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Article: An Israeli goes among the Gazans DRINKING THE SEA AT GAZA by Amira Hass (Hamish Hamilton, GBP 20)
- Article from:
- The Evening Standard (London, England)
- Article date:
- July 12, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1999 Evening Standard - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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IN the local Hebrew idiom "Go to Gaza" (Lech Le'Aza) translates as
"Go to hell" (Lech Le'Azazel). It always reminds me how as a young
soldier in the Israeli army, in the late 1970s, was sent to patrol
the streets of Gaza. witnessed firsthand what a hell Gaza really
was. The open sewage, the unpaved dusty streets, the rot and stench,
the testy dogs barking in the dark alleys, the rats scuttling in the
garbage and the hostility of the locals for whom I represented the
occupier - all shocked me to the core. After this short but
traumatic spell in Gaza I never saw it again, except on television.
Amira Hass, an Israeli journalist, also went to Gaza, not with a
rifle but with a pen and not as an ...