This has been on my mind for a while...
Some time ago I remember hearing the story of a woman who was being attacked in New York. She cried out for help as people passed by, consumed by their own thoughts and to-do lists, they ignored this woman's plea. I was completely baffled when I heard this. How could someone not hear her? Why wouldn't they stop the attack? How could they let this injustice occur?
I found an interesting parallel...
There is a people group in our world today who is being attacked daily. They are having land stolen. Crops and farm land ruined beyond repair (which is the life source for some of these people). Their children cannot safely walk to school in some areas without being attacked. Homes are destroyed...Lives are ruined.............yet the world walks by. In some cases we nod in favor of the attacker, after all it his right to take her is it not?
I wonder...
Will the world ever stop and take notice? Will the world stop this injustice or will it gloss over it? Right now the people are screaming for help. Will it take more violence and higher stakes for the world to hear?
The conflict between Israel and Palestine has been going on for a long time. Yet so many people seem clueless about what is happening beyond what CNN reports. Many Palestinians want peace and are seeking peaceful ways to find it. They have turned their backs on terror. Yet many of these attempts are met with violence. Often times these peaceful, NONVIOLENT protests are met with tear gas, rubber-coated bullets fired at close range (which can be deadly because they have a metal core), and beatings with clubs. One group of humanitarian observers in Tel Rumeida,an area of Hebron, recorded acts committed by extremist settlers that read like a laundry list:
OCTOBER 2005
1 Day of no school at Qurtaba (teachers not allowed around the checkpoint)
1 Half day of school at Qurtaba (teachers not allowed around the checkpoint for 2 hours)
17 Settler stonings
1 Settler plan to stone the students of Qurtaba School
1 Throwing of bottles by settlers
1 Settler attempt to attack Palestinians with a battery-operated drill
4 Shootings by a settler using a pellet gun
1 Settler attempt to drive over a Palestinian
1 Egging by settlers
1 Throwing of apples by settlers
2 Throwing of food by settlers
6 Spittings by settlers
2 Physical assaults by settlers against Palestinians
11 Physical assaults by settlers against internationals
3 Physical assaults by settlers against Israeli activists
1 Physical assault by settlers against visiting European diplomats
2 Settler threats to hit an international
3 Robberies by settlers (bag of clothing, telephone, bandana)
3 Attempted robberies by settlers (2 cameras, telephone)
1 Verbal sexual harassment against an international by a settler
1 Illegal settler entrance into a Palestinian home
1 Illegal settler entrance into a Palestinian garden
2 Illegal sharing of weapons between the military and settlers
2 Forced removals of Palestinian children from the streets by the military
1 Forced removal of Palestinian adults from the street by the military
3 Arrests of Palestinians by the police
1 Arrest of an international by the police
1 Illegal military attempt to arrest an Israeli activist
4 Military threats to arrest an international
1 Military threat to arrest an Israeli activist
6 Police threats to arrest internationals
2 police threats of deportation against internationals
1 False military accusation that an international attacked a soldier
1 Palestinian child accused of attacking a soldier
1 Palestinian adult accused of attacking a soldier
3 Physical assaults by a soldier against internationals
2 Verbal threats by the military against internationals
1 Verbal threat by the military against an Israel activist
1 Verbal threat by the military against a Palestinian
4 Verbal police threats against a Palestinian family
1 Day of military closure on the Tel Rumeida St. to residents living on the upper hill
1 Day of military closed zone by the police
1 Police threat of a closed military zone
1 Illegal declaration of a closed military zone by police
1 Illegal declaration of a closed military zone by borderpolice
2 Illegal military entrances into Palestinian homes (without a warrant)
1 Illegal military attempt to enter the international’s home (without a warrant)
1 Illegal police attempt to enter the international’s home (without a warrant)
1 Illegal police use of a Palestinian as a human shield
1 False settler accusation against a Palestinian child that almost leads to the child’s arrest
3 Illegal military refusals to let Palestinian residents walk to their homes
1 Illegal military closure of the Palestinian store in Tel Rumeida
1 Settler melee which forced the store in Tel Rumeida to close
1 Illegal entry of the borderpolice in the shoe factory in Tel Rumeida
1 Illegal military harassment against Palestinian residents in their home
1 Illegal military attempt to take over the roof of a Palestinian home
1 Day of military harassment against Palestinians bringing gas canisters into Tel Rumeida
2 Illegal military blockings of the path to Qurtaba School
Did you know that for every one act of violence committed against Israelis there are three committed against Palestinians? Why do we ignore the three?
Did you know that the wall (aka-security fence...which let me state fore the record there is nothing fencish about this wall) is not being built on the correct boundries? Land is being confiscated and homes/farm land are being demolishted. In some instances villages are being split in two.
Did you know "the total number of settlers has risen again this year with an estimated 14,000 moving to the West Bank, compared with 8,500 forced to leave Gaza? In July alone, it seized more land in the West Bank than it surrendered in Gaza." "During the period that Israel has been talking about destroying 2,000 settler homes in the Gaza Strip, it has been building more than 6,400 settler homes in the" West Bank.
By no means are either side completely innocent of wrong doing, but when are we going to demand a justice that is fair? When are we going to start holding people/governments accountable for their actions? When are we going to hear the cry for help and do something about it?
Here are two links I have found to be very interesting:
1. Breaking the Silence -- this has been put together by former IDF soldiers who can no longer remain silent.
2. A group I have linked up with is called the International Solidarity Movement. | 
