Poles apart, in black and white

The famous German poet, Else Lasker-Schüler, (1869-1945) starts her poem Weltende with the line "There is a weeping in the world" and after another broken ceasefire in Gaza that seems an apt description for the mood of radio and TV accounts in Britain and Ireland this morning. Regardless of who broke the ceasefire first, at least 40 Palestinians have died in the few hours since it foundered. Unfortunately, weeping or complaining about the problem is not really the solution. If anything it is up to the outside world to take a positive stance. Opinions are becoming very polarized on what this stance should be though an increasing number of political observers seem to believe that Israel will one day regret this campaign.
Lasker-Schüler, a German Jew, was hounded by the Nazis in Germany and eventually fled the country. She managed to make her way via Switzerland to Palestine. Not that she got much help in Switzerland, where she was refused a work permit, tormented by the local authorities and finally forbidden re-entry into Switzerland.
In Palastine she lived a life of ill-health and poverty, an "oddball" few locals knew what to make of. She favoured a bi-national Palastine and urged authorities to build schools for poor Arab children. She was convinced that only cooperation between Arabs and Jews could secure a safe future for both groups. She remains one of the most unusual and talented poets of the 20th century. The current fate of the Palestinians and people in the Middle East generally would have dismayed her greatly as she saw the region as her homeland, both at a spiritual and poetic level. I mention her to remind us that politicians, particularly the more bullish among them, are rarely the voices we should listen to.