(Radio Iowa) – A native of Akron in western Iowa is seeing the turmoil in the Middle East first hand through his work with the United Nations in Gaza. Scott Anderson graduated from Akron-Westfield High School in 1985, then spent 21 years in the Army and has been with the U-N in the Middle East and Afghanistan for ten years. He is helping provide emergency response and humanitarian services to those hit by the Israel-Hamas war.

“There’s a long history here dating back to Biblical times of the claims to this land. That does play a role in all the politics that surround us conflict. And partially why I think personally there hasn’t really been a solution found politically that’s acceptable to both sides,” Anderson says. “But in our job, I’m not a politician and I’m quite thankful for most days, is not to worry about that part of it. I just worry about trying to find people food and water and shelter and that’s, ‘s more than enough to keep us busy every day.” Anderson sees a lot of people who also don’t want to be involved in the politics.

“There are many innocent civilians here, many people who just want peace, who just want as I did as a parent, an opportunity for their children to have a better life than they did,” Anderson says. He’s talked with many people following the October 7th massacre. “And I was very much struck by how much it felt like it was in New York on 9-11,” he says. “The mood and what was an act of terror both on 9-11 and October 7th, there’s so many similarities.”

Anderson was stationed in Syracuse New York at the time of the 9-11 attacks in the U-S. Anderson credits growing up in the western Iowa area as preparation for him in his role of helping people in need in the Gaza crisis.