guest commentary

Everyone loses in the ‘Blame Game’

Nobody, no non-terrorist government Sunni, Shite, Muslim, Palestinian, Israeli, Egyptian, Jordanian wants the Gaza Strip, wants to govern, provide well-being (education, medical services), to enable Gaza Strip residents. 

The UN, the “humane” West, the Middle Eastern oil-rich nations have for decades witnessed, cast aspersions then seemingly ignored the distress of Gaza — a misplaced, abandoned tiny, poverty-dense place and people.

Gaza is the exact land size of Las Vegas having a population somewhat more than Phoenix and somewhat less than Houston. It is one of the most densely populated areas on earth.

Imagine Las Vegas being the focus of the world. Imagine Las Vegas unwanted by Nevada, or California just 50 miles away or by the United States its “home” base. 

Imagine Las Vegas a leper colony with diasporic peoples in 58 refugee camps dispersed about the region — one third of Palestinians have lived in refugee camps for over 50 years. Fifty-five percent of Gaza residents live in eight “refugee camps” in Gaza itself. With 48% under 18 with a mere 3% over 65, refugee camps have been the only home to generations of Gazans.

Occupied by Egypt from 1948 to 1967, Gaza was Israeli occupied from 1967 until the Oslo Accords in 1993 created the Palestinian National Authority with territories in Gaza and the West Bank. 

In 2005, the last public election in Gaza was won by Hamas — no elections have been held since. In 2008. the Palestinian Authority after an Israeli-Hamas conflict refused to accept Gaza into its constituents — this Authority left Gaza to Hamas, left them untethered to the West Bank. 

A sizable, though not majority Bibi/Sharon segment of Israelis sanctioned illegal settlements in the West Bank, proffered Hamas buy offs, and engaged in Kushner heel and spit diplomacy. No one, no nation is without blame.

Headlines, protests, outrage burns across the globe particularly in the Middle East and in intellectual bastions of words without deeds, without balance, thwarting peace. 

Ambitious, aggressive politicians everywhere seize the platform of terror and brutal militarism for their own gain — their own justifications and fear mongering. Hamas terrorized Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel has promised retaliatory devastation. The world isn’t broken so much as cowardly, fecklessly riveted on blame vs. restorative co-existence.

 

“Our task is not to fix blame for the past, but to fix the course for the future.”

 —John F. Kennedy

guest commentary

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