generations imprisoned

When I think of my cousins who were born into the prison that is Gaza, it pains me to think of the state of their dreams and aspirations- their spirit. Poverty is a potent depressor. But being locked up with no way out and no hope for a normal life (how can it be normal if your prison guards control the food that reaches you, the days your schools are open, etc) makes you either give up, get angry- especially those young men, or settle for the goals that are achievable there- to live out your days forever in this little patch of land, barely venturing into the Mediterranean for fear of getting shot at, hoping to get a position teaching at a UN school, hoping that your family survives- survival requiring all your efforts.

They tell people we have pulled out of Gaza and now the Palestinians govern themselves when the reality is the prison guards have just moved back behind the walls of the prison and let the people decide a leader for this internal life they cannot escape. Lord of the Flies. Limited resources, all the pressures of living encaged, and anyone could expect that the winners were not going to be the kindly grandmothers and grandfathers. We've all seen prison shows on tv- gangs form and power goes to the strongest.

How can humanity allow that children be born into a state of imprisonment- not only because they are innocent but also because their parents are innocent. Their parents are being vilified when they are merely refugees who had been living in the houses of their parents and many working the land passed down to them. How ironic that Hamas is sending rockets into Ashkelon- my father was born there, his family were among the refugees who fled to camps near Gaza, and when my great-grandfather once visited his house in Ashkelon the Jews who were allowed to occupy it (someone else's house- even the curtains in the windows had not been changed- he recognized them) would not let him see his house- he fainted on his doorstep.

How convenient it is that many do not understand fully where the Palestinians came from. Those details are blurred well by the aggressors.
And in order to deal with the people they have turned the refugees into prisoners and tried to convince the world they are guilty- responsible for their situation.