The world labels Gaza a “war zone” while in reality is not a war; it is a massacre. Because of the absence of any humanitarian law, the situation is extremely serious. While the United Nations calls for ceasefires, it is not taking action or responsibility for the apartheid, murders, and displacement that Palestinians suffer today. It amazes me that we Palestinians continue to address the United Nations and beg for our freedom. The UN and its members are just as responsible as Israel is, if not more, for the suffering of Palestinians during the last century. The only “non-binding” resolution that this complicit organization has effectively followed through with was non-binding resolution 181, recommending the partition that gave more than half of Palestine to Zionists. While this non-binding resolution was enforced against the wishes of the inhabitants of Palestine and its neighbors, other resolutions calling for the right of return for Palestinian refugees and Israel’s withdrawal from “occupied territories” were NEVER enforced. How Ironic is it that the non-binding resolution calling for transfer of foreigners, citizens of other countries, is enforced while those resolutions calling for the return of displaced natives are not? Netanyahu is correct when he says that “no outside pressure will alter Israel’s resolve to reach its military and political goals”. Of course he’s right when there is no real pressure on Israel in the first place. The UN is complicit. The 1.7 million civilians living in Gaza, the majority being women and children, are trapped by Israel and Egypt in an overcrowded zone with no exit from horrific danger. Even for the families fortunate enough to avoid direct strikes by Israel’s missiles, the experience of the sounds of jet fighters, drones, bombings, screaming ambulances, and the ground invasion itself create a concoction of horror that is guaranteed to traumatize Palestinian children, causing physiological damage for years to come. Even prior to the current military assault on Gaza, Israel’s entrapment of the population of Gaza within closed borders is a collective punishment that has existed for years. This is a significant violation of Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention as well as a Crime Against Humanity. Israel’s criminal intent is obvious when it willingly allows approximately 800 Gazans with dual citizenship (including 150 with American passports) to leave Gaza. Other residents of Gaza, regardless of whether they are sick, disabled, elderly, or young, do not have the option of leaving. They are not allowed to leave Gaza while it is being further reduced to rubble, and within Gaza there is no space available that Palestinians can become internally displaced to. We grieve for the millions of Iraqi and Syrian refugees or internally displaced that are able to escape their countries’ war zones. Their hardships should never go unnoticed. They also have lost and continue to lose their homes; their loved ones, have been disabled, and are feeling the psychological effects of the brutality of war and genocide. Remember Kosovo? Just before the Kosovo war in 1999, close to one million residents of Kosovo crossed to Macedonia to escape NATO air strikes and ethnic cleansing. As soon as the war was over, these refugees returned to their homeland. More recently, the international community helped Libya’s entrapped civilian population. In 2011, the United Nations and members of the Security Council took the responsibility to protect the civilian population that was unable to remove itself from a war zone. Perhaps this was the case because of Libya’s large oil deposits. This is what makes the UN’s failure to act in Gaza unforgivable. The UN and its members turn their heads and look away. This is the most disturbing silence which entraps the innocent Palestinian civilians subjugating them to Israel’s blatant willingness to commit genocide whether it is done quickly by missile attacks or over time by starvation. Especially since the international community has refused to respect Palestinian dignity, the Palestinian people have the right to do what they need to.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 15:06:20 +0000
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