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Palestinians find comfort in rumors of success against Israelis
JABALIYA CAMP, Gaza Strip - The rumor spread like wildfire through this war-ravaged refugee camp. Mosque-mounted loudspeakers fanned the flames. By sunrise Tuesday, many in this shantytown of 107,000 Palestinians packed into a fetid half-square-mile believed as many as 47 Israeli soldiers had been killed in overnight fighting in the Gaza Strip. They passed out candy on debris-strewn streets to celebrate. In truth, no Israelis died, and one Palestinian gunman was killed, bringing to at least 72 the number of Palestinians killed since hundreds of Israeli tanks and attack helicopters invaded northern Gaza a week ago in an unprecedented show of force to put an end to Palestinian rocket fire on Israeli border towns. About half the dead were armed gunmen, the rest civilians, Palestinian medical sources say.Tuesday's toll included two Islamic Jihad militiamen killed in an airstrike on their car in Gaza City. Later in the day, a missile killed two Hamas fighters and wounded three others in Jabaliya. The Israeli army has reported that one soldier was killed since the operation began. While many Jabaliya residents interviewed Tuesday amid the crackle of gunfire and sporadic shelling clung to the belief that "resistance fighters" had scored a big success, others acknowledged that the rumor that 47 soldiers were killed was a "lie" some Palestinians propagate to soothe the psychological suffering of their people against a vastly superior foe. "Israel is a stronger state. They are killing us every day. So I say, `OK, I want to see the Israelis suffering like us,'" said Hossam al-Najar, 35. "We wish that every Israeli who comes here to kill will be killed. ... But we are lying to ourselves." Najar, an engineer with the Palestinian Ministry of Planning, spoke amid the roiling emotions of a mourner's tent set up for the 12-year-old son of his cousin. The boy, Mohammed, died Sunday when shrapnel - from a tank shell the Israeli army said was aimed at a cluster of gunmen who were killed instantly - apparently also struck the child some distance away. Against the backdrop of so much bloodshed, both focused and random, Najar said, many Palestinians succumb to wishful thinking, convincing themselves they are routing the Israelis even though they clearly are not. In a taxi from Gaza City to Jabaliya, he had heard fellow passengers say that 47 Israelis were killed. When he reached Jabaliya, others told him the number was seven. By tomorrow, he said, there's no telling how the story will twist and turn. "For myself, I have to know the reality. ... I don't believe it." Posted by: Fred 2004-10-06 |
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