Giving Thanks

This is the time of year when families and friends gather to share memories, favorite foods and think about the upcoming holidays and the new year. Many also look back and see what they can be thankful for, in keeping with the spirit of the holiday. Of course, I have many reasons personally to be grateful, but I think I also have some thanks to say to others in the public eye.

In writing this, I am so not ignoring the fact that some in the world are starving, homeless, or otherwise destitute. However, this is a column about Thanks, sorta.

This week Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day truce, hostage and prisoner release. It has taken six weeks for diplomats from many nations to make this happen, as there are a lot of moving pieces. However, during these six weeks, far too many additional casualties occurred. I am thankful the bombing is stopped for now.

Tonight, I learned that the terrorist group Hamas released an American hostage they had captured. She was a little girl who just turned four and was just slightly older than my granddaughter. They killed her father, who was shielding her when she was captured. I cannot imagine the grief her family experienced, nor understand the horrors she endured. I do not know how, as a three-year-old, she could possibly process this atrocity.

Yet, I give thanks, she is now safe. Thanks to that, for a few days at least, diplomats did what they do best. Talk, compromise, concede, argue, and eventually broker a truce. A truce, however tenuous, that might save some lives. Yet, there is cruelty here also, as only women and children are being released. Mothers of teenage sons have little joy. There was deliberate cruelty in the raid, as most of those killed and captured were civilians, celebrating a holiday, not military personnel. Again, society long ago set up some allowable criteria, some Rules of War, so to speak, that demand that civilian populations not be targets.

It is just a tiny thanks, that this is now being considered.

I am thankful that the truce has allowed food, fuel, and medicines to again get into Gaza. I fear that in many cases it is too little, too late. Too often civilians are collateral damage in war. Since the population of Gaza skews quite young, the young are especially vulnerable. I note that the world is speaking out against this style of warfare; that non-combatants caught during a war, they neither allowed nor took part in, should not be targets because they just have nowhere to go. Gaza is not like Ukraine, where civilians were also targeted, but there, at least, most had some way to fee the violence.

I worry that disease will follow in the upcoming weeks, as winter approaches without clean water or safe sewage, and the inability to create the necessary public infrastructure that could fix this. I hear some are encouraging the oil rich Gulf states to pledge to address these concerns in the absence of a government in Gaza. This would be good news, if accurate. Repairs could take decades in the absence of an organized ruling authority. For far too long, people said “two-state solution”, but did nothing to make it happen. This long-delayed resolution cannot happen overnight. But if these horrors can make it start to move toward a just resolution, I will be thankful.

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And, in moving on from discussions of War to Politics, I can thank the Economist for an exceptionally clear-eyed view of the GOP front-runner in the 2024 Presidential race in their annual outlook (November 18-24^th issue) for the upcoming year. I paraphrase below.

“But a second term would be different (for DJT), because the world has changed…. No wonder the thought of a second DJT term fills the world's parliaments and boardrooms with despair; but despair is not a plan. It is past time to impose order on anxiety.

The greatest threat Trump poses is to his own country. In pursuing his enemies, Trump will wage war on any institution that stands in his way, including the courts and the Department of Justice.

However, his lust for a deal and his sense of American interests are unconstrained by reality and unanchored by values.

A second Trump term would be a watershed in a way the first was not. Victory would confirm his most destructive instincts about power….his plans would encounter less resistance. Because America elected him, its moral authority would decline.”

I am thankful that this challenge to the voters of America has been issued. The question is still outstanding – will Americans vote either for President Biden or against DJT? Will voters stay away on Election Day or show up to preserve our democracy? Do we really wish to elect an aggrieved and petulant child-man, now inundated with 91 indictments who surrounds himself with sycophants and conspiracy theorists, with power grabbers who embrace authoritarianism? Do we really want to elect a president who borrows from Nazi speakers when choosing his stump speeches – or is it his speech writers who are trying to channel them? Don’t know, don’t care; either way, the ideas are harmful and dangerous, chosen to divide and conquer, and need to be dispensed with ASAP.

