To the editor:
Thoughts of the conflict in Israel and Gaza and the Ukraine-Russian war.
The news is obsessed and filled with the struggles of the civilians on both sides after the Hamas strike out of Gaza against Israeli civilians and the retaliatory air strikes into Gaza. War is brutal enough if trained armies meet in a battle. When the military leaders choose to fight around innocent civilians, the suffering is truly multiplied.
There are many reasons that opposing sides may begin fighting. Whether it is an individual angered by an overly aggressive driver in traffic or two nations disagreeing over ideology, the result is the same blood, pain and death. The innocent families of the dead and wounded mourn and care for their loved ones.
The Ukraine war is a little easier to understand with the assault of Russia over a year ago. Today, Ukraine is considered an independent country, but just a few years back, it was a republic within the Soviet Union.
When the Soviet Union was dissolved, Russia and each of the Republics became independent countries again. The ones close to East Europe were assumed to be neutral and not aligned. When Ukraine sought to join the European Union and NATO, Russia felt the neutral assumption was broken and a threat to them and the attached. Who is right in their opinion depends on what side of the border you and your family are on.
The war in the Middle East is so complicated with outside interests vying to influence one side or the other. Many of the issues today find their beginning with the League of Nations after World War I and Great Britain as a protectorate. Then the United Nations in an effort to aid the displaced Jewish population from Europe after World War II divided up much of the territory that is now Israel with little consideration of the Palestinian population living there. The Palestinian people fought back as the root of the conflict that now exists. On each side, the innocent civilians only desire to live their lives in peace and security.
How do you create a country for the two sides with each claiming the same territory as their homeland? That is the question. Solving that takes a better person than can be found on either side of the conflict.
William Gerhard, Scipio