June 25, 2006
Choose Life
I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life. Deuteronomy 30.19
From this morning’s NY Times
Israel Threatens to Strike Gaza After Attack on Soldiers
JERUSALEM, June 25 — Israel threatened strong military action today after Palestinian militants, including those belonging to the ruling faction Hamas, emerged from a long tunnel dug 300 yards into Israel, killed two soldiers, wounded three and kidnapped a fourth wounded soldier at an Israeli outpost near the Egyptian border.
This is the news I woke to today.
Even the language we use to describe this incident puts us into the heart of the battle. Were the attackers “Palestinian militants” or just terrorists or perhaps Palestinian soldiers? Did they attack across an international border or just a temporary boundary line? Was this an “attack” or an act of terrorism? Is the soldier a POW or a hostage? Was this act an understandable response to prior Israeli actions or an unacceptable act of war?
Two sides with so very different views of reality. And yet two sides that so desperately need to find a way to live in peace shaving already learned how to “live” at war. And both have learned dearly that living at war is a costly and painful way to exist.
And as with all events in this ongoing tragedy, it leads to a series of choices.
What will Israel do now? Understandably there is much focus on the safety of their captured soldier. But what to do about him? Talk with his captors or not? Hold the Palestinian Authority or the entire Palestinian people responsible? Threaten mass retaliation if he is not returned unharmed? Always of concern beyond the immediate situation is the fear that an action will reward the aggressor and encourage more violence. And yet years of forceful responses to each attack have not brought an end to the violence. Is this the time to try a new path even while many in the street of Israel still scream for a strong and stern response? Of only using force in response to force? If not now when will that time come?
And for the Palestinian’s at this moment of “triumph” what should they do? Go to the airwaves and internet with shouts of victory and promises of more to follow? How should they use the captive in their midst? Use him as a bargaining chip for some political concession from Israel? Try him as a war criminal? Return him to Israel unharmed and in return for no quid pro quo? And the context for this decision too are the streets inflamed with the pain of years of suffering and death and a growing fervor and militancy of the Palestinian body politic and the larger Islamic world. While militant and violent action have proved to remarkably unsuccessful in dislodging or pacifying Israel they play well in the streets. Are there leaders here who are brave enough to see that now may be the time for a new path? Is the time for another kind of action which can move toward the light rather than remain in the darkness?
Two people, enemies locked in an endless war? Or two peoples with another chance to seize hope from the deaths of their children? The choice, as always, remains theirs. From afar we can only pray that this time they choose a different path.
I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life. Deuteronomy 30.19