Vue Weekly interviews Canadian independent journalist and activist Eva Bartlett, who's been on the ground during the assault and since, during the ongoing collective punishment against the Palestinians.
"VW: Is day-to-day life regaining any sense of normalcy in Gaza?
EB: I guess it depends on what is normal in Gaza or what is normal by our standards—to the outside world there's nothing normal here. Is it normal that a child of four can name the difference between heliopters and different types of fighter planes? Or knows the sound of an M-16 rifle?...[C]ompared to when I came here it was already a drastic situation because of the siege and now it's been compounded by the mass destruction of the houses of the buildings of the water and sanitation networks. And the economy—something like 96 percent of industries, including factories and businesses, were shut down because of the war and the siege....Normalcy—people here just learn to adapt so now it's normal; it's normal to expect power cuts, to expect another attack. It's a different sense of normal." [Vue Weekly]
- A new report from prominent NGO's affirms that, with the illegal siege against the Palestinians, the Israeli's are meting out collective punishment, "Failing Gaza: No rebuilding, no recovery, no more excuses."
- Democracy Now! reports on the Gaza Freedom March, scheduled for December 31, 2009. The March has one message: "Lift the Siege of Gaza!" You can sign the pledge here.
- 'Canadian delegates to Gaza Freedom March hold media conference on Parliament Hill' [Rabble]