00:00I've been here for about a month and a half now, and this is definitely the most difficult situation that
00:09I've ever seen.
00:12In the time that I've been here, children have been shot and killed.
00:19On the 30th of January, the Israeli military bulldozed the two largest water wells, destroying over half of Rafa's water
00:31supply.
00:33Every few days, if not every day, are demolished here.
00:42People are economically devastated because of the closure of the borders into Egypt and the extreme control of the Gazan
00:50economy by Israel.
00:55I came to look at the aftermath of a place where 25 greenhouses had been demolished on the other side
01:03of Rafa,
01:07destroying the livelihoods of about 300 people.
01:10And that had taken place while they rounded up about 150 men, held them under a sniper tower,
01:17and shot around them to contain the men, the farmers in the area.
01:23So I feel like what I'm witnessing here is a very systematic destruction of people's ability to survive.
01:33And that is incredibly horrifying.
01:36Incredibly horrifying.
01:42Sometimes it takes a while for it to set in what is happening here,
01:50because I think many of the people here,
01:55they try to maintain what they can of their lives.
02:00And I think, I don't know, maybe it has to do with protecting their children,
02:04that they try to be happy, joke with their children.
02:08So sometimes it takes time to,
02:16it's hard to hold in your mind, you know, the complete reality of what's happening here.
02:21Sometimes I'm sitting down to dinner with people,
02:25and I just realize that there is a massive military machine surrounding them
02:33and trying to kill these people that I'm having dinner with,
02:36these families that I'm sitting down to eat with,
02:39and who are being very generous and kind to me,
02:42and their children here who are incredibly threatened,
02:49living lives that no child ever should have to live.
02:57And so I feel a lot of horror, really.
03:01I feel a lot of horror about the situation.
03:04The current Israeli government, I don't have a great deal of faith
03:08that they're going to listen to any message from me.
03:14I think it has become clear that this government does not care about the safety of its own people
03:20and doesn't care at all about the lives of Palestinian people.
03:24I think it's ridiculous that my government supports this government
03:30and referred to Ariel Sharon as a man of peace.
03:34It's clear to me, being here, that Ariel Sharon is invested in perpetuating a cycle,
03:42well, perpetuating violence.
03:44I think calling it a cycle of violence disregards the imbalance of power in this situation,
03:50that people's lives here are almost completely controlled by the Israeli government.
03:55And it's amazing that people are able to hold on to their humanity as much as they have.
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