Daring Questions

 

Day 7: 13-October

Daring Questions

Main events: Same as previous days. The nonstop bombing of Gaza continues. The death toll is increasing. Whole buildings are leveled down, many times without warning the residents of these buildings. Israeli cities are also being targeted by rockets. Demonstrations are held in all Palestinian cities and towns.  

Main developments: People living north of Gaza were asked today to leave their homes and move south, probably in preparation for the ground invasion, which will begin within 24 to 72 hours. 

An Israeli Knesset member, Liberman, a parliament member, makes an interesting statement: “It’s either us or them.”

So, let’s assume that he is referring to Hamas as ‘them’ and that Hamas is some evil entity embedded in the civilian population. Many questions arise: How did they come into Gaza, besieged with the finest and modern technological equipment, a strong army, and electrical fences with sniper towers and military jeeps and tanks patrolling the fence? Why did the Israeli army let a foreign entity of fighters enter Gaza?

There is probably no answer to these questions because it is not true. These assumptions are not correct. Thousands of members of Hamas did not just show up in Gaza, nor did they come in because the borders of Gaza are all controlled by two states, Egypt and Israel, but mainly Israel.

Many people in relatively peaceful areas don’t know that resistance groups are part of the general population. They are people born into a situation where they found no alternative but to say no and hold a firm conviction that the injustice inflicted upon them should be somehow corrected. Yes, they are the sons and husbands of someone in Gaza. They are part of the local population who joined the Muslim Brotherhood military faction. Their parents have a history of war and refuge, just like any Israeli has a similar history of war and refuge. Members of Hamas's political party and military factions hold certain convictions, amazingly identical to Liberman’s belief, “It’s either us or them.”

For me, it is not “us or them”; this belief itself needs to be eliminated.  Adding solid religious belief to these two existentially threatening points of view results in the tragedy erupting in front of our eyes.

Daring Questions: Can it be instead of ‘us or them’ that we share a life together and build a different narrative?  How can belief, including religious belief, be calibrated to embrace other beliefs?

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