Syria: Responsible Intervention
Maybe you recognize Ronny Edry from the peace movement he helped to start on Facebook. He writes about his day in Tel Aviv today, preparing for what might happen in Israel if the US bombs Syria.
I read his words and cried. I wanted to tell Ronny I’m so sorry, but I guess he already knows this is not the will of the people in the United States or anywhere.
Then I thought that asking all of you to read his words might be the best way I can help.
From Ronny:
Another war is coming…tomorrow maybe the day after
The kids are sleeping now; i have time to make a bag. Same bag every time. I put in all the important document, back up of all my work, all the pictures on a drive, some cash, some clothes, some dry fruits, cigarettes (i smoke when i m stressed) And I put the bag near the door. So if we have to leave the house in a hurry…I have that ready.
It s a ritual, same for years now. I m looking at the house and asking myself….what really can’t I leave behind.
so now, i’m making my bag, again.
I hate it, but that’s the only thing that gives me a bit of illusion of control over things coming.
Today I went to renew the gas mask for the whole family. In Israel we have gas masks in the house…you never know when you’ll be in need!.. The line was so long, people who were standing there from the morning were going back exhausted with no masks. After a few minutes there i understood i have no chance of getting even close to the place where you ask: where can i get a number to stand in line… i went back home. This afternoon i played basketball with some friends…and we talked. Some say it’s nothing, Assad is not crazy. Some say it’s the beginning of WW3, that the Russians are going to fight the Americans on Syrian ground, that thousands of missiles are coming our way, chemical ones…everyone had a theory. I heard them all.
I have no clue what’s going to happen. i have no where to go, no shelter near my house, i have no mask (not sure it would help anyway).
i’m looking at my kids sleeping and i ask myself….millions of people all over the region must feel just like me now, in Israel, in Palestine, in Lebanon, in Syria. People know it’s coming and they have nothing to do. Most of them don’t even know why this is happening
To the people of the entire Middle East, especially to the people of Syria, …I don’t know you, I don’t hate you, i hope that you and your kids survive this next round of craziness.
ronny
This is not just an issue of dropping a couple of cruise missiles “over there” so we can feel like we’re “doing something”. This is pouring gasoline on a tinderbox.
I’ve never had to pack a bag like this. I can’t imagine if this were a routine.
Let’s please work for a world where go bags and gas masks are a memory, not a routine, for people in the Middle East and everywhere. Sending you so much love, Syria, Israel, Palestine, everyone… And if we really MUST intervene in Syria, let’s please do so responsibly, not by dropping bombs and killing more people, but by mobilizing to help refugees and sponsoring peace talks.
Update April 2017: Four years later, and the United States’ response to Syria has been shameful. As predicted, the major form of “intervention” we’ve offered has been dropping the occasional bomb. Meanwhile, refugees continue to survive appalling conditions as they flee war zones. I’m losing track of the reasons why I am ashamed to carry an American passport, but our response to, and complicity in, the war in Syria certainly tops the list.