What are you thankful for?

“Til next week-Peace!

Rosalynn Carter Dies at 96

 

Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who had dementia, died today at the age of 96. She and former President Jimmy Carter were married in 1946 and were the longest married presidential couple. They were indeed a team as they campaigned together, strategized together, and shared his presidency. She took her role on as a First Lady seriously, walking from her residence to her office with a briefcase of projects. Although criticized for doing so, she frequently attended Cabinet meetings, where she sometimes picked upon subtleties missed by her more trusting husband. She was fiercely loyal and her husband's friend and companion for over 70 years.

Sometimes people today forget that Carter was an underdog in his presidential campaign; some people laughed at the idea of a Southern peanut farmer, even though he was an elected governor of Georgia, running for that high office. Rosalyn made over 40 campaign stops on his behalf during that improbable, but ultimately successful, quest for office. His race was close against Gerald Ford as he won with 51% of the vote to Ford's 48% and gathered 297 Electoral College votes.

Once her husband was in office, Rosalyn took on mental health issues and advocated for insurance coverage of mental health diagnoses, which at that time were often minimal or excluded. Mental health care in was abysmal in many state institutions, and better care in private hospitals was often only for the wealthy. She served as an unofficial member of the Presidents Commission on Mental Health and lobbied for the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980, which was eventually shelved by his successor, Reagan. Even after they left office, she continued her advocacy, working to de-stigmatize mental health issues so patients would free it safe to seek treatment. As she aged herself, she became an advocate for those who had dementia or Alzheimer’s. She wrote a book in 2010, Within Our Reach, Ending the Mental Health Crisis. (Over her long career, she wrote and published over 25 books.) In this book she described a failed mental health system with many of the same failures she had noted when attending hearings back in the late 1970s. And, although acknowledging that improvements with medications and other treatments have happened, there is much work still to be done. Around that time, I was lucky enough to attend a speech she made about the findings in this book. She was quiet, forceful, and precise in the ideas she presented. Rosalynn wanted to demand action, but she was not one to stamp her foot or pound the podium on stage. She quietly asserted what she knew should be done. A few short years later, she celebrated some small victories with several mental health changes included in the ACA or Obamacare legislation.

She was a quiet southern style feminist, but had a steel core to her person. She worked tirelessly for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, but that option failed to gather enough state votes to pass.

They credit her with the suggestion to President Carter that he invite Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt to Camp David, where they eventually signed a Peace Treaty in 1978.

After their election loss in a landslide by Ronald Reagan, the Carters reinvented their role in life, as builders for Habitat for Humanity, election watchers, and health campaigns against Guinea Worm in Africa, to mention only a few. They also established the Carter Center, whose mission is stated as a Non-governmental Organization (NGO that helps to improve lives by resolving conflicts, advancing democracy, and preventing diseases.

Tributes have been pouring in all day to celebrate the life of Rosalynn Carter. I can only agree with all of them as they celebrate a woman of quiet resolve and service to her country, her husband, and the world.

Thanks, Rosalynn.

“Til next week – Peace!

The Voters Speak!

 

One of the best things about a democracy is when we listen to what the voters say, freely and fairly without coercion in election after election. In autocracies, voters may have a chance to vote, but no one really cares as the results are preordained.

That is why I was so happy to see the results this week from a special election in Ohio and a statewide contest in Virginia. True to form, Republicans in both states tried to place their thumbs on the theoretical scales as they purged voters from allowable lists close to election day. Ohio went even further. Once citizens had petitioned the abortion measure onto the ballot, they tried to change the rules, and in the middle of a hot summer called a special election to change acceptance from a simple majority to 60%. An extraordinary effort by women’s groups and others, along with millions of dollars, defeated this measure in that election by 57% to 43%. But - wait- just like those bad TV commercials, wait there are more dirty tricks to be played. The Ohio Secretary of State experimented with the wording of the ballot measure to make it read opposite to what it should have said. The Governor of Ohio, and his wife, cut an ad against the constitutional measure claiming that it would allow abortion up to the time of birth, a blatant falsehood.

