I think all people of conscience must be distraught right now. People are getting killed in Gaza in alarming numbers and with no sense to it. I am one of those who is struggling to figure out how to be constructive.
One thing I’ve been doing is reaching out to people I know in Gaza and letting them know I care, that they are not alone. Some of those conversations have been so informative and insightful that I started to record them. I am now recording a conversation with someone in Gaza everyday. It’s an opportunity for people all over the world to hear directly from a Palestinian about what it’s like to live through #GazaUnderAttack.
I’ll post new ones as they are available on this page (newest at the top) and you can also follow my Facebook and Twitter feed. But it won’t matter unless we all take action. So please, let your representatives and the media know that you want this current violence to stop and that you want them to intervene politically to bring a much-deserved just peace to the region.
-Nora
“How the West Chose war in Gaza” is the title of an editorial in the International New York Times dated July 19 – 20. The writer of the informative article is Nathan Thrall, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group covering Gaza, Israel, Jordan and the West Bank. Essentially he reminds readers that in April of this year, Hamas chose to join with the Palestinnians in a reconciliation agreement. Hamas was at its weakest economically. It opted to willingly give up official control over Gaza to the PLO on terms set by thePLO which would have established pro western technocrats in charge of Gaza. Hamas thought this a better way than having Gaza citizens rebell and hold it responsible for the increased poverty it has suffered beause Gaza has been closed at all borders, making it next to impossible to leave under any circumstance.( This reminds me of the Warsaw ghetto during WW 2) Western powers refused to go along with this reconciliation which required an opening up of Gaza so people could get out, plus having the civil servants in Gaza who haven’t been paid for their jobs, receive a monthly salary. Qatar offered to pay the Gaza 43,000 civil servants and with some support from the US and Europe this could have been implemented. But US cited some sort of legal roadblock to paying anything to those who work for Hamas because it is the only political organization running things in Gaza. Hamas had been deemed a terrorist organization. In the end, there was no exit ….violence erupted. …
Personally I have wondered why some Israelis can’t understand that they are doing to the Palestinians what the Germans – the Nazis – did to the Jews. The Palestinians did not cause the Holocaust, yet they continue to inherit the wound that has been ingrained in the Israeli psyche.
I haven’t read that one, Constance, but it’s true, there is so much context and detail that underlies the headlines, and when we look deeper, we find so very many missed opportunities to go down a different, better path.
Three important points:
1. Palestine, including Gaza strip is under Israeli occupation.
2. Israel military forces are attacking Gaza from the sea and air…using sophisticated and internationally-forbidden weapons that target and kill civilians mainly.
3.Palestinians have the right of resistance as people under occupation …we have the right to defend ourselves against Israeli criminal attacks.
Thank you Basma!