But only now does the New York Times notice this phenomenon - and it is because PCHR released a report about it.
A Palestinian human rights group in Gaza took the unusual step this week of condemning the building and storage of anti-Israel rockets in densely populated areas, a practice that has led to injuries and deaths of civilians.But only now does the New York Times bother to report about it - when Palestinian Arabs admit it is true.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said that it had investigated recent rocket explosions and found that locally produced projectiles had fallen on homes in Gaza or exploded in factories where they were made or stored. Shrapnel severely wounded several people, including a 22-year-old woman and her 7-month-old baby.
It called on the Hamas government, which controls Gaza, to investigate “and take measures to protect Palestinians and their property.” It added that “members of the Palestinian resistance continue to store explosives or to treat such explosives in locations close to populated areas.”
“This poses a major threat to the lives of the Palestinian civilians,” it said.
Israel has long accused Hamas and other groups of endangering Palestinian civilians by carrying out militant activities in densely populated areas.
Well, I have a tip for the New York Times.
There is a Gaza consortium of NGOs called GANSO (Gaza NGO Safety Office) that is tasked with keeping internationals in Gaza safe. So they actually keep track of Gaza rocket fire. And according to them, some 30% of all Qassams and mortars fall short in Gaza!
In one two week period late last year, 42% of rockets and 57% of mortars exploded prematurely or fell short in Gaza.
While that was an especially bad week for Gazans, this phenomenon happens all the time. Too bad that the media that has reporters on the ground in Gaza couldn't figure out what I have been able to document for so long.
The NYT is one of the very few media outlets that even noticed the PCHR report to begin with. The blame goes to the media altogether. If one out of every three rockets explodes in Gaza, and if Gazans are injured and killed by those rockets, shouldn't that fact be mentioned occasionally from the thousands of reports that come out of the area?
Yet even the PCHR and the NYT didn't mention the Gazan that was killed by a Qassam on January 21.
Oh, one other thing: The Palestinian Center for Human Rights may have condemned the rocket launches from populated areas, but they didn't have a word to say about the morality of shooting the rockets at Israeli civilians.
I guess they don't consider Israeli civilians to be human.
(h/t Mike and T34)