Just one cause; one just cause

Sometimes I enjoy writing my blog.  Sometimes I am stuck for something to say so I give you a quote I have found that I like a lot. Sometimes something happens and I think – ooh, that’s very bloggable! Sometimes my life is a struggle and I don’t feel like sharing that struggle with the world at large. or even with you, dear reader. Sometimes my blog seems fatuous.

I am sitting here in my pyjamas in my beautiful turquoise study with my Wensleydale pictures on the wall in front of me, and through my windows – yes, I am lucky enough to have two – I can see my May garden. I can hear Dave playing a Ralph McTell instrumental on his guitar in the kitchen; I am warm, I am comfortable and in a minute I shall be taking a shower. Then I shall eat porridge with golden syrup, and go out shopping to stock up on food.

When my blog seems fatuous, this is what I am thinking about… there are people all over the world living in makeshift shelters, with not enough food and not enough water. It is overwhelming to even think about how to help them all, how to fund every charity and support every cause that is worthy, and I have given up.

I actively support one cause, and unless you are new to my blog, you’ll know which one it is: the Palestinians under occupation. In Gaza they are under siege. Last year they were bombed in their houses, now they are surviving on even less than they were before, because the Israeli government restricts the importation of everything from household goods, to plastic toys(!) to building materials.

In the West Bank, the Palestinians’ land is still being stolen by Israeli settlers building illegal occupations. The Palestinians are cut off from their water supplies, from their olive groves, from their means of livelihood, whatever it is. They are treated as second class people: a Middle-East form of apartheid.

In Gaza, a third of the people live under the extreme poverty line.

Why is it that the plight of the people in Gaza moves me more than any other? Because it is so unjust. An entire people is being collectively punished for the actions of violent extremists in their midst. The suffering of the ordinary people in Gaza is caused by another country that acts in contravention of international law. And this country is not ostracised by the world community like that of President Mugabe. No – we trade with Israel, the west sells them weapons, the Americans support them in all kinds of ways.

The people of Gaza elected Hamas as their government (the election declared democratic by international observers). Hamas is willing to accept a Palestinian state within the 1949 Armistice lines, but Israel will not negotiate.

That’s it. Rant over. i wanted to tell you, and I have.