The 12 Days Before Gaza: #2

On Christmas Day I will arrive in Egypt, a country that is building an impenetrable steel wall at the border with Gaza which will be 10-11km (6-7 miles) long and will extend 18 meters below the surface. According to the BBC,

"The Egyptians are being helped by American army engineers, who the BBC understands have designed the wall. The plan has been shrouded in secrecy, with no comment or confirmation from the Egyptian government."

From yesterday's Irish Times (whose article indicates that the Egyptians are now confirming the building of the wall):

Over the past year the number of tunnels has doubled from 750 to 1,500. They carry essential goods, household appliances, fuel, medicines, fertiliser, seeds, clothing, motorbikes, and even the occasional car.

If the flow of goods is impaired or interdicted, the 1.5 million Gazans would be reduced to reliance on the ration package containing flour, pulses and tea distributed by UN agencies.

Time Magazine recently ran an informative story about the importance of the underground tunnels between Gaza and Egypt. They are the lifelines for people who have been shut off from the rest of the world by the Israelis. From the article:

"There is only one economy — there's a tunnel economy," says John Ging, head of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in the Gaza Strip. "You have zero exports and zero commercial imports through the [Israeli-controlled] crossing points. All that is allowed in is humanitarian aid and supplies ... In terms of economic activity, there is no economic activity other than the tunnel economy."

Ann Wright, retired US Army Reserve Colonel:

"The tunnels are the lifelines for Gaza since the international community agreed to a blockade of Gaza to collectively punish the citizens of Gaza for their having elected in Parliamentary elections in 2006 sufficient Hamas Parliamentarians that Hamas became the government of Gaza. The United States and other western countries have placed Hamas on the list of terrorist organizations.

The underground steel wall is intended to strengthen international governmental efforts to imprison and starve the people of Gaza into submission so they will throw out the Hamas government."

On Christmas Day I will be in Egypt. People in the U.S. will be celebrating the birth of the Prince of Peace while their tax dollars pay for bombs in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, and other places around the globe. Americans will wish for "peace on earth, goodwill toward men" while their country supports much suffering all over the world.

AND on Christmas Day, there will be peacemakers from all over the world traveling to Gaza to give voice to what is occurring there. There will be doctors and nurses in every country who will be tending to the illnesses and injuries of others. There will be people stopping to help the person in front of them because they see a need.

How does a heart hold all of this???







I Believe In Father Christmas

They said there'll be snow at christmas
They said there'll be peace on earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the virgin's birth
I remember one christmas morning
A winters light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that christmas tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire

They sold me a dream of christmas
They sold me a silent night
And they told me a fairy story
'till I believed in the israelite
And I believed in father christmas
And I looked at the sky with excited eyes
'till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise

I wish you a hopeful christmas
I wish you a brave new year
All anguish pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said there'll be snow at christmas
They said there'll be peace on earth
Hallelujah noel be it heaven or hell
The christmas you get you deserve