NYT Correspondent in Gaza

Published January 23, 2009 @ 09:40PM PT

Q. and A. With Taghreed El-Khodary in Gaza, from the NYT blog. She is a Gazan journalist working for the Times. It was informative and refreshing to hear stories about her journalism with more of her personal views than get expressed in news articles. Here's one of the questions:

Q. Ms. El-Khodary, let me first thank you for your in-depth, balanced coverage of what must be a terribly painful event. My question is: What do ordinary Gazans want from their leadership now ? Do they want to continue the fighting, and if so, why? Do ordinary Gazans support Hamas’ decision to fire rockets into Israel ? Is this seen as a defensive action ? — Beth Katz

A. Taghreed El-Khodary responds:

From talking to many people, I can say that Palestinians in Gaza are against the continuation of fighting. They are relieved it is over. Hamas has sensed that; therefore, Hamas political leaders have decided to abide by the truce.

From talking to Hamas senior leaders, one can sense their interest in the truce not only because of the public pressure but also because they need to succeed in governance.

Regarding the firing of the rockets, there is split of opinion. Those supporting Hamas view the Qassam rockets as a method to put pressure on Israel to ease their lives. One woman said, ” It’s symbolic. With firing the Qassam rockets, we want the world to notice our issue of occupation,” One Qassam brigade member said, “The goal is to try to create a balance in fear.” On the other hand, there is a stronger voice that is against the rockets. Their logic is: why invite an Israeli retaliation? It will be interesting to see if that voice will become louder in the coming stage. It’s too early to come out with a conclusion regarding Hamas’s popularity. Definitely there are those who are disappointed at Hamas for driving them into this stage, but we can’t ignore those who are blaming Israel.

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Comments (2)

you can't arrest the Gazans in camps and prevent food and medical supplies and the rights of any human beings to move freely and don't expect them to resist the occupation in the truce 30 gazans died directly from Israeli army and 300 due to the siege because there is no medicine or milk for the children and Hamas wanted the truce but the gazans saw there is no need for atruce can't end the siege and the popularity of Hamas in Palestine and arab and muslim world are huge like never before

Posted by Mohammed Hossam on 01/25/2009 @ 01:01AM PT
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Hamas bears full responsibility for the war in Gaza, a top EU official said Monday in the Strip, calling the group "a terrorist movement."

"I intentionally say this here - Hamas is a terrorist movement and it has to be denounced as such," Michel said as he visited the town of Jabalya in northern Gaza.

Reuters quoted the EU official as saying that the Islamic group had used civilians as "human shields" by placing operatives in residential areas, and said that the years of terrorist rocket-fire on southern Israel served as a "provocation."

The report also quoted Michel as saying that, "When you kill innocents, it is not resistance. It is terrorism."

Facts from the EU in Gaza.

Posted by Michael Ross on 01/26/2009 @ 12:16PM PT
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Charles is a nonprofit professional with 20 years of experience working with nonprofit organizations in Israel, Palestine and the U.S. For the past few years, he's been specializing in online organizing.