Civilian Voices

Abed Rahman Obeid, Jabaliya, lost a leg in clashes in 2008:
When the ground operation started, we moved to the basement, my whole family. I'm afraid of shooting from both sides. I'm terrified of repeating the bad experience I had before. For the past three days we've hardly had any food or water.

Ghada Alkhord, 23, lives very close to the Israeli border, fled from the house with her family at the beginning of the Israeli incursion:
It feels like I'm repeating the bad experience of my grandfathers when they left their villages in 1948. My eyes were full of tears when I left my house behind for the Israeli and the Palestinian fighters. Now I want to return home even though we don't have enough food, water and electricity. I want to die there.

VOICES FROM ISRAEL
Tziona Peleg, 47, aunt of Irit Shitrit, killed by a missile on Ashdod last week:
In my work as a hospital nurse, I come into daily contact with Arabs, both patients and staff, and I have excellent relations with them. Of course a peace agreement is possible, I've always thought so. These people are my friends and my colleagues. Despite the fact that Irit is dead, I still say that there is a real possibility to reach a solution. But these are not the people who killed my niece. It's the extremists who killed my niece, and they will stop at nothing right now. There are extremists on both sides and, as terrible as it sounds, maybe it should be the extremists that we talk to. Otherwise, where is the end to this bloodshed?

David Ben-Or, 42, owner of Aroma Coffee Bar at the Sea Mall in Ashdod:
Two years ago we were close to a peace deal with Abu Mazen, and I actually began to believe that a peace agreement was possible, that there would be recognized borders for a Palestinian state and each side would live its own life without friction. Today, that just doesn't seem possible. Today, Hamas isn't fighting for the Palestinian people; Hamas is fighting for an ideology, and they have no interest in the sanctity of human life on either side. I think that a two-state solution was, back then, the ideal solution. Today, this solution doesn't seem possible, not while Hamas remains in power.

Ortal Suissa, 21, works in a clothes store in downtown Ashdod:
A friend of mine was badly injured in a rocket attack three weeks ago and, for me, this was a wake-up call. I was shocked that it touched my personal life so directly. I served in the Israeli Army on the border with Gaza and I knew the Palestinians in Gaza had the capability of sending rockets deep into Israel, but never thought they would use it. I'm the kind of person who thought a solution was reachable, one way or another. I've lived in Ashdod all my life, and I've heard talk of peace come and go, but nothing has ever been finalized. I don't know if an agreement can be reached while Hamas is in control of Gaza.

Ben Frankel, 25, law student at Tel Aviv University:
The majority of the Israeli public supports the operation in Gaza 100 percent. Israelis who speak against it at demonstrations are effectively showing their support for Hamas. We've got to let the [Israeli] Army do what it has to do.