Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori about the ongoing violence in Gaza:
We are deeply saddened by the first-hand reports we are receiving from Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza about the casualties they are treating under the most horrific circumstances. Not only do they lack basic medical supplies, but with windows blown out they are even struggling to keep patients warm. The high number of civilian deaths and injuries, which continue to include noncombatants, women, and children, will only prolong the violence years into the future. Israel’s disproportionate response to the rockets being fired into its cities may well encourage violence beyond Gaza and Israel. The first steps toward peace will only come if all parties unite behind an immediate ceasefire. Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded the world that “an eye for an eye soon leaves the whole world blind.” May we seek to end this blinding violence.
January 5, 2009
From EpiScope.
H/T to Ann.
We've had two protests here in the Tampa Bay area against Israel's attacks on Gaza and one of the signs read: The real terrorists — Israel & the USA.
ReplyDeleteBased on the world's reaction to our invasion of Iraq, do the Israelis think their actions will garner support for their cause?
Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived. ~Abraham Lincoln
From today's NY Times:
"GAZA — The Samouni family knew they were in danger. They had been calling the Red Cross for two days, they said, begging to be taken out of Zeitoun, a poor area in eastern Gaza City that is considered a stronghold of Hamas.
No rescuers came. Instead, Israeli soldiers entered their building late Sunday night and told them to evacuate to another building. They did. But at 6 a.m. on Monday, when a missile fired by an Israeli warplane struck the relatives’ house in which they had taken shelter, there was nowhere to run.
Eleven members of the extended Samouni family were killed and 26 wounded, according to witnesses and hospital officials, with five children age 4 and under among the dead."
Thank you for the earlier info on Episcopal Relief & Development, I going to pass that on.
Just stop the killing.
ReplyDeleteTonight on his COMEDY show, Jon Stewart, who is Jewish, asked David Gregory, his guest, who is also Jewish, why so few in government or the press speak out to criticize anything Israel does.
Gregory responded basically with the same old, same old, "It's complicated."
We had a huge protest here in New Zealand against Israel's attacks (and American support). It's not complicated. Stop killing, allow the Palestinians to receive medical care and water and the West can leave the Middle East - completely.
ReplyDeleteSteph, I'm sickened that the US was the only "no" vote for the UN resolution for a cease-fire. A cease-fire doesn't mean that anything is settled between the parties. It's not an armistice.
ReplyDeleteJust stop the killing, at least temporarily. I'm getting flashbacks of the "Christmas bombings" back in the days of the Vietnam War.