We should pray, for our loved ones, for Israel and Gaza, for the wounded and the grief-stricken, and for a swift, enduring end to this fighting. But we also need to call for a durable solution for peace, including a swift and sustainable ceasefire that ends all rocket attacks, and the complete and permanent lifting of the Gaza blockade. May peace come quickly. Full Story »
Posted by Chris Finnie
I am a strong supporter of Israel and its right to exist and respond to Hamas. But at the same time, I am horrified, pained and fearful about the terrible loss of life in this war. How much blood has been shed? How many people are wounded, terrified, grief-stricken? What suffering on both sides, about which we have thought too little, lies behind all this? How much new hatred is now being born? That Hamas criminally and cynically uses innocent people as human shields does not clear us of all moral responsibility for whatever happens. I long for the fighting and the rockets to end so that no more innocent lives lost. That is why we must call out for the sake of life and peace. Now it is more important than ever to reach out across a widening gulf of fear, anger and pain to friends and colleagues in the Muslim community, where we can and should talk together, mourn together, hope together. Otherwise we too will be unable to look each other in the face, without anything we can say or anyone we can say it to. This is urgent and it is for us to do here, in London, in Britain now.
With all due respect, I question the claim that Hamas uses “innocent people as human shields.” I suppose it is not impossible, but that image conjures up one of a bank robber grabbing a hostage to escape. I wonder if, instead, it is more accurate to acknowledge that, given the intense crowding and population density in Gaza, with only an estimated 22,000 ‘armed fighters’ in Hamas and 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, that it is impossible to fire at a suspected ‘militant’ without killing civilians. I suspect that this turn of phrase is more of a marketing strategy than a truth, and I would like to hear confirmed facts from neutral observers on this issue before I make up my mind. The Palestinians I know are hard-working, decent, educated people who love their families, love their land, and pray for peace.
We should pray, for our loved ones, for Israel and Gaza, for the wounded and the grief-stricken, and for a swift, enduring end to this fighting. But we also need to call for a durable solution for peace, including a swift and sustainable ceasefire that ends all rocket attacks, and the complete and permanent lifting of the Gaza blockade. May peace come quickly.
Amen.
I believe that "truth" is hard to find in this situation, and prefer to discuss "facts." The incontrovertible fact is that approximately 100 Palestinians are killed in Gaza for every one Israeli death, and the ratio of grievously injured is even worse. I know the fear that comes with waiting for unexpected danger--in ways it is more terrifying because of the uncertainty and the endless anxiety. But I cannot be persuaded that such anxiety is a just cause for wreaking death and destruction on overcrowded civilian communities who have no shelter, no defenders, and no way to escape, and who have not lived in any guise of 'freedom' since 1967.