Gaza.

Alright, so, I've spent the last hour or so telling you about a trip to Jordan and Christmas in Bethlehem in my past posts, but I feel now that I need to update you on the situation in Gaza. While I am not located in Gaza, and you should have no fear for my immediate danger, there are, as of this moment, over 270 people dead and 900 people injured from Israeli air strikes. Let's compound the fact that Gaza has essentially been cut off from resources for months or even years now. They have very little medical supplies, food, water, etc, etc, etc. It breaks my heart. These aren't savages. These are human beings.

What does this mean for Bethlehem? We've already had two protest marches. Yesterday's march ended at the checkpoint, where stones were thrown at IDF soldiers and tires were set on fire. Bethlehem, and the rest of the West Bank, has announced a strike. This means that basically all businesses were closed yesterday, and will be closed for the next two days. A Palestinian car hit a police officer on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem yesterday. There was a large riot there today. Kids were throwing rocks again, which ended with the IDF police showing up and eventually arresting some of the kids.

I don't know really what to even say. My blog is to be used as a ministry tool, not a political tool. I don't even know what the opinions of my readers are. I don't want to say that I am pro one side or the other, because both are at fault. It may sound cliche, but I'm pro-human rights. I am anti-death and suffering of people. I am pro-finding a good solution for the maximum number of people possible. The strikes on Gaza though, scare me. It saddens me. There were fighter planes flying over Bethlehem. It's a no fly zone here, so that means the planes had to be Israeli. I've never seen this at home. Now, I'm not trying to scare anyone, especially my mom, but I've never lived through this and I'm here to inform many of you that haven't as well.

I don't really have much more to say here, except please pray for the people of Gaza, Palestine, Israel, and everywhere else. Everyone's suffering. It's war. I watched RENT last night as a stress-breaker and there's a line in the movie that actually says, "The opposite of war isn't peace. It's creation." I'm attaching some links of articles with a different understanding with the situation here.

I'll leave you with one thought: Nearly 300 dead and over 900 injured Palestinians. 1 dead Israeli. Which side deserves self-defense again?

Pray for those around us.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/200812279451509662.html
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34306
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/2760.htm (This is actually from Dr. Mitri Raheb, the pastor at Christmas Lutheran Church. He wrote this in regards to life under curfew during the second Intifada.)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3707556/Vicar-bans-Christmas-carol-O-Little-Town-of-Bethlehem.html
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34170
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34268