Cast Lead on an intimate level

Amira Hass is a columnist for Haaretz and, along with her colleague Gideon Levy, never puts anything on paper (or pixels) that isn't worth reading.

As I recently mentioned, it has been just over two years since Operation Cast Lead brought violence and widespread destruction into Gaza. The Goldstone Report commissioned by the United Nations is a comprehensive account of the events leading up to Cast Lead and the actions that took place within it. I recommend reading it. I did.

But a far shorter and more personal summary is provided by Amira Hass in her blog for Z Net. It has an immediacy, intensity and justifiable sense of outrage that Goldstone understandably does not.

Can you imagine living under a canopy of UAV's (drones) the humming of which warns of constant surveillance and possible missile attack? Israel routinely refers to Palestinians as terrorists, shouldn't we call the drones instruments of terror? Gazans were subjected to death and destruction from a source they could hear but not see. This is only one of the many aspects of the attack that Hass brings to life so well.

We should remember that America uses drones extensively in Afghanistan and Pakistan on a daily basis where the effect is undoubtedly the same.

To keep current on events in Israel/Palestine, I recommend following Hass online, an Israeli who has no illusions about what her country is doing. Her fellow bloggers on Z Net are also worth reading.