Guest Opinion: End the Suffering in Gaza
The Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler and City Council's letter regarding the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza was a courageous move. The letter urged Oregon's lawmakers and President Biden, to intervene to ease the dire situation in Gaza.
We, Central Oregon for a Free Palestine, are dedicated to a ceasefire resolution, and getting humanitarian aid into Gaza. We appreciate and support the mayor and Council's letter and effort.
Ahmad Naeem and his wife waited 12 years to have a baby. Ahmad's wife had an IVF treatment before the war. Now, they are trying to survive the Israeli bombing in a displacement camp in the Southern city of Rafah.
"After 12 years, God honored me with my first child amidst suffering and displacement, making the joy incomplete and mixed with pain and sorrow." Ahmad told the "Middle East Monitor." With tears filling his eyes, "I am unable to do anything for my child, and I only have five shekels ($1.4) in my pocket," he added.
Many of the 1.9 million displaced Palestinians in Gaza have much more harrowing stories than Ahmad's. Gazans are struggling to survive in makeshift tents near the Egyptian border South of Gaza. More than 29,313 Palestinian civilians have been killed in just 139 days of bombing, and 69,333 wounded, the overwhelming majority of whom are women and children. For humanity's sake this senseless killing must stop immediately.
The colossal death toll and wounded are but a small part of the tragedy. Consider the devastating famine and catastrophic hunger the people in Gaza are facing because Israel prevents food and drinkable water, in addition to medicine, fuel, the internet and electricity from entering Gaza.
This Israeli airtight blockade is against international humanitarian laws and norms. Israel is being tried in the International Court of Justice, the highest court in the world, for breaking these laws.
The scale of Israel's destruction of life-saving infrastructure, churches, mosques, schools and hospitals is of enormous proportions. Israel's indiscriminate carpet bombing is turning Gaza into dust and threatens to make the continuation of life in Gaza impossible.
Gaza's pain is incomprehensible. The despairing tears of the reported 20,000 Palestinian children who lost or got separated from their parents are heart wrenching. The fear of death raining from the sky by Israel's fighter jets is traumatic. The stabbing pain of starving children, or the obliterating agony of mothers burying their infants, is unimaginable.
We can't sit silent in the face of innocent civilians killed anywhere. Particularly now when it's our tax dollars that enables Israel to continue the carnage. It's our obligation to do something about it. How hard is it to ask for a permanent ceasefire to stop the violence? How hard is it to demand humanitarian aid to save the lives of children who are dying in droves?
This is the right, human, and compassionate thing to do. Let's join with the Mayor and the City Councill and do something about it.
— Michel Shehadeh, Central Oregon for a Free Palestine
RE: Misinformation. Letters, 2/22
Kudos and thanks to David White for his calling out the City Council on their playing fast with the truth about the gas tax and reasons for the transportation tax. I would also add that it takes a lot of nerve to ask for the taxpayers to pony up now, right after Council approved a $10.6m tax abatement for the Jackstraw project with little or no public input or transparency. I have no objections to tax measures when they are for a good cause: libraries, schools and things we have to pay for for the benefit of having a city that works. But I object to having to subsidize wealthy developers building luxury condos that will probably be filled with part-time out-of-town residents. Taxpayers pay for growth, while the quality of life declines here. Bend City Council has lost my trust.
—Jeff Cole
RE: With Affordable Housing, Why Are Deschutes County and the City of Bend Ignoring the Low-Hanging Fruit? Opinion, 2/22
I won't repeat all of the good points made about SB 103 on last week's opinion page. I would like to add several additional ways that SB 103 could help with Bend's housing affordability crisis. Those living in RVs in Bend would have many more places where they could rent. This would reduce demand in trailer parks and entry-level housing, which might reduce price pressure on trailer parks and entry-level dwellings, possibly benefiting low-income residents. Some of the least desirable housing in Bend is overpriced due to the high competition for entry-level homes.
Rural residents struggling to afford their homes could gain rental income to offset their costs, while retaining full use of their homes. Finally, homeowners most often rent to friends or family, so SB 103 would strengthen family and community bonds and mutual social support systems at no cost to taxpayers.
There are too many people here living in cardboard boxes. We need to start looking for solutions "outside the box."
—Terry Grabow
Letter of the Week:
Agreed, Terry! We need ALL the solutions, and I mean ALL. Come on by for your Letter of the Week gift card to Palate.
—Nicole Vulcan
