When I watched the news tonight I felt like running down to the beach in my pyjamas, climbing the tallest sand dune, and screaming at the crescent moon.
No...no...NOOOOO!!!!! Not that violence, not that horror, not Gaza. Again.
Israel's aerial bombardment of Gaza has intensified after it authorised the call-up of 30,000 army reservists, amid reports of a possible ground offensive... At least 18 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in Israeli airstrikes, including children, and three Israelis have been killed by Palestinian rocket fire into southern Israel.
Not more rockets and bombs, not more dead children...
And this time on Twitter.
And YouTube.
As if you can avoid civilian casualties in a little place as crowded as Gaza. As if there was a military solution.
Above all, the pain and anguish inflicted by yet another round of civilian deaths and injury will sow hatred in the hearts of another generation, who will grow up bent on revenge and yet more bloodshed. This keeps happening, decade after decade, for one simple reason: there can be no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both sides will say the action they have taken is necessary. But it will solve nothing.
When every sane person knows that the only way to end this nightmare, heal this gaping wound in the fabric of humanity, is by holding serious negotiations, ending the occupation, ending the strangulation of Gaza, ending the empty threats to "destroy" Israel, and doing everything humanly possible to encourage both sides to live in peace and security with each other.
For if they have had enough, so has the rest of the world, forced to watch this bloody horror show go on and on and on.
And it saddens me to think that Canada won't be able to play a role in helping to make that happen, because the Harper government has allied itself so closely with the right-wing Netanyahu settler regime, our ability to influence events in that region has been fatally compromised.
Even though we were once known as peacemakers, and the greatest gift our history ever gave us was our genius for compromise.
Oh well. Pray for an end to the violence, and for the safety of the innocent people on both sides trapped in a nightmare that never ends.
Curse the warmongers who would spill blood like water.
Pity the poor children of Gaza who cannot escape the horror...
Vote here to recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers
http://whatreallyhappened.com/IMAGES/GazaHolo/index.html
ReplyDeleteGo see for yourself how this is really shaping up for the Gazans. Notice any similarities? GET THE PICTURE? (pun intended)
hi anonymous...it's really bad, but it's not the same thing. The Israelis can be cruel and callous, but they are not Nazis. But causing so much suffering, after having suffered so much is simply inexcusable. And of course there are many good Israelis who feel the same way I do...
DeleteNobody could express the cause of the Middle East conflict better than David Ben Gurion, Israels first Prime Minister did in 1956. "Why should the Arabs make peace? If I were an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. We have taken their country. Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, but 2,000 years ago, what is that to them? There has been antisemitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that?"
ReplyDeletehi Wazz...the Israelis and the Palestinians are trapped in a nightmare of their own making. For while Israel, as the occupier and stronger military power must get most of the blame, the Palestinians haven't helped their cause either. Their leadership has made many mistakes,and both sides are held hostage by religious extremists. I am still hoping for peace though. I figure if we can get those two peoples to live in peace, making peace in the rest of the world should be relatively easy...
Delete