While They Point Fingers, People Die

It’s very hard to consider blogging about anything else when every hour that goes by, so many people’s lives are being destroyed. Of course that can be said for everyday that goes by, but the present situation involving Lebanon, Occupied Palestine, and Israel is just dark with seemingly no light at the end of no tunnel.

On hardtalk last night, the only program on BBCWorld that is truely exciting, the chief negotiator for the Palestinian Authority was on. I thought the man was going to break down crying. He threw up his hands and admitted all hell had broken loose. When questioned as to why the PA had lost control, he used an anecdote, saying: “It is as if, I tie your hands, I cut off your legs, I throw you in the water and then ask – why can’t you swim.” Saddest of all, as an old man, he talked about how he has lived most of his life under the occupation and he would most certainly die in it, and that in his life he had never seen it THIS BAD.

A quick look at the latest developments features lots of finger pointing. Lots of people will most certainly buy into it. The equations and connections that they point to: Syria this, Iran that, Lebanon this, Hezbollah that, Israel this, North Korea that…. how the hell did they manage to tie North Korea into it? Seems like anything goes these days. All the evangelical politicians who never have to pull a trigger or even get any blood on their suits, are rushing to attain their beloved armageddon.

Seriously though, the one thing I keep thinking about his how history will view this. Considering the death tolls, the bombings, the missiles, the refugee camps, the starvation and psychological trauma… could you imagine how this compares to other moments in history when large amounts of people were suffering or under attack, and other nations stood by and did nothing? It feels like one of those moments. A Rwanda. A Khmer Rouge. Yes, I don’t mind saying it, a holocaust. No its not the same. Its never the same. It has a different look, a different story, and naturally, it never seems like it is comparable. But in the end, the results are not so different. Large numbers of innocent people are murdered by the use of conventional weapons or driven from there homes en masse, in the name of some political or military objective, while in the wealthier part of the world, we go to work, take a vacation, or if you’re me- ride around in a little red boat all evening.