I just came across a bleakaccount of Gaza from the perspective of an Irish activist who is in Gaza, on the ground.
It is trite to say there are no easy answers. It is easy to say there has always been conflict. It is simple to get on the side of Israel-after all, they are a “democracy”, our allies and there is that whole “God’s Chosen People” thing that factors into so much of our foreign policy.
The truth is, this is pain, this is hurt and death, this is war. It is not good, or right, or fair. If you are a person of faith and feel your God is taking the side of Israel (or, in fact, anybody’s side) in this conflict, I never want to meet your God. Sorry.
By the way, something that really opened my eyes to understanding this situation a bit better was the documentary Jimmy Carter, Man from Plains. it was a chronicle of the former president’s recent tour for his book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” (Also very helpful, I read it after seeing the film).
In the movie The Godfather, the opening line belongs to the undertaker Bonserra who is trying to justify why he has allowed injustice to happen. His defense is “I love America”.
Over the last few years, I have come to appreciate that scene more and more. Like Bonserra, growing up, I put my trust in America. I believed that we were the greatest country on earth, that God had ordained us for greatness because we were a “Christian” nation, that having a president in the white house that opposed abortion was the single most important campaign issue and that our wars were just and, even I am ashamed now to admit it, holy wars.
However, over the last 5-6 years I have called into question all of those beliefs and outright rejected many of them. Like Bonserra, I too have come to realize my belief in America was misplaced.
One big change for me was on the topic of war. In my old belief system, any war in which we were involved was, by definition, a good war. About 5 years ago, I heard a song that made me question that for the first time.