The human side of politics

Over the past few days, I've been following the evacuation of Jews from the Gaza Strip, primarily in the New York Times. The feature length stories, usually three or four a day, are filled with descriptions of weeping Israelis, for many of whom their homes in Gaza have been the only ones they have ever known, forced to tear themselves away.

I know that, historically, Gaza should have never been Israel's, and that, at one point, Palestinians in Gaza went through exactly what the Jewish settlers there are going through today. But historical and political considerations aside, the stories of the settlers having to pack up and leave is heart-rending. And the photos that accompany these stories really do take the place of a thousand words. One in particular - from Tuesday, August 16 - spoke volumes louder than the entire story. It is a picture of a young Israeli soldier, himself fighting tears, with his arm around a weeping woman. It must indeed be strange to be a soldier in the Israeli army during this time. . . trained to be ruthless in fighting the enemy, trying to force their own people out of what they have come to see as their homes must be the hardest assignment - at least in terms of emotions - that the soldiers have had.

NYT