Oh my! Now we’re being quoted in the Wall Street Journal? Laya’s post about the war and all seems to have resonated far and wide. The article, titled “On Blogs, YouTube and Flickr, Glimpses of Life in War Zone” discusses the role played by the Web in transmitting people’s experiences, feelings, photos and videos during wartime. The article, which cites a number of interesting sources, is available by subscription only, but thanks to Esther’s Dad, we can reproduce it here for you and hopefully the WSJ won’t get too pissed off. Here it is:
On Blogs, YouTube and Flickr,Glimpses of Life in War Zone
July 20, 2006 8:25 p.m.
As fighting continues along the Israeli-Lebanese border, a small army of bloggers and photographers are filing digital dispatches.
Though grainy, raw, sometimes unsteady and often unverifiable, footage gives viewers insight into everyday life in the war-torn region. (Warning: Some links include graphic content.) On video-sharing site YouTube, young men are awed by a nearby Israeli bombing in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. An Israeli family copes with Hezbollah rockets raining down on Haifa. A videographer films behind the scenes of a BBC broadcast. Users have also posted video such as filmed footage from the Israeli Defense Force.
Picture-swapping site Flickr posts still images from around the world. A slideshow of images out of Beirut shows the hostilities’ impact, and some photos are graphic. A Haifa resident shows life under the threat of rockets. These shots show the bomb shelters and the scraps of a Katusha rocket. And here are pictures of Lebanese refugees.
Meanwhile, bloggers are documenting their experiences for readers around the world. Here is a selection:
Haifa, Israel: Carmia, a 24-year-old in English teacher and blogger on Kishkushim. “Another siren at 1:30 PM. I can’t stand it anymore. We’ve decided to go out and eat sushi for lunch. I call the restaurant first of all to verify that they are open. They are! Second I check if they have a bomb shelter in the area. We have a protected room, he tells me. Okay. Good.”
Lebanon: Mustapha, a 28-year-old Lebanese blogger on BeirutSpring. “We have to wake up to the fact that public support for Hezbollah is ideological and well-entrenched. As anyone who’s met a Hezbollah supporter outside of Lebanon knows, there are many rich southern Lebanese who send remittances to “the resistance”. Some even say that half of Hezbollah’s money comes from Diaspora … That is food for thought, and it shouldn’t be refused.”
Suburb North of Tel Aviv: On Israelity, Maven offers an interesting take on news that Hezbollah’s longer range rockets can reach deeper into the country. “All of a sudden it wasn’t about those poor folks up north. It was about us. And we got the strangest instructions from the IDF: residents of Tel Aviv northward were told only to ‘stay alert.’ Stay alert? What did that mean? I followed orders and immediately made myself a strong cappuccino. OK, so I was alert. Now what? The order sounded suspiciously like the government was merely trying to say, ‘if this happens, you can’t say we didn’t warn you, but really, we don’t have a clue.'”
Beirut: How does it feel to be bombed? Swedish national Hardig tells us at Beirut Under Siege. “The last heavy explosions I heard was sometime after nightfall last night. I think it was the attack on the alleged Hezbollah leadership bunker in the southern suburbs. It must have been some serious firepower to make my building shake like that, considering the distance between me and the target.”
Jerusalem: Laya copes with daily threats on Jewlicious. “There’s just no point getting anxious. The only way for civilians to prepare for a war like this is to make sure that you are living the life you want, and make sure your family knows how much you love them. Oh, and pray. Often.”
Lebanon: Carine considers Western evacuations on Chercheuse D’or. “A reporter friend of mine went down to the port to check it all out, and even got to go on the American vessel. Apparently, they have a pool (well, it IS a cruise ship), and some kids were already splashing around in it. I imagine the relief of all those parents, knowing their kids are finally out of danger.”
-Compiled by Matt Phillips
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I have a suggestion that provides targeted punishment for undesirable behavior without any moralizing, and which focuses on destruction of property rather than of lives.
The suggestion is that, whenever where a rocket from Gaza came from can be identified, destroy, by bombing, an area one kilometre from the centre, giving a 24-warning for all (including the terrorists) to clear the area.
One possible beneficial effect of this tactic is that it may mean fewer terrorists killed. More importantly, fewer civilians (either those used as human shields or genuine non-combatants) are likely to be killed or injured, which should at least partially allay one of Harper’s criticisms of the Israeli tactics. And, of course, this tactic should decrease the number of Israeli soldiers killed or injured.
In addition, Israel should up channels for humanitarian aid to civilians, recognizing that a lot of weapons (including rockets) will get through.
This does not matter that much as long as the use of rockets is punished in a way that destroys property in way that should make the rocketeers unpopular with the Gaza civilians.
One advantage of this tactic is that it allows Israel to ignore UN and other “human rights” critics, because the tactic is focused on destruction of property rather than of lives.
Of course the tactic will not solve all problems, among which is the use of suicide bombers. But at least it should deal with the terrorist (i.e., primarily directed towards non-combatants) use of rockets by people who have entirely lost their moral compass.
John Furedy, Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of Toronto
Sydney, Australia
Whatever. If they can cite & lift Jewlicious’ material, then I don’t see why you can’t do the same.
ck I want to discuss that stock option we discussed. In addition, I thnk we should be doing some M&E in order to expand our readership and lower costs. Finally, I am outsourcing myself.
Jealous.
😉
Heh…my dad got a shoutout on Jewlicious. Will make sure he knows…
Dude, they are going to ask you to remove it.
I see no alternative for Israel than to drop the big one on Iran, now.
They are the source of the world’s troubles. They will only make things worse.
The West should finally realize what it is up against and remove the vermin from our existence.