Although I tend toward being an idealist, I would like to believe that issues such as ballot measures enhance our democracy. Some states are now trying to curtail these measures.

Despite all the dirty tricks, bad wording, and lies, the voters saw right through them and approved the Constitutional issue this past week with a margin (56.6%) similar to that from the summer. No matter what some politicians think, voters are not dumb. They do not live in a Wonderland where ‘up’ means ‘down’ and ‘no’ means ‘yes’!

Virginia was a different story. Two years ago. then Candidate Glenn Youngkin propelled himself into the Governor's office with a campaign of demagogues, parents' rights, anti CRT and more. He stayed away from the MAGA crowd, presenting himself as a gentler, kinder candidate. He also stayed away from the abortion issue, until he was caught on an open mike saying he could not go public on that until after the election.

Once elected, he was no longer the gentle giant, but a leader who set up a hotline to rat out teachers, supported book banning, replacing elected school boards, and attacked trans policy. The legislative election this year was the first time he had a chance to redo the state legislature. He had a divided power structure and wanted both houses under his Republican Party so he could enact his proposed 15-week abortion ban. (Virginia is the last state in the South with abortion rights.)

The two parties ran ads from parallel universes. Republicans emphasized rampant crime in the streets, claimed Democrats wanted to defund the police (So last year!) and would not prosecute crime.

Democrats claimed Republicans would take away a woman's ’right to choose’

Once the voters had their say, Democrats controlled both Houses of the State Legislature and abortion rights again seemed safe in the state. Rumors that were murmured about Youngkin stepping into the 2024 race as a consensus candidate, as soon as his victory was complete, disappeared.

Elsewhere in the US, Moms for Liberty ran for office; all but one lost their contests.

Tuesday was a good day for Democracy.

Do you Remember

Fifteen years ago, this weekend? In November 2008, Americans elected Barack Obama as our President. I stood with friends and laughed and cried and hugged others. Many of us had worked so hard for months to see this day. We had endured abuse when we made phone calls and sometimes found others who agreed with us. We were ready for hope and change and were eager to see a new era of politics on the horizon.

As the young family stood on that stage in Chicago, we, along with millions of others, applauded the words we heard that night and those we listened to during the campaign.

For many of us, the journey started on a stage in Boston at the Democratic Convention in 2004 when a young orator took to the stage and spoke of his views for America. How there was no red America or blue America but a red white and blue America that brought together all of us as the United States of America.

Here is an excerpt from that frequently quoted speech:

“Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.”

Many did not accept those words, true as they were, even those who claimed to be patriots. Some, because they were spoken by a young black man, even as he noted, with a funny name. Others would use that “funny name” later to question his citizenship and deride his leadership.

But for many, those words brought them to his campaign when he announced on a wintry day in Illinois years later. Volunteers came; young and old, women, and men, black, white, Hispanic. Asian, and more. Immigrants who were first generation saw someone who knew them. Gay, straight, bi, and trans members were welcomed into the fold. We did everything campaigns usually do and more. Even now, fifteen years later, I still have friends from those days.

We wanted to make America better. And, if you looked at our cross-section of America, you knew we believed we could do so. We wanted a leader who could inspire, who could call us to our better selves, who could bring us together. I won’t recap the 8 years of Obamas’ presidency. We were there. Some critics say the actions did not match the rhetoric. But we have the Affordable Care Act, imperfect as it was, which pulled millions into the healthcare networks, despite years of lies and lobbying against it. Remember Sarah Palin and her Death Panels? Remember also Mitch McConnell, on the day of Obama's inauguration, pulling together a coalition of Republican forces to fight everything he tried to accomplish? And, of course, we cannot forget the idiocy of the birther campaigns or the savagery of the Tea Party movement, all based on lies.

Now, 15 years later, we are looking at a presidential year in 2024. We have candidates who do not inspire, but try to instill fear. Fear of the other, the foreigner, the immigrant, “the gays”.  There is a former president who vows to take names and punish enemies and presents himself both as a martyr and a retribution for all wrongs. We have a new Speaker in the House of Representatives who claims we do not have a democracy but a Christian republic.

