Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/216204
16 News maltatoday, SUNDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2013 PHOTOGRAPHY BY KARL SCHEMBRI Gaza: a year sinc KARL SCHEMBRI PALESTINIANS have a way of making a mockery out of their present situation by saying "tomorrow will be better". It is always followed by a sarcastic smile, a knowing nod at the bleakness that lies ahead and the recognition that time and again, that saying has tragically been proven wrong. When, a year ago, the Israeli mili- tary struck the head of the Al Qassam Military Brigades, Ahmed Al Jabari, who was in a car at the heart of Gaza City, it was immediately clear things would go downhill in a matter of minutes. I remember vividly hearing the loud explosion from my flat on the afternoon of 14 November. It somehow sounded different from the ones we were used to. The news outlets were still silent, but on Twitter some of my reliable friends were saying that Al Jabari was in the car, and within half an hour they were tweeting that he was killed. In a moment of panic that would earn me a stern warning from my superiors for bypassing them, I sent an email to all my media colleagues saying this would "unleash hell". And so it did. For outsiders, while the absolute majority of Palestinians in Gaza have nothing to do with militants and actually crave peace, Al Jabari had the legendary status of a re- spected man of honour. He kept the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit alive and negotiated his release with Israel. At the time of his assassination, just nine weeks before the Israeli elections, he was negotiating a long-term peace agreement with Israel. Having him killed could not go without a heavy response from the Palestinian resistance. On that evening, we learnt that the Israeli government had started what it would call 'Operation Pillar of Defense', bombarding the strip from north to south and triggering the expected heavy response from the Palestinian factions through hundreds of rockets shot back indiscriminately. Within less than an hour, my manager asked me to pack my bags and move from my flat in Gaza's main boulevard to the Oxfam guesthouse by the sea. All expats were prepared to evacuate to Jerusalem. The first night was just a teaser of what would happen over the week, but I felt it was my job to stay to tell the story.