The Gaza Strip is less than one-tenth the size of La Plata County. Gaza’s population is 38 times the population of La Plata County – 2,100,000 versus 56,000.
Half the population of Gaza is under 18. Nearly half are refugees. Nearly half are unemployed. Eight out of 10 live in poverty.
For the past 17 years, Israel has imposed a near-absolute air, sea and land blockade on Gaza, almost totally cutting off the movement of people and goods from the rest of the world. Human Rights Watch called it an “open air prison.” There was severely limited access to health care, education and economic opportunities. Food insecurity was rife. Palestinians were subjected to daily humiliations, violence, arrest, confiscation of property and frustrations at the hands of Israeli soldiers and “settlers.”
How long would Americans tolerate such conditions? Is anyone surprised that things exploded?
For the past 17 years, the metaphor I see for Gaza is the sneering smile on Derek Chauvin’s face as he crushed the life from 2,100,000 Gazans. Since Oct. 7, the metaphor I see for Gaza is the Warsaw Ghetto. Has Israel remembered everything and learned nothing? Has Israel become its own worst nightmare?
I renounce antisemitism without reservation. Jewish lives matter. But so do Palestinian lives.
James Furze
Durango
