You May Roll Your Eyes

Well I've been debating whether or not to blog about the tragedies happening in Palestine, and I've decided I will bite my tongue no longer. I don't profess to be an expert on the topic, although it has been an area of interest and study for me. I will try and make this as brief as possible as it would be easy for me to get carried away and I don't want to turn this into a rant. So here it goes...
I seriously believe that we are witnessing the extinction of the Palestinian people. I can think of no other way of saying it. I realize the conflict has been ongoing since Israel came into existence, but for some reason this latest war on Gaza has really hit me. The last body count I heard was 760 Palestinians killed to Israel's 13 only 3 of which were civilian. This sort of lopsided killing is indicative throughout the history of the conflict, do a little research on death tolls throughout the history and you'll see. This alone is enough to get me to consider that over the last few decades the Palestinian people have been undergoing a slow demise.
Another reason I feel this way is that it seems no one (except for the civilians) wants peace. The so-called international community is toothless against U.S. veto power. Although this time the U.S. did abstain. However, UN resolutions mean very little as Israel has violated them in the past with little or no discipline against them. Of course Israel blames Hamas and the rockets they send into Israel, and Hamas blames Israel for their occupation of Palestinian land and wars of aggression. So it doesn't seem either side is willing to budge on that one. Even most middle eastern countries don't seem to be too bothered by the plight of the Palestinians. Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, are all firmly in the pocket of the U.S last time I checked, so clearly they won't or can't do anything contrary to U.S. policy. So where does that leave the Palestinian people? (just for the record I do realize that Israelis have suffered and lived in fear as well)
Although the amount of people that have voiced their disgust in this latest war on Gaza is encouraging, unfortunately it has not been enough to persuade people to lay down their arms, or convince the international community to act beyond lip service to try and put a stop to the violence.
So who will act? Is there any hope? Will another Gandhi or King arise from the ashes and promote a new nonviolent movement? Who knows? Will Obama finally resolve this decades long conflict with all the enthusiasm and charisma that he brings? I doubt it.
Perhaps this is obvious, but I think the answer is within the people themselves, both Israelis and Palestinians. Thankfully, there are glimmers of hope through all of this. The Refuseniks (Israeli soldiers that refuse orders of occupation or aggression), the various Palestinian Solidarity Movements, the Bereaved Families Group which connects Israelis and Palestinians that have lost family members in the conflict. Through these groups, from the grassroots - the bottom up, maybe, just maybe, someday there will be peace between Israel and Palestine. Then the people of Palestine will once again thrive in a place where they have endured for thousands of years.
We have become desensitized to images and stories of war. It often seems so far from us, it seems there is very little we can do, it seems there is little hope. We probably often think "oh those people are bombing each other again, what else is new?" But to remember those people fighting for peace on the ground at the grassroots level, the people that don't make the headlines, this is to remember that there is hope. For if those that have lived for decades under horrific violence and psychological trauma have not lost hope, nor should we.

Thank you all for reading,

Peace in the streets,

matt