In the Light, Palestine-Israel: I enter Gaza

Hear the prayer of our soul. There speaks our truth and faith: To fulfill our task on earth we need Powers great from lands where spirits dwell, Strength that comes from friends who have died. —The House of Peace

Excerpts from my journal as I explore the situation in Palestine and Israel PHOTOS March 25, 2013, Monday, Gaza City, Ramal neighborhood, El Shawwa Building, my home Everything the same, everything different. That’s how I’d describe my current feeling upon arrival in Gaza yesterday [March 24, 2013]. Familiar surroundings and people in Gaza (this is my 6th visit), entirely different from the way I usually live and with whom I live and interact back home. From Jerusalem to the Erez crossing from Israel in about 90 minutes, paid for by the American Friends Service Committee with whom I work in Gaza, very smooth. The road narrowed and became more potholed the nearer as we approached Gaza. The driver was friendly but not communicative, probably the language differences. He has one young daughter, I told him about my family. He’d like to visit Gaza, but can’t because of Israeli restrictions. So much for that conversation. Entering the border crossing or checkpoint, a massive one, buildings expanded significantly since I was last here in winter 2010, a young woman (behind glass and placed higher than me) interrogated me for about 5 minutes. Her first question was are you a journalist? I slipped and said, sort of, well no, not really. (I might have been barred had I identified as a journalist.) Doing what, with whom, who is the American Friends Service Committee, what do they do, why photography, photography for what and whom, etc ? I was puzzled by these questions since I had a permit. Is honoring such a permit conditioned on giving proper answers? As I wrote my Levant list, with photos: One might ask: by what right does Israel control entrance into Gaza? The entrance hall is much larger than is probably needed. I’ve never seen more than a handful of people using it. Like a facility built for the Olympics and then the Olympics are cancelled, rendering the facility useless. I observed a family of Palestinians, 2 women, both obese, one very elderly, with a small child, going thru the turnstile—with wheeled luggage. All had problems. Had I not been under surveillance by the ubiquitous cameras I would have made photos. First the luggage, jammed thru, stuck, pushed, ejected, then the woman. The older woman held onto the turnstile as she painfully inched thru. And she could walk. What about those who can’t? A motorized cart awaited her and drove the small family the 2 or so km to the exit point. Once past the prying cameras I pulled out my own and photographed fences, corridors, more motorized carts, walkers, etc. No rubble collectors like I had spotted 2 years ago, but I observed one tent with about 4 young men and boys in it, which I photographed, and another ramshackle structure that might have been a temporary dwelling. Do people risk their lives out here or has Israel relented slightly and does not fire on them? I learned later that after the so-called Pillar of Cloud operation last November,  when Israel again assaulted Gaza, 8 days of unrelenting destruction, in a ceasefire agreement, Israel expanded the fishing area from 3 to 6 nautical miles. And then shrunk it again when militants fired rockets into southern Israel during Obama’s visit 2 weeks ago. After the group of Salafists (fundamentalist Muslims) admitted responsibility, Hamas arrested several men. Going thru Palestinian security I photographed (with permission) an exploded Qassam rocket near a Koranic inscription, proudly displayed on top of a cabinet in the inpection office. As if to state, our religion sanctions violent resistance. The luggage check was cursory. Had I brought with me some booze and stuck it near the bottom of the luggage I doubt the inspector would have found it (unlike the last time I tried that). Luckily he did not find my medicinal pill cache. How would I explain this? Not drugs sir, simply meds. Here, try one. No questions by these officials. And of course the architectural differences between Israel and Palestine are dramatic, indicating power and wealth disparities very clearly. First stop, the AFSC office where the director, Amal, greeted me and accepted a hug with cheek kisses (Only for Skip, she told a colleague). Islam greeted me with a bear hug, Mosab greeted me with hugs and cheek kisses, and I met some new staff, the taciturn Hamed, and a grim fellow stuck at his computer. My good friend Ibrahim was on his way to Tunisia with Firas for a World Social Forum, and Rana is out for 1 month after she slipped on oil and broke her leg. No sign of the ever-present cleaning woman with her insistent and incessant smile. They asked if I was glad to be back. Oh yes, very glad. When I enter the region, Palestine-Israel, I feel happy, mabsut. However, when I enter Gaza I am super happy, very mubsut. Wandering around while staff met to hire new personnel for a documentation project (that I might help with) I discovered a poster in Amal’s office showing 3 Chicago AFSC staff, Jennifer Bing, Miriam somebody, and a man I didn’t recognize. They smiled at the camera as Jennifer stood beside the photo I’d made of Amal at a Popular Achievement Program festival in Gaza in 2009. This pleases me, as I told Mosab, often much more than money. TO BE CONTINUED LINKS “Tunisia hosts World Social Forum, and reflects challenges to Arab Spring”  by Medea Benjamin on April 2, 2013 Popular Achievement Program of the American Friends Service Committee

