When the family of kidnapped and lynched Palestinian teen
                                  Mohammed Abu Khdeir recently grieved together
                                  with the family of abducted and murdered
                                  Israeli teen Naftali Fraenkel, we were
                                  reminded that the loss of a child is both
                                  painful and universal. All mothers mourn in
                                  the same way, and no child’s death is any less
                                  tragic than another.
                              The recent events in Gaza and in Israel also serve to
                                  caution us of the consequences of policies
                                  that emanate not from a place that regards the
                                  interests of all children, but from a toxic
                                  space laden with tribalism, hate, greed and
                                  hubris. Cold hearted and cold blooded
                                  decisions are made by hotheads. What if the
                                  purveyors of policy would treat all children,
                                  particularly “other” people’s children as
                                  their own?
                              Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his backers
                                  have waged another war on the civilian
                                  population of Gaza - an open air prison where
                                  people cannot escape - in an operation which
                                  is killing
                                        for the sake of it. As of publication, nearly
                                        200 people, all Palestinians, have been killed by Operation
                                  Protective Edge, and thousands injured. Of
                                  these fatalities, 80 percent are civilians
                                  according to the UN, including over 30
                                  children.
                              Israel’s purported target is Hamas, and while Hamas is no
                                  innocent bystander, control
                                        of the oil and natural gas reserves discovered in the Occupied Territories is a more
                                  plausible backstory to the recent assault.
                                  After all, Operation Cast Lead did not
                                  eliminate Hamas in late 2008 and early 2009,
                                  but according to the human rights group B’TSelem it did take the lives of 1,387 Palestinians, 773 of
                                  whom were civilians, including 320 children
                                  and 107 women over the age of 18. Meanwhile,
                                  three Israeli civilians and six soldiers were
                                  killed, while four soldiers were victims of
                                  friendly fire.
                              Time and time again, these operations are a lesson in
                                  disproportionality. After all, Israel is a
                                  first rate military power thanks to American
                                  largesse and the F-16
                                        jet fighters that are bombing Palestinian homes in densely
                                  populated urban areas.
                              Ultimately, the Occupation is the elephant in the room, a
                                  policy which deprives the occupied of their
                                  dignity and right to self-determination, and
                                  denies the occupiers their humanity and robs
                                  them of the opportunity to become a truly
                                  democratic state. In the end, both
                                  Palestinians and Israelis are imprisoned. And
                                  the Israeli government is attempting to do the
                                  untenable, which is pulling off colonization -
                                  against a soon-to-be
                                        Arab majority - in a post-colonial era, all while painting itself
                                  through propaganda as a defenseless victim, or a humanitarian who bends over backwards to spare
                                        innocent lives.
                              The Occupation cannot succeed without the dehumanization
                                  of the other. The nationalist
                                        extremists, settlers and theocrats among Netanyahu’s base believe in
                                  a Greater
                                        Israel extending from Egypt to Iraq, and an open
                                        Jim Crow system where Palestinians are disenfranchised. Netanyahu
                                  recently said himself that Israel can never
                                        unilaterally withdraw from the West Bank. Meanwhile, characterizing the Palestinian people as
                                  terrorists, including children, or even worse
                                  as animals that should be killed, the Israeli
                                  right justifies all of the violence and human
                                  rights violations visited upon Palestinians,
                                  whether by mob or by military. Separation
                                  walls, travel restrictions, the displacement
                                  created by the bulldozing of homes,
                                  encroaching settlements, and vengeance
                                  killings are all a reality of an unjust
                                  occupation.
                              “My
                                  mom told me that it feels and looks like a
                                  tsunami has hit the neighborhood. I
                                  thought if it was a tsunami; maybe the
                                  International community would have acted fast
                                  to save innocent lives,” said Safa'
                                  Abdel Rahman-Madi, a Palestinian woman
                                  originally from Gaza who now lives in Ramallah.
                              “I
                                  do not understand how Israel is defending
                                  itself by killing entire families and
                                  children. If Israel has a right to defend
                                  itself as an occupier, why we are denied the
                                  very same right as the occupied,” the mother
                                  of three girls wrote in conjunction with an open
                                        letter campaign by
                                  U.S.-based Jewish
                                        Voice for Peace.
                                  Safa’ said the root of the recent attack is
                                  the notion that Jewish lives matter more than
                                  Palestinian lives. Further, she believed
                                  things will not change until the U.S. takes a
                                  strong stand against Israel’s human rights
                                  violations.
                              If you want to judge a policy and the intent of those who
                                  promote it, observe its impact on the
                                  children. We must strive for a world where we
                                  protect all children as if they were our own.