Dec 30 2008
We Need a Ceasefire and Some Empathy
“The war against Gaza is ongoing, more hospitals, houses, mosques, government and military facilities are under fire, and the number of casualties, especially among the civilians is gradually increasing. Death toll exceeded 385 residents, including children, women and elderly while at least 1750 residents were injured. “– IMEMC
At least 40 more people in Gaza lost their lives today. Were they Hamas or civilians, and why does that question even matter? Hamas is no al Qaeda, but Israel has vowed to kill even Hamas “sympathizers”. It would be very interesting to find out how Israel determines who is a “sympathizer” and whether kids under 16 or in refugee camps can be considered Hamas sympathizers. If not, Israel is making a lot of mistakes with its targeting.
Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and the Dignity made CNN news today several times. McKinney was interviewed by several reporters but CNN cut her off when she started talking about Gaza, as though defending the people there and pointing out their side of the story is just too controversial. On the other hand, various media pundits are castigating Hamas for hiding behind “women and children”. So we are getting mixed signals as to whether “women and children’s” lives matter or not.
Petitions to sign and websites promoting a ceasefire are coming into email accounts all over the country today and I’ve gotten a rush of them over the last 3 days. Here are two of the easiest “action items” from today and maybe they will even have some effect. The first is from CREDO — sign their petition here:
We need a ceasefire now in Gaza.
During a time of year filled with prayers for peace, the volatile Gaza Strip is plagued, once again, by violence and death.
Air strikes in Gaza have killed 300 so far - at least 50 of them civilians - and injured over 600 more. Rockets are striking deep inside of Israel. As the crisis is spirals out of control, it is certain to lead to more civilian suffering and an escalation of the conflict.
To make a profound understatement, the political and historical conflict causing this violence is centuries old and far too complicated to address in an e-mail petition. The purpose of this petition is not to assert who’s right and who’s wrong. Rather, we join our allies at Avaaz.org and ask for real action to stop the violence through an immediate ceasefire.
