5SR - December 3, 2023

Hitha on Gaza's future leadership, regression, and how to stay focused

Author

Hitha Palepu
December 04, 2023

Today’s curator is the founder of #5SmartReads, Hitha Palepu. She’s a consummate multihyphenate - CEO of Rhoshan Pharmaceuticals, author of WE’RE SPEAKING: The Life Lessons of Kamala Harris and How to Pack: Travel Smart for Any Trip, and professional speaker. Hitha is an unabashed fan of Taco Bell, Philadelphia sports teams & F1, romance novels, and is a mediocre crafter. She lives in NYC with her husband and two sons.

In order to find a sustainable peace in Israel & Palestine, new leadership is needed. I’ve talked about how Netanyahu and the Likud-led coalition government needs to be removed from power, and I’ve been researching about leadership options in Gaza (and Palestine overall).

Despite the Biden administration’s statements, I don’t think the Palestinian Authority (with their current leadership or new leadership) can provide the leadership needed. I also vehemently disagree that Israel should step into the region (they should not, and should withdraw their settlements in the West Bank entirely, in my opinion).

Hamas is not an option, for obvious reasons. But they’re also intensely ingrained in Gaza’s societal fabric, at every level:

“The de facto governing body in the Gaza Strip since 2007, when it ousted the Palestinian Authority from power, Hamas has overseen the economy, health care, water and electricity, trade and infrastructure. It runs the security forces in Gaza — not only the militant brigades, like Qassam, now fighting Israeli forces in the streets but also the regular police force, including traffic cops.

The group remains popular among many Palestinians following the attack. Both the Trump and Biden administrations had focused on brokering better relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors — to the detriment of the Palestinians, who had become sidelined as a cause, many felt. Now, thanks to Hamas, Palestinians are again front and center.”

I thought this was a clear piece that outlined the complexity and the options at hand for a true peace in Gaza & Israel now, and between Israel & Palestine for the long haul.

I feel like I’ve finally evolved from full-on regression when I return to my parents’ home, but goodness did I feel so seen in this article.

“There is some switch that inevitably flips when you walk into your bedroom and see all those reminders that you used to be some punk kid trying their best. For instance, I think about the time I got sent to this very room for saying “pass the f*cking peas!” in elementary school. There are journals on the nightstand filled with every horny and angsty teenage emotion — in turquoise glitter gel pen, obviously. I can feel everything I’ve learned as an adult — when to book a flight, what boxes to check on the family history section of a medical form, how to make a sauce from a roux — slowly leave my body as I dig out my old dance team uniform and I remember all the drama and excitement of the year we won state. How exactly am I supposed to “help with dinner” when I just found my flute?!”

The leaders of our current healthcare system (a disease management system, in my opinion) largely focus on profit over actual health outcomes. And they’re quite good at it.

Mergers and consolidation have been a key tool in this pursuit of profitability, and this proposed merger between Cigna and Humana would allow for immense control over the insurance landscape.

What it won’t do? Improve access or affordability of healthcare, which is what we actually need.

The current system is already too big to fail and keeps getting bigger. I hope the SEC blocks this merger, but I’m not too hopeful they will (Humana has divested its commercial business to help clear the path for regulator’s blessing of the merger).

If you’re struggling to stay focused in the end-of-year crunch, may I recommend the Ivy Lee Method?

It’s surprisingly simple - restrict your to-do list to just 6 items, work on a task until it’s completed, end your day when the list is complete or add unfinished tasks to the top of your list the following day.

The “staying focused on a single task” part is what I’ve found the hardest, but a few tricks (the Forest app to essentially lock you out of your phone, using Chrome extensions to limit time on my high distraction sites).

Land mines are still a significant human rights problem around the world, and they’re a critical issue in the Ukraine-Russia war that hasn’t gotten enough coverage.

“About 174,000 square kilometers of Ukraine is suspected to be contaminated with mines and unexploded ordnance, called UXOs. It is an area about the size of Florida, about 30 percent of Ukraine’s territory. This estimate accounts for land occupied by Russia since its full-scale invasion, along with recaptured areas, everywhere from the Kharkiv region in the east to areas around Kyiv, like Bucha. According to Human Rights Watch, mines have been documented in 11 of Ukraine’s 27 regions.”

If there’s one article you read, please make it this one.

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