In the Light, Palestine-Israel: Water Justice Walk in the Jordan Valley

Excerpts from my journal as I explore the situation in Palestine and Israel

Yet another untold story: the Jordan Valley is nominally the West Bank, thus Palestinian, yet it is completely controlled by Israel. Organized by the Jenin Freedom Theater and sponsored by EWASH, the Emergency Water, Sanitation, and Health organization—a walk for equal water rights in the valley (and beyond).

Israeli greenhouses and orchard

Cross hatched area is a closed military zone, Palestinians usually not allowed—most of the Jordan Valley, nominally the West Bank

PHOTOS

March 23, 2013, Saturday, Austrian Hospice, Old City Jerusalem

I get up every morning determined both to change the world and to have one hell of a good time. Sometimes, this makes planning the day difficult.

—E B White

I joined the water justice walk in the northern Jordan valley yesterday [March 22, 2013]. Some 100 people, most young, many international, assembled at 3 points, Ramallah, Hebron, Nablus, to bus or otherwise reach a small village, Khirbet Samar, and walk to different villages, all Bedouin. The Jenin Freedom Theater organized the day, EWASH paid for it, and the Jordan Valley Solidarity Campaign, among other groups, participated. The Freedom Theater performed at the first site, what they call Playback Theater, drawing on stories from the audience. They began by asking for emotions which led the 3 actors to embody each suggestion. The village headman or sheikh gave the last story, probably about soldiers and water. Much like Chicago’s Second City and Boston’s Story Theater by using improvisation to dramatize audience stories.

I observed only partial references to water, at least as long as I was with the group. I’d met the bus in Ramallah at the appointed time 8 am; it left at 9:30 delayed waiting for what might have been key people, like the translator (who vomited into a plastic bag and pail during the bus ride). So we arrived late to Khirbet Samra, the others had already left. After much decision changing we hiked the 3 km or so to the second point where the rest of the group awaited us. Then the performance. And then the lunch provided by local people—delicious but thin lentil soup, flat bread known as taboun, and salad. I mixed my salad with my soup, dipping the bread into the mush. Very tasty.

The walking was invigorating. The first time I’d walked with a group in some time, especially here in the region. And to be in the Jordan Valley—sheer pleasure!

As I emailed several friends:

i just returned from a long hot windy sunny day in the northern jordan valley with a water walk. today is international world water day….info here:

http://www.thefreedomtheatre.org/news/walk-for-water-justice/

i came back to jerusalem early to make sure i could reach jerusalem tonight. transport is always iffy and i wished to avoid camping out at the kalandia checkpoint tonight.

I bumped into Yonatan, now effectively the Jenin Freedom Theater director and successor to Juliano Mer-Khamis, cofounder and director, murdered 2 years ago, and Yonatan’s wife. I also saw the thin young earnest man who directs the Play Back Theater, and Susan, one of my less dedicated photo students from last year.

Not sure how to get back to Jerusalem before the night and into the Austrian Hospice before they lock up at 10 pm (forgetting to get the key) I hoped providence introduce me to someone driving back, at least to Ramallah by 8 pm when the last bus leaves for Jerusalem. Standing around wondering what will happen next I met my ride benefactors, 3 generous and jolly Italians, I think an older male and female with their young adult daughter—Marcello and family. They were driving to Jerusalem and had space in their car. He works with NGO’s on water issues, mostly providing services and equipment but some advocacy. He told me his organization has to be careful doing advocacy because if they are too visible and demanding they could be in trouble with the Israeli authorities. They are part of EWASH which provides cover.