Heather Cox Richardson describes his thinking in part: <heathercoxrichardson@substack.com>

“Johnson rejects the separation of church and state in our government, saying that the framers’ idea “clearly did not mean…to keep religion from influencing issues of civil government. To the contrary, it was meant to keep the federal government from impeding the religious practice of citizens. The Founders wanted to protect the church from an encroaching state, not the other way around.”

America is a country with many religions. According to Statistica, 26% of the country is affiliated with no religion. If one adds all of the members of Christian religions together, about half of the country identifies as Christian. The remaining groups include Hindu, Mormon, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, and others. So, for me, Christian nationalism just won’t fit this country.

Polls today claim that DJT, a man facing 91 indictments, is leading President Biden in several swing states. I certainly hope these stats change soon.

There is a ton of news this weekend, but I wanted to remind people of where we once were. Maybe our nation can again find hope and a belief in each other.

“Til next week, Peace!

New Speaker Chosen

Well, after multiple tries, the Republicans have finally chosen a Speaker for the House of Representatives.

They sealed the deal with a lawyer from Louisiana, who fought against the Certification of the 2020 election, is against abortion and gay marriage, and is in a Covenant marriage.  

You know, just your average everyday American!

He may represent the Maga Republicans, but my guess is that he represents few other Americans.

There is a lot of news this week, but tonight I am going to pass on writing about it, as I am a bit under the weather , as they say.

So - Til next week -Peace!

Chaos in DC. War in Israel, Week 3

After the withdrawal of Rep. Steve Scalese from the House Speaker’s race, Rep Jim Jordan stepped up for the position. He lost the first two open floor votes. Needing 217 votes, he had fewer than 200 on the second try, which was less than he got during the first go-round. Reporters noted that some of his detractors were receiving threats and menacing messages after they refused to endorse his MAGA-supported bid. Some members of the House, pushing for Jordan to win selected him as the Speaker-designate. Eventually, after Jordan continued to lose votes, the Republican caucus held a secret ballot. To the surprise of few, once the members could vote in private, Jordan mustered only 84 votes. He then withdrew and threw the nomination back to the House members.

Currently, up to twelve men (and there have been no women who stepped up) have either said they are running or considering running for the office of Speaker. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy endorsed Rep. Tom Emmer from Minnesota, who has been serving as the GOP Minority Whip. Many in the Party dislike him because he voted to certify the 2020 election after the assault on the Capitol on January 6^th. Unlike Jordan, he is not a member of the Freedom Caucus but is more of a moderate given to constructive governing. He is a member of the mainstream leadership team, which makes him suspicious to the outliers. As Jordan and Gaetz are from the part of the Party that proposes few constructive measures and are more content with creating destructive forces; if Emmer can overcome their objections, this could be a more hopeful move toward settling this long-drawn-out process. For the sake of our country and its standing in the world, I hope this mess can be resolved soon.

The country has seen this chaos for almost three full weeks now. For the past three weeks, they have neglected to hold any hearings on important legislation, failed to present or pass any bills, and made no progress on the Continuing Resolution (CR) that needs to be decided in a few short weeks. President Biden, in a major Oval Office speech last week, stated that he would send Congress a request for emergency legislation for 105 Billion dollars for aid to Ukraine and Israel. He needs a functioning Congress to consider this request. The CR contained no Ukraine funding, as that was considered too divisive at the time. Then Speaker McCarthy promised to bring it up in the interim and find common ground. But, after the Republicans deposed him for working with Democrats to pass the CR, he cannot fulfill this promise. In the void of the last three weeks, the members have not addressed or assessed this. Some Republican Senators are saying they do not wish these two funding streams to be linked. President Biden linked them, in my opinion, to ensure the passage of both funding streams.

The President’s speech from the Oval Office was historic and important. He said: “that when terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror and dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos, death, and destruction.” (This was his way of linking both the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the surprise horrific attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians.)

