anotherlook

Terrorist – Somebody who uses violence, especially bombing (both are guilty, however who is most guilty), kidnapping (Israel kidnaps basic needs from Gaza), assassination (Israel has assassinated 400 people some innocent bystanders, while Gaza has assassinated a handful), to intimidate others (intimidation was, surrounding the borders of Gaza with a military, ready for action, while bombing, from the air), often for political purposes. 

If there were only a couple of hundred people involved in the Hamas organization, and they were clearly identifiable, why couldn’t Israel deal with them in another way, in a way that would not jeopardize the very existence of the people of Gaza, in such a demoralizing and intensely violent way, after all Israel controls the entrances and exits of the land of Gaza. 

As I watch the coverage of this violence and listen to both sides, something just does not feel right, in terms of what I see as being real and what the news media is reporting.  Yesterday I wrote a story for another site in which I, in my wild imagination and my “God given ability” of empathy, put myself in the heart of a “militant”.  I will replay a portion of it here: 

This lack of empathy towards the vital needs of a people, is causing them to become more and more angry, more and more hopeless and more and more violent as they justify their sacrifice, with the need to be accepted and loved, but most of all free from the violence and madness that has marred their existence since the beginning of time, with the knowledge that when they die, they die for a cause, they die for Allah and their reward will be glory and everlasting life away from the injustices, hate, death and destruction that they are currently experiencing in this world.
Better yet, my death may have a direct bearing on the lives, I have left behind in calling attention, in the world, to our plight. Therefore, through my death and the deaths of some of my “enemies”, I will be made strong and I will gain acceptance from my God, an acceptance I have never felt before on earth, my suffering and witnessing will end and finally, peace will come.
I have put myself in the life of a “terrorist”, I have viewed my great grandparents, my grandparents my parents, my friends, my cousins, my uncles and in some cases my kids being murdered while the world looks on, my anger builds and my justifications become etched in the very fiber of my being and I rebel!!!
The injustices that the people of Gaza have been experiencing through Israel’s control have, on some levels, caused the people of Gaza to join forces with the Hamas.  In their desperation to be free from Israel’s control, being witness to the positive things Hamas has done for their community, and there desire, for their basic needs to be met on a consistent and continuous basis, which is not happening under Israel’s control, Gaza has joined, discomforting, forces with Hamas. 

Understanding all of this I have to ask, who is the real terrorist is this picture?  You just can not label people, collectively, under one phrase because then you draw limited view points or erase relativity from the totality of the picture.  Based on your narrow perspective of a given situation, you fail to effectively view the underlying causes of the problem therefore, you deal with the problem in a limited, ineffective way.   

When relativity is erased you are not viewing the true picture. In this case, relativity, to the basic cause and effect, are very important, however the view has been narrowed because of the assumptions caused by stereotyping one group as a terrorist.  While on some levels they are both terrorizing each other, based on the definition of terrorist,
Israel is and has been the biggest terrorist in this instance.   

Somebody stop the madness…please!!

And that’s the way I see it!!