Driving along the main highway thru the valley, off-limits to most Palestinians even tho in the West Bank, we stopped at the Jordan Valley Solidarity Campaign’s center, a house created in the style of traditional valley housing 100 years ago. The architecture surprised me. It was not a tent, my supposition about Bedouin always living in tents demolished. Arches, palm leaf roof (how do they keep the rain out?), internal bread oven, lounging areas with cushions, etc, all quite spacious and fitting into the land. On an outer wall, the words, Friends Meeting House. This I needed to photograph and send to relevant people—a little joke among clued-in people (like fellow Quakers).

To a limited list, mostly Quaker:

who would believe? i found this today, stopped in, chatted awhile, and  learned about the jordan valley solidarity campaign.

(http://www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org/). they had no idea who quakers are.

PHOTO ATTACHED. however, just suppose…

The day was extremely windy, whipping plastic apart, driving large plastic barrels along roads, and hurling sand into our eyes. I’m relieved we weren’t riding in a VW bus.

Surveillance camera and balloon over the Jerusalem YMCA
where President Obama was speaking

East Jerusalem

Incidentally, President Obama was in Jerusalem. I made 2 related photos, a Palestinian couple under an Obama banner, another shows the surveillance balloon over the YMCA where he spoke. Here’s what I wrote a few people about my views of his presence:

…oh, that tricky obama with his clever words and absent actions. the few palestinians i’ve polled here were not impressed. altho at least after genuflecting and making the sign of the cross to the israelis he mentioned the palestinians and their suffering. leading however, wrongly in my view, to the “widely accepted” 2 state solution. fat chance. you outta see all the new construction in settlements.

TO BE CONTINUED

LINKS

Walk for Water Justice in the Jordan Valley

Water Rights in the Jordan Valley

“The Speech That was Not Delivered,” written by Uri Avnery, about Obama in Israel

My trip to Palestine-Israel and Shaliach Mitzvah Gelt (an overview of my trip plan with an appeal to financially support Palestinians)

My upcoming trip to Palestine-Israel and Shaliach Mitzvah Gelt

Shaliach Mitzvah Gelt

An ancient Jewish tradition, Shaliach Mitzvah, claims that god will protect a person on a mission until she returns with evidence of the mission’s completion. Such as a receipt for a donation. I’m raising money to give to worthy folks I meet on my next trip to Palestine-Israel. I’ll donate your money, ask for a receipt, and hope to be protected until I give you that receipt as evidence that I’ve completed my mission as a conduit for your generosity.

My good friend and colleague in the struggle, the Jewish activist and educator, Marty Federman, taught me that a shaliach is an agent or representative. He explained:

[And] “mitzvah” is…commonly used to mean a good deed as in “helping the poor is a real mitzvah” but the word actually means a commandment [normally something commanded in the Torah] as in “observing the Sabbath is a primemitzvah.” One who is a “shaliach mitzvah” is considered to be either “an agent of a good deed” or, more relevant for the situation you’re in, “an agent of fulfilling a commandment” [in this case the mitzvah/commandment is providing for the poor/needy.] This has become, as is often the case, a popular tradition done by people who don’t fully connect it to any specific Jewish text or ruling but it actually has roots in a couple of verses from the Talmud:

 “A mitzvah protects and rescues one while s/he is engaged in it.” [Sotah 21a]

     and

“Agents of a mitzvah will not be harmed.” [Pesachim 8a]

If you’re interested in joining me on this mission you can contribute directly thru PayPal (marked “for Shaliach Mitzvah”) on my website, or by check (9 Sacramento St, Cambridge MA 02138).

I’ll be in the Mideast from March 17 until June 11, 2013 working with the American Friends Service Committee, Friends of the Earth Middle East, Palestine News Network, and the Jenin Freedom Theater, among other organizations. I’ll make photos and teach photography. You can stay tuned to my dispatches at my website and this blog.

Thanks for your concern and possible largesse.

—Skip

Moamen Qreiqea, Gaza, Palestine, 2010

LINKS:

“Wheelchair-bound photographer strives to keep shooting”

“United by Loss, Israeli & Palestinian Dads Call for a Joint Nonviolent Intifada Against Occupation” (Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan, Feb 26, 2013)

A Dialog about “The Slaughter of the Innocents: the Sandy Hook school shooting & the Gaza Strip”—part 2

This post will consist of at least one further dialog elicited by my initial post which compared the Sandy Hook school shooting of late 2012 with the continuing Israeli assaults on the Gaza Strip. I encourage others to join the dialog.

