Message written by Israeli
soldiers in a bedroom of the Abu Hajaj home in
Johur-ad-Dik © Kent Klich
One of the most important factors in recovery from
trauma is the ability to find sanctuary in the
comfort of one’s home. The right to safety and
security. For many people in Gaza, this right has
been repeatedly violated, in the form of the
destruction of their personal property, often
wantonly, by Israeli military forces.
Alongside the 1,000s of homes partially or
completely destroyed by bulldozers, tank shells and
bombs dropped by F-16 fighter jets, are the homes
that have been defaced by graffiti left by
individual Israeli soldiers and the vandalisation of
civilian property within them.
At Mos’ab Dardona’s home in Jabal Al Rayes,
northeast Gaza, Israeli soldiers who had taken up
positions in civilian houses in the area left behind
intricate drawings on the walls, some depicting
soldiers urinating on toppled mosques, or devouring
Palestinian villages. In the house next door,
belonging to Ibrahim Dardona, soldiers left behind
dozens of bags of faeces in the bedrooms, despite
the presence of a functioning toilet, and left crude
sexual diagrams on the walls.
“The writing left by Israeli soldiers in the homes
in Gaza provides an insight into the disturbing
culture of hatred and racism towards Palestinians
and Arabs which exists among parts of Israeli
society,” says Hamdi Shaqqura, PCHR’s director of
democratic development. “In light of the evidence
PCHR has gathered of the wilful and wanton killing
of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, this graffiti is
even more disturbing.”
The thousands of people who have been unable to
return to what remains of their homes after Israel’s
offensive are hard to count precisely. Hastily
erected refugee tent camps that are unsuitable at
this time of year have been largely abandoned and
internally displaced people have moved in with
extended family members.
Others have had to move back into their partially
destroyed homes, clear up the debris and sometimes
the evidence of the deaths of loved ones, and try to
get on with their lives. The Dardona families have
moved back into their houses, and are torn between
unwillingness to destroy evidence of the behaviour
of Israeli soldiers and reluctance to endure the
constant reminders of the horrors that took place
here. And there are similar cases in other parts of
the Gaza Strip.
Graffiti in the home of Mos’ab
Dardona, Jabal al Rayes area, northeastern Gaza
Strip © S. Al Tartour/PCHR
In the
largely agricultural area of Johr-ad-Dik, Israeli
forces established bases in some of the homes in the
early days of their ground offensive. Tank tracks
cut huge swathes through the fields and hundreds of
olive and citrus trees were destroyed. Half the
population of 2,500 was displaced.
At
dawn on 4 January 2009, the first full day of
Israel’s ground offensive, a shell landed near the
home of Saleh Abu Hajaj in Johur-ad-Dik. Radio
interceptions made by the Israeli military ordered
local residents to evacuate their homes. Saleh’s 36
year old daughter Majeda Abu Hajaj tied a white
scarf to a stick and led a group of civilians out of
her neighbour’s house.
As
they were trying to escape, tanks opened fire on the
group and Majeda was shot dead, allegedly in the
back. Moments later her 64 year old mother Raya, was
also shot and bled to death a few metres from her
daughter. Majeda and Raya’s bodies were not
recovered until Israel’s declaration of a unilateral
ceasefire sixteen days later. These attacks may
constitute willful killings, grave breaches of the
Geneva Conventions and war crimes.
Israeli soldiers set up military positions in the
Abu Hajaj house after the killings, and left
graffiti in every room. Above Majeda’s bed are the
words “Death will find you soon” scrawled in red
pen. Other parts of the house carry the words “Have
you ever wondered what hell looks like? Well… look
around you -----! Ha ha ha”
The house of Sami Saleh Dardona,
with Israeli graffiti carved into the burnt walls ©
Kent Klich
In the Zeytoun district, where 27 members of the
Samouni family were killed by an airstrike while
sheltering in a building they had been placed in by
the Israeli army, there are more chilling messages
on the walls. In Talal Al Samouni’s home Israeli
soldiers wrote the words “Die you all”, “Make war
not peace”, “Arabs need to die” and a gravestone
engraved with the words “Arabs 1948-2009” referring
to the dates between the creation of the state of
Israel and its latest military offensive.
A stairwell in Rashad Helmi Al Samouni’s house a few
doors down includes the following sentences written
in chalk:
“There will be a day when we kill all the Arabs”
“Bad for the Arabs is good for me”
“A good Arab is an Arab in the grave”
“Peace now, but between Jews and Jews, not Jews and
Arabs”
While much of the graffiti is inflammatory and
disturbing, there are also more human expressions
written by weary Israeli soldiers such as: “How much
longer will we be here…?”, “Until when?”, “We want
to go home” and “I have no other country”.
There have been many serious allegations made about
the conduct of Israeli soldiers who were operating
in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Centre for Human
Rights (PCHR) is currently investigating many of
these cases and will be bringing evidence to light
in due course. But whatever the outcome of such
investigations, it will do little to comfort the
thousands of civilians whose sense of safety they
should feel in the privacy of their own homes has
been so categorically violated.
