CEASEFIRE

Israel has promised a ceasefire.
Thank whateveryoulike for this end to violence. Even if it turns out to be a pause rather than an end, this is fantastic news.
Sorry for this unusually serious blog post, but the crisis in Gaza has been an everyday subject in Cambridge for 22 days now. There have been mass emails with fiery language, facebook groups with militant calls-to-action, and confrontational discussions in our college common room. There was a film screening of Occupation 101, a documentary about the history of Gaza, filmed by Americans. There was a demonstration in Cambridge's market square today.

All of this has been pro-Palestinian. Anti-Israeli.

As an educated person with many Jewish friends, I thought I knew some things about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After a week in Israel last winter with my best friend, visiting her wonderful, kind, educated, Hebrew-speaking Jewish family and being welcomed into their homes all over Israel, I thought I understood the conflict, as much as an outsider can understand. They told me about Israel's history and the wars that have defined its borders, and they showed me their neighborhood bomb shelters and warned me about riding the buses. They were proud and possessive of their country, as we all are of our homes.
But I didn't understand the conflict, and I definitely still don't. Most Americans don't know what it's like to be afraid of our neighbors. We also don't know both sides of the story in this case, and I'm not sure we ever will, even once Israel allows journalists into Gaza. But the point is that I was hurt and offended this week when my friends from all over Europe were taking me aside and telling me that the United States doesn't know anything, that our press covers only the pro-Israel side of the conflict, that the United States is to blame for arming Israel and making it an unacknowledged nuclear power. That it is our fault that these attacks have continued since 27 December. That Israel planned these attacks for a time when the U.S. has a power vacuum with a lame-duck president. That the United States is the only country that can make Israel stop this violence. That it is our fault that Palestinian children are dying from Israeli/American bombs.

It's been a rough week, for Gazans, and Israelis, more than anyone, but also for those of us who feel inexplicably guilty and shockingly ignorant. First I was angry with my friends and the European press for being so blatantly pro-Palestinian, then I was shocked at evidence showing Israel's attacks as an overreaction to a few Hamas-rocket deaths by killing thousands of civilians and denying humanitarian aid to thousands more. Now I am confused by the evidence of the U.S.'s unquestioning support for Israel's actions. Why do we give so much support to Israel, often in the face of UN sanctions? Who do we think we are, choosing which countries we want to help and which we don't? How can it be that a country would time its attacks to coincide with the change-of-power distraction of a country halfway around the world?

Forgive my ignorance. This is a volatile issue that everyone has an opinion on and everyone cites different sources of information to support their views. Who knows the truth? My struggle with it mirrors many people's, I'm sure, and I'm embarrassed to be so uninformed and to be so confused by all the issues involved. This week of conflict in Gaza and over the dining hall table in Clare Hall ended with peace in Gaza (as of tonight??) and me in Cambridge's market square, surrounded by people yelling "Free Palestine" while I cried in the arms of my Jordanian friend whose uncle was killed in Gaza yesterday.
I can't yell "Free Palestine" but I can desperately want my friend's family, and my adopted Israeli family, to be safe. There are two issues here, a humanitarian one and a political one. Clearly no one has any clue how to fix the political conflict, but the killing-each-other issue I think we can all agree on the solution: STOP.

Here's hoping for a new year where we all fight it out across a table and not across rocket-launchers, tanks, and barbed wire.