http://www.freep.com/article/20090106/OPINION05/901060329/1231/opinion
"What is happening in Gaza is a
hallmark for war
crime," Nobel Peace
Prize winner the
Rev. Desmond Tutu
told the Israeli
Haaretz newspaper.
His statement was
based on his
experience with
apartheid in South
Africa and his
eyewitness accounts
in Gaza and the West
Bank.
Let's for a moment forget that the
situation is between
Israelis and
Palestinians.
Imagine that you are
in a city with a
population of 1.5
million people and
are surrounded by
40-foot walls with
only two exits. Your
enemy, who
continuously chooses
to keep you
imprisoned without
providing you with
such basic needs as
food, medicine and
other essential
items, controls the
two exits. What
would you do?
For the last five years, Israel has
rearranged its
occupation of Gaza
and cut off the
people of Gaza from
the rest of the
world. When
challenged, Israel
claims that it is
fighting Hamas, a
terrorist
organization, and
therefore it is
Israel's right to
collectively punish
an imprisoned
population.
What is happening today is essentially
Israel hunting
people in a cage
5-by-20 miles. Even
the most ardent
hunter tells you
that hunting animals
in a cage is a
crime. Why, then, do
we permit a country
to use its most
powerful weapons on
people who cannot
escape their cage in
Gaza?
Is the aim to get rid of Hamas? If
so: a) Israel should
have thought of that
when it created
Hamas in the 1980s
to counter the
Palestinian
leadership; and, b)
With the recent
actions, Israel just
recruited thousands
of misguided, angry
and frightened
people who will only
make Israel less
safe. Israel claims
that it wants to
teach Hamas a
lesson, but what
kind of a lesson is
Israel teaching
Hamas, that killing
is right if your
captives are
helpless?
The Palestinians have paid for the sins of
the European
Holocaust when they
lost their country
to the refugee
European Jews who
fled Hitler's ovens.
They paid for the
sins of disastrous
Arab regimes. They
paid for the sins of
Osama bin Laden and
his thugs, and now
they are paying the
price for living in
a prison as the
United States stands
idle.
The Palestinian people, especially the
people of Gaza, have
been held hostage by
people who believe
the only way to gain
power is to suppress
the helpless. Israel
has convinced the
world, especially
Washington, D.C.,
and the media, that
it is vulnerable,
and therefore it has
no choice but to
fight. If that is
the case, why is it
that the casualties
are mostly civilian
Palestinians?
The Geneva Conventions state that the rules
of war obligate all
parties to a
conflict to do their
utmost to defend the
civilian population.
Deliberate targeting
of civilians is
expressly
prohibited. Israel
must abide by the
rule of human rights
to survive.
TERRY AHWAL is a
local Palestinian
American. She was
born in the West
Bank city of
Ramallah and is on
the executive board
of the Ramallah
Federation.
Voices of Faith: Jan. 10, 2009
Violence won't help solve Israeli-Palestinian dispute
Q. How would you suggest the Israelis and Palestinians resolve their problems?
Mike Evans
Neither group is currently well-served by their leaders. The Hamas and Hezbollah groups that are launching missile strikes every day do not seem to be under anyone's control. The Israeli response is disproportionate in that it cannot fight back without extreme peril to innocent civilians. Yet they feel they must do something to halt the missile strikes.
Is the issue religious or political? Could the Palestinian authorities bring a halt to the random violence, even if they tried? Is there a way to bring each side to a peace-negotiating conference? It may require U.N. intervention to compel a solution. It also may require unanimity among surrounding Arab states to condemn the attacks and shame the outlaws. Unfortunately those at risk are mostly civilians with no voice in any solution.
In order for any solutions to be found, there must first be agreement on a cease-fire, and then worldwide pressure on both parties to seek a peaceful solution. Israel is entitled to seek its own security from attacks, and Palestinians have many grievances that need to be addressed. World opinion from both religious and political leaders is important and must demand an end to violence and terrorism, as well as an end to reprisals that target the innocent. We may unfortunately be seeing the same difficulties in so many other places such as the Congo, Darfur, Somalia and other failed states. Bold statements from religious leaders urging peace might be vital in bringing about some political solutions.
