Painting a very pastoral and idyllic picture of poor Gazan farmers dedicatedly tending their fields, the BBC’s Aleem Maqbool reported from the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel on November 26^th. 

However, Aleem Maqbool’s report tells only part of the story of events along that border since the cease fire ending Operation ‘Pillar of Cloud’ came into effect on November 22^nd.

On Friday, November 23^rd, a mob tried – and in one case succeeded – to breach the fence and one man was killed after ignoring warning shots fired in the air. As we noted at the time, the BBC’s Jon Donnison suggested that the rioters may have been farmers or scrap metal collectors. 

On Saturday, November 24^th, the mob was back at the fence. This time, however, Hamas policemen prevented them from reaching the fence itself. There was no report of this incident on the BBC website. 

Around 4 a.m. on Monday morning (November 26^th) a man from Gaza infiltrated the southern village of Sde Avraham, after having breached the border fence, and broke into a home. The mother of the family, whose members were all asleep at the time, was at home alone with her four young children. She fought off the attacker and trapped him in the bathroom until help arrived, but was stabbed by him in the face and shoulder in the process. No report of this incident appeared on the BBC website. 

On Monday night, a Palestinian man tried to climb the border fence and, after ignoring verbal warnings and warning shots fired in the air by IDF soldiers, was shot in the legs. No report of this incident appears on the BBC website. 

The border between the Gaza Strip and Israel is nowhere near as pastoral as the BBC would have its audiences believe, but of course the creation that sort of  idyllic impression sets the stage for oft repeated narratives of ‘stolen land’ whilst hindering viewers’ understanding of why Israel created a buffer zone in the first place. 

Update:

The rioters from the Gaza Strip were back on Wednesday, November 28th too.