The foreign sun, it squints upon a bed that is never mine
As friends and other strangers from their fates try to resign
Leaving men wholly, totally free to do anything they wish to do but die
And there are no trials inside the Gates of Eden
(Bob Dylan, 1965)
Recently I discovered the horror of the war in Gaza as revealed online in the words of the most vulnerable - the innocent children caught up in this idiotic conflict. The pictures and words have been provided by blogger Sameh A Habeeb and they provide a window, a front seat perspective, of the most horrific experiences that any human being could ever endure.
Muhammad Jmasi, six, says: "I get scared from the sound of bombings which come beside my home. I go to my Dad and he makes me OK. But, when my dad is not at home, my brothers and I be afraid. I want to play again with my friends on the quarter and I want to have new ball to play soccer." “I am so afraid”.
Maryam Yamani, mother to a 5-year-old, says her child started having nightmares after he was exposed to scenes of children dying in Gaza on TV. “The deaths of innocent children as a result of air strikes not only hurt those who are targeted, it is also affecting adults who feel that they are helpless for not being able to do anything for their brothers and sisters in Gaza. Children are also badly affected, since they feel sorry for the other children in Gaza,” said Yamani.
Layth, Maryam’s youngest son was shocked after he watched a child who was killed in an air strike that targeted a neighborhood east of Gaza city. “My child stopped eating for days until I spoke with a psychologist who told me that the best way to deal with my child’s situation is to explain to him what is happening and shield him from graphic images on TV,” she said.Children are the most sensitive and impressionable members of society, and are negatively affected by the horrific scenes depicting dying and injured children in the attacks on Gaza. Nashwa Moammar, 42, a mother of 8-year-old twins said, “I don’t like my children to sit and watch the war on TV because it terrifies them. The look on my children’s faces after they see other children the same age being killed and injured is devastating.
The war in the Middle East, in Gaza to be precise, has been spared by many critics whom we have seen raise their heads in other situation around the globe. The silence of influential people around the world is almost deafening.
As I listen to the silence the television newscaster says, “five children on their way to school were killed on Thursday when a booby trap exploded under them. They were members of one family - two sets of brothers and a cousin, residents of the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.Placing booby traps in populated areas or on routes that children and innocent civilians are likely to use cannot have any other result can they? Anymore than can firing from tanks in these areas.
Earlier in the week, a woman and her two children were injured by tank fire near the same site where the five boys were killed. How could those who directed such a barbaric act have expected anything different? The expression of regret voiced by government officials over the killing of the innocent children cannot be a substitute for a vital change in the concept of what fighting tactics are acceptable in the area. These methods have already caused a high number of deaths among innocent children and civilians during the years of Intifada.
The latest incidents in Gaza did not arise from a mistake or from negligence, but is derived from an outlook that says harming innocent victims during attacks on enemies is simply unavoidable. Only a broad and diligent investigation of the tragic circumstances here - without any more whitewashing or dodging of facts - plus the trial of those responsible, might bring about a change in this outlook. What is the point in haggling over the question of blame, and over which side failed to stick to the conditions of the agreement, and attempt to maneuver the envoys and politicians into shrugging away while continuing to score petty points against the other side? Would it not be better to choose another way - one that instigates a turning point from which the diplomatic process can surge forward along the path of real and lasting peace?
Florence Nightingale once said that, “what the horrors of war are, no one can ever imagine. They are not wounds and blood and fever, spotted and low, or dysentery, chronic and acute, cold and heat and famine. They are intoxication, drunken brutality, demoralization and disorder on the part of the inferior ... jealousies, meanness, indifference, selfish brutality on the part of the superior.” “It is pure hell”. No human being, and certainly no child, should ever bear witness.
As the evening news winds down a spokesman for one of the two warring factions informs the world that a cease fire is forthcoming and that his government is sorry for all the civilian casualties. An indication that it was nothing more than another cowardly escape from the problems of peace. When will mankind ever learn that war is too serious a matter to be entrusted to politicians who are never held accountable for their deplorable actions.
At dawn my lover comes to me and tells me of her dreams
With no attempts to shovel the glimpse into the ditch of what each one means
At times I think there are no words but these to tell what's true
And there are no truths outside the Gates of Eden
(Dylan, 1965)
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