Many of the wounds of the Israeli occupation are bloodless and invisible. But like pieces of shrapnel lodged in the chest, they will eventually find their way to pierce the heart.
Next week, House Democrats will elect leaders for vacant committee chairmanships, including the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Rep. Joaquin Castro is in the running and has spoken out on one of the most urgent foreign policy issues before us: Palestinian rights and ending U.S. support for Israel’s human rights abuses.
Opportunities to visit Gaza come rarely. Harry Gunkel writes, “A place so inaccessible and so compelling deserves our full attention and our best intentions, but as we learned in our recent visit, getting lost in the tedium of the permit process and then the rush to pack the time with meetings and briefings could have caused us to miss the glory that is Gaza.”
As U.S. financial, military and diplomatic support for Israel bleeds into yet another presidential cycle, Americans are faced with reconciling lofty rhetoric on justice and security with actual policy domestically and abroad.