Why I am going to Gaza

by David Tilsen

What: This year, I am joining an international group of supports to support the residents of Gaza in a march and demonstration to remember and protest the brutal bombing of Gaza by Israel one year ago, and the continued siege, blockade and imprisonment of the residents of Gaza by the State of Israel.
http://www.gazafreedommarch.org/

Ten Reasons I am going to Gaza.

10. I was not alive during the genocide of the American Indians in my own country.
The history of the European invasion of North American, and the resultant devastation it caused to the native people who were already living here has plagued my conscience for most of my live. We enjoy the prosperity, peace and beauty of this country because of the systematic murder, starvation, and cultural genocide that the founders of this country perpetrated on the people who already lived here.
I would hope that, had I been alive then, I would not have sat back and enjoyed the fruits of this destruction, but how do I really know?
I was born in 1948, the year of the partition of Palestine into Israel and Jordan. I have witnessed the European invasion of this country, funded by my taxes and the donations of the American Jewish community and the parallels between this and the history of the Americas weigh heavy on me. Once again a resident people are being moved out, disinfrachised, starved, killed and their very existence denied in my name, and for my benefit.
I have an opportunity in this lifetime to not sit idly by.

9. At a young child we raised money to plant trees inIsrael. Did these trees displace native Olive groves owned by Palestinian?

8. When I was 12 years old, I watched the film Exodus and learned the mythology of the founding of Israel.

7. I have learned the lesson of the Warsaw ghetto.
Irony is not a strong enough word for the what the children of the survivors of the Warsaw ghetto are doing to another population in their midst.

6. I have visited Yad V’shem in Jerusulaem.
There are trees planted to commemorate the hero’s, the non Jews who saved people during the Holocaust.

5. Israel’s security, in fact its very survival is threatened by its inability to live in peace with its neighbors.

4. White Phosphorus is worse than napalm.
Israel used White Phosphorus (which it purchased from the United States with money provided by the United States) on civilian populations in Gaza and Lebanon. I fought again the use of Napalm in Vietnam, and its use here touches me to the core.

3. I know what fragmentation bombs are.
Fragmentation bombs, are weapons that are dropped and then they explode the send thousands of small metal pieces (bullets) into the bodies of whomever is near. Often the people who are near are not soldiers. These bombs will be around, causing terrible injury for many many years in Lebanon, Gaza and the west Bank. These also are purchased from the United States with money from my taxes.

2. It’s the strongest statement I can make at this time.
I know this will not solve the problem, but many people taking a stand is the only thing that has ever changed anything in the history of humankind.

1. Never Again means Never Again. It’s just not that complicated.