It's taken me a few days to summon up the strength to write something, anything, about the horror in Gaza.
I just couldn't bring myself to look at the images of this latest war.
As rockets from Palestinian militants in Gaza continue to fly into Israel and Israel continues to strike hard at Gaza, the options for each side are hardening. Both sides are employing brinksmanship, carrying out their biggest raids yet this weekend and threatening much more to come.
Not when I'm still recovering from the images of the last one...
And it's always the same bloody thing. The swaggering men with guns attacking each other like scorpions in a bottle.
The rockets soaring aimlessly towards Israel. The bombs crashing down mercilessly on that tiny impoverished enclave.
And most horribly, all those dead and wounded children...
The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 160 Palestinians – among them about 135 civilians, including 30 children – have died during six days of warfare, and more than 1,000 have been injured.
Who like all the other innocent victims could not escape the horror of that miserable open-air prison, and the wreckage of history, in that ghastly part of the world where hope goes to die.
And then, as if that wasn't horrible enough, there is Stephen Harper and his monstrous Con regime.
Who at a time when most decent governments in the world are calling on both sides to end the violence, are urging on the Israelis like dizzy cheerleaders.
Israel had not just the right to defend itself, but the obligation, according to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. The end to the conflict was the responsibility of Hamas, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.
And neither man expressed much in the way of optimism for a cessation of hostilities or concern for the number of civilians who have perished under the Israeli bombardment, a number which could be three out of every four of the more than 160 killed so far in the Gaza.
Blaming it all on the violent religious fanatics from Hamas, who prefer war and the cult of so-called martyrdom to peace. While failing to also condemn the violence of the Israeli settler regime. Or spare a thought for their innocent victims.
Because as we know Stephen Harper will do ANYTHING to pleasure his good buddy Benjamin Netanyahu...
In whose office our Middle East policy might as well be written.
Harper’s “unequivocal” support for Israel will surprise no one here or abroad and Baird’s aggressive pushback against the United Nations has also lost its ability to surprise.
In Ottawa, mutual ceasefires and peace talks are only for the weak-kneed and faint of heart.
And not satisfied with having killed off our proud peacekeeping tradition, would now bury it in the rubble of Gaza, along with what's left of our international reputation...
And really what more can I say that I haven't said before?
Except that if we want to try to repair that reputation, and be a force for good in the world again, peacemakers not war mongers, we really do need to get rid of that stooge Con regime, and its depraved leader.
Before they shame us further. Or make us accomplices to murder...
Because this shouldn't be happening to any child Palestinian, Israeli, or whatever.
As always my thoughts and prayers are with the heroic medical teams trying to deal with the carnage.
And as always, in the name of humanity, I demand that the violent men on both sides be restrained. Stop the rockets, stop the bombs, stop the madness. Give peace a chance.
Save the poor little children of Gaza.
Trapped in a nightmare they can't escape...
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Hi Simon its a needless tragedy the people of Palestine are dying like lambs slaughtered. But in a shocking development I have to agree with Fat Steve on this one. I am sure we have different reasons. Hamas and Harper in my book are working off the same page. Both 30% dictators with no care for the people, For me the solution is simple take all the money and make a new home for Palestine in Saskatoon.
ReplyDeletehttp://thinkingaboot.blogspot.ca/2014/07/end-times-for-isreal.html
Or we could hold the cold-blooded murderous, genocidal jews responsible for their war crimes and forcibly get them the fuck out of Palestine, turn "israel" (there was no "israel" before 1948 you fucktard!) back into the country that it originally is/was (Palestine) and and let the jews go live in an old leper colony like they deserve.
DeleteFuck you steve and Fat Steve both!!!
hi everybody...as I said in my post, I'm a healer not a killer, and I believe in peace and justice. I believe the only solution to this conflict is for Israel and a viable Palestinian state to live side by side in peace, as history has condemned them to live as neighbours until the day the earth ends. There must be justice or there will be no peace. And all the people who live in that region, especially the children, deserve better than that. But in the meantime all I desperately want is for the killing to STOP...
DeleteNo one can deny people of Jewish heritage have done way more than their meager numbers to advance the human condition. No one can deny there is a city called Jerusalem. Who was that named after the Egyptians? What has happened since 1948 has not been justice. However if Irseals enemies had just said okay that's fair in 1948, there would be peace today. Its not Israels fault the Arabs brought a knife to a gunfight.
