INTRODUCTION
We will do our best to provide a small foundation of understanding about the current events and hope to provide you with updates about the events happening right now in the war with Israel and Hamas in Gaza and how that might affect you. We hope this will also help you process the events and information circulating throughout the media.
Before we get into the details of this conflict it is important to understand a few basic facts and also introduce you to the major players and terms frequently used to describe the situation (See Major Players/Terms and Historical Events post).
For many reasons this war is one that scans the globe and is having a polarizing affect upon virtually everyone. In other words people tend to be either on one side or the other with no real middle ground. I am a Christian who has been visiting and working in Jerusalem since 1977 and having close friends on both sides of the fence, I truly feel for both sides and quite sincerely feel about as neutral as one could be.
I find myself jumping on the side of humanity and peaceful means of resolution. That being said, I also understand the strong feelings that lead to other means of conflict resolution that are a result of human nature, tradition, religious feelings, politics, personal loss and terror, and a host of other reasons. For this reason (and many others) I feel it imperative to begin all discussions with the following warning…
Warning:
Both sides (Israel & Hamas) have been guilty of heinous crimes against humanity, civilians, and both sides have ample evidence that support those claims. Both sides could be convicted of the horrible crimes of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and pogrom. Anyone claiming otherwise is shortsighted and uneducated on the long and difficult history between these two entities. If you don’t know which side to support then you cannot use this as a sole measuring stick because atrocities have been demonstrated on both sides. It is futile to argue which side is most to blame or that one side or the other has been more ruthless than the other. Both share blame and both have been ruthless. (Please use other measuring devices as you evaluate the cause of both sides).
There are many COMPLICATED ISSUES that make this conflict unique and complex…(See next post)
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