Blog#128-10/7/24
NO END IN SIGHT
By
Richard Davis
It has been a year of continuous warfare in the Middle East. The spark that started the conflagration happened when Hamas killed 1200 Jews in a bold and ruthless attack. Many of the hostages they took a year ago have either died or not been heard from and families of the hostages are living in a constant state of frustration.
Israel responded to the attack predictably and over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed and much of Gaza has been destroyed. The Israeli bombing of Gaza continues and over 1.9 million people (90% of the population) have been displaced from homes that no longer exist. Famine and disease are daily reminders of just how hopeless the situation is for Palestinians.
Most of the leaders of the civilized world have been calling for a cease fire in Gaza but their pleas and diplomatic efforts are falling on deaf ears.
It has been impossible to craft a deal acceptable to Hamas and the Netanyahu government.
From my perspective a big part of the problem of not having a cease fire has a lot to do with the hard line stance of Netanyahu and his close circle of officials who would like to completely destroy Gaza and make sure Palestinians never live there again. Into that mix consider the fact that if Israel was not at war, Netanyahu would be facing serious criminal charges in the Israeli courts. If that legal process could play out he would have a good chance of spending time in jail. As long as Israel is at war he is protected.
As if one battle front was not enough, Israel is now waging war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which is partly a proxy war against Iran. The missiles are flying and many more innocent people are dying in Lebanon. Many months ago, in anticipation of this battle, a big chunk of northern Israel was evacuated and many northern towns and villages are now ghost towns.
And don’t forget the West Bank. That is a smaller battle but nothing is minor when people die and have their homes destroyed. One of the questions about Israel fighting on multiple fronts is how long could they keep this up without support from the United States? President Biden has tried to rein in Netanyahu but he has remained defiant and we are still sending weapons and money to Israel. If we make support conditional, as Bernie Sanders suggests, we might have some ability to control warfare escalation. But that is not happening and Netanyahu continues to do whatever he wants despite being unpopular in Israel.
The politics are one thing but we also have to think about what it would be like to be living in the Middle East during these horrific times. My cousin in Jerusalem started sending regular dispatches via his You Tube channel a year ago. When the intensity leveled off he stopped sending them. A few weeks ago he sent a new update and that makes me realize that Israelis are once again having their lives disrupted on a daily basis more than in the past few months.
My other cousin in Tel Aviv is hearing missiles fly over her house and is living with the threats from Iran to retaliate for incursions into Lebanon. She has lived in Israel for a long time but I doubt you ever get used to being forced into a bomb shelter on a regular basis.
If I had Palestinian friends or relatives the story would be worse. They are losing everything they have because a bunch of militants and hard line politicians cannot find any way to compromise on any issue.
The hostages remain in limbo and the Palestinians continue to flee, but they have no where to go. Most of the word wants this madness to end.
If things continue to escalate where will this lead us?