DeleteTo Anonymous and Simon,
DeleteThe present Jews in Palestine are more or less there to stay. But I suspect Palestine will become one country and not two states. The two state solution is a figment of the imagination today, and has been since 1948. The plan has always been to have the whole space for Jews. Between the Jews and the Palestinians (most are descendants of the Mediterranean's greatest traders, the Phoenicians) they will make a state to be reckoned with.
Try this experiment, take a bowl of water (the water being the Palestinians) and drop a drop of ink (the ink being the Jews) in the water near the edge, and see what happens with time.
BTW: Most of present day Jews in Palestine are European in culture and Khazars by origin. Arabs and historical Hebrews are Semites.
To Steve,
Deleteto quote, "No one can deny people of Jewish heritage have done way more than their meager numbers to advance the human condition"
and so have many other small groups, the Irish, Scotts, etc. Nothing special about the Jews.
to quote, " No one can deny there is a city called Jerusalem. Who was that named after the Egyptians?"
Probably not, but their was a holy site in that location before the Hebrews arrived in biblical times.
to quote "However if Israel's enemies had just said okay that's fair in 1948... "
Really, in which part of the world would any group agree to be thrown off their land, have their villages, houses, lives destroyed, because the then United Nations (completely dominated by European powers and the USA) decided this!! And get this, anyone who meets certain criteria, have a 'right of return', and yet the original inhabitants DONT!
Get real Steve.
You ask when will there be peace in Palestine? When the Zionists have colonized all the land between the Mediterranean sea and the Jordan river. That's what the blue bars represent on their flag. Just like Canada's, sea to sea.
ReplyDeletehi Robert...colonizing the land of others will bring no peace just more violence. We need justice, we need security, we need two states living together in peace. And the world has to stop looking the other way and exert enough pressure to make that happen. Because what's happening there is everybody's problem, it's an open wound that must be healed...
ReplyDeleteSorry, Simon... that's never going to happen because the Gazans and their Hamas terrorists will never accept Israel; and Israel is going to continue building settlements to squeeze out the palestinian Arabs.
DeleteIsrael is a cohesive nation and the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists are the instruments of Iran mostly. It is not in the interest of the muslim nations in the ME to directly attack Israel because they know they would be obliterated... and besides, the Israelis have nuke hidden.
There will never be peace in the ME in our lifetimes and probably never. To think otherwise is to just delude.
SteveT
I'm rather shocked by some of the comments here. This situation is horrible, and about the only positive note is that Alexandre Boulerice (my MP), Libby Davis and Charlie Angus have spoken out on it. I hope other NDP MPs will, and some Liberals too for that matter. Unfortunately there are no Conservatives left who are like Flora MacDonald or even Joe Clark.
ReplyDeleteI don't like Hamas either, or religious parties in general, but the root cause of this is the ilegal occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza strip and East Jerusalem that go back to 1967. A lot of the people reading this blog weren't even born then. And the current Israeli leadership is very hawkish and has religious-fundamentalist elements as well.
the problem is Benny is an idiot and to remain in power must cater to the the extremists in his own country, hence the continuation of settlements where there ought not to be any by Israel. Will Benny stop. Of course not, his extremists won't allow it or he won't be P.M.
ReplyDeletethe settlers need to be removed and stopped. this is not a place for expansion. the territories are too small. Now to Hamas and assorted others. some have had very legitimate complaints. Others, extremists have done what the Jewish extremists have done and its all about them.
When the State of Israel was created, Arabs fled. they wound up in camps. What is interesting is, no other Arab or muslim countries ever welcomed these refugees. from these refugee camps grew unrest and hate, not to be unexpected. then toss in the 7 day war and the fun was on. It would have been best if these parts of Israel had been incorporated, the Arabs given full citizenship and their land back and gotten on with life. extremeist didn't want it and at some level the Western powers weren't going to ever say or do anything. They had the guilt.
Canada, U..S.A., Britain, refused to take Jews in the lead up to the war. The Jews who left Germany could only go to countries in western europe and when the Nazis got there, they killed them anyhow. So while there was no escape to 'safe" countries, afterwards everyone was stuck with the guilt. Some have used to advance their positions and feed off of it. Harper and his herd fed off of it. where is Canada. They ought to be sending in troops via the U>N> as they once did, to separate the factions but that isn't going to happen. Some states are willing to let Israel do their "dirty work" and other states let the Palestinians do their "dirty work".