From Thomas Laxar

Dear Skip:

First of all, the title ["The Slaughter of the Innocents: the Sandy Hook school shooting & the Gaza Strip"] of your article equates Israel with an individual who intentionally targeted and murdered children. Your defense of that title on your blog quotes a document that states, “the Israeli assault on Gaza of 2008-09 which killed more than 300 children, established Israeli’s deliberate policy of striking non-combatants.”  So it is hard to understand why you would assert now, “I do not intend to “demonize” or “delegitimize” Israel or supporters of Israel..”  What could be more demonic than a deliberate policy of killing children?  The inescapable impression is that you very clearly intended to demonize Israel.

Second, the subject of neutrality has nothing to do with my message to you. Neutrality is a word that connotes a detached and aloof position.  Being aware of the suffering and having compassion for both sides is not neutrality.  It is the starting point for waging peace.  It is part of a passionate advocacy for kindness for all the victims and on the part of all the combatants.

Third, you correlate the plight of the Palestinians to the American civil rights movement, and the struggles in South Africa and India.  All of those other situations involved a conflict between a clearly identifiable oppressor and a victim. These are very weak correlations that substantially miss the core issues of this conflict. In Palestine we have mutually aggrieved parties that have visited misery on one another for 64 years.  There is an abundance of victims on both sides. It is impossible to say who is the greater victim because there is no meter or metric for the pain, suffering, and fear that everyone there experiences. That emotionality and spiritual poverty are the core issues.

Also, since your advocacy is so strongly for justice, you should be aware that the idea of justice is inextricably entwined with the spirit of vengeance and retribution. In fact, they are often used as synonyms. For example, the primary argument used by those who favor the death penalty is that the victim’s families deserve justice. I stopped going to peace marches some years ago because the media ignored our witness. The cameras were all focused on the advocates of justice. They were the ones wearing masks and throwing rocks at the police.

I know you have another idea of the term justice, but the common meaning of the word more often than not poisons any advocacy for justice. Anyway, there is nothing that approaches a consensus of what a just solution would be in this conflict. Hamas would probably define justice as the realization of their charter’s vision and God’s will for the establishment an Islamic caliphate that rules all of Palestine. Certain Israelis would define justice as the fulfillment of G-d’s promise to Moses by incorporating all of “Judea” and “Samaria” into Greater Israel and the “transfer” of the non-Jewish residents out of the region. Of course, there is endless variation of opinion on what justice would be between these extremes. From a pragmatic point of view, making justice the central issue is a prescription for constant argument and continued conflict. We need to remember that justice is not about reconciliation. In its best sense, it is about litigation, assigning blame, and judgment.

On the other hand, everyone knows what peace is. We are called by Jesus Christ to bring love to others, not judgment upon others.

The only real solution for this region’s agony is a spiritual transformation. One way we can help make that happen by bringing as many people as possible from both parties together in mutual efforts to build better living conditions for everyone. There is no end of possibilities for this. It could be planning better use of the precious aquifers, joint fire departments,  youth activities, etc.  Some of this is happening. It’s about engaging in actions that build trust, cooperation, a sense of common purpose, and companionship. This is the news we need to hear. These are the kinds of efforts we need to support.

Lastly, I believe your assertion that the plight of the Palestinians is under reported is simply factually incorrect.  The media is mesmerized by their suffering. The truth is that the violence is over reported and peace efforts are virtually ignored by mainstream media.

By the way, you can feel free to post this dialogue on your blog.  It is not necessary to hide my name.

However, please do not include my email address, especially as for some reason, my work email was unintentionally attached to my message.

May we travel by Christ’s light

Thomas Laxar

From me:

I believe the crux of our discussion—and my work in the region—is precisely as you state: “Being aware of the suffering and having compassion for both sides is … the starting point for waging peace.  It is part of a passionate advocacy for kindness for all the victims and on the part of all the combatants.” I would merely add the concept of justice: compassion as the starting point for waging peace and seeking justice. What’s the scriptural quote: He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8, English Standard Version)

“Non-combatants” doesn’t necessarily imply children. I do not claim Israel deliberately targets children, I do claim that at least in the case of Operation Cast Lead, they deliberately targeted civilians, which would include children. (See the UN report on this, incorrectly titled the “Goldstone Report.”)

