Report from the Territories: Gaza is Up in Flames Again As Power of Despair Takes over

We knew they were waiting for us, and yet we were surprised. One of the least pleasant surprises since the beginning of the intifada.

There were four cars. Four teams of journalists, driving cars bearing yellow Israeli license plates through Saladin Street, the main approach to Gaza.

It is a wide four-lane road leading from the outskirts of the Palestinian city, through the town, then further south into the Gaza Strip.

We were driving behind a local car, bearing the local blue license plate, assuming that it would protect us from stone-throwers.

But then the local car pulled to a side street, and we were alone — four Israeli cars in a totally empty street, with the stores and the garages on both sides of the road closed for a general strike.

We saw it coming. Up three cars ahead of us, gangs of youngsters popped out of the side streets and attacked the cars with a barrage of stones.

Both sides of the road were virtually packed with stone-throwers — a pre-planned ambush. Never had I seen anything like this in my many visits to the administered territories.

There was no way to turn back. Had we tried to turn around, we would have been sitting ducks for the stone-throwers. There was only one way: to try to get past the attackers, and pray that the reinforced car windows would sustain the pounding stones.

They did not. The side windows of two cars were smashed to pieces. A rock missed the head of a TV photographer and only because he was holding the camera on his shoulder.

KILLINGS TRIGGER RIOTS

Gaza is up in flames once again, as in the early days of the intifada. For much of the last week, there have been riots of an intensity not seen since the Palestinian uprising began more than 15 months ago.

“But this is a false impression,” says Brig. Zvi, Israel Defense Force commander of the Gaza region. “The tension is merely a fact of an unfortunate event.”

The riots began after a clash between soldiers and local residents on March 18. The confrontation claimed the lives of three residents of Gaza’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood. A brother of one of those killed was himself slain in a clash with Israeli soldiers several weeks before.

Last Tuesday, a third brother came charging at an IDF patrol, holding an ax in his hand. The soldiers, acting in self-defense, according to their testimonies, fired at the attacker, wounding him slightly in the arm.

The original incident in Sheikh Radwan was unfortunate because of the relatively high number of casualties (10 wounded) and rumors — strongly denied by the army — that the soldiers chased rioters into a local mosque, offending Moslem sensibilities.

Sheikh Radwan, a relatively modern area with some 17,000 inhabitants, looked like a battleground last Tuesday.

Despite the curfew imposed on the neighborhood, large crowds took to the streets, throwing stones, bottles, iron bars and whatever heavy objects they could find at Israeli patrols.

CHECKING RAGE WITH CURFEWS

They did not seem to be afraid of anything. Said one veteran Israeli journalist: “This is the power of despair.

“A few months ago, when Yasir Arafat declared the Palestinian state, they thought a state was just around the corner. Now even Palestinian leaders are talking of a state in terms of years. They simply cannot wait any longer for us to leave.”

But the Israelis show no signs of leaving. A few border police and military jeeps restored quiet in Sheikh Radwan last Tuesday. The sight of jeeps storming down the sandy roads and a few shots of tear gas did the job.

The inhabitants returned to their homes eyeing with hatred the passing Israeli cars. A fourth day of curfew and of uncontrolled rage had passed.

Two other Gaza neighborhoods were under curfew last week, as were all of the refugee camps in the Gaza Strip. The army regards the curfew as the most effective means of calming down the area.

But the entire town looked abandoned, as Palestinians observed an ongoing strike protesting the recent killings. Within a matter of a week, Gaza had turned from an area of relative calm to a renewed trouble spot.