Tyler Hicks: War In El Atatra

© Tyler Hicks/NYTimes-All Rights Reserved
The New York Times (perhaps in a spasm of conscience) has published a slideshow of Tyler Hicks' photographs showing the absolute devastation of a village in Gaza.

The War In El Atatra presents raw images of what Tyler saw and documented of this unfortunate village, and tells a piece of a story that will resonate and haunt those who've kept silent about the Gaza massacre.

For those of you who have the courage to look at the images, you'll see a photograph of a donkey shot by Israeli troops (was it a Hamas fighter in disguise?) thereby depriving its owner from a livelihood, a 70-year old Palestinian woman weeping and hiding her face in shame because she's digging a stump to use as firewood, and of a woman scrounging for potatoes, among other heartbreaking scenes.

However, the first panel of the slideshow demonstrates how tone-deaf the caption writer at the NY Times is. It reads in part: " Life there is difficult for Palestinians in the wake of the Israeli military incursion which destroyed much of the town".

Difficult!? The caption writer ought to attend school and read history to learn how war crimes are described.

The accompanying article is by Ethan Bronner & Sabrina Tavernise (with contributions from Taghreed El-Khodary and Nadim Audi).