I’m not sure I follow your logic that this claim necessarily implies I intend to “demonize” Israel (Whatever “demonize” now means, used so often by supporters of Israel to attack those who criticize the state’s policies, as is “delegitimize,” equivalent in frequency of use to “anti-Semitic” and “self hating Jew,” two other overused and perhaps largely meaningless terms). I intend to hold the Israeli government and its leaders responsible for reprehensible behavior, possibly war crimes and crimes against humanity. One may respect the murder’s humanity while holding the person accountable.

I stand by my references to the struggles in the United States against racism and in South Africa against apartheid and India against colonialism, 3 monumental freedom struggles. Israel is clearly the aggressor, Palestine the victim in a struggle for its basic human rights. That to me is key and incontestable.

One point of comparison is proportionality. Certainly, Israelis suffer from the Israel-Palestine conflict, as do Palestinians, and finding a metric for suffering may be impossible, but quantity is a rough measure. Approximately 1 Israeli Jew dead for every 4 Palestinians since 2000, the beginning of the Second Intifada. Another is economic condition. Clearly the Palestinians—especially those in Gaza—are in a much worse position due to the conflict than are the Israelis. And the all important ideal of freedom. When did you last hear of an Israeli unable to leave the region because of Palestinian restrictions, or Gazans able to freely leave and reenter their homeland?

Some may seek vengeance and retribution when they advocate for justice, but I do not and from my experiences with Palestinians most also do not. They simply seek their human rights, justice for their condition—in a word: freedom!

Furthermore, I do seek judgment and the placing of blame on those parties that act inhumanely, injure and kill others, exploit economic power, and generally act against the rules and laws of civilized people. Thru the application of international law to this conflict, a point I stress repeatedly, and a possible truth and reconciliation process like that of South Africa, I believe we can rectify the wrongs, set the course toward justice, peace, security, and reconciliation for most parties in this conflict. Some, like Hamas and the extremist Israeli Jews who tend to populate some settlements, and the Knesset in recent years, may not be satisfied with outcomes. I hope they are patient and understand the benefits of a resolution based on compromise.

I agree that spiritual transformation is crucial for a solution, I’m not convinced it is the only element. Simply put: honor the humanity in all, we are all connected, and all are divine and from the divine. Radical religious Jews and radical religious Muslims may understand this.

As for under and distorted reporting of Palestinian experience, over the past half decade or so the proportion of information about Palestinians has modestly increased. I do not have figures but clearly over the past 3 or so decades the proportion favors Israeli Jews. The New York Times, New Yorker, Boston Globe, and mainstream television, 60 Minutes in particular, buttressed considerably by web-based media, have done a much better job of reportage. I hope to be part of that new wave.

Thanks again for your willingness to engage the issues and me, and for allowing your name and affiliation to be public. I encourage others to join us.

A Dialog about “The Slaughter of the Innocents: the Sandy Hook school shooting & the Gaza Strip”—part 1

This post will consist of at least one further dialog elicited by my initial post which compared the Sandy Hook school shooting of late 2012 with the continuing Israeli assaults on the Gaza Strip. I encourage others to join the dialog.

Skip:

I was disappointed, but not surprised when you published a text with the title,” The Slaughter of the Innocents: the Sandy Hook school shooting & the Gaza Strip”.  Your pro-Palestinian bias was already pretty evident in your messages.  However, this title, and more especially your defense of it in your dialogue with “Mr. H” of it reveals your position on another level.

As peacemakers, we are called upon to be aware of the suffering of both sides and live a life that evinces compassion for all.  One can criticize the behavior, motivations, and goals of either party in a conflict without betraying ones commitment as an advocate of peace.  From my acquaintance with your message, you have been doing that, although from a clearly biased one sided perspective.

The conflict in Palestine has been an endless litany of war, blame, and recrimination for the last 64 years.  Anyone who is even casually listening to the politics or witnessing the armed conflicts of that region is completely and painfully aware of the grievances  of all sides and the injustices and inhumanity exhibited by all parties. 

