Israel is shocked, just shocked, that a Turkish TV program would depict Israeli troops as killers (“but we’re the most moral army in the world”). If you behave like thugs, you’ll be treated as such.
Gazan farmers are still paying the price for this brutality:
Thousands of Gazan farmers may be unable to replant their crops during the region’s main planting season in October due to agricultural land still damaged by the Israeli offensive at the start of the year, and a lack of agricultural materials like seeds and fertilizers, according to officials.
Half of Hatem Khubair’s four hectares of farmland in Beit Lahiya, a city in the northern Gaza Strip, were destroyed during the Israeli offensive earlier this year.
“I can’t afford to rehabilitate my land. The Israeli army bulldozed my crops – onions and carrots – and parked tanks on it, destroying the irrigation system,” said Hatem.
“I lack money and materials,” said Hatem, estimating the damage at US$27,000, not including the production losses he and his family of eight face this season.
Farmers are struggling to restore the 1,700 hectares of agricultural land damaged or destroyed during Israel’s 23-day offensive which ended on 18 January 2009, according to a UN Development Programme (UNDP) report entitled Damage Assessment in Gaza’s Agricultural Sector.