holy land reflections (5) - dark fog

An excellent piece in The Guardian this morning written by Paul Kaye: A dark fog has enveloped us. 'When a rocket killed his mother-in-law in Israel, actor Paul Kaye was appalled by the celebrations in Gaza. Six months on, he feels a different kind of despair'.

Kaye powerfully conveys something of the complexity of the situation in the Holy Land and the conflicting responses evoked by the Hamas' shelling of Israel and Israel's military response. He concludes the article with the following:

'At Shuli's funeral last May, her son Jonathon, my brother-in-law, gave a speech. "Where are the doves?" he asked. "What is this land worth without someone with a vision? Nothing. Without doves it wasn't worth the struggle." Jonny is 34. He's an army reservist who is studying to be a neurologist and has a two-year-old son called Boaz. He didn't scream for blood at his mother's graveside, he screamed for peace.

In our house we have our own thinking to do. My eldest son, Jordy, has Israeli citizenship and in two years he will have to choose either to relinquish that citizenship or to fight in the Israeli army. It can be only his choice. But, unlike the Palestinians in Gaza, at least he has one.'