Gaza!
Like many of you, I've been following the tragedy unfolding in Gaza and Israel. The horrific slaughter of innocent people started a process that is unfinished and will go on for some time. Hamas wanted to stick a poker in the eye of the Israelis, and they did, brutally. Forget, for a moment, the long history of hatred between the two sides. That's a discussion for another time. Look, instead, at just the past few days.
If you step back and look at actions on the ground and listen to what's being said, you see a pattern that is predictable and guarantees that the process will continue, and the tragedy will repeat itself. Hamas, and the rest of the world, knew that Israel would strike back, forcefully and without mercy. And they have. In the part of the world I live in there is overwhelming justification for striking back. And overwhelming support for doing so.
In other parts of the world the righteousness of the Palestinian cause is front and center. They are the ones who have been wronged. So taking action, even brutal action, to retaliate is justified.
Will there be a winner in this war? The Israelis will win on the battlefield, but that will not be a victory that solves the problem or relieves the suffering. Hamas will suffer some. Israeli families who lose or have loved ones injured will suffer some. But the ones who will suffer the most are innocent people in Gaza who could care less about Hamas or Israel, but only want to live in peace.
So my heart goes out to the innocent ones, young and old, on all sides, who pay the price for the stubborn and foolish actions of those in power.
posted by Dan at 12:31 PM
1 Comments:
For as dark as things seem now, a little bit of historical reference.
Early in the Yom Kippur War 50 years ago, the Egyptians achieved “the Crossing.” After decades of humiliating military defeat by the Israelis, the Crossing represented a quintessential victory for the Egyptians; they had the Israelis in retreat in Sinai, pushed back from the 1967 armistice line at the Suez Canal.
It is doubtful whether many people thought that Israel’s stinging defeat early in the war would lead to peace initiatives in the future. At the time, it would have been ludicrous to think.
Four years later, Sadat travelled to Jerusalem and made peace with Israel. The Crossing was an essential Egyptian achievement that was an enabler of Sadat's initiative.
Against this historical allegory, it is my hope that this week’s “Palestinian Crossing,” will lead to peace initiatives that are beyond our wildest imagination right now.
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