<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><br>dear PAA'ers ...<br> in case you missed Anna Baltzer's journal on the other sites ..<br> here it is .....<br><br><h2 style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/annas_peacework_palestine/message/73;_ylc=X3oDMTJwdnNkZmFwBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE1BGdycElkAzE0MzI0MjgwBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTQ0NDYwMwRtc2dJZAM3MwRzZWMDZG1zZwRzbGsDdm1zZwRzdGltZQMxMjMyOTA3NDUz"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1232944839_7">Sophie's Choice</span> </a></h2>
<h3 style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Posted by: "travelinganna" <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:anna.baltzer@gmail.com?Subject=%20Re%3ASophie%27s%20Choice" target="_blank" href="http://us.mc830.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=anna.baltzer@gmail.com&Subject=%20Re%3ASophie%27s%20Choice"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1232944839_8">anna.baltzer@gmail.com</span> </a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://profiles.yahoo.com/travelinganna"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1232944839_9">travelinganna</span> </a></span></font></b></h3>
<h4 style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><b><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sat Jan 24, 2009 2:08 pm (PST) </span></font></b></h4>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0.5in;"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I am sitting in an internet cafe in
<span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1232944839_10">Beirut</span> trying to concentrate, but<br>
I just can't. There are hundreds of heartbreaking emails to read<br>
through, each one worse than the last. The carnage did not stop with<br>
the so-called "ceasefire" (I use quotations because the slow
massacre<br>
of starving an entire population of basic human necessities --<br>
sufficient food, water, medical supplies, heat -- continues). Everyday<br>
on television we watch new bodies being dug out of the rubble. And now<br>
that a few international reporters and humanitarian workers have been<br>
allowed into <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1232944839_11">Gaza</span> ,
we hear more of the<br>
stories that had previously been left untold. <br>
<br>
I received the following letter written by my friend Barbara Lubin, a<br>
Jewish American woman who founded the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1232944839_12">Middle East</span> Children's
Alliance ,<br>
a great organization to contribute to if you can<br>
(www.mecaforpeace. org). Her account turned my stomach:<br>
<br>
------------ --------- --------- -<br>
<br>
<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1232944839_13">January 23</span>, 2009<br>
Dear Aamir,<br>
I entered the <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1232944839_14">Gaza Strip</span> on Wednesday night with my friend and fellow<br>
activist Sharon Wallace after waiting ten hours at the Egypt/Gaza<br>
border. The destruction and trauma is even greater than I expected.<br>
...<br>
Out of all the devastation I have seen so far, there is one story in<br>
particular that I think the world needs to hear. I met a mother who<br>
was at home with her ten children when Israeli soldiers entered the<br>
house. The soldiers told her she had to choose five of her children to<br>
"give as a gift to <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1232944839_15">Israel</span> ."
As she screamed in horror they repeated<br>
the demand and told her she could choose or they would choose for her.<br>
Then these soldiers murdered five of her children in front of her. The<br>
concept of "Jewish morality" is truly dead. We can be fascists,<br>
terrorists, and Nazis just like everybody else.<br>
...<br>
In Zaytoun, I saw families gathering wood from charred trees. The<br>
almost two-year blockade of Gaza
has deprived people cooking gas, so<br>
these terrified families build fires to keep warm and cook the little<br>
food they can get. I talked to people on the street who told stories<br>
of wild dogs coming to eat their dead neighbors, relatives bleeding to<br>
death because Israel
would not allow emergency workers into the area,<br>
and Israeli soldiers entering homes to beat and kill.<br>
<br>
But despite the immense mourning and devastation, people are starting<br>
to put their lives back together. Sabreen, a young woman from Rafah,<br>
told me, "We are a strong people. No matter how many times
Israel<br>
bombs us we are not leaving. We will keep trying to live as normal a<br>
life as possible."<br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
<br>
Barbara Lubin<br>
Gaza City ,
Gaza , Palestine
<br>
<br>
------------ --------- --------- -<br>
<br>
I was invited for dinner tonight by the president of a theological<br>
school here in Beirut ,
who offered me a place to stay. She didn't seem<br>
to want to talk about politics, but when I showed her my book she<br>
looked at me and said "As a person of the scriptures, I was convinced<br>
that the Jewish state must have some ethical grounding, for all its<br>
faults... Until 2006. Until that summer when
Israel bombed everything<br>
in sight, and dropped 1,200,000 <span style="border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1232944839_16">cluster bombs</span> (authorized by<br>
<span style="border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1232944839_17">Condoleezza Rice</span>) after -- AFTER! -- the ceasefire agreement. Just<br>
yesterday a young man's leg was blown off by one of them, one of<br>
millions that remain. And after watching the massacres in
Gaza , I have<br>
no more faith in the morality I so closely tied with Judaism."<br>
<br>
I came to <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1232944839_18">Syria</span> and
<span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1232944839_19">Lebanon</span>
worried that anyone I told I was Jewish<br>
would be resentful, or even violent. But each person I tell seems<br>
almost relieved to meet a Jewish person opposed to what
Israel is<br>
doing, wanting to revive their hope that Jews, Muslims, and Christians<br>
can coexist. The problem is not that people here hate Jews; the<br>
problem is the army of fighter jets bearing Jewish stars, claiming it<br>
represents Judaism, repeatedly devastating children, families, an<br>
entire nation, decade after decade, while most Jews (and others) in<br>
the world let it happen without a peep. The problem is that I myself<br>
am starting to wonder what it even means to be Jewish if the morality<br>
and memory ("Never again") that tied me to it is now gone. <br>
<br>
Something has happened since my last trip less than two years ago. In<br>
the West Bank last month, formerly active
friends told me to go home,<br>
get a new job, start a family, forget about
Palestine because there's<br>
no hope. People seemed so tired, at the end of their rope, and this<br>
was before the Gaza
bombing started. People in Gaza
were at the end of<br>
their rope 18 months before, when their most basic needs were cut off<br>
and they were encaged, left to waste away and fight amongst<br>
themselves. How much can a person take? <br>
<br>
I do not have the resilience to even bear one more month here. I am so<br>
drained, so pained, and of course I have the luxury of being able to<br>
buy a ticket and leave whenever I want. It's fitting that
Beirut will<br>
be one of my last stops. Here a city, devastated by war after war,<br>
continues to rebuild itself, like the rest of Lebanon
and like Gaza .<br>
Beirut
nightlife buzzes around me as I write, and I have to believe<br>
that if the millions of Lebanese and <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1232944839_20">Palestinian people</span> repeatedly<br>
traumatized in this war-torn land have pulled themselves together to<br>
rebuild and look to a better future, then I'll manage to as well. <br>
<br>
In solidarity with those who have lost their homes and families,<br>
<br>
Anna Baltzer<br>
<span style="border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1232944839_21">Beirut ,
Lebanon</span></span></font></p>
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