150 are dead in the Gaza Strip, as I sip my latte. 200 are dead as i watch the evening news. Hundreds are wounded, as I eat my dinner. Remote distant, separated from the reality of their existence; insulated from their suffering by the euphemistic phrases in which their deaths are wrapped; "collateral damage" they call it.
I stand before my lord, tears rolling down my face. We are told in that famous hadith, ".. then change it (the oppression) with your heart, but that is the weakest of faith" . And so, unable at this point to do more than this we pray. As we make dua, I am shocked from my reverie. The Imam, a kind gentle man, supports a two state solution in Palestine; he believes an end to the suffering of the people immediately is better than ultimate justice many years down the line.
His voice is raw with emotion, the sound of crying evident to the Jamaat, "Oh Lord you can destroy entire nations in a single moment, Oh Lord as you destroyed the Ad and the Thamud, we call upon you to destroy Israel. Lord destroy the Jews. You have said that the day will come when the rocks and trees will call out to kill the Jews, let that day be soon; so that the suffering of these people may come to an end!"
People's emotions run high, I see one women cursing the tv when they show Olmert at a press conference. A janaza is planned for the slain Palestinians in Johannesburg (Sunday @ 3pm @ zoo lake, ladies facilities available). I'm struck first by grief, then guilt. My complicity, has allowed this to happen; our failure to be more vocal in condemning the actions of Israel. Or has it?
Pain and suffering is part and parcel of the world we live in. Why should the Palestinians be more worthy of our solidarity our pity than anyone else. The Kashmiri's have been occupied as long as them, the Chechens still suffer from an occupation even more brutal than Israel's and the Afghan's have not known peace for almost two generations. Taking a step back from our co-religionists, almost two million people have died in the DRC over the last decade, victims of Africa's first world war. Why such deafening silence from society at their plight?
I think that the tragedy of the Palestinians captures our imaginations because of four main reasons. Firstly, perhaps it is the sheer magnitude of their suffering. Over 4 million people displaced from their homes, two generations growing up in refugee camps. Secondly, the utter brutality of their suffering in particular the apartheid system that they are subjected to. Jimmy Carter, the former US president describes the Israeli regime is his book, Peace not Apartheid, as ‘worse than apartheid’: "When Israel does occupy this territory deep within the West Bank, and connects the 200-or-so settlements with each other, with a road, and then prohibits the Palestinians from using that road, or in many cases even crossing the road, this perpetrates even worse instances of apartness, or apartheid, than we witnessed even in South Africa."
Thirdly and this is one of the main issues for Muslims, the issues surrounding Masjid al-Aqsa and the people of Shams. Finally, and this really is one that continues to astound people, that the perpetrators of these evils are Jews. From the people who suffered the horrors of the holocaust, it is inconceivable that they should inflict this suffering on others. That the cry of "Never Again" has become "Never Again shall Jews suffer", is an anathema to the free people around the world. This hypocrisy, this moral double dealing is the main cause of the revulsion of people from around the world.
And yet what can we do? What have our marches, our chanted slogans and consumer boycotts achieved? No progress has been made, their suffering yet to be alleviated. And so in the end, we are left with the only thing that we had to start with; faith, belief in God, trust that in the end justice will prevail. As we go to sleep tonight, remember the hadith of the prophet "The du’â of a Muslim for his brother (in Islam) in his absence is readily accepted. An angel is appointed to his side. Whenever he makes a beneficial du’â for his brother the appointed angel says, 'Aameen. And may you also be blessed with the same.’” [Sahih Muslim]
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3 comments:
So true... at this point the hypocrisy tastes bland to the smell of fresh blood being spilled all over the region...
My mind cannot fathom how the world's leaders can sit by and watch these atrocities occur without doing anything. Everyone was quick to put sanctions on the SA apartheid regime, but still, nothing with Israel.
Disgusting and disturbing.
Tears ONLY for Gaza??????????????????????
Like most of the rest of the world you only have tears for Gaza! How come you don't have any tears for Israel?
Why does this extremely one sided article not even mention the last 8 years of Palestinian rockets into Israel? Or all the Israeli civilians men women and children killed and badly wounded, loosing arms and legs.
You also don't mention that Israel has evacuated the whole territory of the Gaza strip over 3 years ago therefore nullifying any reason for continuing acts of violence by the Palestinians. The evacuation was supposed to allow the Palestinians to rebuild and prepare for an independent state but instead the Hamas terrorists kept throwing rockets of all kinds at the Israelis over the border.
You of course don't mention that since the beginning of this effort by Israel to stop the Hamas rockets and while they are asking for the world's tears they are continuing to throw around 80 rockets every day into Israel killing and wounding civilians. You have published outright lies without any comment! If you had checked you would have known that the Israelis attacked only Hamas facilities and ohter related targets like offices, infrastructure, rockets storage places, & rocket launching places. Unfortunately, Hamas conveniently located many such sites inside very densely populated areas. They are doing this so it's hard to find and when it gets bombed they can cry bloody murder and present catchy photos and footage of injured civilians. The "Innocent" cry "We don't even have guns" is of course B.S. They don't need guns, they are throwing rockets!!!!! But they do have guns as well and are using them . More B.S is the disinformation about Israel attacking right away when the last cease fire ended. Israel wanted to extend the cease fire, the Hamas refused and said so loud and clear on their radio. As early as 24 hours before the cease fire ended they started increasing the steady stream of rockets into Israel.
Can you find some tears for the kidnapped soldier, Gilad Shalit whom Hamas terrorists are still holding? He was kidnapped on Israeli soil 2.5 years ago. They were holding him as a hostage and using this as a tool of extortion, throwing rockets and missiles in varying daily numbers starting with 3 ending with 80, at the towns and villages within their range. For 2.5 years they have been relying on Israeli fear that they (The Hamas) would harm the hostage. Israel has indeed been afraid of that and therefore, even with all the thousands of rockets and missiles over the last 2.5 years Israel has not retaliated. Only lately the situation became absolutely impossible forcing .the government, even though its on it's last leg, to finally act.
Unfortunately, war is always horrible for all involved. The civilian population in Gaza is now suffering in addition to all the towns and villages on the Israeli side who are still showered with many rockets and missiles.
The Hamas terroristic regime does not recognize the state of Israel and claims they own everything. They are trained and supported by Iran and El Qaida . They don't want to live and let live. They said many times loud and clear that all Israelis should leave this land and go back to wherever their ancestors came back to Israel from. I don't see anyone on a red carpet waiting with open arms for such an event anywhere ....... If I remember correctly, most people who came here over the last 100 years did so since they had been forced to leave the places they had been living at.
What will it take for you to save some tears for Israel? Obviously millions of people who are vulnerable to rockets falling daily on their head are not enough. People having to spend half their time in bomb shelters are not enough. Dead wounded and damaged people suffering violence for the last 8 years are not enough. Gilad Shalit and his family are not enough.
What is enough? Everyone dead? Looks like Israel is not ready to commit suicide for that.
Save your tears. We will do without them.
Miri Rosental
Tel Aviv, Israel
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