By Kathleen Kern

Strawberries are ripe by January in Gaza. On Jan. 3, the first day of a school vacation, 12 children and teenagers were eating strawberries from the Raban family’s field and playing marbles when an Israeli shell hit them. Seven died instantly and four lost limbs.

When Israeli journalist Gideon Levy arrived in Beit Lahia four days later, he could still see human tissue among the strawberry plants.

A senior Israeli officer said at least some of the boys were “Hamas activists.”

So was it Rajikh, 11? Issa (the Arabic version of “Jesus”), 13? Jabir, 15? Mahmoud, 14, who wanted to be a doctor? Was it Hanni, 16, who wanted to be a teacher? Bisaam, 15, who wanted to be engineer? Was it Mohammed, 17, who was on a respirator when Levy visited?

Maryam and Kamal Raban lost three sons, two nephews and a grandson. When Levy interviewed them, the family had not told Kamal about the amputation of Mohammad’s legs, because they felt he already had too many losses to absorb.

According to the family, Palestinian militants had been firing Qassam rockets at Israeli targets from the area earlier, but they had left long before Israeli forces fired the shell at the children.

“We are in the middle,” said Jamil Raban, 26. “We cannot stop [the Palestinian militants], and we cannot stop the Israelis. How can we stop the militants when the Israelis, with all their technology, cannot stop them?”

What most Americans heard about the incident was a statement from Palestinian presidential candidate, Mahmoud Abbas: “We came to you today, while we are praying for the souls of the martyrs who were killed today by the shells of the Zionist enemy in Beit Lahiya.”

Pundits began their spin on the “Zionist enemy” remark, saying it proved that Abbas was no partner for peace. What they did not mention was that Abbas was campaigning in Gaza when the killing and maiming of the children hit the news.

National Public Radio evidently received enough angry messages from listeners about leaving out the context of Abbas’ remarks that it corrected itself on a Thursday edition of “All Things Considered.”

However, the news anchor said only that the remarks were in response to the deaths of seven Palestinians. The anchor did not mention that the victims were children, nor that they had been playing marbles and eating strawberries when the shell hit them.

Maryam Raban had just returned from the polling station, where she voted for Abbas, when she told Levy: “We are calling on [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon and [Defense Minister Shaul] Mofaz and all people of good will, a good heart and compassion: I will never forget all the flesh of my children that I gathered and tied into a rag. . . .

“When I would see an Israeli killed, I would cry over him. I would cry for his mother. We don’t deserve to have Sharon and Mofaz kill our children, children of this age, who are picking strawberries.

“I am calling on Sharon and Mofaz, who killed three of my children: . . . I still have the child in the hospital. I ask that they take him to a hospital in Israel. If they only take him to a hospital, we will forgive them for the children who were killed.”

People wishing to see Levy’s full article may find it here.