A witness that merely restates over and over again the rational behind the blame for these horrific events is simply adding to what has become uninformative, numbing, drone.  It is a pointless witness that offers no benefit.  To be sure, we need to continue to hear about the events, but we have been past the need for more twisted histories and justifications for those events for a long time.

What we are all hungry for is a witness to the efforts towards reconciliation and forgiveness.  That witness, that voice exists, but it is very hard to hear.  It is hard to hear partly because there are so few publishing that message and so very many publishing their understandable outrage.  That voice of rage dominates the media and the noise drowns the testimony those few offering another way,

Unfortunately, you personally have left behind even that dubious witness with you recent article.  When you chose to demonize the Israelis, you departed from the ranks of peacemakers.  In your justification of what I had hoped was just an intemperate remark, you clearly joined the ranks of provocateurs.  You moved beyond being yet another witness with a particular position to being an active contributor to the environment of rage that is at the root of this tragic history.

My hope is that you will find a way to move back from that destructive position.  I don’t know what kind of effort on your part that would take.  Perhaps you could spend some time seriously looking a the sad lives of the Israeli settlers.  After all, they live in a prison too.

In the meantime, you and all the other combatants and victims in this tragic and unnecessary struggle will be in my prayers.

Thomas Laxar

Member, Berkeley Friends Church

From me:

Dear Thomas,

 

Thank you for writing me.

 

I regard myself and my photography not as pro-Palestinian but as pro-justice, peace, reconciliation, security and truth—for all parties in the Levant—with the clear emphasis on justice.

 

As Desmond Tutu remarked, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on a tail of a mouse and you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

 

In the case of global climate change do we ask for balance and neutrality, no side taking? Do we insist on portraying the corporate positions about the environment or do we clearly take the side of the earth, as Bill McKibbin and 350.org are doing with their divestment campaign against the fossile fuel industry? Did Martin Luther King Jr in his activism include the positions of his white racist adversaries? Or Gandhi about the British or South African governments? He sought to know the British, acknowledge their humanity, but he did not maintain neutrality in his movement for Indian freedom. Using methods anchored in love and truth (satyagraha—truth force), both primarily sought justice, with freedom as their goal. Neither first sought peace and reconciliation between adversaries. I seek freedom and justice for the Palestinians, while I acknowledge the humanity of Israeli Jews.

 

Furthermore, how often do supporters of Israel even mention the experiences of Palestinians? I seek to adjust the overall balance which heavily favors Israeli perspectives. I do not intend to “demonize” or “delegitimize” Israel or supporters of Israel, 2 frequently heard words aimed at critics of Israel. I do intend to demand Israel adheres to international standards as expressed in laws, conventions, and UN resolutions. Their behavior during Operation Cast Lead clearly contravened those standards.

Dr. Mona AlFarra, in her apartment with the destroyed buildings of Hamas outside, after Operation Cast Lead, 2009-2009

You claim “we are all hungry for… reconciliation and forgiveness.” Many do surely, I do as well and I suspect many Palestinians would agree. However my priority and those of many Palestinians that I know emphasizes justice first, peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness later. “No justice, no peace,” about sums it up.

 

Finally, despite my identification as a Quaker I do not view myself or my work as primarily peacemaking, as laudable as this goal might be. I seek truth and justice. As was said by one of my photographic mentors, W. Eugene Smith, “Let truth be my prejudice.”

 

Thank you for your message and your prayers. May I suggest others might be interested in our dialog? Would you post your message to my blog? And then I’ll post my reply.  

 

—Skip 

TO BE CONTINUED

Photographic exhibition by Skip Schiel about Gaza & the West Bank, open now in Cambridge MA, reception on Jan 20, 12:15

Gaza: How Do 1.5 Million People Live under Siege and Assault? + The West Bank: A Tale of Two Towns and Their Resistance: Violent or Nonviolent?

January & February, 2013

Friends Meeting at Cambridge, 5 Longfellow Park (near Harvard Square)

Mon-Fri, 10-3, other hours possible–Off hours appointments: 970-209-8346

Opening reception: January 20, Sunday, 12:15

Light refreshments and sale of photos, books, DVDs

Info about related programs (panels, slide shows, workshop, etc)

Flyer attached, please circulate this invitation

The Slaughter of the Innocents: the Sandy Hook school shooting & the Gaza Strip

A few days after the Sandy Hook school murders in Newtown CT, I posted the following article from the Guardian about the Israeli assault on Gaza a few days before the school massacre. My email led to a brief dialog with one of my correspondents, Mr. H. I offered more details about my comparison.

