Gaza | Ain't Complicated

Woes in the Holy Land

You can help!

Here are the first three paragraphs of something I just posted on another of my sites:

Times are tough in the USA. But in the Holy Land….

GAZA CONFLICT: The recent conflict in Gaza caused the deaths of more than 1,000 people, injured thousands more, and destroyed or damaged 21,000 homes. The war increased the woes in this troubled part of the world, known as the Holy Land.

After the militant group, Hamas, continued firing rockets into southern Israel, ignoring repeated warnings, Israel began air strikes the weekend of December 28 and later moved in with tanks. This recent conflict is part of the long-running feud between Israel and the Palestinians. As always, many innocent people — families, children, and the elderly, both Jewish and Palestinian — suffer the consequences.

CAM has been working diligently with our contacts in Israel to supply food parcels to hundreds of needy families in Gaza (mostly Christian, but also some Muslim). We also plan to distribute Christian literature in Gaza. On the Israeli side, where people are traumatized by the rocket fire, we will distribute care packages.

You can help!

Will you?

The Soldier Says, “Hello”

Soldier’s Letter to Gazan

Hello,

While the world watches the ruins in Gaza, you return to your home which remains standing. However, I am sure that it is clear to you that someone was in your home while you were away.

I am that someone.

I spent long hours imagining how you would react when you walked into your home. How you would feel when you understood that IDF soldiers had slept on your mattresses and used your blankets to keep warm.

I knew that it would make you angry and sad and that you would feel this violation of the most intimate areas of your life by those defined as your enemies, with stinging humiliation. I am convinced that you hate me with unbridled hatred, and you do not have even the tiniest desire to hear what I have to say. At the same time, it is important for me to say the following in the hope that there is even the minutest chance that you will hear me.

I spent many days in your home.

The Toll of War

So much sadness and pain both hidden and contained in this next sentence!

Moawiya Hassanein, head of Gaza medical emergency services, told AFP the number of Palestinians killed since the Israeli operation was launched on December 27 was now 512, including 87 children.

Allow me a question, though.

Suppose the Israelis were in Gaza and the Palestinians were in Israel.

And suppose the population and military weights were also reversed.

And suppose it were the Palestinians attacking the Israelis.

Would the death toll be the same for Israelis as it is now for Palestinians?

What Comes Next?

That’s the question.

But I have something different in mind with it than you might expect.

So read this first:

Israeli warplanes retaliating for rocket fire from the Gaza Strip pounded dozens of security compounds across the Hamas-ruled territory in unprecedented waves of airstrikes Saturday, killing at least 155 and wounding more than 310 in the single bloodiest day of fighting in recent memory.

As you were “inputting” this information into your head, what came next?

I don’t mean what comes next on the ground in the Middle East.

I mean, after you learned of the above airstrikes, what came next in your thoughts and attitudes?

Read it all