Food crisis

The devastation is unthinkable and many are suffering on both sides of the barriers. I am referring to the conflict (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) between Israel and the Palestinians, or the Palestinians and the Israelis. Regardless of which viewpoint you see it from, the crisis is immense and unthinkable. It is shameful that we do not hear about the situation here in the US. The fact that 80% of people in Gaza need food assistance and that number is only rising. The agricultural crisis is also frightening, as Palestinians in Gaza are less and less able to produce their own food every year. This stems from numerous reasons, from Israeli confiscation of arable land, water shortages, seed and input shortages, to flat out poverty and inability to buy the necessary products to grow food. If you want to know a little more about the food insecurity of Gaza and the West Bank from the FAO. Further interesting reading. Something a little more positive. A little old, but relevant. Last but not least, a view from the Palestinian perspective.

World Food Program

Admirably, Drew Barrymore is lending her helping hand to starving children in Africa. I have mixed feelings over the issue. On the one hand – hurray – there are fewer starving children for the next year. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has been pressing the world on the concern over rising food costs. It has been in the news quite a bit of recent. Which means, if the trend continues, that starvation will be on the increase. This will especially be true in nations where it is already prevalent.

On the other hand, I wonder what, if anything, she has done to help starvation in her own country. I do not honestly know. Maybe she has, maybe she has not. But then it touches on another difficult thing in the west, especially the US. That is the ingratitude of many – including the poor. If they do not get exactly what they want or think that they deserve, they do not want it. Though this can never be a blanket statement for all people. It is difficult and there are no concrete answers. At least not to me.