Baby – NOW! (& more on Palestine)

Spare ye a thought for Heather who has a baby inside her that is stubbornly not appearing.
Note also that it’s not too late to have some input into the name of the Elder progeny; check the list on Jack’s blog.
—
Cal & I went to another Palestine thing last night, focused on the death of Tom Hurndall. Tom was 21 and English and a photographer, and he was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper in the Palestinian town of Rafah last year. He died from the injury a few weeks ago.
Speaking were a Palestinian guy who was on the scene and witnessed the shooting, and Tom’s sister Sophie who has been part of the family effort to pursue justice for Tom, and for the Palestinian people.
It was pretty harrowing stuff. Hearing from someone who was there what the circumstances of the shooting were was eye-opening – I thought I knew the story but really all I knew was the ‘escorting children to safety’ line. The detail goes, Tom was with over a dozen internationals (including several photographers and reporters from Reuters and other media channels) and they saw three children pinned down in a street by Israeli military fire. Tom went out into the line of fire wearing his reflective jacket and carried one of them back to cover. Then he went back out for the other two children. He didn’t make it.
It’s the fact that he went into a fire zone, and then went back in, that startled me.
What is happening right now in Palestine is an abomination.