PHOTOS

Gaza: ‘My child was killed and nothing has changed’ by Harriet Sherwood in the Guardian, December 11, 2012

The morning ritual goes like this: three-year-old Ali Misharawi wakes up and reaches for his father’s mobile phone. He kisses and strokes the face of his baby brother, Omar, on its small screen. Then he starts asking questions. Why is Omar in paradise? Why did you put my brother into the ground? Why can’t I play with him any more?

“He asks a lot of questions. Every day he asks if Omar is alive or dead. He knows what happened, he was there, but he needs to make sense of it,” says his father, Jihad Misharawi, whose family was devastated in an inferno on the first full day of last month’s war. Misharawi’s 11-month-old son Omar and 19-year-old sister-in-law Heba were killed instantly; his brother Ahmed, 18, died after 12 days in intensive care with burns to 85% of his body….

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/11/gaza-child-killed-nothing-changed

Jihad Misharawi weeps while he holds the body of his 11-month-old son Omar, killed by an Israeli airstrike. Photograph: Majed Hamdan/AP

Mr. H replied to my post which I’d entitled, “Sandy Hook Compared to Gaza”:

No! There is no comparison. It would be like comparing the climate on Venus to the climate on Mars. Gaza and Sandy Hook exist in two different worlds. Much more heat than light would be generated.

BTW, as reported by Mondoweiss.net there was an op-ed in the NY Times today comparing Palestinian suicide-bombers to US mass murders such as Adam Lanza [shooter at Sandy Hook school]: check it out. A lot of grotesque emotions will be stirred up by such talk.

Please reconsider such titles such as the one above.

Distraught family members leave the fire station after hearing news of their loved ones from officials Dec. 14, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. (Don Emmert/AFP, via Getty)

From me:

Thanks for engaging on the issue of my comparing killing children in Gaza and killing children in the Sandy Hook school.

Of course they cannot be equated. However I maintain there are at least 3 key similarities.

1.     The slaughter of innocents. Children and entire families die in Gaza, 20 children and 6 of their teachers and their principal die in Sandy Hook.

2.     The deliberate slaughter of innocents. Altho Israel claims they do not intend to kill civilians, they do, predictably. The UN-initiated and accepted Goldstone Report about Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli assault on Gaza of 2008-09 which killed more than 300 children, established Israeli’s deliberate policy of striking non-combatants. Yes, one of the authors, Richard Goldstone, later recanted that claim but the other 3 authors maintained the claim’s veracity.

 3.     The US complicity in the deliberate slaughter of innocents in both places. As is well-known the US is the main supplier of Israeli weaponry, namely F 16 jet fighters, Apache helicopters, white phosphorus (used during Cast Lead) and M 16 rifles. The US also provides political cover to the Israeli regime. Compare this to the prevailing policy, fostered by congress and accepted by the administration, in our country which allows, even encourages, purchase and possession of assault weapons.

I publicly claim the comparison to illustrate the gaping disparity between attention to the two regions—20 children dead in this country and the nation stops, the president appears in person and speaks, media swarm, flags descend to half mast, prayer vigils everywhere, and even Congress may react. 300 children die in Gaza—who notices?

I could also compare Sandy Hook with the drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and earlier the carnage wrought by international sanctions, led largely by the US, on Iraq. More slaughter of innocents, deliberate and with US complicity. But that’s another story.

I look forward to your response.

BTW, I read the article you suggested in the NY Times and found it provocative, worth thinking about. I’m not sure why you feel that “a lot of grotesque emotions will be stirred up by such talk.”

After an attack by Israel F-16′s fighter jets supplied by the United States 

 

From Mr. H:

 

Of course you are correct on all counts: the problem is that all points apply GLOBALLY. Therefore it is incorrect and misleading to apply them in isolation to one or two particular geographical locations or populations. #1 the slaughter of innocents is constant and widespread #2 Israel, Hamas, Assad, Komaini (sp?) AND the CIA slaughter innocents on a regular basis #3 the US complicity in “the deliberate slaughter of innocents” applies, at minimum, to the US use of drones wherever it is employed and, in general, globally.

