Joy & Sorrow

This BBC article talks about pregnant Palestinian women having their babies while being stopped at checkpoints. It's very sad. I told some of you while I was in Bethlehem last January the story of the lady in Gaza whose friend was driving her and her husband, and the soldiers fired on the car (they said they didn't stop when ordered), killed the friend and wounded the husband. I read the story the same day my friend at the College drove our friend and her husband (all Americans) across the checkpoint into Bethlehem, where she had her baby healthily (on my birthday!). So the juxtaposition of those two stories was very poignant. This article reminds me of those stories, especially since a good friend of mine's sister just had her baby healthily in the US (praise God), while many of these Palestinian women's babies are dying at the checkpoints (and some of the mothers too). It's true that suicide bombers will sometimes use ambulances, and that women are sometimes suicide bombers, but still this is a terrible thing. It's a terrible thing that these women don't have freedom of movement and access to basic health care, and a terrible thing that a few Palestinians have committed atrocities that make Israelis fear them enough to make these restrictions that hurt the average Palestinian so much.

Ya rub, irHamhum. (Lord, have mercy on them.)