PALESTINE ~ GUERNICA

Never Again by Ben Heine

An Illustrated Look at Israel’s On-going Massacre in the Gaza Strip

Palestine Monitor

30 December 2008
Picture and article by Abu Yusef

“There is not enough space for bodies; they lay on the floors of the hospitals and morgues. There is not enough blood for the wounded, and they will soon be joining their countrymen in death.”

Aerial photo of the Gaza Strip. It is the most densely populated place on earth with 1.5 million people huddled into 360 km2, or 4,166 people per square kilometer. It is surrounded on all sides by a massive electric fence and watchtowers. Israel controls the air, land and water around the Strip, and every entry-point in.

The median age in the Strip is 15.3, and 70% of the population are already refugees. 86% of the population is heavily dependent on foreign aid which has been denied them for over two years.

A photo of Israel’s ‘Cast Lead’ operation in which 100 tons of bombs were dropped on the most densely populated space on the planet while the Gazans slept in their beds.

Hundreds of people, civilian and otherwise, were killed in minutes. The Israeli press cheered the stunning ‘misdirection’ by defense Minister Barack preceding the attacks, “They didn’t even see it coming!”

They forgot to mention that had the Palestinians known that this reign of terror was coming, they would not have been able to escape anyway as they have been locked inside of a virtual prison for years.

A women and her child must step over the dead bodies of Palestinian policemen and civilians following the bombing. Though the woman knows that death could fall from the sky at any moment, she must venture out anyway to find food for here family.

Her youngest child has not slept in days due to the shelling and insists on staying by his mother’s side. The streets are empty except the long bread lines and funeral processions.

A mother holds her dead child and weeps. She has already lost her husband in the massacre and has not even had time to mourn.

With all of her brothers locked away in Israeli jails, she does not know how she will care for her family.

Right now, she does not even know whether she will have any family left when the smoke finally clears.


A photo of a young boy preparing to die for Palestine.

Since birth he has suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He knows nothing but pain, war and disillusion.

He has seen fear and tears in the eyes of his father today, and now his world is upside-down.

He has never been given anything and so he has nothing to lose.