End Siege of Lebanon and Gaza

End Siege of Lebanon and Gaza

Sharon wouldn't have done it

My computer is acting up again--thanks to the newest Microsoft update which I will complain about later, when nations aren't being destroyed and people are no longer being killed. The result is that I can't copy and paste and I don't know why, but am too tired tonight to figure it out.

The last three weeks have hit the local Arab and Arab-American community like a major earth-quake. More similar to the affect of the second Intifada than the invasion of Iraq (more warning, I guess), but the trauma and the stories and the reactions from the community are comparable: People are coming out of the wood-works to voice dissent, to contribute time and money, to be more political than they have been in years because they had hoped that the past would stay there.

Unfortunately, it didn't: Israel invaded Lebanon again and is escalating its attacks.

Unlike the past when I could just support other people's efforts by showing up, this time I'm right smack in the middle of bringing and keeping the community together. Because of decisions I've made regarding associations and organizational affiliations, my responsibilities have exploded between my 9 to 5 (which is also involved) and the evening organizing meetings (which are nightly now). Somewhere in between, I'm supposed to be available to personal relationships and I want to be because it takes me out of the madness of what's happening in Lebanon, Gaza, and now the West Bank, but I have almost 100 emails to keep up with daily and committees and projects to coordinate, meetings to coordinate, media to contact, research to do, and still keeping my eyes on the big picture.

Don't get me wrong--I'm proud to do the work that I do and I'm happy to do it. The logistics, however, are just more strenuous than the theory. I used to say that I didn't pick politics but that it picked me. I still believe that it picked me, but I now realize that I chose to take it up on the offer.

So I apologize for not being available at the moment to people that I care dearly about.


USATODAY.com - Did Israel really need to savage the beauty of Beirut?