Article I Wrote About The Gaza Strip Back In 2008 Options

[Nazia1987]

Back in 2007, I visited Israel and then Palestine and had a huge awakening after seeing the condition of Palestinians. This experience made me feel one with the Palestinians more than I ever had with my fellow Jews at the time and is a major reason I found Islam.

About a year later I wrote this article. I always wanted to share it as I worked very hard on it! I wrote this article after Israel was doing a fuel blockade on Gaza. If any of you remember, back in maybe really late 2007 - early 2008, one of the secutiy fences bordering Egypt and gaza was knocked down (I think near the Rafah border crossing?) and many Palestinians were going through. Shortly after Israel imposed a fuel blockade on Palestine. This effected many and I wanted to write about it!

Hope you all enjoy!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MQK30CEW - this is the article itself
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FQU54UMD - a list of sources I used.


btw I don't know where to upload this so I just put it on megaupload, I swear to you the file is not corrupted or anything... though it is in old word so the formatting might be weird if you open it in new word!

another bit to tell to clear up confusion... at the time I wrote this I was Jewish. So if you see God written as G-d, I am not trying to disrespect anybody, this is simply how Jewish people write the word God when typing on computer or writing by hand

This post has been edited by Nazia1987: Jun 4 2010, 12:33 AM

[Simba]

ok ive read the article.

this seems very carefully put together and well researched. if i am correct, your thesis is that both the fighting by Hamas and the fighting by Israel is causing Gaza suffering.

While I may agree with you, Hamas does reflect the feelings of those in Gaza since they were democratically elected. Although I do agree that Hamas's attacking of civilians is wrong, For Hamas to go violent is merely a natural reaction to oppression. You can't blame the oppressed for reacting violently to violence. If someone was taking and blockading your home most people would probably react violently, not set up a picket sign.

Al Qaeda reacted violently to the actions of the US throughout the Middle East. The US reacted violently to the actions of Al Qaeda.

I don't think the problem is believing you are right. I think the problem is believing others are wrong and must be corrected.
I don't think the problem is violence against oppressors. I think the problem is violence against the innocent.
I don't think the problem isn't eye for an eye. I think the problem is head for an eye.


This post has been edited by Simba: Jun 4 2010, 01:30 AM

[Simba]

you should upload the docs to google docs or scribd so it would be easier to read.

[Nazia1987]

actually my whole thoughts on the situation are way different now. When I wrote this article I was in the unique position that I guess I didn't have any certain religion that I was biased towards. I was Jewish but not really practicing and was honestly pretty mad at my fellow Jews at that point because of the situation in Palestine. So I didn't feel it so personal from any direction

I tried to make the article unbiased and not put my emotions too much into it because I was presenting it to a group of people.

I don't blame Hamas for going violent, in fact I can't blame any Palestinian for their reaction... simply because I can't understand what is it to live in that situation. Like you said it's human nature. But that's just the problem, just because you can't blame Hamas for attacking civilians (here and there), still doesn't excuse the killed of innocent civilians, even if it's only 1. That's kind of my whole point in the article. See, the problem is somehow I think Israel really wants that to happen. Israel blocks humanitarian aid or fuel and they always have this defense "well Hamas launched rockets over the border and it killed civilians" and no body can really argue it with them. They can just say it's to protect their own people. What if that excuse was not there? What if they had no excuse to fall back on? The world would see what is really going on. And on the flipside, although it is not the same thing at all, a LOT of the world sympathizes with Israel because "oh I can not blame them, what's it like growing up in that tension." When I was in Israel there were memorials all over the cities from where there have been small attacks and civilians killed, a lot of people know friends or relatives who have been killed so to them it is personal as well. It's not the same and it's not even in the same world in the suffereing Palestinians go through, but people still go "well I can understand the Israelis and can't blame them then". That's exactly the problem I think!

I guess my thought is the way the war has been being fought for the last 50 years isn't working, if there's a solution I don't think it's the current one. I don't have any clue what the solution is, but it just doesn't seem to be violence and hatred! (from both sides)

But no the article was really about just that I was trying to take out my emotions of "I can't blame them" or "I can understand" and just present a certain set of facts that I had found and researched. Don't get me wrong, I am on the side of the Palestinians. They are clearly the oppressed and I can't imagine... but the article was just about facts that was all

This post has been edited by Nazia1987: Jun 4 2010, 09:08 AM

[truth-finder]

Hi readers

Recently I have seen quite disturbing scenes posted by Muslims about atrocities done to Palestine people by Israel army. I also remember seeing similar images posed by Israelites that showed atrocities done to Jews by Palestine. Over the years I have seen numerous retaliations after retaliations to each other. As fellow human beings I have wondered why this vicious bloody cycle of violence has happened and whether it would ever end. My conclusion is that unless both of them or at least one of them renounces the old law of eye for eye and tooth for tooth, and adopts the new law of grace opened by Jesus Christ, there is no hope for peace between the two countries. The old law of eye for eye and tooth for tooth promotes retaliation which they do now, while the new law of grace leads to love and forgiveness which they need most. I firmly believe both people have right to live in their land. But unless they stop the old law of eye for eye and tooth for tooth and accept the new law of grace through Jesus, the sense of revenge actually gets passed down from generation to generation, regardless of whether a person has physically experienced any trauma themselves, eventually destroying each other.

Thus, the solution to this seemingly unending conflict is found in Jesus Christ, who demonstrated his unconditional love and forgiveness for us by dying on the cross to forgive our sins.
"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? (Matthew 5:43-47)