Some of my travels in Crimea this August, where everyone I spoke with supported the 2014 referendum to join Russia, or as they said: return to Russia. Beautiful peninsula, visit if you can! My article on traveling around Crimea, and what the people I was meeting had to say on life pre & post referendum was published at Mint Press News: https://www.mintpressnews.com/return-russia-crimea-story-referendum-lives-since/262247/?fbclid=IwAR2Ml2O5v9_8itzba5EoFi3Yqn3EzxiNGBw8Vk7-DzsT2H_Kf-3nYxg-X5E With additional photos here: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2019/10/10/return-to-russia-crimeans-tell-the-real-story-of-the-2014-referendum-and-their-lives-since/?fbclid=IwAR3GNZQyJjkQVyn_4ViLTEUHXAeVZEmNuIKipI95N8F4Rml9IEfpHYbTAT8 ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9vnqYYUQQA

After finishing a shift with the Palestinian Red Crescent medics yesterday morning, we went to the Fakhoura UN school, which Israel bombed. It was a school housing numerous internally-displaced Palestinians. The Israeli shelling killed 42 civilians, among whom 13 children. Al-Mezan reported: The Israeli army, “fired four artillery shells in the vicinity of Al-Fakhoura School, which UNRWA had opened as a shelter for displaced civilians who escaped the fighting in north Gaza. Three shells landed and exploded in an open area opposite to the southwestern schoolyard. The fourth landed 50 meters west to the school, directly hitting two houses, which are inhabited by the families two brothers; Mu’in and Samir Deeb. Most of the members of these two families were killed. In all, the shelling killed 39 civilians immediately, and three others died at hospital from their wounds, raising the number of casualties to 42; including 13 children and 6 women. Another 50 civilians were also injured in this attack.” *Later updates from the UN: “In Jabaliya’s Al-Fakhoura school incident alone, Israeli tank and mortar fire killed 43 civilians and injured more than 100.” Nidal, a PRCS medic, told how he was at the Fakoura school when it was shelled. His aunt and uncle living nearby, he’d been visiting friends at the school. “I was there, talking with friends, only a little away from where 2 of the missiles hit. The people standing between me and the missiles were like a shield. They were shredded. About twenty of them,” he said. Like many Palestinians I’ve met, Nidal has a prior history of loss, even before this phenomenal assault on civilians. Only twenty years old, Nidal has already had his father and brother killed, martyred it is said here, by sniper’s bullets. His right hand testifies his part in the story: “It was three years ago, the Israeli army had invaded our region (Jabaliya). One soldier threw a sound bomb at us and I picked it up to throw away. It went off in my hand before I could throw it away.” Sound bombs in prolific use in such non-violent demonstrations as Bil’in and Nalin, among others in the occupied West Bank, many youths learn at a young age how to chuck them away. But Nidal’s stubs of fingers show that he wasn’t so lucky. Luckier than his father and brother, though. And luckier than two of his cousins, his aunt’s sons, who were in the area where missiles were dropped at the UN school. They, 12 and 27 years old, were killed. Osama, a medic, was at the scene after the multiple missile shelling. “When we arrived, I saw dead bodies everywhere. More than 30. Dead children, grandparents…Pieces of flesh all over. And blood. It was very crowded, and difficult to carry out the injured and martyred. I helped carry 15 dead. I had to change my clothes 3 times. These people thought they were safe in the UN school, but the Israeli army killed them, in cold blood.” Prayers were happening in the street in front of the school. The grief was very evident, as was the indignation: “Where are we supposed to stay,” one man demanded. “How many deaths is enough? How many?” It’s the question that has resounded in my mind since the attacks on December 27th... See: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/after-israeli-bombing-of-un-fakhoura-school-no-room-for-the-dead-no-room-for-the-living/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc-vtVK4jyA

This is an informal video, a compilation of clips taken while I visited Saqba, Ghouta, the other day, looking at the White Helmets complex and the Faylaq al-Rahman bomb factory just a couple of hundred metres away, both groups working hand in bloody hand. Please listen to Vanessa Beeley's highly-informative interview on this complex (starting at around 39 minutes 40 seconds into her May 1, 2018 interview on UK Column): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdsCA3XnIw8&feature=youtu.be&t=39m39s Please also see: Vanessa Beeley's research into the White Helmets, logged here: http://21stcenturywire.com/tag/white-helmets/ John Pilger describing them as a 'propaganda construct': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X27B0yuazGo Ben Swann's "Reality Check: Who's Funding the White Helmets?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EXtHoOi7_4 ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed-__3Vl_aY

Daraa artist, Saad Shawki, who I met in Daraa in May, 2018, when districts of Daraa were still occupied by al-Qaeda and other terrorists--who were shelling and sniping at civilian areas. He speaks of his own quest, turning the destruction into beauty, encouraging his compatriots to do what they can to support their country. And he speaks, so incredibly movingly, of his love for his country, Syria. "My clothes that I am wearing, I didn't change them. Since the day I left my land until now, the same clothes. Why? Because I insist I will stay. I'm a human being, I'm Syrian, and I'm proud of my Syrian nationality. Every human being on earth has two homelands: The first is his own homeland. And the second is Syria." If nothing else, listen to the emotion in his voice, see the emotion and defiance in his face. Related Video: Daraa Priest, Father Gerges Rizk, on What Really Happened in Daraa 2011 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft_m2nCmnyk& ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEcQOYR0eeQ