Now we may not be able to do anything because if ISIS or ISIL decide to have a go at Israel while they are still battling in Syria and Iraq, the west will let it happen. they will have no choice. ISIS is a no prisoners taken organization and they are a threat to oil companies. So we just get to sit and wait. Bennie isn't going to stop and with friends like Stevie he isn't going to be held back. Other countries, because of their pasts are in no position to say or do anything. They either killed Jews or refused to help.
Civilian casualties are acceptable to the jihadists both Israeli and Gazan casualties. Muslim women and children who become collateral casualties because of jihadist activities are acceptable in Islam. The people in Gaza may wail over their casualties, but they will never blame the Hamas jihadists for the deaths, only the Israelis. Their terrorist values are very different from our Christian values.
ReplyDeleteSteveT
To Steve T,
DeleteSteve I do not know who you are or if you really believe what you write. Palestinians/Gazans are people just like us. They are parents, teenagers, kids, uncles, aunts, grandparents, neighbours, etc. They have feelings just like us. Everything good thing we have in our lives they want also. These are people who have had everything stolen from them. Their land, villages, respect, futures, everything. They live a life of misery that we cannot fathom here in Canada. And some of us talk as if they have no feelings.
They are fighting crazy people who want to completely obliterate them, and take whatever little they have left. Netanyahu has just given a speech lately and he was quite candid. His message to the Palestinians was, submit, leave or die. The god they worship is the Hebrew biblical god. This god is absolutely vicious. Go read the 'old testament' and you'll see what I mean.
If only Christians were more Christ like. Where he preaches love. I'm not a religious person, but what's happened to the idea that life is sacred? The Jews say they are protecting themselves. Exactly what are protecting themselves from? Not one Israeli has died from a Gazan rocket since this has started. Doesn't that tell you something? Think about it, before writing that anti-muslim propaganda.
palestinian Gasans are NOT people just like us... they are religious extremists and losers who can't give up the fight against a superior Israel. And what do "feeelings" have to do with real politik? The palestinians have always lived in misery because their leaders are corrupt corrupt corrupt... and they send their families to safe havens like Canada while stripping away the aid money being poured into Gaza. They are a terminal people who are being exploited by their own leaders.. and that's a fact.
DeleteSteveT.....
If hatred and massacre of innocent children is christian values, I will convert to Islam!
Deletethe population of Gaza is primarily people just like us... they do not all support Hamas..many want the attacks on Israel to stop... but Hamas attacks are like a flea on a dog.. so little damage , more of an inconvenience.. they do not have an army.. rockets made of soup cans are not equal to missiles... they are victims of war and innocent people.. it is lie being shot in captivity... not a fair fight and not justified...
ReplyDeleteSo who started the fight... certainly not Israel! And it's not a fair fight because the Hamas terrorists hide behind their own people when they launch rockets and even when they engage in battle with the Israeli army. The Hamas leadership don't really care about civilian collateral damage because they are jihadists who only deliver violence and hatred. Of course, that's okay by you because you associate yourself with the downtrodden Gazans who are exploited by their political leaders.
Deletethe situation is herrible in both sides,not just the palestinian side.you can find A LOT of such pictures from israel,because the palestinians are CONSTANTLY in the last 14 years shooting missiles into israeli cities.what you'd do'if for 14 years you'd be shot?the hammas doesn't want peace.they want to destroy the state of israel and to establish there a muslim-religious state/read their chart'it's written there.israel,before it takes action,warns enough time before to evacuate the area.the hammas ordered gazans to ignore the israeli warnings and to stay in combat zones during battles,so the hammas will use gazans as protective sheild,and blame israel for the casualties.here is the proof for it,taken from hammas TV,translated to english:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm09uRDdzto
ReplyDeleteNo compares, no hay comparación, las mentiras repetidas son verdades para los ignorantes
DeleteWhat hypocrisy on the part of Britain? What did we do in Britain when rockets and bombs were dropped on us for 5 years? – Bomber Harris flattened Dresden, Cologne etc. How do we expect a democratic nation like Israel to tolerate bombs raining down on their towns and cities by a terrorist group for more than 5 years?? Especially when they are fired from Schools and kindergartens?? Shame on Hammas and shame on Britain for supporting them!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more together with your takeaway.
ReplyDelete