IN THE DARK

From the corner, I can see the lights of a middle class home shining in the humid New York night. Through the window I see the glass of the armoire shining and the green walls; and hear Um Khalthoum singing. This apartment looks and feels like a hundred homes that I visited in the Middle East. Whoever lives there is unique; and also at the same time just like those families who fled Southern Lebanon in the hundred thousands.

Two weeks ago we had no lights or any electricity for six days and it was hot and sticky. Walking off the avenues with their utilities crews working late into the night, I passed near that same middle class home and hear the sound of Bach being played on the piano, the music drifting hesitantly out into the night. With the black out there was deeper silence and I could really hear the music in its texture and its touch and its intelligence. Who knows if it was Christian, Muslim or Jew playing the keys? It could have been a thoughtful old person; or a small, smart child. A bomb would not know.

Of course, a black-out is different than a war. But there is a small taste of danger and the beginning of abandonment. Neighbors help neighbor. After a few days the police show up in overly large numbers.

But despite the loss of revenue and melted ice cream, I have no doubt that we will experience more and more black-outs in the years to come. I read that in 1987 only 15 percent of Americans had computers in their homes; in 2001 that figure was 63 percent and it must be much higher now. And we have printers too. Fifteen years ago only ten percent of Americans had answering machines; by 2001 78 percent had them. In 1987 only 52 percent had VCRs and now over 94 percent have them; also 94 percent have clothes washers and 96 percent have microwave ovens! No wonder we are in trouble here!

Sure we can blame Saudi oil and it pipelines to terror. That is easy crowd-pleasing politics. New York City Mayor Bloomberg stooped to these tactics last week, but he is not the only one. Even so it would be wise to conserve, no? It would be Islamic to use our resources consciously.

Isn’t it interesting how the USA was not content with attacking Taliban but found a pretext to attack Iraq? And Israel went from attacking Hezbollah to attacking and invading South Lebanon? What does all this mission creep tell us? Will the analysis at rallies address this in smart way or an easy way? And can our understanding convince a large percentage of our American Neighbors, who just don’t want their ice cream to melt?

Those people in the Middle East are so violent! What does it have to do with us? Well those billions of our tax dollars pay for arms for Israel. One snafu; it is a violation of the US Arms Export Control Act to provide weapons to foreign countries that are not used for defensive purposes or to maintain internal security. So last week, both houses of Congress passed resolutions stating that Israel is acting in self-defense. The vote in the Senate was unanimous; and the House vote was 410 to 8.

Article 35 of Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions prohibits the use of weapons "of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering." Like napalm, cluster bombs and white phosphorous fall into this category. Israel is widely alleged to be using these evil weapons.

However Hezbollah is also using bombs with ball bearings that disperse widely in the streets; and maim and wound and kill. In Iraq so-called Muslims kill Muslims through abductions, torture and suicide bombing in the name of our faith. In Darfur, Muslim on Muslim chaos and rape result in generations uprooted and hundreds of thousands killed.

Yes, the politics are complex. But if Kosova was a Genocide, why isn’t Darfur? If Palestine is important, how about Tibet? We must be consistent in our human rights principles. If we care about Lebanese refugees we must care about Refugees in Chad and in the Congo and all human suffering. Otherwise our life is a power game. Otherwise you spend your days jumping up and down screaming death to Israel for no purpose or positive result, while life goes on.

Our Muslim Jewish dialogues have hit some walls. Relationships suffer. Things go undone. Tonight I missed a meeting. I wonder if indeed there is already a low level state of war that includes us on some level. Terror is never permissible but I wonder if it might be allowable to match the tactics that Israel has adopted, assassinations and abductions (including a large percentage of the Hamas parliament) –but then I recall how the logic of retribution is a trap that is so hard to get out of. But we must implement non-violent alternatives effectively—or we will not have any choice. And it is time to stop feeling so powerless. We have to do the work!