Reality Check

This morning I joined a group of people in convoy to Gaza to take food to the people there and to demonstrate against the blockade. We formed up in Jerusalem early in the morning. Four buses full and many cars. The event was sponsored by several Israeli organizations - yes, Israeli - and the people who gathered were wonderfully mixed. Jews, Arabs, all ages, many internationals, religious and secular. We drove to Gaza through a hard rain which cleared as we approached Erez Crossing. Erez, in the north of Gaza, is the only crossing normally open, but of course has been closed the past several days since the blockade was put into effect. You have recently heard about Rafah, the southern crossing into Egypt opened by the people a few days ago. We paused just short of the crossing to wait for other groups to arrive from around the country. When everyone was there we went on foot toward the crossing terminal. Needless to say, soldiers and police were everywhere, but the demonstration was completely nonviolent and there were no confrontations of any kind. There are photos in the slideshow at the right.

We had two large trucks of food and supplies. We were not allowed into Gaza, of course, nor was the food. A legal proceeding had been initiated and the Supreme Court will decide tomorrow whether the food can enter......

A court will decide whether food can be given to people who have nearly none because a government has decided 1 1/2 million people must be punished for the actions of some. What kind of people are we becoming?!?!

I haven't posted anything here in awhile because after the Bush visit, it was hard to find words. This place is sometimes a clinical laboratory in anger management. Everyone here knows that the visit with its talk of "peace process" was a performance; a shell game to distract the world from noticing what really goes on here. Now, the sad events in Gaza ought to make that abundantly clear, but still the efforts to obfuscate go on. We're told that the blockade of food, medicine, electricity, fuel is to force the people of Gaza to refute Hamas. This is such a flagrantly stupid thing to say it's hard to believe anyone actually says it. More about that in a future post.

What's going on here is an occupation. Pure and simple. There is no "conflict" for which "peace talks" are needed. There is one group here with all the power, money, weapons, and control. There is another group who is oppressed and controlled and has no power, weapons, money, or control. Who cannot go to work without showing an ID. Who cannot travel without enduring checkpoints. Who can only eat what is allowed in. Who only have light and heat if the other group says they can have light and heat. It is as though you called in the National Guard when your two-year-old has a temper tantrum in order to "negotiate a peace agreement" and to protect yourself against the "security threat" of flying stuffed bunnies. The power relationship here is just about like that.

Missiles are being fired out of Gaza onto Israeli land, yes they are. Some Palestinians resist being occupied and some of them make very bad, very destructive choices about how to react. But when did it become ok to punish the 1 1/2 million other people who live in the same vicinity? When did it become ok, under any circumstances, to starve people? When did we suspend international law, not to mention human decency?

The brutal, inhuman actions in Gaza have been justified on the basis of "security." In my time here, although brief, I have traveled by myself in the heart of the West Bank on buses full of Palestinians. I have encountered Hamas troops in the streets of Gaza. I have never been threatened or made to feel afraid or been afraid.

You know who makes me afraid? People whose ravenous gluttony for power leads them to starve children for the sake of "security," "national interest," and "geopolitical considerations." Those are the people I think should be watched.