In her August 28, 2014 essay “On growing up in Ferguson and Palestine” published in the Washington Post, poet Naomi Shihab Nye writes:

In Ferguson, an invisible line separated white and black communities. In Jerusalem, a no-man’s land separated people, designated by barbed wire.

She concludes with:

Things will change again in Ferguson. Historic inequities in that community will be reexamined, no one will be able to pretend they don’t exist. But will we examine them in other communities too?

Will things change for Gaza? If they don’t, this nightmare of worst selves will keep happening and happening. Look, it already has. And what gets better? Will the United States ever speak out in solidarity with scores of exhausted people burying their dead, staring up with stunned eyes, mystified?

At the end of August 2014, six weeks since the new violence unfolded, more than 2,000 Palestinians have died. As reported in Al Arabiya news, most of the lives have been those of civilians, and more than 490 children have been killed.

In the meantime, outrage continues to be expressed around the globe, but there is little sign of violence ending. Nye’s essay is an urgent reminder to address deeper issues behind the conflict so there can be resolution.