CPTnet

CPTnet is the news service of CPT.

 

AT-TUWANI REFLECTION: "Resistance will not be tolerated"--from Gaza to At-Tuwani

At the time of this writing, casualties in the ten-day Gaza conflict have reached approximately 699 Palestinians and ten Israelis, according to news reports.  Here in at-Tuwani, in the West Bank's South Hebron district, we witness Palestinians' mourning and outrage over Israel's latest military actions.  At the same time, we witness army collusion with settlers' harassment and attacks of Palestinians.

PRAYERS FOR PEACEMAKERS, Wed., Jan. 7, 2009

PRAYERS FOR PEACEMAKERS, Wed., Jan. 7, 2009

Pray for Colombian indigenous leader Aída Quilcué, whose husband was assassinated by Colombian soldiers December 16 in Cauca.  Pray that the Colombian government will fairly and rigorously investigate the incident and take action to prevent new military killings of civilians.

IRAQ: CPTers visit Sangasar, witness bombing near Iranian border

The mayor of Sangasar recited a litany of damages caused by Turkey and Iran’s "continuous bombing” over the last two months of thirty-eight villages connected to Sangasar: 140-150 families displaced, cattle killed, trees, crops and farmland destroyed, people injured, village water systems destroyed, and pain for so many lives.

A year ago in Sangasar (in the Suleimaniya area of the Kurdistan Regional Government), we met Susan, then a twenty-seven-year old single woman who had lost a leg when her village was bombed. We were glad when the mayor said that she now had an artificial leg. She had made a lot of progress in the past year, but remained depressed, feeling little hope for her future.

PALESTINE REFLECTION: To move, to grow, to explode

When trees and people cannot move or grow, the result is death, or a twisted, hobbled, bonsai sort of existence.  Feeling trapped only makes people want to leave—a boon to Israel’s expansion plans—or explode in futile attempts to shatter the walls of ghettos hemming them in.  And, as we see in the case of Gaza, the world’s largest open-air prison, when people cannot move, they also become sitting ducks.

Gaza: Just such a time as this


Today I grieve over what is happening in the region of Gaza.  Is there anything I can do?  Am I limited to government statements, last minute diplomacy, or immobilizing personal outrage?  How do I respond from this place of despair?  What do I tell the children?  Is this the time when the posture of prayer may provide the openness toward a solution waiting for recognition?