First, a disclaimer that I don’t really have an opinion one way or the other on the “Palestinian vs Israel” issue - I think both should have to learn to live with each other, but beyond that I haven’t really read enough about it to say how that peace should look. But one thing I do know for sure, is that when you stop just looking at numbers of casualties, and hear personal stories, then you know that ideologies just don’t matter. War is ugly! The killing must stop!
“I looked down and saw my 2-year-old daughter lying there with her insides spilling out. And then the soldier shot my two other girls. I’m not Hamas. My girls weren’t Hamas. Why did they do this to us?” - quote from the article “Voices from the Rubble” - TIME magazine, Feb 9 issue.
The above quote, from “Voices from the Rubble” is an article that tells the sad tale of a man in Gaza who had 2 of his 3 daughters slaughtered in front of him (all three were shot, 1 is paralyzed but survived) by an Israeli soldier for no apparent reason. Read the story for yourself… but to hear it told certainly makes you just despise the Israeli army for doing something like that. Especially when they deny it and claim “the Israel Defense Forces is an ethical army…”
And even though it is estimated that about 90% of Jews in Israel were supporting the 22-day offensive against Gaza, I read another article titled “Israel’s Lonesome Doves” which tells the story of peace activists within Israel and their losing battle at home.
“I listened to one of my neighbors telling Israeli TV that the sound of the bombing was like a symphony, that he’s never heard such powerful music before… And I was thinking, how many people are dying because of that ‘music’?” - an Israeli peace activist commenting on her neighbor’s response to news reports of the air strikes on TV.
But it is good to hear that there are still people in both Israel and Gaza who are in-touch with their humanity and desiring peace rather than continued conflict.
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