Category: Face Of The Day

A Palestinian schoolgirl inspects her classroom which was burnt during Israel’s offensive, at UNRWA’s (UN Relief and Works Agency) primary school in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on January 24, 2009. Some 200,000 Gaza children returned to school for the first time since Israel’s offensive, many having lost family members, their home and their sense of security. The main UNRWA centre and several schools were destroyed by Israeli bombing during the 22-day war. By Olivier Laban-Mattei/AFP/Getty Images.

Now that the offensive is over, it seems to me that its wisdom and morality are even more questionable than before. If Israelis believe that this little girl above will blame Hamas for what was done to her school, or that the unimaginable trauma inflicted on Palestinian civilians will in any way help secure the future of the Jewish state, or that what they have done will end the tunnel smuggling, then their judgment is even more impaired that many of us feared. More on Monday.

Pro-life activist Sarah Brown of Fredricksburg, Virginia, says a prayer in front of the U.S. Supreme Court during the annual ‘March for Life’ event January 22, 2009 in Washington, DC. The event was to mark the anniversary of the 1973 Roe v Wade Supreme Court abortion ruling. By Alex Wong/Getty.

A man displays a placard that reads ‘Forest Destroyer’ while attending a protest in front of the Ministry of Forestry in Jakarta on January 22, 2009. Scores of people who live next to the 6000 hectares forest of Kio Pubabu Besipae in eastern Indonesia and earning their livelihood from it, held a protest against deforestation. According to a report, between 1990 and 2005 Indonesia lost more than 28 million hectares of forest, including 21.7 hectares of virgin forest. Today Indonesia’s forests are some of the most threatened on the planet. By Adek Berry/Getty.

An Iraqi worker pauses from work on a leaky pipe in the massive Iskandariyha power plant on January 21, 2009 in Iskandariyha, Iraq. Built in the early 1980s, the Iskandariyha plant is Iraq’s largest and most important providing a significant percentage of the country’s total electrical power. Years of neglect by Saddam’s government, as well as a 1991 aerial strike by the US during the Persian Gulf War, have left the plant hobbled sometimes only operating at half capacity. The plant burns Iraq’s plentiful crude oil to generate power with almost no modern environmental regulations while its employees, numbering over 1000, work on dirty, oil-slicked floors with little safety equipment. By Chris Hondros/Getty.

A policeman walks past Shepard Fairey’s portrait of US President-elect Barack Obama after it was installed at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington on January 17, 2009. The portrait that came to symbolize Obama’s historic campaign made its permanent home at the National Portrait Gallery. Obama warned of ‘difficult days’ ahead before heralding his new era of change, by rolling back the years on a pre-inaugural slow train to Washington. By Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty.

George W Bush face masks are reduced to make way for new stock of Barack Obama masks at Angels Fancy Dress store on Shaftesbury Avenue on January 15, 2009 in London, England. The Barack Obama masks are some of the first to go on sale in the UK, just days before Mr Obama is inaugurated as the President of the USA on January 20, 2009. By Oli Scarff/Getty.

Seagulls sit at sunset and wait for food from passers-by on the promenade of Crosby beach on January 8, 2009 in Crosby, England. Much of the UK has been waking up from a heavy frost and sub zero temperatures with clear skies producing spectacular winter sunrises and sunsets. By Christopher Furlong/Getty.

Mourners of Israeli army Staff Sgt. Alex Mashavisky, who died during combat in Gaza, take cover as a rocket alarm goes on during his funeral on January 07, 2009 in Beer Sheva, Israel. International calls on Israel and Hamas to introduce a renewed ceasefire deal have increased following a day of significant conflict and an increasing death toll. By Uriel Sinai/Getty Images.

Christian Califano of France rests during the third motorcycle stage of the 2009 Dakar Rally between Puerto Madryn and Jacobacci, in Argentina, on January 5, 2009. Marc Coma of Spain won the stage and keeps the lead of the race. By Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty.

An Israeli soldier takes a position behind a wall on which ‘Liberate Gaza’ is written during a protest in the West Bank city of Hebron on January 2, 2009 against the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Thousands of Palestinians held angry protests in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank today after Hamas called for a ‘day of wrath’ against Israel’s blitz of Gaza. By Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty.