Friday the 13th in the Gaza Strip
I spent Friday the 13th touring some of the refugee camps in Gaza. What a
horror! Seven to twelve people sleeping in a small room, dirt roads, and a
questionable sewage system..
Anyway, I have been too quite a few third world countries before. But
these people are refugees in their own land! The thoughts going
through my head during the ride centered around the Holocaust and
Europe. Do the Germans, the descendants of the Nazi state with their six
week vacations, great medical care, and spa vacations, know about the
tragedy inflicted on these Palestinians because of the Holocaust
massacre survivors flight from Europe? (Actually the EU and
Scandinavia in particular are the biggest donors to Palestinian
projects.) But still, this is the solution to anti-Semitism in Europe?
The de-rooting, torturing and killing of a population completely
disassociated with the Holocaust, the Roman Expulsion and the Assyrian
conquest which kicked out the Jews from this land?
I have seen the ghettoes and concentration camps of Eastern Europe
and am heartbroken to know that that was the reality for millions of
Jews in Europe. They served as the filter through which I looked at
these refugee horrors.
To be honest, though, I have to admit that it is also great to see
modern Israeli society. So modern, and powerful compared to the
shtetl past.
So, therein lies my extreme internal conflict about the terra santa.
(Holy Land)
Tomorrow, I leave for Petra in Jordan. Maybe I will think about other
things there.