As Americans await for President-elect Barack Obama to be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States with this mantra in mind, “Our long national nightmare is over” Presently the citizens of Gaza are truly living a nightmare. A nightmare that anyone of us here in the United States cannot even fathom as we sit in front of our televisions, computer monitors and yes reading the newspapers.
When it comes to terror, we Americans think we know what it is having felt its affects on September 11th, 2001, but it cannot compare to the continuous attacks of those hit hard by the State of Israel. In piece-after-piece written of the Iraq War, I have stated that the citizens of Iraq have felt a 9/11 attack on a daily basis for over five years now as we have hit them equally hard.
Several years ago, I wrote a piece for VHeadline.com concerning Israel’s strike on Lebanon which was picked up by Honest Media Today and I could not believe the images coming out of Lebanon. Contained within that piece are graphic pictures of the terror that these Lebanese people lived through which is now being felt by those in Gaza.
In thinking of both attacks my message to Israel is to stand down immediately. You gain absolutely nothing but scorn for the killing of innocent civilians especially children. Your attacks upon Gaza are disproportional to the attacks coming from Hamas.
As reported by AFP, Jordan's Queen Rania stated, "Gaza's children, the dead and the barely living, their mothers, their fathers are not acceptable collateral damage, their lives do matter and their loss does count," she is of course of Palestinian origin. Even if she was not, the sentiments expressed by her royal highness bears truth. The one term that has always bothered me is collateral damage. These are human lives for God sake. I do not care which God you pray to or if you pray at all, these are and were human beings.
As an American citizen, I frankly want to say to the Israeli leaders, I am sick of seeing dead and injured children since we too are as guilty when it came to our illegal invasion into Iraq. Palestinian, Lebanese and Iraqi children have has much right to live as American and Israeli children. This is after all their world too.
The AFP also reported, "More than a million Gazans still have no electricity or water, and thousands of people have fled their homes for safe shelter," and I cannot even fathom that amount of suffering. While we as Americans are thankful for no further attacks have occurred, this level of violence has been visited on millions more within the Middle East at our hands and at the hands of the Israelis.
As we await a stimulus bill coming from Washington, D.C. once President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in to help fund shovel-ready projects to rebuild our infrastructure, Gaza’s infrastructure has been decimated as one reads that “essential infrastructure has been destroyed, including electricity, water, waste water, communications and roads, while hospitals can't provide adequate intensive care to the high number of casualties.” If we think we have a health-care crisis, think again. Right now, the citizens of Gaza have a life crisis.
Even reading where organizations are donating bed sheets to be used to cover the dead is so offensive. When you hear of Gazans not having enough to eat and rationing it, Washington, D.C. is mute to the suffering of these people. Then again, what does one expect when many politicians here in America are beholden to AIPAC (American Israeli Public Affairs Committee). And when Muslims speak out in anger, it is as if they cannot understand why they are so damn angry.
We always hear from various politicos and pundits that Israel has a right to exist, well in the same breath they should realize that Muslims have the right to live and in the present those within Gaza.
If there is truly to be a change in Washington, groups like AIPAC and CUFI (Christians United for Israel) must be put on notice that it will not be business as usual as its been done in the past. I am not really holding my breath for that bold move, but being a Christian myself, I just know that Christ would not approve of the genocide and slaughter presently taking place within Gaza.
My challenge to Washington and again, I am not holding my breath on this one is that we will assist both sides diplomatically, but we must end our military and economic support to the State of Israel. It will not only secure their region, but our country as well from any blowback affect. Perhaps that is the very key to ending the voices coming from angry radical Islamics. They too are witnessing the killings of innocent children and we scratch our heads as to why the anger.
Lastly to groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah you too have a responsibility to keep innocent people alive and if you do not take realize this, this cyclical violence will continue. Children are not born into this world being politically or cause motivated, they are simply born children who are deserving of life itself instead of being slaughtered because the adults cannot seem to come to come to any agreement on how to live peacefully and co-exist with each other.
I know that I am over-simplifying how to end this violence, but perhaps the simplest of answers is always the best. Because I for one am sick and tired of seeing dead and injured children in war zones. Their very images are the things that nightmares are made of.
Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
