War on Gaza - In the US, Gaza is a different war
The images of two women on the front page of an edition of The Washington Post last week illustrates how mainstream US media has been reporting Israel's war on Gaza.
On the left was a Palestinian mother who had lost five children. On the right was a nearly equally sized picture of an Israeli woman who was distressed by the fighting, according to the caption.
As the Palestinian woman cradled the dead body of one child, another infant son, ...
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The siege against the Gaza Strip is not a battle of equals--it is a massacre of captive civilians who cannot leave. And the reporting in most American media fails to face the catastrophic consequences to the 1.5 million Palestinian civilians trapped in this illegal, immoral action--in clear violation of the 4th Geneva Convention prohibition of collective punishment against civilian populations and noncombatants. This cataclysm is grave, tragic, and imbalanced. But accurate information is available. I am a lifelong supporter of the Israeli people, and a newly-minted advocate for Palestinian human rights--two passions that are not in any way mutually exclusive. For either people to survive, their governments must reach a stable balance based on respect, human rights, and international law. The other unmentioned fact is the US role in facilitating this assault, and in failing to speak out against it. The new administration of the United States MUST take a leading role as an honest, just broker between Israel and Palestinians, and withhold all arms sales to Israel until peace is permanent. For the past two years I have been involved in issues of human rights for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. I have met and worked with Israelis and Palestinians and Americans, Muslims, Jews, Christians, and unaffiliated human rights advocates to understand the issues, meet the people, hear their stories, and face the facts. I was a presenter at a two-day conference in Seattle in April, 2007, featuring renowned speakers from Palestinian Christian communities in the West Bank and Gaza. I have attached a link to the conference program and the featured speakers for readers who would like to do further study or research on human rights in the Palestinian Occupied Territories. I urge anyone interested in learning more about this issue and media coverage to watch "Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land," a 2006 documentary of television news coverage of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Follow the link and view this documentary online. I also strongly recommend the book "Dark Hope," by Israeli peace activist David Shulman. He writes of his personal experiences standing between Palestinian civilians and Israeli "settlers" and military forces. Both works are challenging, difficult, and factual. We must face these facts and act to change them now.