Gaza, guerra anche sulle onde radio

Questa storia di Associated Press sugli aspetti psicologici delle azioni militari a Gaza è stata ripresa da Haaretz e altri quotidiani online. E' una guerra, questa, combattuta anche con la propaganda, che va dal lancio dei volantini ai messaggi minatori. Se Sawt Al-Aqsa, stazione radio della Jihad, accusa gli israeliani di essersi sovrapposti sulle sue trasmissioni con messaggi che accusano Hamas di essere all'orgine della drammatica situazione per gli abitanti della Striscia, le autorità di governo di Gaza affermano di lanciare minacce sulle frequenze utilizzate dai walkie-talkie della Israeli Defence Force.
Che questa guerra sia anche di nervi e non si limiti all'uso di armi da fuoco, lo dimostra del resto la creazione di un canale televisivo su YouTube da parte del portavoce dell'Esercito israeliano. Qui vengono pubblicati filmati realizzati dalle truppe entrate a Gaza per evidenziare le tecniche utilizzate dalla guerriglia. YouTube viene utilizzato ovviamente per analoghi scopi anche da fonti di parte palestinese. Le onde corte invece tacciono, ma io continuo a pensare che sarebbero uno strumento validissimo.

Israel's Gaza war extends into psychological realm

By PAUL SCHEMM
Jan. 12, 2009

JERUSALEM - At first it didn't seem unusual when the faces of the Hamas leadership turned up on the group's TV network. But then they were shot down, one by one, while a message warned that Hamas' time was running out. Even as Israel's armor and foot soldiers push into the Gaza Strip in an effort to stop militants from launching rockets into Israel, the war is also being waged with psychological operations designed to sap morale on both sides. Over at Islamic Jihad's Voice of Jerusalem radio station in Gaza City, broadcaster Kamal Abu Nasser said that at least once an hour, the Israeli military also breaks into his signal and broadcasts messages blaming Hamas for everyone's problems.
Hamas, for its part, said it has broadcast messages on Israeli military walkie talkies threatening to kidnap and kill Israeli soldiers. The army said it had no information on such transmissions.
The fate of Sgt. Gilad Schalit, who was captured by Hamas-linked militants in 2006 and whose whereabouts remain unknown, is repeatedly evoked in broadcasts and statements by Hamas, which has several times has threatened to nab more Israeli soldiers. Hamas tried to spread rumors that it had captured several. At least one actual attempt failed, the military said.
Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Ilan Tal said he would not comment on Israel's psychological operations. "If we're talking about psychological warfare, we have to learn from what Hamas is doing," he said. "We expect Hamas to intensify and increase those sort of rumors (of kidnappings) as the situation gets more critical." Hamas' ruses extend into the battlefield as they try to combat Israel's overwhelming military advantage.
Military spokesman Maj. Avital Leibovich told The Associated Press that Israel's forces have found Gaza's neighborhoods to be riddled with booby traps, including mannequins placed at apartment entrances and rigged to explode when the soldiers approach. Israel's army formed a psychological operations unit three years ago, though its initial efforts in the 2006 Lebanon war were largely restricted to drawing satirical cartoons of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and dropping them as leaflets over southern Lebanon.
More chilling at the time for Beirut residents, however, were the strange phone calls they received during the war telling them that their woes were due to Hezbollah and they should turn against the guerrillas. That particular technique has reappeared in the current Gaza onslaught, with phone calls and leaflets telling Gazans that their problems were due to Hamas. The leaflets include a phone number and e-mail address to call in tips about the whereabouts of militant leaders and weapons caches.
Ephraim Kam, the deputy director of Tel Aviv University's Institute of National Security Studies, said the role of psychological operations loomed large in this offensive, more so than in the past. "I think we did this in former wars, but in this case we had a lot of time, relatively speaking, and so much more emphasis was given to psychological warfare," Kam said.
Lacking resources, Hamas' psychological efforts have been largely restricted to the propaganda broadcasts on its own Al Aqsa TV channel, including Hebrew language messages asking Israelis to "choose between a peace that gives us back our rights or a war that will smash you down." There have also been reports of threatening text messages sent to the inhabitants of Israel's southern towns telling them to hide underground because Hamas is coming for them.
The biggest weapon in Hamas' psychological arsenal is also its best known actual weapon — the homemade rockets it sends on erratic paths into southern Israeli towns. During the conflict, militants have also used longer-range Grad rockets, hitting cities that used to be out of range. The thousands of rockets have only killed only a handful of Israelis, yet life across Israel's south has been paralyzed.
The greatest disinformation coup of the conflict so far, however, came right at the beginning of the offensive when Israeli bombers caught hundreds of Hamas security men inside their compounds. The day before a massive Israeli airstrike, Israeli military radio channels broadcast talk of a "lull" and pulled troops back from the border. Israeli defense officials now say it was a psychological warfare tactic or a "con" to lure Hamas fighters out of hiding.

