Tag: israel-hamas war

In the West Bank and Gaza, Christians are searching for ways to celebrate a subdued Christmas, with festivities canceled for the first time since the First Intifada in 1988. 

A group of local residents frustrated and horrified at what has been going on in Israel and the Gaza Strip over the last two months have banded together to create a new organization, the Inland Northwest Coalition for the Liberation of Palestine.

PJALS will host a Candlelight Vigil on Dec. 14. They join other humanitarian and human rights organizations in calls for a permanent cease-fire, an end to Israel’s current blockade of Gaza and the 16-year siege and the return of all hostages and political prisoners by Hamas and Israel.

War shapes our lives, sometimes encouraging violence, verbal and physical. Outside war zones, ordinary citizens find ourselves drawn into taking sides. How can we create a better future for our children, ourselves, even for those we don’t know?

Hanukkah, a joyous Jewish holiday, which in the United States has often tried to rival Christmas in buoyancy if not glamour, will not be the same this year. With the Israeli military in the midst of a destructive showdown in its war with Hamas, few are in the mood to celebrate the holiday that begins at sundown Thursday.

Bowing to weeks of mounting global pressure, UN Women released a statement “unequivocally” condemning “the brutal attacks by Hamas on Israel” and calling “for all accounts of gender-based violence to be duly investigated and prosecuted.”

Directly targeting civilians or exposing them to disproportionate harm in war is wrong for the same reasons that it is wrong to kill or harm innocent people in peacetime. People who pose no threat to others deserve respect and protection from violence regardless of their nationality or group identity. To violate that respect in war is not only a war crime but a moral crime.