I feel that it’s appropriate to say something about the hitnatkut (withdrawl from Gaza). But I don’t know what. People are shooting other people, lighting themselves on fire, destroying their cars and all their belongings. And I think it’s only going to get worse in the next few days.
I’m praying that everybody will try to stay safe and get through this with as little trauma as possible.
I’m also praying that this shakes down in such a way that it leaves more open (as opposed to less open) the much bigger, and messier issue: the West Bank. We’re going to have to give that back too, at some point. I hope people realize this.
ETA: Oh, it’s just so painful. Very wrenching photos here.
here is a a beautiful parable on http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2005/08/game_over_or_ne.html
on how to lokk at this and all that gose on in the world.
moose
I wish I knew what to say, too. On the one hand, I can’t imagine being evicted because my country’s government was convinced this would ultimately lead to peace. On the other hand I can’t imagine being so dedicated to land that I’d threaten, risk, or otherwise harm human life.
Threatening to throw a baby out the window? Setting oneself on fire? Murder?
Did I miss the memo that rated the sanctity of land greater than the sanctity of life?
This may be one of those “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” situations, but right now, I can only see pain on all sides.
The most moving image in my mind– notably absent from the Yahoo news site you linked to– is what I saw on CNN: when the soldiers were evacuating the main shul in Neve dekalim, the settlers were firm but civil in their refusal to leave. I watched as a soldier who was arguing with a settler picked the man’s tefilin shel rosh off the floor where it had fallen, kiss it, place it on the man’s head, and help him smooth out the straps and center the bayit.
Though I won’t soon forget the violence, I think I will remember that picture forever, too.
Yes, the inspiring stories I heard at shul this weekend about how the Israeli soldiers were conducting themselves even as they had to escort settlers away from their homes brought tears to my eyes. I cannot imagine the emotional toll it took on them; their tears speak volumes.
We will have to give up the west bank, and frankly , the better sooner the better.
Settling there was a mistake to begin with and illegal by international law,from its very onset.
So much blood is wasted on land….
And also money. Money that could have been spent in the development towns, in education, health, social problem solving, violence prevention.
Somehow we also stop thinking about the fact that the Jewish terrorist who murdered 4 of his Palestinian collegues in Shilo, made over 17 orphans.
Talking about trauma… these children lost their fathers.
Will these children grow up happily? peacefully?
Last comment must be from a self-hating Jew.
Since when was it ilegal to settle there. We were be attacked from that direction since 1948 and WE WON. There is NO COUNTRY IN THE WORLD THAT FIGHTS TO SURVIVE …WINS…AND………..THEN GIVES BACK WHAT IT WON.
Only the Jew who feels that he owes everything to the whole world and has to say Thank you to the world for surviving.