Caricom have just issued a release on the now four days’ old war in Israel/Palestine. They bemoaned that “Innocent lives are being lost amidst the fervour and violence of the actual combatants”, and have asked both sides to cool it. Your Eyewitness was struck by that word “fervour” – which means “with intense feelings”. So, the attacks by Hamas on Israelis and the retaliation by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) on Gaza and the West Bank are being committed with “intense feelings”.
Your Eyewitness first wondered “as opposed to what?” Killing hundreds of human beings with calm and dispassionate elan?? Would that make it better or worse? Don’t we have a more negative view of “cold-blooded killers” like Ted Bundy?? Does it matter to the dead whether they were killed with intense feelings or dispassion?? Dead is dead, innit?? But there’s something in that description of killing with fervour. The fervour gotta be coming from somewhere to create a feeling in the killers that they are in some way RIGHT; and even more troublingly, RIGHTEOUS.
And that’s the tragedy with the Israel-Palestine conflict. Both sides are so convinced of the righteousness of their “cause”, that any action – no matter how extreme – is justified. Your Eyewitness has already written of the source of righteousness: for the Jews, their holy book tells them that five thousand or so years ago, they made a covenant with their God – who gave the land to Israel. Remember their God speaking to Moses from behind some burning bush?? The Jews do!!
For the Palestinians, they know they’d been living on the land for thousands of years – after the Jews had moved on to greener pastures up north and elsewhere. So, their righteousness arises from the unreasonableness of being forced out of their homes, since 1947, into smaller and smaller enclaves, to live in ghettoes at the sufferance of the ruling Jews!! Can you imagine the population density of Gaza being 400/sq km and the West Bank 800/sq km?? Then any Jew can waltz in from any part of the world and they’d get greater rights that the longest living Palestinian!! 5000 more Jewish settlements were scheduled to be built this year!!
Yes…so they ARE killing with fervour – righteous fervour. In these situations, the only solution is to address the source of the fervour. For decades, most of the world had backed the “Two-state” proposal of the UN. That is, to return the land seized by Israel during the 1967 war and acknowledge it as the independent state of Palestine, and for the Palestinians to reciprocate by recognizing the state of Israel.
Unfortunately, your Eyewitness doesn’t see this happening anytime in the foreseeable future. So, we can expect more “killing with fervour”!!
…to mental
Yesterday was World Mental Health Day – and as usual with these “Days” – there’s a theme: “Mental health is a universal human right”. That’s right…in addition to the right to food, shelter, clothing, sexual orientation, etc…etc… we can demand that we have “mental health”. But as we know, dear reader, we in Guyana have a very jaundiced view of this right.
Anyone with mental issues is automatically said to be “mental” – and derided as “mad”, to be consigned to the “Berbice Mad House”!!
When it was built by the Brits back in the 19th century, they referred to it as the Mental Asylum, and for sure, no one has EVER CALLED IT THE “National Psychiatric Institute” – the name given a few years back!!
Last month, the Govt decided to close it down completely – probably in despair at everyone still calling it the Berbice Mad House!! So, what’ll happen to the inmates who’re presently there, and others who’ll be qualified for admission??
They’ll get a “halfway” house. Half mad??
…to the PNC
Your Eyewitness wonders why the Government bothers to react to the goings-on by the PNC Opposition. They couldn’t even keep their APNU coalition together, so how will they be able to mount a real challenge to them!!
