Tit For Tat Conflict, A Failure Of Humanity

Three Israeli teenage were found dead after going missing for some days. Their bodies were found in a ditch in a West Bank town, Haihul. They had apparently hitch hiked along a major road nearby and never showed up at home. There was a call made to the police where a voice was heard saying "We've been kidnapped" and another voice after saying "Keep your head down". The call was dismissed as a hoax and now proven to be real. 

The tragedy has gripped Israel. The sons slained, tears will be shed, cries will be heard but more importantly, there will be an eye for an eye. 

Today I read on the BBC, a Palestinian boy was killed in an apparent act of revenge. Tit for tat, the payment of an eye. 

Mothers and sisters are crying on both sides, nothing as great a misery as a son or brother lost so heinously.  Men and boys are angry on both sides, the glowing embers of emotion now raging bonfires stoked by revenge, religious fervour and honour for one's people. Another episode in the long suffering saga that is the intifada versus the might of the Israeli military. 

The rest of the world watching it unfold. State leaders are condemning both atrocities and urging restraint. Israel isn't good with restraint. After all the nation was borne of brute force and many guns pointed at a defenceless few. The Palestinians are a sad people. Landless, stateless and hope-less. Pushed out, they seek a way in, allowing themselves the ignominy of blatant oversight and control so that they can eke out a fair life. A day by day existence. 

I saw a documentary some time ago about the kids in Gaza who saw their families perish in ongoing conflict. They were as young as six. Their eyes were vacant, the faces joyless. It was like they knew their future was bleak, non-existent even. What more asking to be happy - they were living hand to mouth with little to call their own. The only permanent things were fear and rubble. Rubble rubble everywhere. Rock as hard as their hearts. It was heartbreaking watching this. The interviewer even asked a university undergrad what he would do after leaving school. The man replied he'd become a suicide bomber, because he felt that was the only way to make a difference. 

Last week, I caught an Australian TV programme (Four Corners) about life in the West Bank. The Israeli military deployed all around West Bank apparently arrests boys and teenagers for throwing stones, brings them in for questioning, checks up on them in the middle of the night, subjects them to military trials without a defence lawyer, and puts them behind bars. The video showed a 5 year old kid crying when soldiers tried to arrest him. He did get brought in and was released the same day later. Watch documentary here http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2014/02/10/3939266.htm

Arab kids walking to school get attacked with tear gas if a pebble is hurled at a soldier. A disproportionate response seemingly aimed at instilling fear and keeping an undesirable people in line. Some kids get attacked by Jewish settlers who want to drive them out, apparently with Israeli soldiers standing by and doing nothing. An Israeli man who volunteered to guide these kids on the way to school said it was sad that the Jewish people were subjecting others to the same way they were treated by the Nazis.

Added later - there's an astonishing number going around. Number of kids killed on both sides since the start of the second Intifada (Sep 2000). 129 Israeli deaths versus 1523 Palestinian deaths. The problem with this stat is the media is making it out to be 1 Palestinian kid killed every 3 days. That's not quite right and it severely skews perceptions. Graph below from http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stat/children.html shows the reality. 

Sigh. It feels like the world has given up on the Palestinian people. They're stuck in their 'assigned land', literally split by another country. Life is hard and no one is sure they'll have a positive future. Their Arab neighbours don't want them. The world isn't sure if they're friend or foe. One terrorist act makes them all terrorists. I don't know why I feel this way about this. It just makes me sad that they have no where to go and feel like they belong, no chance to develop as a country. I wonder if they could give up and leave, would they? Why doesn't a big country with lots of space just help them out and take them in? Australia? Malaysia? Kazakhstan? No one cares it seems. Happiness is defined by where you're born, and changing your circumstances is near impossible. That's what is going to be written about us in the history books. A failure of humanity that repeats itself time after time. It's just bloody depressing.

Added later -  I'm not pro-Palestinian, not pro-Israeli. I am pro-life and pro-give people a chance for happiness.