A Glimpse at Occupation: The Sound of A Shelling
by Adriano Contreras | Monday, January 11th, 2010

THE SOUND OF A SHELLING by Adriano Contreras

The sound of a shelling is serious. When you hear it you immediately know someone was hurt or even died. Someone’s home was destroyed. Someone’s family broken apart. An avenue of transportation severed. A new set of ears gone deaf.

The sound of a shelling is chilling. When you hear it in the distance your eyes water as a current sweeps down your spine. Your senses in autofocus. Your muscles tightly clenched. A moments calm snaps you out. Ever vigilant ’til next boom dawns.

The sound of a shelling is terrifying. When you hear it dropping over your head. For the person at the receiving end. For the unfortunate witnessing kin. Another death for the tally. Another body to dig for in an alley. A new set of questions all leading to ‘why’.

The sound of a shelling is Palestinian. When you hear, see, feel, smell, and taste the bomb. Whether white phosphorus is burning your bone or the uranium contaminated your farming soil. The flames a nightlight for the days without power. The smoke a reminder of the awakening hour. Still, there’s work to be done; resistance and tunnels to maintain. For this is occupation, six decades in the make.

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Ever since I left Gaza I wanted to write about that first time I heard a bomb hit during my stay. To be told that it was a bomb and that lives had been claimed. I had broken the siege but not yet realized what sort of situation I found myself in. The sitch in Gaza became real the minute I heard that sound and the reaction of the Palestinians who didn’t move a muscle and just brushed it off. The difference in reactions to the sound of a shelling is so telling of the different backgrounds two people grew up under.

Tags: Gaza, occupation, Palestine, shelling

10:56 am. Viva Palestina.