No Perfect Options

I read this quote on a bumper sticker: "If all the Arabs put down their weapons, there would be peace in the Middle East. If all the Israelis put down their weapons, there would be no more Israel." I whole-heartedly believe that that quote is true. The war here is upsetting for everyone. Of course, there are some on both sides who are motivated by hatred, but the overwhelming majority of Israelis deeply want peace, at any cost. I know that violence begets violence and hate begets hate, but I don't really see any better options that Israel had to chose from. Sure, only a few Israelis have been killed, but that's not the only important issue here. A country cannot tolerate an unlimited number of rockets shot at its civilians daily.

There are several western volunteers who have come to Revivim from Kibbutzim near Gaza. I was talking to Linda, a South African journalist who is one of those volunteers. She said that she though the chances of getting killed or hurt by a rocket, even now, was slim to none. But she decided that she needed to come here after she woke up at 2am by loud bomb blasts one night and realized that she'd been having nightmares about the violence for that night, as she had been having every night for weeks. She said that if she's having terrifying nightmares as an adult, think about what the children must feel. Israeli children have been wetting their beds in fear of the rockets intentionally launched at their civilian families.

I realize that children in Gaza must feel the same way, and that's the difficult part. No children should have to have those nightmares. But at the same time, Hamas doesn't seem to want to protect its children. When Israel drops flyers and sends voicemails to cell phones in Palestine, informing civilians of where they intend to bomb, Hamas officials send young children up onto the roofs of those buildings, instead of evacuating. It's almost like this is one giant suicide-bombing mission for Hamas. It's unfortunate, but the pattern seems to always be the same.

During times of peace, Hamas builds up it's artillery and weapons, as witnessed by the fact that they have so many rockets right now. They initially break the cease fire by shooting said rockets into Israel. Nearly every time, Israel chooses to retaliate with violence. Yes, this is Israel's choice, but the other option is to have rockets shot at civilians constantly. Neither are good options. So Israel retaliated, and when they did, lots of civilians inevitably got killed. But the thing is, Israel didn't want civilians to die and tried to avoid that. Have you ever heard of a country telling civilians where and when they plan to bomb? That's unheard of.

I'm horrified by the numbers of civilian casualties, but like I said, I don't really see many other options for Israel. In addition, Hamas structures its organization so that military and government leaders are among civilians. And the line for civilians and non-civilians is kind of blurry. Is someone still a civilian if they offer to store weapons for Hamas in their basements? Are they a civilian if they were planning a suicide bombing mission? Who's reporting civilian casualties anyway? Israel's very selective about who it lets into Gaza. In the Lebanon war, Hezbollah moved dead bodies around to make it look like more civilians had actually been killed. How do we know that's not happening again? And in the early days of the war, there were reports that both Hamas and Egyptian border officials had opened fire on civilian Palestinians trying to escape to Egypt. There were also reports that Hamas gunmen went into hospitals and shot wounded Palestinians suspected of supporting Israel. With reporting that's so biased on both sides, who really knows anything? How can we say what's going on? All I can react to is my own viewpoint and the information I've received, which is what I'm doing in this blog. I know my view is biased and that some of my information is probably incorrect, but my side needs to be heard too. People who say that reporting is biased in favor of Israel are wrong, I see it with my own eyes.

Two days ago, I read a news article that stated that 160 aid trucks had been let into Gaza. Minutes later, I saw a story on CNN about how 30 aid trucks were kept out. They didn't seem to mention that 160 were let in, only the 30 that were kept out. In many ways, the news is the pawn of the people. They write and show the images that are most powerful and most reactionary, and in doing so, don't give the full perspective from either side. I think very few people in the world have a real idea of what's going on right now.

All that being said, I'm feeling incredibly depressed and disheartened by the entire situation. I don't think there were really any ideal options for Israel to choose from, but I don't see how this can end well for either side. Violence begets violence and hate begets hate, but sometimes it doesn't seem like there are any other options. I believe in non-extremist education starting from childhood, but that's a long term solution and we need solutions now. I understand that Israel can't trust a cease fire from an organization that's used peace to prepare for war for years. Israel occupied Gaza, and Hamas shot rockets. Israel asked for peace and Hamas said "We'll agree to peace if you leave Gaza." So Israel agreed and left Gaza. And now the situation is far worse then before.

The stress and depression is building here. We don't want to be at war. We want peace. But when someone strikes you again and again, regardless of promises, it's hard to trust them again. And I don't really know what to do about that.