Time has sort of stood still for Palestine since 1967. Palestinians are still searching for an identity and a home. Two generations have grown up in horrible conditions. Adults who don't know where food and water is going to come from. Kids who see no future but bodily sacrifice to blunt a mightier enemy. Mothers who have seen their children die. Fathers who wail at funerals. We've seen all this on TV and nothing has changed in almost 50 years.
Politics and terrorism have masked the vicious realities of life in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel seems to have the support of the West, Palestine took many years to even get a seat at the United Nations, not recognised as a viable state for decades. Yasser Arafat and the PLO had a very clear mission of terror against the Jewish state. The Arab community cheered him on as his stance seemed like the logical response to a new, aggressive non-Muslim power in the Middle East which has since humiliated its Arab neighbours in a few wars since 1948. Today Palestinians are split across the two areas, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, each with its own democratically elected government. The leadership of Mahmoud Abbas in the former is well, less belligerent than the rocket firing folks in the latter, perhaps ironically since he is now the leader of the PLO. The West likes Mahmoud Abbas because he is open to listening to everyone. Hamas on the other hand seems to have a shoot-first talk-later approach, compounded by the belief only the destruction of Israel will end their suffering. They have called on all Muslims to support this cause, making it a religious fight more than one for the freedom of an oppressed people.
Israel has said that if Hamas doesn’t renounce its ultimate objective then there can be no bargaining. The West has also gone along with this line of thought. Meanwhile the Palestinians people get dragged along in this struggle. Hamas has also decided it is the job of every Palestinian to support their cause by their terms regardless if they like it or not. That’s why we keep hearing of Israel bombing civilian targets, because hides weapons and fires rockets from populated urban areas. So how can the Palestinians ever win?
Many influential people have come around to speak on the Palestinians. Mandela said something about we cannot be completely free until the Palestinians have their freedom. Gandhi said something along the lines of Palestine belonging to the Palestinians much like England belongs to the English and the French to France. Einstein said “It would be my greatest sadness to see Zionists do to Palestinian Arabs much of what Nazis did to Jews.” From the rules and restrictions that Israel have put around Gaza and the West Bank, the way Palestinians are accosted by Israeli military and the helplessness we see broadcast on TV, some may feel that Einstein’s fears have come true.
Regardless of Israel’s actions, what bothers me is that developed nations don’t seem to want to reprimand Israel. They’re all fearful of something or rather. The US administration has said it is deeply concerned. No one is quite sure what that means. If Israel launched a full scale invasion of Gaza, flattening the cities and scaring out Hamas of their hiding places, I’d bet the West would merely scream and shout but keep more than an arm’s length away from helping the Palestinians.
I don’t get why any other Arab nation, a fellow Muslim country, hasn’t simply come out to say it would carve out 1000 sq km of land for the Palestinians to start a better life. I’m sure many Palestinians would relish at the opportunity to start afresh. It’ been too long a struggle to win. I’d think about the children and their future. It would be so much easier to let it go and begin again.
I guess I am writing all this because it makes me sad and a little angry that we can’t all just along. I think it must be kind of craziness that the supreme beings of three major religions decided that common land to test the resolve and faith of their individual followers was a good idea. Sometimes I wish I could take it all away, make the whole thing, from Sinai to Golan, from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea, just disappear. Give everyone a month to run, then just let the whole thing disappear. Nothing to fight for means no fighting.
It’s stupid I know but it’s just pointless to see so many people unhappy and pissed off with one another. I’m not pro-anyone, just pro-happiness. Welcome to this human race. I wish more people stood up for one another as just people, not as members of a nation or group, for the pursuit of what's right and fair and for everyone's happiness, not politics or greed. Maybe it's a human farce instead, a dark comedy that'll go on for a long long time.
Many influential people have come around to speak on the Palestinians. Mandela said something about we cannot be completely free until the Palestinians have their freedom. Gandhi said something along the lines of Palestine belonging to the Palestinians much like England belongs to the English and the French to France. Einstein said “It would be my greatest sadness to see Zionists do to Palestinian Arabs much of what Nazis did to Jews.” From the rules and restrictions that Israel have put around Gaza and the West Bank, the way Palestinians are accosted by Israeli military and the helplessness we see broadcast on TV, some may feel that Einstein’s fears have come true.
Regardless of Israel’s actions, what bothers me is that developed nations don’t seem to want to reprimand Israel. They’re all fearful of something or rather. The US administration has said it is deeply concerned. No one is quite sure what that means. If Israel launched a full scale invasion of Gaza, flattening the cities and scaring out Hamas of their hiding places, I’d bet the West would merely scream and shout but keep more than an arm’s length away from helping the Palestinians.
I don’t get why any other Arab nation, a fellow Muslim country, hasn’t simply come out to say it would carve out 1000 sq km of land for the Palestinians to start a better life. I’m sure many Palestinians would relish at the opportunity to start afresh. It’ been too long a struggle to win. I’d think about the children and their future. It would be so much easier to let it go and begin again.
I guess I am writing all this because it makes me sad and a little angry that we can’t all just along. I think it must be kind of craziness that the supreme beings of three major religions decided that common land to test the resolve and faith of their individual followers was a good idea. Sometimes I wish I could take it all away, make the whole thing, from Sinai to Golan, from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea, just disappear. Give everyone a month to run, then just let the whole thing disappear. Nothing to fight for means no fighting.
It’s stupid I know but it’s just pointless to see so many people unhappy and pissed off with one another. I’m not pro-anyone, just pro-happiness. Welcome to this human race. I wish more people stood up for one another as just people, not as members of a nation or group, for the pursuit of what's right and fair and for everyone's happiness, not politics or greed. Maybe it's a human farce instead, a dark comedy that'll go on for a long long time.
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