These are the Gazans; What are We?

 These are the Gazans: a people largely made up of those who were kicked out -- expelled -- from Israel when Israel declared its independence in 1948. About 80 percent of the roughly 2 million people living in Gaza are considered refugees, as a home has still not been found for them, despite it being more than 75 years since Israel evicted them.
   Evicted them for what? For been Palestinians? For being Muslims or Arabs? For not being Jews? Is that racist?
   These are the Gazans: A people unwelcome in Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Why? For one thing, those neighboring countries want them to remained staked out where they are in order to maintain a foothold in the land of Israel. Gazans have no blood brothers, at least none who will have them. 
   These are the Gazans: A people governed not by just one, but by three sets of rulers. When the Fatah government in Ramallah split with the Hamas government, both continued  to claim control, though it is the Hamas that are really their hands-on rulers. Then, there are the Israelis. Though they do not govern Gaza, per se, their hand remains over them.
   These are the Gazans: A people being driven from one end of their little country to another, displaced from northern Gaza to the southern end of the land. They were driven in the '40s, and they are being driven now.
   These are the Gazans: A people who are subjected to being human shields by Hamas, their rulers.
   And, these are the Gazans: A people being slaughtered. Of the 2 million, an estimate 27,365 have been killed in the war, a war that possibly could stretch on for months and who knows if it will become even more brutal. They are a people who some argue should be exterminated. A Gazan is but a Hamas. They are one and the same, goes the arguement. Kill them.
   These are a people many of which exist in refugee camps, not real homes. They are a people who have been deprived of fuel, water, and food by the Israelis. How many of them are in the hospitals? I could not determine, but I read how 13 of the 35 hospitals have been rendered only partially functioning. A third of the homes of the Gazans have been destroyed or damaged. No less than 390 educational buildings have been destroyed or damaged, and no less than 221 places of worship.
   Pawns in a war, prisoners in their own country -- a country that really is not even a country, but an occupied territory.
   If we have not compassion for this people, if our hearts are not drawn out for them, what are we? Our indifference towards them speaks not of our Christianity, but of our laying aside the principles of Christianity. If we will not beg, sue, plead and petition for their welfare, what are we?