Awake before the alarm and posting today's Morning Prayer link to YouTube. After breakfast I set out for the St Catherine's Eucharist with the empty veggie bag filled with five kilos weight of marmalade jars to give to Hilary to sell and raise funds to cover the cost of Wednesday morning coffee and biscuits. There were six of us for the service. Afterwards I dashed back to the Coop to buy our food bank contribution for the week to leave in church, and then had coffee. I collected this week's veggie bag on my way home and cooked lunch. Clare was in town shopping and got home late. It didn't matter as I'd started cooking late.
An hour's siesta after lunch, a deep refreshing sleep which put a spring in my step when I went out for a walk around Thompson's Park and Llandaff Fields. Although I've been logging over seven hours sleep on a regular basis, I don't seem to sleep deeply for long, so it's no wonder I feel tired and out of sorts. Not enough relaxed restorative sleep, I think.
Trump has made ridiculous and contentious remarks about America taking charge of clearing Gaza's ruins and redeveloping it as a 'Riviera resort', requiring the entire Palestinian population to be displaced to other Arab countries in the region to achieve this. Some Israelis have welcomed the suggestion as a contribution to discussion about the future. There's been an cry of outrage among international leaders about this, who see this as a proposal for ethnic cleansing, and a violation of the sovereign status of Gaza and the West Bank citizen, territory Israel already occupies illegally, flouting international law and treaty.
By the end of the day Trump is in retreat saying in effect "Just speculating, thinking aloud. No policy decisions have been made." It's pure provocation. Trump is using his role as the most powerful world leader to play with people and antagonise them. The situation does however provide Palestinians with an opportunity to re-state unequivocally that their territory is not a tradeable commodity but an ancient inheritance they will never relinquish.
Arabs and Jews have lived alongside each other in the Holy Land for more than two thousand years. Some though not all Israelis believe all the land is theirs by right, mandated by scripture, well the scripture they choose to believe while ignoring other parts which imply they must live side by side because they're not obedient enough to divine law and commandments to have exclusive rights to the land. Another way of saying that they need others to live alongside them to enable them to live according to God's will. Exclusivity doesn't work. But who can prevent the Israelis from forcing the issue, now that Trump, their more powerful ally has spoken so recklessly.
After supper I spent the evening on the rewrite of my Grandfather's story and that was enough for today.
No comments:
Post a Comment