Scene of destruction in in Gaza. Courtesy/Zhen Huang
By ZHEN HUANG
Los Alamos
The other day, when my mother and I were watching the “United Nations Document Shredder Demonstration”, I couldn’t help laughing out, but my mother didn’t find it funny at all, because as an architect, the demonstration reminded her of the numerous houses in Gaza that have been “shredded” to pieces.
According to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, more than 75% of all housing stock in Gaza has been damaged or destroyed since Israel declared war on Hamas following the October 7th terrorist attack, resulting in the displacement of more than 1.5 million Palestinians.
The Special Rapporteur calls on “States to stop arms transfer to Israel that are being used to destroy housing and displace the people in Gaza.”
Clearly, the people in Gaza need a massive reverse-running only shredder so that all the destroyed and damaged buildings could be run through such a machine and restored to the original architectural beauty on the blueprints, and all the displaced Palestinians could return to their homes. The power resources for running such a shredder have been built up, as we have observed around the world, as well as in America, from the Ivy league college campus to the Ashley Pond Park of our small-town Los Alamos. But Who can press the power button on such a shredder?
I think of Einstein. Yes, Einstein!
As we all know, Einstein is the greatest scientist of the world. What we may know less is that Einstein had almost become the founding father of Israel. Although Einstein turned down the invitation to join the administration team during the early time in the construction of the country of Israel, he expressed that he loved Israel as his home country.
What would Einstein consider if he were to lead the Israeli Administration? What actions would Einstein support for the sake of the Israeli people who love to have peace with their Palestinian neighbors? I believe these are some of the fundamental questions for the current Israeli administration to ask itself, in order to have the courage to press the power button of a massive reverse-running only shredder.
The answer to the questions can be found in Einstein’s article: The World As I See It.