An Orchestra Disbanded

Some decisions made in the Arab-Israeli conflict aren't as important as imposing a blockade on Gaza, but are just so senseless that you want to scream. Here is an example:

"Palestinian authorities disbanded a youth orchestra from a West Bank refugee camp after it played for a group of Holocaust survivors in Israel, a local official said on Sunday.

"Adnan Hindi of the Jenin camp called the Holocaust a political issue and accused conductor Wafa Younis of unknowingly dragging the children into a political dispute...

"Hindi said Palestinians - especially in his hardscrabble cinder block refugee camp - had suffered at the hands of Israel and demanded their grievances be acknowledged first."

Let's take a look at the incident that caused this reaction:

"The choir burst into songs for peace, bringing surprised smiles from the audience. But the event had another twist: Most of the Holocaust survivors did not know the youths were Palestinians from the West Bank, a rare sight in Israel these days. And the youths had no idea they were performing for people who lived through Nazi genocide - or even what the Holocaust was.

"'I feel sympathy for them,' said Ali Zeid, an 18-year-old keyboard player, who added that he was shocked by what he learned about the Holocaust, in which the Nazis killed 6 million Jews in their campaign to wipe out European Jewry. 'Only people who have been through suffering understand each other,' said Zeid, who said his grandparents were Palestinian refugees forced to flee the northern city of Haifa during the war that followed Israel's creation in 1948."

Maybe bringing a bit of understanding would help end this conflict and all the suffering it entails more quickly than would refusing to mention the Holocaust.