Deacon Mike Evans
Sacred Heart Church, Anderson
Dennis Kessinger
The first step in resolving the problem is to stop the killing.
If Israel thinks that in bombing the hell out of Gaza they will gain peace, then they are seriously deluded. All they will gain is more bloodshed, more pain and less security.
Likewise, if the Palestinians believe that supporting terrorist acts and lobbing rockets into Israel will bring peace or an agreement to their demands, then they, too, are foolish.
Killing your enemy regardless of the perceived justification may seem satisfying, but it only leads to more violence, more bloodshed and a never-ending cycle of suffering. If you kill another human being you will reap the consequences of your act.
In Buddhism, killing another person is breaking a fundamental precept. There is no such thing as a "holy war" or special exceptions or exclusions because of the other person's faith. The revered Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh wrote, "I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to condone any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, and in my way of life."
For peace in the Middle East, both sides must come to realize that continual killing will only lead to continual suffering. They must stop the killing and work on peacefully resolving their differences.
Dennis Kessinger, Buddhist of the Soto Zen Tradition
Redding
Douglas City
With mindfulness, empathy and dialog.
In the Dhammapada, the Buddha said, "Hate never yet dispelled hate. Only love dispels hate. This is the ancient law."
Having led Palestinian-Israeli retreats since 2001, Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh distilled the experience of these retreats into a book, "Peace Begins Here: Palestinians and Israelis Listening to Each Other."
Thich Nhat Hanh - nominated by Martin Luther King Jr. for a Nobel Peace Prize for his peace activism in Vietnam during the Vietnam War - initiated the concept of engaged Buddhism in the context of bringing spiritual values into an active war zone; so he has some personal understanding of war when he reaches out to Israelis and Palestinians.
On these retreats, the participants share their personal stories as well as practicing deep listening, beginning anew, loving speech and handling strong emotions and misconceptions. But before engaging in dialog, (attendees) spend a few days in the practice of mindful meditation.
For a transcript of a talk by Thich Nhat Hanh at the 2001 Palestinian-Israeli retreat, go to www.plumvillage.org/HTML/dharmatalks/html/fourfoundationofmindfulness.html.
An encouraging, ongoing dialog began in 2003 between Professors Judea Pearl and Akbar Ahmed. Ahmed is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University and author of "Islam Under Siege." Pearl, a former UCLA computer science professor, is the father of slain journalist Daniel Pearl, the president of the Daniel Pearl Foundation and the co-editor of the book "I Am Jewish." For more information about the Dialogues for Muslim-Jewish Understanding, go to www.danielpearl.org/about_us/dialogue.html.
Chris Carrigan, Buddhist
River Oak Sangha, Redding
Martin Murdock
The problems and conflicts between the Israelis and Palestinians would be solved just as any others would be - by finding mutually acceptable solutions that are better than the current state of affairs, upon which both parties can agree. Of course that's easier said than done.
Part of the problem is that whenever the Israelis have come to Palestine - from Egypt or Babylon or Ur (including in 1948) - there were already people living there. Even with God's promise of a land, the needs of the folks who live in that land need also to be honored. For many years the Palestinians have been without a land, many living in refugee camps for generations.
Eventually the answer will involve land for peace. Israel will be somewhat smaller. Palestine will have its own land. The city of Jerusalem will probably need to be administered by an international group, giving access to both nations. Israel will need to have secure borders, probably with the help of UN troops. The Palestinians will have to stop shooting rockets and sending suicide bombers into Israel.
The Palestinians and other Arab nations will need to recognize Israel and stop threatening destruction. Israel will have to stop knocking down Palestinian houses, and pull back from their frontier settlements.
A cooperative economy for the region will need to be set free to flourish, with tourism as a major component. Much prayer continues to be a major strategy as well, for all this has eluded merely human efforts.
