I got this from my UALR mail. For context, Basil is my Arabic teacher at UALR. His wife Krista is the new anthro instuctor. I know that many of my friends disagree with my views on Israel. They are big supporters of Israel, I am not such a big fan. This is not a new stance that I have developed since traveling to the Middle East.
These ideas were developed over many years of political discussions at the dinner table growing up.

My parents made sure that I did not listen strictly to the news or to the pulpit to get my views on life. Even though my parents were extremely conservative (less so now that they have gotten older), they made sure that I understood things like:
1) Human suffering is NOT acceptable especially if it is in the name of religion (and I apply that to all religions).
2)The US is not always right in its decisions.
3)Politics in the name of religion are just plain politics with a few sparkles and beads to disguise it. THANKS MOM AND DAD!

This is from Dr. Hartmann's private e-mail - I just wanted to pass this along in case you feel as strongly about this as I do. North Gaza is under attack from the air and on the ground, over 80 people have died in the last three days and the number is still rising--over 60 people died today, and the attack continues to escalate.

The hospitals are overwhelmed -there are over 150 seriously injured people and over half of those are children. They have little medical supplies remaining and no room left to put the injured in the hospitals, even the floors of the hospital are filled with the wounded and the critically injured have to wait for a chance to get into overwhelmed operation rooms without medicine or supplies. Homes are being bombed and tanks roll through the streets.

Basel's father, who is an ambulance paramedic, says the situation is worse than ever before, people are being killed and shot at indiscriminately -children, women, elderly, no one is safe.A first cousin of Basel's r. Lewis' husband) died today from a bullet to the head when he stepped to his bedroom balcony to answer a telephone call. He just got married earlier this week only to die on his honeymoon. Shortly before he was killed, he was shuttling wounded neighbors to the hospital after a rocket hit their house. His family cannot even bury him because now they are confined to a single room of their home because a group of Israeli special forces has taken over the rest of their house.


This is not an isolated event - and at least 19 children have died, the youngest one only two days old. See the forwarded story below about four boys who died while playing soccer together outside their house. Their two friends who survived are not much better off.

Israel's Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai, said Palestinians risked a "shoah" - the Hebrew word for the Nazi Holocaust. We cannot stand by and let this happen! YOUR tax dollars pay for many of the weapons that are being used on innocent people right now. It is our responsibility to tell our government we don't want to give a green light to such atrocities (which they did with a recent public statement by Condoleeza Rice). Meanwhile, even the majority of Israeli citizens favor negotiation rather than invasion. We must make our governments stop war crimes and human rights violations and take a more humanitarian path.You can make a positive difference -you can save lives. It is your job as it is mine to keep such atrocities from occurring anywhere in the world.

The killing and oppressing of innocent people is never ever justified.BBC story:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7272329.stm

Al Jazeera Englishhttp://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0C8EBD66-032E-4470-82FB-005D6A2B5186.htm

Please please call or write your representatives, alert the media, tell your friends and family that what is going on in Gaza now is wrong! Gaza is not just a place on the other side of the world that we can or should ignore -- you have personal connections to these people who just want to live and raise their children in peace. Its too small a world to be silent. Please get as many people as you can to write your representatives and say that this is wrong.It's really easy to call or E-mail Congress and the president -it may seem fruitless but if hundreds of us send messages saying stop the violence we can hope that we can begin to make a difference-say that you don't want your tax dollars buying weapons that kill innocent people especially children!visit the Web site <www.congress.org> for contact information.