“I have declared a total siege on the Gaza Strip.” There will be no electricity, food, or fuel; everything will be shut down.” – Yoav Gallant, Israeli Defense Minister.
“We oppose the injustice of Palestine’s illegal occupation.” We condemn the indiscriminate bloodshed in Gaza. We deplore the humiliation meted out to Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks…Their humiliation is similar to black South Africans who were detained, harassed, insulted, and assaulted by apartheid security personnel.” Desmond Tutu, Archbishop of Cape Town.
Any decent human being concerned about the dignity of his fellow man will quickly reject the Israeli government’s illegal and fascistic tactics. They should also decide that Palestinian blood is not exclusively on the hands of Israeli murderers. The leaders of the United States and the European Union, who automatically back and defend the brutal policies of the Jewish authorities in Tel Aviv, are equally culpable, if not far more guilty, of these atrocities.
It is critical to remember the following points when trying to comprehend the Palestinian issue. Since the establishment of Israel in 1947, Palestinians have lost more than 75% of their lands as a result of Israel’s purposeful strategy of land theft. Hundreds of Palestinian towns and villages have been destroyed, and almost one million Palestinians have been forced to flee in order to make way for deranged Jewish settlers who arrive from wherever and claim more rights than Palestinians.
Gaza is around the size of St. Vincent. It is five miles wide and twenty-five miles long. Gaza has a population of 2.5 million people. The majority of them are refugees or children of refugees who have been driven from their homes. Gaza is the most densely populated area on the planet. Over half of the residents are children. Half of the population is out of work. The youth unemployment rate is 60%. More than half of the population is chronically food insecure.
However, there is more. Western-sponsored parliamentary elections were held in Gaza and the West Bank in January 2006. These elections were seen by President Jimmy Carter. He declared them to be trustworthy and fair. In Gaza, Hamas received an overwhelming majority of ballots. Israel imposed a land, sea, and air blockade immediately. Sanctions were applied by American and European politicians. Egypt’s puppet government, led by butcher President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, collaborates with Israel and the West to keep the siege in place. No one enters or exits Gaza without the express consent of Israel or Egypt. As a result, Hamas guerrilla attacks deep inside Israel attest to their sophistication, organization, and heroism.
Gaza’s people is trapped. The Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, described Gaza as an open-air prison. Elan Pappe, an Israeli historian, and Jewish-American political scientist have described Gaza as “the largest concentration camp” in world history.
The preceding is the framework in which we must see the frequent bursts of despair and wrath in the media headlines. The Hamas attacks in Israel, which began on Saturday, are a scream of the poor and downtrodden. They are the ones that require international assistance, not Israeli officials who disregard international law and human rights.
As a result, when Western officials condemn the Palestinian resistance, they participate in a mealy-mouth moral dance that borders on hypocrisy. CARICOM calls on both sides to put an end to the violence. You can’t keep punching me in the face and expect me to be a nice, obedient citizen.
The freedom to resist is guaranteed by international law to occupied nations and dominated populations. CARICOM’s statement falls short by failing to condemn Israel’s prolonged occupation of Palestinian territory and its imposition of apartheid policies on Palestinians.
The proper stance can be found in the words of Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek Foreign Minister and leader of the Democracy in Europe Movement, who urged Europeans on Tuesday to “wake up and redeem themselves by working for the destruction of the state of apartheid against Palestinians.” Varoufakis accused Europe of “complicity in Israel’s crime against humanity in Palestine.”
The former Greek Finance Minister went on to say:
“Those who work hard to get people like me to condemn the Hamas Guerrillas’ attack will never get it.” And they will never receive it for one simple reason. Those who care about humanity without prejudice; those who care equally about Jews and Arabs, must ask themselves a simple question: What is their definition of a cease-fire? That the Palestinians will lay down their arms and return to the world’s largest open-air prison. Where they are stifled by the apartheid state… Any human being suffering under apartheid would either die in silence or rebel, taking some innocent people with them.’
The Western media condemns Hamas’ righteous fury. President Biden describes the Hamas resistance as “evil.” French President Immanuel Macron slammed Hamas’ activities, saying, “We make clear that the terrorist actions of Hamas have no justification, no legitimacy, and must be universally condemned.”
What moral realm do these Western politicians inhabit? Daniel Hagari, an Israeli defense spokesman, stated on Tuesday that Israeli bombings are killing innocent men, women, and children, including entire families, and that “the emphasis is on damage, not on accuracy.”
Collective punishment is unanimously condemned as a violation of international law and a crime against humanity. However, Israelis and Western elites regard Palestinians as second-class citizens. According to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the inhabitants of Gaza are “animals and will be treated as such.”
There has been no censure of Israel’s imprudent words or disproportionate military action. In a gesture of solidarity, American Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin flew to Israel. He was escorted by planeloads of American explosives.
There can be no peace unless justice is served. Palestinian insurgents have certainly taken Jamaican poet Claude Mc Kay’s words to heart.
‘If we have to die, let it not be like hogs.’
Hunted and imprisoned in an unsavory location,
While the wild and ravenous hounds surround us,
Making fun of our unfortunate lot.
If we must die—oh, let us die nobly.
So that none of our precious blood is shed
In vain; then, even the monsters we defy are defeated.
Will be forced to honor us even though we are dead!