If you want to address immorality and depravity in the human psyche I suggest that you do it both on an individual and global basis. 

 

As regards Gaza: too many Americans already have preconceived opinions to make comparisons to Sandy Hook meaningful. As regards to Sandy Hook: everyone is well aware that that is an upper income community that has experienced a terrible tragedy. They may possibly be aware that Connecticut enjoys considerable revenue from sales of guns manufactured there AND has the fifth weakest support (among the 50 states) for mental health programs and treatment.

 

I think that the problems and successes of any community should be taken up and appreciated on their own merits, weaknesses and possibilities. Pitting unlike and unequal and emotionally charged situations against each other does not help.

 

If you want to make points which I think are universally true please make sure you intend that they apply to EVERYONE and EVERYWHERE.

 

Peace,

 

P.S. My response to comparing Palestinian suicide bombers to mentally-ill Americans: I do NOT think Palestinian suicide bombers are mentally ill. I think they are driven to frustrated, lethal revenge by years of subjugation and humiliation. The mental illness of an upper-middle class American who has demonstrated mental and social development problems and who has been introduced by his mother to the love and use of assault weapons is nothing like the situation of Gazan youth.  Anyone seeking to make such a comparison is surely following some other nefarious agenda.

From me:

 

if i understand you correctly on two points, the universality of what you term immorality and depravity, terms i’d agree with, and whether palestinian militants engaging in martyrdom operations, as they choose to name them, are mentally ill, i have these reactions.

 

to analyse we draw specific connections. sometimes better to localize the connections to bring the pot to a boil sooner, to make the connections more vivid. if the connections are too general the pot may never boil, ie, people may not understand the primary connections. some would argue against comparing israel and south africa using the lens of apartheid by declaring, “well, many regions hatefully separate people, why single out israel and south africa?” one reason is that the connection is dramatic, raises the question, forces the issue, stimulates thought—and is bound to upset many. jimmy carter dared to use the term in his ground-breaking book. i laud him and all who defy conventional propriety. 

 

point two, i’m just not sure about whether palestinians who commit horrendous acts against civilians—along with their counterparts in israel who do the same—are or are not mentally ill. as norman finkelstein has said about the israelis in many of their policies, hysteria prevails. a form of mass psychosis. which might apply to militant palestinians as well. individuals might test sane, but collectively they often exhibit insane behavior. consider the nazis, both the foot soldiers who killed civilians wantonly and the political leaders, officers, and camp commandants, all the way up to hitler. probably individually mentally healthy on most measures but together insane.

 

thanks for the reminder that ct benefits mightily from gun manufacturing and is one of the least supportive states for mental health programs and treatment.

 

Khan Yunis buffer zone, Gaza Strip, shell fired by Israeli military

 

From Mr. H:

My current thoughts are these: #1 Gaza, and the Palestinians at large, have suffered great injustices. This has been largely at the hands of the Zionists. This is a great and enduring evil. This evil is a transgression of Divine Truth and Cosmic Law. The evil, itself, will eventually bring about the destruction of Zionism. This is told over and over again in the Hebrew Bible.#2 The US is guilty of associating with, and supporting, for its own geopolitical and religious reasons, this immoral enterprise. But this association is our problem and not related to the plight of Palestine. Our actions will have their own ultimate, and probably tragic, consequences.

#3 The Palestinians are caught in the mill grinder of the great global powers. They will have to navigate their own way through these fierce waters: they are beginning to gain some traction in the UN and in playing the global powers off against each other. BDS [boycott, divest, sanction] and other divestment movements are helping but they have their own overlapping dimensions with other justice [issues].

In the end salvation must and will be found in both politics and spirituality.

There must be people, in all walks of life, who decide: Enough’s enough; there are children here. That even if, in your derangement and pain, or your greed and covetousness, you do me grievous harm, even to the taking of the life of my child, I still choose to see you and your people as human; though perhaps distorted, warped and tortured almost beyond human recognition. I refuse to turn away from the effort to talk to you, frightened though I might be. Whenever possible, I will not refuse to make friends.

—Alice Walker from her foreword to the book, The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine, by Miko Peled

Skip Schiel teaching photography in Gaza, 2005 c.