...more recent posts
I've been trying to ignore everything. On purpose. I'm sorry. But what can I do?
I guess not be silent, for starters, even when it's clear that speaking will do no good.
What the hell is happening in Jenin? Can we get some neutral observers in there? I'm not asking for peace, but can't we try to prevent an atrocity? By either side.
No matter what your beliefs, can't we agree we need correct information? And more of it?
One side says the Palestinians are leaving the bodies of their fallen comrades in the streets on purpose. To sway international opinion. The other side says that Israeli snippers have the whole camp pinned down and that it is impossible to even get to their wounded. They claim that ambulances are being shot at. They even claim the Israeli's tricked a group of elderly men and women out of hiding with offers of fresh water, captured them, and strapped them to the front of advancing tank columns. That sounds outrageous, and I don't have a lot of faith in either of the sources I just pointed to (but I like that you can at least tell where their sympathies lie.) But what if it's true?
My point is just that we need more information. I'm not talking about peace keeping forces, or anything like that (although maybe that's a good idea,) I just want some neutral unarmed observers on the ground. I'm aware that this is the sort of thing the U.S. government would never allow. So maybe it's a lot to complain that Israel won't allow this. But I complain about the U.S. too. I mean when I'm not trying to ignore everything because I feel powerless. And hopeless. And dumbstruck by the brutality of humans.
What the world needs is a cheap wireless ip-enabled video camera with one of those crank to charge batteries. Then we could just drop (or smuggle) cases of them into war zones. I'm sure the people on the ground would be filming. Not sure how to keep the world's air forces from knocking out the base stations you'd need. Maybe they'd have to be peer to peer. A giant mesh of witnesses. You'd need a ton of them then, but if they were cheap enough....
That might actually help a lot.