The emphasis in the news all over the world has been on Gaza, and there is no doubt the situation there is absolutely horrible.  We have destroyed most of the buildings there.  We stopped sending in food and medicine for weeks and weeks.  But there is another angle to consider – Hamas still has the food, the medicines, in fact all the supplies.  So it is not just Israel that was withholding supplies.  

But I wanted to add another layer to the mess in the middle east.  Lately I’ve been writing poems about everyday events in Israel – not lost hostages, not even the thousands of wounded we see every day on the street, but the lady whose son has been fighting for over a year and she’s not sure when she’ll see him again, all the people who have been displaced and have no idea how and when to rebuild their lives.  No, not all the people, but the individuals.  

It is my fervent hope that soon I will meet with people from Gaza, and see and hear their stories.  I know I am not alone in this wish….