Does it surprise anyone that Palestinians in Gaza would storm the Rafah Crossing with Egypt? Does it surprise anyone that the Egyptians meet these desperate, starving and choked people with resistance rather than embrace? Israel claims that rocket attacks born in Gaza warrant the suffocation of over am illion Gazans, whose land already amounts to little more than an open-air prison. The Egyptian government, in yet another act of betrayal against both the Palestinians and Arab unity turn hoses and spotlights on those who dare to break throught the barriers that imprison them as the cordon tightens.

Does no one dare to speak against these blatant violations of basic humanity? I have never condoned violence, and I strongly condemn any attacks committed by any groups within Palestine that target Israeli civilians. Most of the world would likely side with me on that. But how is it that Israel can continuously reproach an entire population with such heavy-handedness, with tactics that would land other actors squarely in the sights of the Hague and ICJ?

Today, I am left with only tattered rags of hope. I am left with little to make me believe that the world will ever know peace. When power and self-interest dress in robes of messianism and claim a monopoly on truth, all the world suffers. It is not just the Palestinians who are being suffocated, it is all of us who feign to believe that with another passing generation humanity will right itself, and find its final salvation.