Dear People of Gaza

Dear People of Gaza, Please do not give up your hope for an end to all the violence that is raining down upon you. We people of the United States are largely responsible for so much of your pain, but very many of us are speaking up and are trying to raise your voice to the level of a High-Decibel shout. I know you parents and your children are being traumatized and are barraged with all the images of death around you: images of your wounded or killed family members and images of the destruction to your homes, your mosques and churches, your hospitals and places of work. I know that the horrid bombings upon bombings have left no place for you to seek safety, for you to protect the people you love. I know, too, that your doctors and all health care workers are weary and have little or no electricity to provide care for the people. Your ambulance drivers are begging for a resumption of electricity so they can communicate with other drivers, so they can SEE where they are trying to deliver life and death services. You have every reason to despair, but I hope you will not. You more than likely hear the constant rumblings of drones overhead and bombs dropping which are creating an even more extensive hell for all of you. When your doctors and journalists too die in the bombings or have their hands "tied" when trying to assist all who need help or when trying to report the truth to the world, the lamenting, the ocean of tears must be too much for you to endure. Yet, in the midst of all your suffering too many of our country's people who are well fed, clothed, and sheltered in the midst of your unrelenting pain, dismiss your plight by saying in their mind "But they've been fighting forever" or "It's too complicated to try to unravel" "But they're terrorists!" How unfortunate these false conclusions and rationalizations! This kind of thinking then seemingly absolves the person of any involvement! Though Hamas was absolutely in the wrong to attack Israel with such brutality, I know that Israel, too, has been perpetrating terrible pain upon your Palestinian population for 75 yrs! "Numerous UN resolutions and prevailing international opinion hold that Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights are a violation of international law, including UN Security Council resolutions in 1979, 1980, and 2016." Until 2005 you experienced the Israeli Occupation with its abusive military throughout your country and since then have experienced even tighter restrictions than the people in the West Bank. I know that the Israeli Occupation has raised the HEAT under the pressure cooker little by little over the 75 years, and the cooker finally exploded in unmitigated rage. We are in the wrong, dear people, for raising our "generous financial appropriation" to Israel every year until now to the tune of 9-10,000,000/day, totaling 3+ billion dollars over a year's time. This war has become genocidal. Many of the weapons raining down upon you are due to these funds given to Israel. I want to assure you that there are thousands of people out on the streets throughout the world in every major city protesting Israel's treatment of you. They/we are calling for a TOTAL CEASE FIRE! I trust that just as Israel has taken over your land and the West Bank piece by piece, so can real PEACE and REAL JUSTICE be negotiated piece by piece until there is but ONE country respecting each other—Israelis and Palestinians-- with equal rights for all. Sr. Paulette Schroeder is a local guest columnist.