A Song for Gaza
Israel Makes My Heart Break
My heart is breaking for the people of Palestine. Hold on to your courage, your resolve and your strength dear people of Gaza. I know that you are bleeding right now, and that your children are dying…but hold on just a little longer! Palestine, you have been robbed for 60 years, your land taken over and your dignity crushed and still you exist! You are a people of amazing strength. People from all over the world are appalled at how you have been treated and many have risked their reputations and even their very lives to champion your cause. If I speak on your behalf would I be considered a bad Jew and a traitor to my people? If I cry out for justice, will justice be denied me because I opened my mouth? Israel makes my heart break because they have forgotten how to be generous, hospitable, forgiving and loving to those they share the land with. My heart breaks because Israel is supposed to be the “Apple of Gods eye!” How rotten this apple has become and how irritating to the Eye of the Almighty.
We are family, you and I. You are my sisters and my brothers and we have the same blood pumping through our hearts…the blood of our Father Abraham! I know that you love our father Abraham and it is evidenced by how you hold Hebron as a treasure! Religiously we are different, but I couldn’t hold that against you. If my brother or sister in my immediate family had a different religious view than I, I would still love them.
You are a beautiful people, hospitable, lovely and strong. I understand why the rockets fly over to the other 
side, and it seems that there has been a lot of revisions to the historical record in the last 70 years. The revision seems to be that you are some how terrorists because you want your land back…land that was taken from you when Israel became a state. Why does that make you a terrorist? How can you be a terrorist if you are being occupied? It doesn’t make sense to me. And now you are being crushed once more. Why is it that Israel can defend itself from bombs, but Palestine can not? If I say such things will I now be thought of as a terrorist too? If I decide to apply for dual citizenship in Israel, will I be denied because of what I am saying today? Would I be spit upon and rejected by my people because I refuse to stand in solidarity with them regardless of your treatment? Will I be snubbed by the Jewish community and Christian community because I refuse to turn a blind eye to those who are being mistreated, abused, starved, killed and maimed? How can I do such a thing? How can they do such a thing? That makes my heart even more sick.
I know that there will be those who will be very offended and become extremely defensive to this blog entry, but, to you I say don’t be like a spoiled child with an ever increasing thirst for more and more! You have the best of the land, the backing of very powerful nations and great military strength. Don’t come crying to me about how you are treated…I think you have made out quite well for yourselves. This has not been a fair fight from the beginning, and while bloodshed on both sides is quite deplorable, nothing in my eyes seems to be able to compare to the evidence of war crimes, unethical and inhumane treatment of the Palestinian people.
The following two tables were taken from “If Americans Knew“:
The Impact of the Conflict
on Children
123 Israeli children have been killed by Palestinians and 1,050 Palestinian children have been killed by Israelis since September 29, 2000.
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“The majority of these [Palestinian] children were killed and injured while going about normal daily activities, such as going to school, playing, shopping, or simply being in their homes. Sixty-four percent of children killed during the first six months of 2003 died as a result of Israeli air and ground attacks, or from indiscriminate fire from Israeli soldiers.” |
Source: These numbers are from Remember These Children, a coalition of groups calling for an end to the killing of children and a fair resolution of the conflict. (View the complete list of the victims, which was last updated on July 17, 2008.)
December 2008 - January 2009 Attack on Gaza
This section contains articles on the December 2008 - January 2009 attack on the people of Gaza.
Palestinians & Israelis Killed
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Palestinians & Israelis Injured
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Source: The Guardian |
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