KIDS ON BOTH SIDES HAVE PAID THE PRICE

Whoever kidnapped the three Israeli teenagers in Hebron and murdered them had every intention of setting off a 'perfect storm,' whatever the repercussions.  The kidnappers appear to have coldly calculated that  it was worth it, to foment trouble on a grand scale.  Irrespective of  the awfulness of what had happened, the spokesman for the family, an uncle, was supremely considered in his pleas for no more killings. To paraphrase him, he believed no religion tells you to murder in its name. How I and countless others wish his words had been heard and abided by.  

However, repercussions there have been. During protests against the authorities in Gaza, a boy, Muhammad Durin was killed.  

Following the murder of the three Israeli boys, an Arab boy, Muhammad Abu Khdeir, was abducted and murdered in what appears to be a reprisal action.  Repercussions upon repercussion continue as I write this post.  Israeli politicians have  denounced the reprisal attack as strongly as they denounced the original three murders that set off the train of events.  As if there was was not enough grief, Muhammad Abu Khdeir's  cousin was detained by the police and sported the physical signs of it. 

It has been announced by the Israeli police that there have been several arrests of Israeli citizens in connection with the murder of Muhammad Abu Khdeir; the conundrum remains that no-one has been detained for the murder of the three Israeli boys. 

The foment has been stirred into violence from the ground up, just as had been intended by the attack on and killings of the  three Israeli teenagers.

 An Israeli friend posted the following, after the discovery of the the bodies of the Israeli teenagers and before the murder of the Arab boy.  

"Many other kids from both sides have paid the price of ancestral crimes and I really hope that they and the boy Muhammad Durin that was killed in a protest last week are the last in a very long list of unnecessary victims..."

 This says everything I want to say, more eloquently than I could say it.  I wish it had been the last word on the awful killings; I fervently wish it will be. 

THE ARCHBISHOP - THE CHILDREN

Justin Welby, Archbishop Of Canterbury, appears to be a more publicly outspoken priest for the oppressed masses than his recent predecessors seemed to be. I do not want to be a spoiler, but, I do wonder just what affects his words would have, uttered as they are, in these isles, far, far, away from the awful trouble spots that are exercising many of us. He rightly points out that the focus of destruction is not just on Christian communities, though, it is those which have come into our focus because the Christian religious group has appeared to be singled out, for now, (which group will it be tomorrow?) and has been suffering dreadfully. The Archbishop described the dead as Christian Martyrs.  Archbishop Justin Welby's summary of the politics is interesting, as is his choice of language. 
 
The Middle East is complex, it is a melting pot for which no single answer will do. As if to illustrate this. I heard the following report.

A report on BBC radio this morning highlighted the plight and fortitude of the Syrian refugee children, who, from the age of 4 years old, are taken by open lorries to work on farms, harvesting whatever is in the fields. Their work is unprotected and supervised by an overseer. Supervision consists of threatening to dock earnings if they do not fulfill their quotas of work. I do not know who sets those. When the children return to the camps they are given some schooling. The refugee community want their children to have some education, not to be totally disadvantaged and lost. It speaks volumes. 

UNICEF, whose work is vital, are constantly fund raising to save the children.

BRITAIN'S RESPONSE TO RESCUING PEOPLE

When British and other Nationals were advised to leave Egypt, the advice to them was the same, (when you could obtain information) as people have been receiving in Libya. The means of getting to an airport (or other exit point) was up to the individual. This guidance is very limited at the 'best' of times, and hardly works for for people who are stuck in the centre of bombarded areas (like war zones in or near Tripoli)or marooned in a desert or anywhere else construed to be the middle of nowhere.

The word has got to the British media by various means, that the response of the British Government to helping our citizens and anyone else, is woefully inadequate, indeed it is pathetic. While other countries have been getting their citizens and other nationals out of the danger zones, where they can, under media pressure, the very best Britain could offer, and very late in the proceedings, was one plane which got stuck on the tarmac for 10 hours going nowhere. Meanwhile, in television interviews, the Foreign Secretary of State, William Hague, sat in a high-backed winged leather armchair, looking serious and important, making disingenuous statements about Government concerns and rescue activities.

While the revolutionary turmoil continues apace in the Middle East, cut backs have been announced in the maintaining of, and staffing of British foreign embassies and legations. We will be told, no doubt, that the services given, (I think we now need to know what they are)can be offered in a more progressive,(which means radical) and efficient manner. If a large number of countries take the same view, there will be no-one to merge with, no country on which we can piggyback minimal services, or ask to act on our behalf for British nationals abroad. What value is Britannia, when she is internationally sinking into an abyss.