As many of you may (or should) know by now, right now, in Gaza, IDF soldiers, in teams of 4 are visiting homes, issuing orders that the Jewish settlers have 48 hours to leave their homes. If, after those 48 hours, the settlers have not left, the IDF and Israeli police forces are going to use force, and not allow the settlers to pack up any of their belongings. Different news sources have said that up to 5,000 right-wing Jewish protesters have snuck back the roadblocks and are preparing to fight to stay. As of right now, midnight in Israel, it is now illegal for any Israeli to live or even be in Gaza – it has been declared a closed-military zone, anything is possible.
I don’t know what is going to happen. I don’t know if Hamas will engage in resistance, I don’t know if there will be a civil-war in Israel between the Jewish settlers and the IDF. I don’t know if random attacks by either Palestinians or Israelis will take innocent lives over the next few days, weeks or months.
I do know that whatever your position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we should all be praying for peace. I’m not sure what else to pray, but I pray for peace, for safety for those Jewish settlers who are leaving Gaza, for Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and all the other Palestinian political groups who are left to figure out what to do with Gaza…