I Don't Want to Write About...

I don't want to write about:
the violence of the settlers and the police against the peace activists who went to help out Palestinian famers in Anatot - read story and see video of violence here

Nor do I wish to bring up:
the vandalism of the mosque in Tuba (see Mossawa Center's website for more information about discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel - http://www.mossawacenter.org/ )

On Sunday, October 2nd 2011... in the Arab village of Tuba in northern Israel,...extremists burned a mosque and damaged it with graffiti... The Mossawa Center holds the government’s legal advisor and the religious extremists who continue to incite the Arab population through acts of racism, such as the Rabbis from Tzfat college, responsible for the attack on the Tuba mosque. The lack of accountability for racist attacks against the Arab minority ultimately gives legitimacy to racists and their hate crimes... It is unacceptable that the police employ mass forces to suppress peaceful political protests organized by the Arab community but refuse to act similarly in clear cases of racial persecution. 

I have no desire to share here reports of:
The US cutting aid to the Palestinian Authority, only because they 'dared' to go to the UN seeking recognition of their independent state (read Ha'aretz article about this here)

These are not topics that make for the start of a new year.

Unfortunately, whether I WANT to or not, life in our region goes on, continuing to bring with it events of hatred, violence, discrimination.

What a waste:
of life
of being in this world
of time
when we forget to rejoice in what the world has to offer

How utterly sad that:
we let the hate overtake us
we destroy more than we try to build
we let the hate-mongers set our social-political agenda

To a good new year, may you be inscribed in the Book of Life (that is, all who cherish life, and who do what they can to diminish the hatred and violence in our world)