US law. The a war crime angle is just the cherry on top.
Anyway, here is Carter's rather bland letter to The Washington Post:
http://www.mercurynews.com/livechats/ci_11408309
It would be nice if Carter turned his worries and attention to the US and sent such a public letter addressed to Barack Obama. Carter's pretenciously humble jaunts about the world seem a little hollow and self-serving. Sure it's great that he has devoted his later life and resources to peace and human rights. Since, the US government is among the top of the list of violators of both, as a matter of policy and fact, Mister Carter should feel a certain obligation to at least spend some time and effort in this country, to point that out.
The letter appeared in the WP the same day Carter attended the dead presidents meeting at the WH. I suppose he thought, that coincidence would get the point across. That's about as good an excuse as voting `present' on the UN charters on human rights.
CG