Happy New Year

As I watched the rains fall this morning on the last day of the year, I could not help but think of how much rain we would  need to cleanse all the atrocities of this past year.  I recalled the words of Shakespeare in Macbeth after he had murdered the king and stood looking at his bloody hands: “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand?” 

We are bidding farewell to a year that has been infested with atrocities and violence as a result of grave injustices, greed, and immorality.  We have sadly watched how  money and power have  been  manipulated by world leaders to determine the destinies of peoples and deprive them of their right to live in dignity in their own country.

In our region,  where water has always been scarce, and has become more so with the draining of its resources by the Israeli occupation, I wonder whether there will ever be enough water to cleanse the atrocities of this past year, and to give hope to the people of the region that justice and peace will prevail. 

With best wishes for a peaceful New Year.