Okay then - Gaza. I can't help pondering about what is happening over there. It breaks my heart to think of the 9,000 children who have already been killed and the 7,000 women and the thousands of innocent law-abiding men. The present total of fatalities is 21,423. It's as if the vengeance of The Israeli Defence Force has already achieved a payback of twenty Gazan lives for one Israeli life - following the brutal Hamas terrorist attack upon innocent Israeli citizens on October 7th. I wonder - how many more innocent Palestinians must die before this awfulness ends? Surely twenty for one is more than enough.
What is happening is not a "war". It is an act of unbridled revenge. The victims are trapped within their compound unable to escape by land or sea. Some other commenters simply call it genocide. And of course the conflict is very uneven. Israeli weaponry is sophisticated, costly, lethal and seemingly inexhaustible. It makes me wonder who is supplying the armaments and where are they made? The suppliers of the military hardware themselves have serious questions to address about what is happening. There can be no more claims of "surgical" strikes when you see the devastation that has been caused.
So yes - I'm sorry. I know that was heavy stuff and my words won't change a thing but I'm glad to get some of it off my chest because I fret about Gaza every day. And now to the photos.
As I say, I have got thousands of them. Digital photographs are easily stored. You don't need shoe boxes or biscuit tins. This afternoon I was seeking a particular photo that I took in 2017 and in that process I looked at dozens of old pictures that I had not returned to since I first filed them away. It was like looking at someone else's images. And I have picked five of my 2017 photos to share with you this evening. Arguably, a nice counterbalance to the painful subject of Gaza...
I heard a radio interview this morning about the people of Israel and Gaza learning about each other to make some sense of the situation.
ReplyDeleteReligious differences are the root of so many troubles.
DeleteLove your photos, but REALLY loved the first part of the post about Gaza because I feel the exact same way.
ReplyDeleteIt will accomplish nothing except more dead humans.
The IDF's initial aim was to destroy HAMAS but you cannot destroy ideas or beliefs.
DeleteI agree with you about Gaza. Both the IDF and Hamas have treated the Palestinian people in Gaza as nothing more than cannon fodder. It's disgusting and what's worse is that a whole new generation of children will grow up traumatized and hating, for something that was not their fault.
ReplyDeleteThe photos are lovely, my favourite, the last one.
Thanks for calling by Pixie and for sharing your honest thoughts.
DeleteI am ashamed that my own country cannot stand up with the rest of the world to say that what is happening is wrong. We share in the shame of what is happening there. All Palestinians are not pro-Hamas, anymore than all Americans are pro Donald Trump.
ReplyDeleteA girl who had lost members of her family yelled into the camera, "We are not HAMAS! We are not HAMAS!"
DeleteI like the bus shelter photo best. As for Gaza, I think if all those fighting would just go home and sit quietly with a cup of tea for a while, they might decide that's the best thing and the "war" will end. In my newspaper today there is a photo of quadruplets born to homeless parents who fled to escape the fighting and now live in a shelter. It's right next to a photo of a small boy who can't be more than three or four, crying because his entire family was killed. And I cried too.
ReplyDeleteI worry about the men that the IDF stripped and took away. How were the interviews conducted? Were there any neutral monitors from say - The United Nations? How could a prisoner prove that he was not a member of HAMAS?
DeleteWe know very well where the weapons and funding is coming from for Israel to blitz Gaza. The hatred in Gaza against Israel must now be immense, hardly the best long term plan by Israel. The memories of ten year old Gazan children will be there for seventy years plus.
ReplyDeleteI agree. They are creating a deep reservoir of bitterness. There seems to have been zero compassion for civilians. They seem to be making Gaza uninhabitable - on purpose.
DeleteThis is not a comment for excusing the Israelis in what they are doing. But I have just read on The New York Times, the atrocity committed against the Israeli women at the festival. Barbaric doesn't even cover it, a vicious contempt of women was what Hamas was aiming at. Yet it doesn't justify the continuing killing of innocent people in Palestine. They are being harassed from one place to another, the strong word of genocide can be used against the Israeli force. As always our governments poor showing of compassion to the slaughter of innocent people, especially children should be highlighted.
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to publish this comment Neil by the way. But we all have strong feelings.
I am happy to publish this comment Thelma.
DeleteEven if Israel kill every member of Hamas, the young surviving souls have seen so much destruction, hate and killing, with the history of the area, some will grow into a modern form of Hamas, and the hate and killing will continue. Love your photo's.
ReplyDeleteI agree about storing up troubles for the future. Netanyahu did nothing in previous years to work towards a peaceful future with his immediate neighbours.
DeleteI can only echo what has already been said. With so many children killed, a whole generation will be lost. We know what a waste war is, yet man still wages it.
ReplyDeleteYour photos and excellent, and if I'm not mistaken, the third one is taken from Mirador del Rio on Lanzarote, looking towards La Graciosa?
You are right about the picture Carol - just as your points were right in the first paragraph.
DeleteGreat photos, great memories, and inspirations.
ReplyDeleteBut not for the beleaguered people of Gaza.
DeleteI love the rural bus shelter picture YP. I wish we had public transport where we live.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could buy an old minibus and start up your own service on The Sheep's Head Peninsula. You could call it "Dave's Rides" and make daily return trips to Bantry. Jean could be the driver.
DeleteMy mind simply cannot take it in. It refuses.
ReplyDeleteI get that.
DeleteYour photos are always so well done, and in these dark days, they're a much-welcomed balm. Thank you for sharing them.
ReplyDeleteYou've captured how I feel about Gaza and the IDF response that has evolved into an "act of unbridled revenge" and destruction/devastation. So much is being lost by all involved.
We should all worry about what is being stored up for the future. Very possibly something that is quite cataclysmic.
DeleteI think Gaza has you in its grip. Your selection of photos seem to me to be a rather grim collection. Well done, though, and maybe that's all that counts.
ReplyDeleteI respect your honest reaction Bruce but please see what Damselfly wrote above.
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