Stolen Land

Early today the state of Israel stole approximately 1,000 acres of land from Palestinians in Gvaot near Bethlehem. The official media language is “seized” which is typically a term used when an aggressor forcibly takes over something that isn’t theirs. The state of Israel has long been in violation of international law with the illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

It’s part of the reason that there is so much turmoil in the state and what sparks the majority of the conflicts between Palestinians and Israelis. This latest land grab is one of the largest in the past 30 years and would effectively create a chain of illegal Israeli settlements that could have the potential to grow into another city. Currently Gvaot is occupied by 16 Israeli families. Israel’s recent actions are in direct response to the murder of three Israeli teenagers earlier this summer and the fuse for this latest war. Actions like these fly directly in the face of the Israeli stated intent of peace. How can you make peace with someone when you consistently act in an non-peaceful manner. The same can also be said for Hammas.

The land grabbed today belongs to the Palestinians and for many people it is their sole source of livelihood. Any homes that are on the land will be bulldozed and walls will be erected to keep the Palestinian people out of their land. Israelis will live in nice communities with all the modern conveniences while their neighbors look at the land that once belonged to them from behind the wall. It’s heart breaking and I don’t understand that type of cruelty; especially from a group of people who had the exact same thing done to them more than 70 years ago.

The people of Israel are split on this issue of occupation and find themselves divided between more Zionist, Orthodox Jews with hardline rhetoric and more moderate, secular Jews who see the occupation as the main reason that peace can not be achieved by the two sides. I’ve stated before that I believe in both sides right to self determination, but that right should not involve violence or force.

In most of the Western world children have started another school year. In Gaza their first day of school has been pushed back to the middle of September because the schools have been turned into shelters and most of them have been badly damaged by bombs. So imagine those kids, and countless kids around the world, who are going back to school and they look around their classroom and half their class isn’t there – they didn’t over sleep, they’re not stuck in traffic, they’re not home sick with the flu – they’re gone, wiped off the face of the earth because two groups adults are so busy throwing stones and protecting their own agendas that they are willing to do whatever it takes to win. Even if that means by stealing and killing.

Land on Fire

Israel and Palestine are once again a burning ground as rockets rained down from both sides and fragile peace talks crumbled to dust. I shared this story on facebook during a post at the beginning of this most recent conflict in Israel. I’ve mentioned before that I volunteer with a respite program for special needs kids and their siblings. Since most of us are rushing to the church straight after work they’re nice enough to feed us and give us a chance to catch up with our fellow volunteers. This particular night some of my fellow volunteers were asking me about my then upcoming trip to Israel (this was prior to its cancellation) and my thoughts on the area. A woman who serving our dinner that evening walked into the conversation and asked me in a somewhat perturbed voice “Well, whose side are you on?” I wasn’t surprised at her question, most people in this country don’t understand the complexities of that region or some of the root causes of these conflicts. I looked at her as calmly as I could and said, “I’m on no one’s side. I’m on the side of basic human rights.”

And that’s a statement I still stand by. It hurt to hear that the bombing had started once again because it’s innocent people on both sides who pay the price. The Israeli government has denied Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch access to Gaza so that they can begin their investigations on what is happening inside the Strip. The Israeli government has stated that they can’t enter the Strip because they aren’t registered with one of the governmental aid agencies and that the Israeli-controlled border has been closed. Neither of the groups were aware of this registration process and the border has in fact been open to journalists and aid workers. Both groups have published reports in the past that call both Hamas and the IDF out on various human rights abuses and they have both been very vocal that many of the IDF’s and Hamas’ actions are bordering on war crimes. Both groups are free to move within Israel and the occupied West Bank, they just can’t get into Gaza. Think about that for a minute; why won’t they let them in?

 

We’re the Oprah of Bombs

I wish I could take credit for that catchy title but I can’t. Jon Stewart used it in one of his opening monologues in the past week on The Daily Show called Automatics for the People. Today marks the 69th anniversary of the United States dropping the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan; we dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki three days later. Was the second one really necessary? It was the first, and so far last, time an atomic bomb was used in warfare.

Stewart’s point in this hilarious, but true, monologue is that the US has a vested interest in the weapons industry. General Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell address to the nation as President of the United States warned of the military-industrial complex, which is advice we did not heed. In a Congressional Report dated August 24, 2012, the US supplied 44% of the world’s arms. We are still the world’s largest supplier of weapons.

In addition, we are Israel’s main arms supplier, so that means almost every time a bomb slams into Gaza it’s Made In the USA. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have documented the link between US arms and bombings in Israel. It’s against US law to use weapons where there is a strong possibility that the weapons will be used to violate human rights. In addition, the use of weapons against civilian populations is specifically prevented in the Geneva Conventions that were drafted after the horrors of World War II.

