Serving Bread

Here are a couple of stories I caught in the LA Times that are worth noting. I’ve learned to live that news from the motherland is rarely good news (unfortunately).

1. The first story is one that highlights how strict Israel has become in allowing travel to and from the West Bank (and presumably Gaza). This is a story of a Palestinian-American who went on a business trip to Aman, Jordan, and has yet to be allowed back to see his wife in Ramallah. For six months, he has been living away from his wife and family because of either (or a combination of) bureaucratic red-tape or oppression at the borders. This story highlights the personal, human costs to broken, unreconciled nations/peoples.
2. The second story (and here) is one that shows how residents in South Lebanon are coping with the 34-day war over the summer. (You remember that war that Israel waged to get its soldiers back and disarm Hezbollah, but ended up not achieving either of those goals??) While our media (especially Fox) was highlighting all the ways that Hezbollah was not fighting fairly, it turns out that Israel launched thousands of cluster bombs, the vast majority of which were launched during the last 72 hours of the war, when both sides knew that a cease fire was imminent. Although Hezbollah launched its share of cluster bombs, they were nothing close to the number that Israel launched.

A cluster bomb is basically a bomb made of hundreds of little bombs. It’s meant to cover a wide area and cause maximum casualty. These bombs, thousands of them, are littered (in addition to the thousands of land mines) all over the south of Lebanon, unexploded. Kids are finding these bombs which explode in their face, killing them instantly.