Mideast conflict becomes mano a mano battle
Posted: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 9:20 AM
Filed Under:
Tel Aviv, Israel
By Paul Goldman, NBC News Producer
I recently wrote about a new video game that gives ordinary Israelis and Palestinians the chance to play the role of peace-maker from the luxury of their own personal computers.
But just as the game, and reality at the Annapolis Mideast peace summit show, bringing peace to the Middle East is no easy task.
An incredible piece of video, recently released by the Israeli Army, shows how in the volatile ground shared by Israelis and Palestinians – high tech often meets low tech in basic battles for survival.
High tech becomes low tech
What you’re looking at are thermal images taken from an Israeli unmanned drone flying high above on the night of July 21. Two figures catch the eye of the drone operator sitting in a comfortable office far away. The figures are identified as Palestinian gunmen approaching the fence separating the Gaza Strip from Israel. The two gunmen move slowly among the bushes.
An Israeli unit is dispatched on a mission of interception, and you can see clearly that both sides are moving very slowly heading toward a collision.
The Palestinian gunman realizes that the Israeli forces are a few feet away and opens fire. A gun battle erupts. The black dots flying everywhere are the hot rifle shells. At this point one Palestinian gunman lies dead.
The explosion you see on the top right side is a grenade that was thrown by the second Palestinian gunman. The grenade explodes and doesn’t injure any Israeli soldier.
One of the Israeli officers is roughly five feet from the surviving gunman and he decides to charge; but he makes a crucial mistake and doesn’t remember to change his empty cartridge.
This is where low tech meets high tech.
With all the armored gear both sides have – night vision goggles, automatic rifles, grenades, and a sophisticated remote controlled drone in the air – what the Israeli officer is left with is wrestling the Palestinian to the ground with his bare hands.
You can see the officer standing up and running towards the Palestinian, but with no shells flying, he reaches the Palestinian and they are left tied up in a bundle, each fighting for his life.
The Palestinian pulls out another grenade and the Israeli manages to turn the Palestinian in the direction of the explosion, which kills the Palestinian, and leaves the Israeli officer only slightly wounded.
This piece of video is just a small and short testimony to the reality both sides face in this conflict, which occurs daily on the Israeli and Palestinian Gaza border.
