"... I am not defending the Arab excesses. I wish they had chosen the way of non-violence in resisting what they rightly regarded as an unwarrantable encroachment upon their country ... Let the Jews who claim to be the chosen race prove their title by
choosing the way of non-violence for vindicating their position on
earth..."
- Mahatma Ghandi 1938
Gaza is a strip of land designated by the United Nations for Palestinians who were displaced during the creation of Israel in 1948. It is bordered by Israel on the east and south with the Mediterranean to its north and Egypt to its west. A wall of barbed wire and concrete along its borders surrounds the 1.5 million people of Gaza. The movement of food, fuel, and medicines to Gaza has been restricted in the form of a siege. The seven mile western border with Egypt is also closed although smuggling occurs through underground tunnels. There is often no electricity or clean water. Many in Gaza are homeless or live in refugee camps. In the last 72 hours, more than 300 people in Gaza have been killed and more than 1000 injured.
Each year the United States grants over 3.5 billion dollars of foreign military funding to the Near East, an area immersed in war for the last century. I am saddened by the violence. No matter what history or politics preceded this, we are connected to each other as people and the tragedy belongs to us all.
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