A Star in the East

A little over 2,000 years ago a lone star in the Eastern sky guided rich and poor to the birth of an infant who would later bring the hope of forgiveness and salvation to a waiting world.

The star of hope later became a symbol that divided and segregated the world; its yellow colour brought together rich and poor, young and old, men, women and children until it turned red and later charred with the blood and fire as a madman strove for the extermination of a nation.

Out of the ashes of the Holocaust rose another star, another symbol of hope, of a new beginning. The blue and white star that proudly and defiantly shone over the new Israel soon became tarnished and blooded as another nation was burned and destroyed in their quest for survival. Another nation disposed and banished becoming a new Diaspora whilst the world again looks on in apathy and impotence.

Christmas 2008 in Gaza saw that blue and white symbol fluttering over the corpses of 1,400 Palestinians in Israel’s quest, not unlike another nation to exterminate a people. Again the world sat back and although mouthed a few platitudes imposed no sanctions and offered no redress. The star that once offered hope of salvation and a new beginning has now become a symbol of death and apathy.