Global

We have been writing annual Christmas messages of peace, for human rights,
and relating sometimes what happened in the passing year for decades. Since
I returned to Bethlehem in 2008 these messages have been special. Since
founding the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (PIBS)
in 2014, we also added greetings from PIBS.  This year writing seems
tougher than ever considering the ongoing and unprecedented
genocide/holocaust occurring in Palestine. In the ten weeks before
Christmas, more than 20,000 civilians (>8000 of them children) were killed.
2.3 million people were denied food, water and medicines while all means of
life around them were systematically targeted. Palestinians (Muslims and
Christians) are literally starving to death and dying from lack of medical
care. 65% of Gaza residential buildings were destroyed or heavily damaged.
Israel also targeted schools, hospitals, clinics, churches, mosques,
bakeries, sewage and water facilities, electrical, communication and other
infrastructure.

 We local Christians cannot “celebrate” or do decorations while injustice

What is taking place in Gaza is meant for the history books: an epic tale of a small nation under a long, brutal siege for many years, facing one of the greatest military powers in the world. And yet, it refuses to be defeated.  

 Not even the legendary tenacity of Leo Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’ characters can be compared to the heroism of Gazans, living over a tiny stretch of land while subsisting on the precipice of calamity, even long before the Israeli genocide.

 But if Gaza has already been declared uninhabitable by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) as early as 2020, how is it able to cope with everything that took place since then, particularly the grueling and unprecedented Israeli war, starting on October 7? 

There are a number of blatant ways for terrorist organizations – by which I mean national governments – to justify committing mass murder.

Once you start killing, it’s hard to stop. But you have to justify what you’re doing – a process humanity has been engaged in since the dawn of civilization. We call it “war,” which turns mass murder into a necessary abstraction and gives us a far simpler way of dealing with conflict than . . . oh my God, understanding counter points of view and creating solutions rather than enemies.

For 28 years of inspired insanity, the L.A.-based Troubadour Theater Company has wreaked
maniacal mayhem mangling modern and classic sources in order to manufacture mischievous
musical mishmashes upon the live stage. The Troubies’ – as this inimitable intrepid troupe is
monikered – mirthful mashups include 2014’s Abbamemnon (see:
https://hollywoodprogressive.com/stage/troubador-theater-company-abbame…), which
combined Aeschylus’ first tragedy in his ancient trilogy The Oresteia with the Swedish band
Abba’s disco music. Haunted House Party is the Troubies’ adaptation of Roman playwright
Plautus’ 2 nd century B.C. comedy Mostellaria (see:
https://hollywoodprogressive.com/stage/haunted-house-party). And in 2021’s Lizastrata, which
blends Liza Minnelli songs, especially from Kander and Ebbs’ Cabaret, with Aristophanes’
Greek antiwar sex satire Lysistrata, first performed in Athens in 411 BCE (see:

Gaza was among the main topics on the agenda of Russian President Vladimir Putin as he arrived in the Middle East region on Wednesday, December 6.