On one hand the US government is calling for a cease-fire in Israel and trying to broker a peace deal while at the same time steadily supplying the weapons needed to continue the assault on Gaza. We will see if the current cease fire holds. The majority of the people being killed in Gaza aren’t members of Hamas, they’re innocent men, women and children who are trapped in one of the world’s largest ghettos. They literally have nowhere to go, and as we’ve seen in recent weeks even UN run schools aren’t safe.

The arms industry is big business and I doubt anything will change anytime soon. However, as the so-called leaders of the free world we can put pressure on our government to withhold arms to Israel or any other nation that violates the rules of war. You can take action through Amnesty International at Stop Arming Israel or contact your Congressman via email.

We Don’t Want You Here

Right about now I should be boarding a flight to Tel Aviv to begin two weeks of travel and learning in Israel. Sadly, due to the recent violence the trip was canceled. Like I’ve mentioned before, I was supposed to blog throughout the trip as part of my master’s program, but despite the trip being canceled I found myself needing to write.

One of the greatest things about getting an education is that it opens your mind and exposes you to different viewpoints in the world. As the conflict in Israel began to escalate I found myself reading some of the most awful posts on Facebook that were without historical or factual basis. For someone who rarely posts on Facebook and relies on friends to “check me in” all over town and the world I’m sure it came a shock to some to suddenly see a constant stream of postings from me. I just couldn’t stand seeing so many people so clueless about such an important issue.

The SMU human rights undergraduates organized a peace rally on Saturday featuring speakers from the Dallas Peace Center and Dr. Rick Halperin, head of SMU’s Embrey Human Rights Program. The event didn’t draw the same size crowds you see in all of the other protest rallies, however, had school been in session I think those numbers would have been a lot higher. It made me think though – why do so many come out to protest but so few for peace?

What’s happening in Israel isn’t a case of they’re Arabs and Muslims – they want to kill Jews. I’ve seen that more often that I care to. Many Americans would be surprised that a lot of those Arabs are in fact Christians – not that it should matter. Palestinians have been occupied for more than 50 years and subjected to humiliating treatment, forced into ghettos and deemed second class citizens. What I find so hard to comprehend is that the people inflicting this punishment endured the same harsh treatment at the hands of the Nazis – yes I’m well aware that there are not concentration or death camps in Israel, that’s not what I’m talking about. It’s more Germany in the 1930s with the humiliation, inability to work, lack of access to healthcare and basic standards of decency.

Now Human Rights Watch has announced that there have been reports of the IDF shooting and killing civilians as they tried to flee. They’ve bombed UN schools, innocent civilians and now those trying to flee. This isn’t the first time the IDF has been accused of such actions; there are copious amounts of research and interviews that can be found through Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

I stand with Israel too in their right to defend themselves from terrorists but I also stand with Palestine in their right to self-determination and their basic human rights as outlined in the UN Declaration of Human Rights. I was supposed to meet with Parents Families Circle Forum, a support group for bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families, I think they said it best in their recent PSA – We Don’t Want You Here and neither do I.

Perched on a slippery slope.

I was supposed to be writing this blog in Israel as credit for my masters. I was going to travel with the SMU Embrey Human Rights Program and spend two weeks meeting with Israeli and Palestinian NGOs as well as seeing the historical sites.  As I’ve watched the events unfold these past few weeks I have found myself growing increasingly concerned for my Jewish friends.  Europe has seen a drastic rise in antisemitism in the past few weeks – Newsweek’s Aug. 8 cover story is called Exodus. It does no good to attack innocent people whether they are Jewish or a Palestinian Christian or Palestinian Muslim, many of these people disagree with what is happening in Gaza but they should not be paying the price. Anyone who knows me really well knows how much I love the Jewish people, as my friend Monica, who is Jewish tells me, I am an honorary Jew and I thank her for the title. I fell in love with Jewish people when I saw Yentl in 1983 and then when I stumbled into the den one afternoon when I was 8 years old and my Dad was watching a movie called: The Hiding Place. That afternoon was the first time I learned about the Holocaust as I watched the story of Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch Christian whose family hid Jews and Dutch resistance fighters. Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany – the only female only camp. Betsie would die at Ravensbruck and Corrie went on to become a famous Christian writer. From that afternoon on I spent most of my adult life studying the Holocaust (I’m still doing it to this day and will be starting a new class in the fall). Fighting violence with violence isn’t the answer. We are more alike than we are different and we are bound by our common humanity and this must stop. The world is perched right now on a very slippery slope.