Where are the Peacemakers?

I have just spent the morning watching Al Jazeera, the images from Gaza a reminder of the capacity for man's inhumanity to man. 800 Palestinian dead in the last weeks, many of them women and children.  Children interviewed from their hospital beds bearing witness to the loss of parents, brothers and sisters in front of their eyes. Many are not suprisingly now traumatised .  Much of this seems to be passing us by - the Daily Express lead concerns plans to replace household dustbins with giant  communal bins to which we'll all have to take our rubbish. So its tough for us here as well, isn't it? But somehow I doubt whether the number of dustbins per street is today a lively topic of conversation in Gaza.

There is just a handful of people who can put an immediate stop to this suffering and they know who they are. Most of them are in the United States and are not too far removed from the office of President. They are the people who selflessly defended the rights of the Kuwaitis from the oppressive regime of Sadam Hussain; and who then, equally heroically, liberated the Iraqi people themselves.  So its not as if intervention isn't an option. President Bush and President to be Obama need to stop dancing round their handbags, unite in calling jointly for an immediate ceasefire, through the UN stabilise the position on the ground, secure early humanitarian relief and as a matter of urgency begin the process - a proper homeland for the Palestinians, recognition and territorial security for Israel by Palestine  - that will change the lives of the people who now can have little grounds for hope. What is the point of being the most powerful person in the world if you don't use it. The current inaction is shameful and a disappointing start to what I thought could be a new start for the United States on the world stage. 

No doubt tomorrow there will be prayers for peace. Across the world.  I hope that hardened hearts are moved accordingly.