Disclaimer: Ok so I intended for this to be about my impression of the bus station, but because of recent events I felt I needed to address them . The bus station had three levels and many different shops and I was on a mission to find another sweater to wear over my short sleeves and to find something to eat as I had only had a light breakfast and it was now almost three and I was starving.
If you haven't been to the bus station in Jerusalem you at least need to go check it out. It's like a mall three stories of shops and food. Yes they even had a Mickey D's, which I have been boycotting along with a whole slew of other places, but I couldn't resist taking a picture because they had a sandwich called the American.
I've been pondering this for a while now. What does this say about our relationship with Israel in light of the given situation? I was reading an opinion piece in Hareetz this morning that said the world didn't care anymore about Israel. Maybe he was right, maybe we are getting tired of the out right human rights violations that are occurring everyday in the name of "security" threats and the out right propaganda we hear every day from the right.
Honestly, I don't care if you are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist. Atheist or worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster people should have the right to live without fearing their house will be ransacked or their child taken from them.
If you haven't watched the video from the one teenagers mother who is from America you should really watch it. She makes some good points. She wants to hug her son again and tell him she loves him, but can't. Well I bet the parents of the children who have been kidnapped by the IDF or worse killed by the IDF would like the same thing.
You may say the IDF are doing their job and protecting their citizens. My answer to you will be protecting their citizens how? By destroying good people's furniture, knocking down their houses, by killing innocent people?
I had not intended for this to be a rant but I've seen first hand what is happening to people who I have become friends with. Who I have grown to love. Who I break bread with on a daily basis.
Tonight we had just finished our second night of Ramadan and finished Iftar, when we received the worst news that we could have received. They found the three missing young men just north of Holhul. They had been murdered. Of course from the beginning they have been blaming Hamas. Hamas has been denying it. I have been scouring the news both Arabic and international for information for different perspectives trying to weigh through fact and opinion. There is a lot of opinion out there.
I have also been researching past abductions of Hamas. Even the abductions that end badly they have always taken credit for regardless. There is also seems to be a power struggle within Hamas between the leaders of Hamas and a tribe/klan (not really sure what to call them) called Qawasmeh. Apparently they are not happy with the unification of the two government and are doing what they can to destroy it. www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/06/qawasmeh-clan-hebron-hamas-leadership-mahmoud-abbas.html%23
The murders now give the Israeli government carte Blanche to seek revenge if they want. As of now I have felt relative safe and I still do. It is a little unsettling though when I wake up at 4am to go have tea with my host family and I can hear gunfire in the distance. My family reassures me that I am safe for the time being.
Today they buried the 3 teenagers and then the news is reporting that the Israeli government will make decision on what they will do. Let's pray that they choose to not seek retribution on the Palestinian people as a whole, because regardless it was only the actions of a few.
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