On a a Sunday in Acland Street, St Kilda — the Melbourne Jewish cake and bagel hub — I had coffee with two friends: one an Egyptian, the other a Palestinian. We discussed the current situation in Gaza. My Palestinian friend expressed her anguish and worry about her family there. 'Imagine how terrified the children must be.' We drank our coffee and shared our powerlessness and sorrow at the turmoil in the Gaza strip.
What is missing in most discussions of the rights and wrongs of the ongoing Israel and Palestine situation? Certainly not statistics. There are plenty of those confirmed or disputed, about the number of Hamas rockets launched, Israeli air strikes, troops massing, deaths and injuries..
Social media has also entered the fray with the Israeli Defence Force tweeting its assassination of Hamas leader Ahmed Jabri complete with a YouTube visual in real time. This is drama at its best or worst. We can all have a front row seat in the theatre of war now.
But as I pour over the tweets coming out of Gaza I feel despair. Where is the world outrage and recognition that ordinary people on both sides are being used as pawns in a political chess game?
Mark Regev, Israeli spokesman, has declared that Hamas 'started it and we will finish it'. This is kindergarten thinking and a primitive, ineffectual means of conflict resolution.
We are muted in our responses to the escalation of aggression in Gaza, but should confront the truth. For all its declarations of acting in self-defence, the Israeli government holds the position of power. Furthermore as was demonstrated four years ago by the Israeli offensive into Gaza, nothing is gained by violence. Peace is not secured, civilians are not protected, and no-one feels safer.
But overwhelmingly Palestinian citizens pay the unacceptably atrocious price for Israeli posturing. In the 2008 invasion of Gaza by Israel, it is reported that 13 Israeli soldiers died, while 1200 Palestinians were killed and 5000 were injured. Many were women and children.
Ironically as Israel stands accused of violating human rights in its occupation of Gaza, the world is largely silent. Killing by Hamas is equally reprehensible, but Hamas killing