As discussed by Heather Cox Richardson: ( <heathercoxrichardson@substack.com>) “Biden explained that he was sending to Congress “an urgent budget request to fund America’s national security needs, to support our critical partners, including Israel and Ukraine. It’s a smart investment that’s going to pay dividends for American security for generations, help us keep American troops out of harm’s way, help us build a world that is safer, more peaceful, and more prosperous for our children and grandchildren,” he said.  That money, he said, would harden the Iron Dome that protects Israel’s skies after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas that took more than 1,300 lives. But he also said that the U.S. “remains committed to the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and to self-determination. The actions of Hamas terrorists don’t take that right away” 

On Friday, “the administration asked Congress for a little over $105 billion in funding for national security. The package would devote $61.4 billion to support Ukraine (some of it to replenish U.S. stockpiles after sending weapons to Ukraine); $14.3 billion to Israel for air and missile defense systems; $9.15 billion for humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Gaza, and other places; $7.4 billion for initiatives in the Indo-Pacific; and $14 billion for more agents at the southwestern border, new machines to detect fentanyl, and more courts to process asylum cases. “

After the bombing of the Hospital in Gaza, now shown by multiple intelligence forces to be an explosion from an Islamic Jihad group misfired rocket, tensions erupted across the Middle East. Authorities canceled meetings that President Biden had scheduled with other leaders in the area and the propaganda machines went wild. Protests were held throughout the Moslem world as photos of dead children were shown across the region.

Military people speak of civilian casualties as “collateral damage.” But these civilian deaths are real, not just numbers. Deaths in Gaza and Israel reflect lives that were lost through no fault of their own. I believe no parents bring children into the world only to have them blown up by bombs, missiles, or other destructive forces. Does a Palestinian mother love her child less than an Israeli mother? I doubt that premise; every life has worth. So as Israel lines up troops on the border with Gaza and Hamas, places its rocket launchers on top of schools and shelters, I only wish that someone could impose a truce.

The United Nations seems powerless here, but it helped to find donations of aid for the trucks that have just now started flowing in from Egypt. Supplies have been limited and are now only a trickle. Truckloads are being inspected to determine if contraband, such as weapons or ammunition, is hidden aboard. Israel denied the transport of fuel, suspicious that the armies would confiscate it, but hospitals need fuel to run. So, an impasse persists. Impasses exist also with the number of hostages. Arab nations have urged Hamas to release women and children, to no avail. Last week, they suddenly released two Americans, a mother, and daughter from Illinois with help from Qatar and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. There remain hundreds more who need to be released. Hamas claimed they would start killing hostages if Israel invaded. So, there is another impasse.

We have two forces armed and ready to destroy each other. Hamas has as its mission the destruction of a Jewish state. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas so her people can never again be attacked in this manner. But there are two million people living in the battleground and they cannot leave. Unlike in Ukraine, when Russia attacked, no nations opened their borders to Palestinian refugees.

President Biden, and other world leaders, have urged caution on the Israeli military; just because they can reduce Gaza cities to rubble does not mean they should. Revenge is not a sane military plan. As the number of civilian casualties increases, world opinions will change and Israel risks becoming isolated. Hamas claims to have miles and miles of tunnels throughout the area. Destroying those will not be easy. It seems to it instead diverted me such a shame that resources that could have bettered the lives of those in the Gaza Strip to build tunnels, equip a military, and purchase weapons.

Since 1947, no one has provided a solution for these troubled lands. I agree that after the horrors of the concentration camps, Jewish people needed a homeland. Their history evolved in towns such as Jerusalem and Bethlehem. But then, so did the history of the Palestinians and the early Christians. Both Jewish and Palestinian people need a homeland. The sticky questions remain: where should that homeland be? Currently, about 20% of the population within the state borders is Arab. Although most are Muslim, some are Christian Arabs, and others belong to the Druze religion or other sects. Some live in Arab towns, others live in mixed areas. The majority are Israeli citizens, although others have temporary cards and more restrictions.

