08/01/2009 David Kerrigan, BMS General Director, comments on Israel's assault on Gaza. Just another round of conflict in an area of the world where conflict seems a daily inevitability? Maybe for us – the onlookers. But for those dying in Gaza, this is not ‘just another conflict.' The frustration is that a solution is nearer to hand than we might think and leaders of both the Israeli people and the Palestinians need to be accountable for their failure to reach for that solution. Hamas ousted Fatah and fought an election to lead their people. But their leading has been expressed more by firing small-scale rockets than taking the courageous political steps towards peace, of which recognising Israel’s right to exist would be a brave beginning. Likewise Israel, ironically the modern day ‘Goliath’ to the Palestinian ‘David’, tacitly accepts that the two-state solution is the only game in town but drags its feet towards its implementation. As a result the innocent suffer as overwhelming force results in so-called collateral damage. For too long people have thought courage is expressed solely on the battlefield. In this situation, the real courage will be when men and women of good faith walk into the same room and look their enemies in the eye and say ‘let's talk peace’. Let us pray that such men and women step forward.
Just another round of conflict in an area of the world where conflict seems a daily inevitability? Maybe for us – the onlookers. But for those dying in Gaza, this is not ‘just another conflict.' The frustration is that a solution is nearer to hand than we might think and leaders of both the Israeli people and the Palestinians need to be accountable for their failure to reach for that solution.