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Banksy-gaza.jpg
Painting of Hope in the Gaza Strip Barrier Wall On June 2002 in the
Occupied territories a concrete barrier walls were being erected.
I
have read Malanie Phillip's
Times article about not getting the real truth about Gaza and still think the Israeli response is
disproportionate ....
I
am no supporter of Hamas and their tactics, but Israeli bombing of Gaza is
inhumane - the casuality figures speak from themselves. I think the
same about Hirohima and Nagasaki (which we remember this weekend) and also
allied 'smart' bombing in Afghanistan.
The
'Muddle East' is very complicated and evades any attempts to make it clear
distinctions between goodies and baddies. And once the dogs of war are released
everything gets even messier. But the killing of so many civilians is not a proper response.
In all of this dreadful conflict, I have found Colin Chapman’s article below most helpful….
Trying to make sense of Gaz It's on
the Fulcrum website
http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/articles/trying-to-make-sense-of-gaza/ Just one quotation from the article:
If some Palestinians have not been supporters of Hamas and blamed it for
the escalation of the fighting in the last two weeks, the ferocity of
Israeli attacks on Gaza has probably had the effect of rallying
widespread support for Hamas and its demands. One of the lessons of the
Northern Ireland peace process was that there was no significant
breakthrough until all parties – including those regarded as being extreme – were brought into the political process. …
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I visited there as part of a delegation (Feb 2002) when I was Regional Director for CMS and have
seen the situation first hand (I know it was many years back) but it helps to
identify and imagine what people are going through. Re-reading the report of
the visit, I realise, of course, nothing
ever changes .... The endless cycle of
violence keeps repeating itself.
The reference to Samson as possibly the first suicide 'bomber (below) made me think of the play I'd studied at school: 'Eyeless in Gaza' (hence the title of this blog) O that we would have eyes to see ..... and know how to pray ...
‘Pray not for the Jew or Muslim or Christian, Israeli or Palestinian or
Arab; pray rather for ourselves, that we might not separate them in our
minds but instead join them in our prayers.’
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Report: Across the lines (CMS, Feb 2002) DAY 8 Gaza Suhaila Tarazi, Al Ahli Hospital, Gaza City
“Today
began ominously. There had been several Israelis killed over the last few days,
and Israel was in the mood for retaliation.
We
went down to Gaza this morning, passed through the Eretz checkpoint where you
choose either to be a VIP, diplomat, or international organisation/tourist.
Palestinians are filtered off to enter what looks like a cross between a long
tunnel and cattle grid, but of course there weren't any Palestinians today.
Gaza has been closed for a long time. Most of its citizens are effectively
prisioners. Over 100,000 Palestinian people used to work in Israel. Now they
can't, and unemployment is at 60%.
The oppression of a people is nowhere more
tangible than by taking the dusty road across Israel down to this strip of land
- a mere 25 miles (along the coast), by 5 miles. Disconnected from the
heartlands of Judea and Samaria (modern day West Bank), Gaza contains over 1
million people. Blown about by desert sand, Gaza City is more akin to Egypt or
Pakistan than any town in Israel or even the West Bank….”
Katharine
Maycock
“We made our way to the Al Ahli Hospital, founded by CMS in the 19th
century and now run by the Anglican diocese: the only Christian hospital in
Gaza where 3000 Christians live alongside 1 million Moslems! The hospital is
quite simply a beacon of light in a desperately dark place.
We met the
hospital administrator, Suhaila Tarazi. Suhaila is a saint. She is smart,
vivacious, friendly and generous in her explanation of middle-eastern politics
and the sufferings of the Gazans. She spoke about the desperation of the
current situation and how desperate people do desperate things! She spoke of
the desperation of Samson when he killed himself as well as his Philistine
captors. Was he the first suicide bomber? The hospital feels poor and run down.
There were memorials on the wall commemorating Welsh and Scottish soldiers who
fell at the battle of Gaza in 1917. Gaza has seen too many battles.
We made our
way to the chapel for a eucharist. The service there was simple but moving. The
first sound of shelling left me unmoved: surely a sonic boom or the local
quarry? But then more consistent sounds and this time it did seem like bombs.
In fact it was Israeli F16 bombers. They were bombing a PLO prison in the
centre of Gaza city, only about half a kilometer from where we were!! We shared
the peace to the sound of war: a moment we will never forget. After the service
we went up on the roof of the building to see the smoke pouring from the site: a
bit scary and a bit unreal! Then comes the post-mortem. Where? When ? Why? How
many? Is it safe to move yet? Just another day in Gaza! My God its crazy!”
Rev Daniel Burton
“Everyday, life is full of blood. Every day there is a new victim.” Suhaila Tarazi, the Palestinian
Director of Al Ahli hospital told us. “We are all
children of Abraham – we are all brothers, but because of politics, ‘blood’
brothers.”
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