One thing is for sure, the settlements in the West Bank have to stop. The government of Israel has to cease allowing the ultra-right (which has helped keep Netanyahu in power) to have free rein. Many pundits noted that after this critical period, they expect the country to have new leadership. As Netanyahu moved toward a more authoritarian leadership, more people took to protesting in the streets. It seems that form of governance will not persist because people do not want what it represents. If the U.S. tied any strings to its aid, I hope humanitarian considerations were part of it.

I, sadly, have no answers to this dilemma. Far too much enmity has been created over the years to make co-existence possible; far too many entities, such as Iran and others, have moved to keep warring factions in place. Could there be a UN-protected zone somewhere, maybe?

So again, another week with no suitable answers.

‘Til next week–peace. 

Chaos in DC. War in Israel, Week 2

Twelve days ago, a revolt from some House Republicans led to the dismissal of the current House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy of California. Since then, no House member has gathered enough votes in straw polls to take the vote to the House floor. The initial front-runner, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, lost votes as his persuasion attempts faltered. The next in line, Jim Jordan of Ohio, the favorite of the MAGA crowd and endorsed by the former president, fell short in votes also, despite some strong-arming from his supporters.

As I mentioned last week, each man carries some baggage from a previous time. A recent New York Times op-ed by David Firestone opined that “both Scalise and Jordan were worse than McCarthy because they misunderstood the nature of power.” As he further notes, both candidates have cast doubts about the 2020 election, voted against certifying the results, and did not support funding for Ukraine. Firestone discusses the faction in the House that views compromise as an anathema and instead prefers confrontations as a way of achieving leverage on some unrelated topic. We famously knew Jordan as a figurative bomb thrower on issues such as the Affordable Care Act, cutting money for Planned Parenthood, and immigration. According to Firestone, Jordan has helped lead at least three shutdown efforts. Scalise has apologized for speaking at a White Nationalist rally and opposed the creation of a holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries noted this week on Meet The Press that informal talks are ongoing about finding a bipartisan solution to the leadership problem. He said that Democrats “want to ensure that votes are taken on bills that have substantial Democratic support and substantial Republican support so that the extremists aren’t able to dictate the agenda.” They removed McCarthy because it angered the extremists when he got Democratic votes to pass the Continuing Resolution (CR) and keep the government from shutting down. The extremists wanted the shutdown. Our party-based system has never had a power-sharing agreement, so I am eager to see how this might work. McCarthy had agreed to lopsided Republican Committee lineups, as well as giving the extreme right-wing members choice spots on the Rules, Oversight, and Judiciary Committees so they could prevent bills from coming out of committee and investigate any issue they chose to look at.

Some House members are feeling more urgency now that the War in Israel will need approval of funding for additional weapons, while the issue of more funding for Ukraine is still unsettled in the House. Ukraine funding was too controversial, so they left it out of the CR with McCarthy promising to review the issue and bring it up later before the funding deadline. That deadline is now only about one month away.

In the meantime, no bills can be proposed or passed out of committees, the House can send no legislation to the Senate, and no money can be appropriated, because the interim Speaker has only limited powers. Another Times editorial noted:

“A new speaker should also commit to plain dealing with Democratic colleagues and may need them to prevent another putsch. Mr. McCarthy lost faith among Democrats by failing to keep his word and honor a deal over spending caps that he negotiated with the White House in May. The next speaker might consider that a good starting point for negotiations.

Once a speaker is chosen, the House will have less than 40 days to avert yet another standoff over a shutdown, and members of goodwill in both parties will again need to show that they are willing and able to compromise; the Democrats could permit more spending on border security, and Republicans should continue the vital flow of aid to Ukraine, among other issues.

The House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, said Tuesday that his caucus would “remain willing to find common ground on an enlightened path forward,” one that did not leave the public’s business at the mercy of a few extremists. Whichever leader Republicans choose should agree to a similar path.”