Gaza: l'FM guida l'ambulanza

Ancora l'agenzia di stampa internazionale di matrice italiana, la IPS, questa volta con un drammatico reportage da Gaza, dove la stazione FM Al-Iman a volte si trova a dover coordinare le ambulanze che cercano di raggiungere i feriti nei numerosi scontri armati tra Hamas e le forze israeliane (o tra Hamas e le altre fazioni palestinesi, immagino). E' un reportage di parte, certe affermazioni sui carri armati che sparano sui soccorritori non sono ovviamente verificabili contro altre fonti, ma riflette bene una situazione in cui è molto probabile che la popolazione non abbia la possibilità di telefonare a un vero e proprio centro di smistamento - niente 118, a Gaza - e utilizza le radio in FM per lanciare appelli che vengono raccolti da ospedali ed equipaggi sparsi sul territorio. Su Radio Networking for Democracy in Palestine, ho scoperto che Radio Al-Iman ha anche un sito Web dove potete ascoltare lo stream in diretta. Proprio in questo momento sto ascoltando il notiziario che parla, mi pare, delle nostre elezioni.

MIDEAST: No Ambulance, Call the Radio
By Mohammed Omer

GAZA CITY, Apr 12 (IPS) - "I am bleeding uncontrollably, I need an ambulance." That was not a call to emergency services, it was an appeal broadcast live on radio in Gaza City.
Who knows whether there will ever be an ambulance or not. But this way the ambulance services still hear the appeal broadcast on Al-Iman FM Radio Station, one of few independent radio stations in Gaza. And if the emergency services cannot help, someone else who hears the appeal might.
The ambulance dispatcher announces he cannot get the ambulance to the man. An Israeli bulldozer is blocking the road, and an Israeli tank on a hilltop has been firing at the ambulance, he says. Nobody can say if anyone else got to help the man. But at least his SOS could have been heard.
Appeals again went on air after the Friday attacks on Bureij refugee camp, where the death toll climbed to 16 by the weekend. The deaths included six children among nine people killed Friday. Again, ambulance crews confirmed they could not reach many of the injured. But the appeals were made on radio for all to hear.
A man called from east of Jabaliya refugee camp asking for an ambulance for his wife about to deliver. The radio host asked his location, and that of Israeli tanks. "I can't look from the window to see," he said. "They will shoot me if I do."
A lady called to ask an ambulance to clear the remains of a body lying on the door. IPS confirmed later that it was the body of Abdelrazek Nofal, who was 19. He was blown to bits by an Israeli tank shell.
Someone else called from Bureij asking for ambulance, and for food and water. "My mother needs to be in hospital urgently," he called the radio station to say. Another difficult mission, with the Israeli troops patrolling the area.
The appeals are heard on radio day after day. No one can say what follows the appeals in each case. But the live broadcasts on the radio can be a lifeline – or at the least, a line of hope. Where emergency services and aid agencies are not listening in, the radio then calls them.
"It brings tears to my eyes," says radio host Khaled al-Sharqawi (foto). "I can sometimes hear shooting, and women and children screaming, asking for ambulances, and the ambulances cannot reach them."
Emergency services keep the radio on, if only to go in when it's safe to bring out bodies. On one recent mission, said Ahmed Abu Sall, who works as a volunteer medical worker, "we were shot at by an Israeli tank. Two bullets hit the wheels."
This mission succeeded, as several do. But it can be a long haul to call and wait. Often, cell phone batteries run out as people call again and again with the appeals for help.
The Palestinian Telecommunications Company has given the radio station a toll-free number. That makes calling easier, but the radio statiion has to be on guard also against mischief. Hosts do what they can to check sources and credibility before putting an appeal live on air.
Not every call is a medical crisis. "In such cases we call human rights organisations," Sharqawi told IPS. "But they usually tell us they cannot help people on the ground."
Most people working at the radio station are young volunteers. And Al-Iman isn't the only one; several other local radio stations have begun now to hear and to broadcast live appeals for help.