 

Meanwhile, Americans, and many across the world, wonder when the House will get its’ act together and function as a cohesive arm of government. While I’m not holding my breath, I remain hopeful that there must be some leaders in the Republican Party, old statesmen or women, that can start to pull a solution together that will serve both parties and the American people. We shall see.

And in other news…

The news from the Middle East continues to get worse. The expected Israeli ground offensive into Gaza has not yet started, but the Palestinian population of Gaza is on the move toward a somewhat safer southern area. Israel dropped leaflets last week urging the population to move away from Gaza City. Hundreds of thousands are now on the move, by donkey cart, automobile, buses, and on foot. Some may find shelter with relatives, but many have no destination except to get away from the bombings and the war they did not start. Egypt will open its closed crossing on Monday for foreign nationals and those with dual citizenship to leave the Gaza Strip. There are approximately 500 Americans who live there now. Egypt did not yet welcome any exodus of Palestinians, although it will allow some humanitarian supplies to come into the country. Israel said it will turn the water back on in southern Gaza, though some wonder how this will work without power.

Many people are holding their breath to see what the Israeli military will do. Secretary Blinken and President Biden have both agreed that while Israel can effectively destroy much of Gaza, some restraint, and protection for civilians is necessary. The Rules of War do not allow for indiscriminate attacks on civilians or civilian infrastructure. However, this restraint becomes more difficult when the Hamas forces shoot rockets from the roofs of schools or hide ammunition next to hospitals. It is also well-known that street fighting in urban areas leads to high casualties, both civilian and military, especially in an area riddled with secret tunnels and caches of weapons. And, unquestionably, the issue of hostages complicates the promised search and rescue efforts.

Although the number of casualties is incomplete and still rising, here is a rough estimate so far: 1400 Israelis have been killed; (30 Americans are in that number), and more than 3000 have been injured.  2670 Palestinians have been killed; half of whom are children, again, thousands more have been injured. Although there are some Americans unaccounted for, some are thought to be in the group of 150 hostages Hamas took to the Gaza Strip. This group included men, women, and children. Qatar is in talks with Hamas leaders for the release of the women and children being held, but they have reached no agreements to date. Hamas has threatened to kill the hostages if any attempts are made to free them.

Many questions have been raised concerning how this attack by Hamas could have been carried out with no Israeli military warning. Some agreed with my previous assessment that protests and other turmoil over the Supreme Court and other changes may have allowed some to take their eyes away from defense, while others believe that the continued troubles in the West Bank made Gaza seem less problematic.

Some pundits believe that this will be a prolonged war and do not agree on a solution. While a Two-state proposal has been on the table for a while, it does not allow for adequate protections for two groups who each have no trust for the other side. How, then, can they be expected to live almost side by side without walls or military troops in place? I have no answers; this has been a thorny problem for generations. When you have two competing nationalities claiming the same territories, something has to change. I do not know why the two states have to be on the same strip of land. Could Egypt, Jordan, or Saudi Arabia use some of their wealth or donate land to help establish a new state for the displaced Palestinians? Could the Israelis stop placing settlements and displacing Palestinians on contested land such as the West Bank? These lands were annexed by Israel and are governed under its authority with an ineffective local administration. The areas are not peaceful, as the locals have little autonomy. The far-right religious in Israel believe settlements are their right even as they displace those who have lived on the land for generations. Conflict has to result and must be resolved. But as long as the far-right group keeps the current administration in power, they may build settlements. The U.S. has been discouraging this settlement building across several presidencies.

The news today noted that Netanyahu invited President Biden to come for a personal visit to Israel. (This is the same man who disrespected both President Obama and VP Biden when they were in office, to the great joy of the Republicans.) I think the President should stay out of an active war zone. But I don’t think a photo op and macho walk are that noteworthy. So, it will probably happen. Maybe they could meet on the aircraft carrier instead?

I guess this is why I write instead of working with the diplomatic corps. I’m not one for sugarcoating difficult situations. There have been many attempts, some admittedly half-hearted, to solve this problem over the decades, but none have succeeded. Now is the time to think of a solution.

‘Til next week – Peace, please world.