2024-03-04
An overview of the ongoing war in Gaza, as gleaned from the international media, and what to do about it
By Beverley Dight, Green Issue Co-editor
Illan Pappe, an Israeli historian, reported that David Ben Gurion, the first Prime Minister of the State of Israel, famously said:
"Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves. Politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves. The country is theirs because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down."
The United States Institute of Peace noted that "as 2022 came to an end Benjamin Netanyahu took the helm of the State of Israel's government. His government coalition depends on the support and participation of once fringe extremist parties and politicians. This is the most right wing and extremist government in the State of Israel's history. Hamar Ben Gvir. who is now National Security Minister, was a routine provocateur and a convicted supporter of racism against Palestinians. Benzalei Smotrich, a Minister within the Ministry of Defense, has consistently called for territorial expansion and Palestinian and Arab expulsion"
It reported that the opening paragraph of the government's guideline document is an expression of priorities. Netanyahu penned: "The Jewish people have an exclusive and inalienable right to all parts of the Land of Israel." Prime Minister Netanyahu has been using the war in Gaza as a means to help bring that about, by both killing Palestinians in Gaza and relocating them.
Many leaders of the State of Israel have made statements demonstrating their ultimate intent. Recently Israeli Minister of Economy, Nir Barkat, said: "I have a very clear message to our enemies. We are saying to them look what's happening in Gaza. You are going to get the same treatment if you attack us.
WE ARE GOING TO WIPE YOU OFF THE MAP ''
Over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since the State of Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza. Thousands more are missing, believed to be under rubble.
This is above all a war on children, with approximately 12,500 killed. About three times as many have had one or two limbs amputated. Due to the siege on Gaza, with food, water, fuel, electricity, medicines, etc. prevented from reaching the enclave, many children are operated on without anaesthesia, with vinegar as an antiseptic, by torchlight.
It breaks the heart of medics when such severely injured children have no-one to look after them, as their entire family has been killed by the relentless bombing, day and night. Canadian Dr Yasser Khan, who has done humanitarian work in over 40 countries, said what he saw in Khan Younis Hospital, Gaza "were the most horrific scenes in my entire life." The majority of patients were between the ages of 2 and 17 years.
"Eyes shattered in two 6 year-old children.
Eyes with shrapnel stuck inside.
Limbs cut off and dangling
Children exploded and half their body hanging on a wall.
The children were thin because they were starving.
Patients and bodies lying all over the hospital, inside and out.
The State of Israel has openly called for epidemics.
They have attacked the water and sewerage systems, so the sewerage is mixed with drinking water.
The State of Israel has kidnapped about 40-45 doctors, specifically specialists.
There's about 15,000 bodies decomposing.
There are no antibiotics, painkillers or morphine."
Dr Khan said that "Israel's killing machine has been vicious, really vicious." This viciousness is apparent when civilians who have been detained have been humiliated, sexually abused, raped, tortured, and extrajudicially executed.
Soldiers gleefully post their acts of cruelty on social media. They loot Palestinian homes. Israeli snipers target Palestinian civilians, such as a young girl who was shot as she desperately searched for food.
A recent tragic example of this viciousness was when State of Israel forces fired upon and shelled thousands of starving Palestinians as they waited to receive desperately needed, life saving humanitarian aid. At least 112 were killed and over 75 wounded.
The State of Israel has been intentionally starving Palestinians in Gaza. Bakeries, small scale fishing, orchards, greenhouses, etc. have been targeted. Food is blocked from entering Gaza.
Often vehicles with humanitarian aid can't reach the people because of the continuous bombing. The vehicles are often attacked. Some time ago it was reported that half the population of Gaza is starving. People are resorting to eating grass and animal feed.
Infectious diseases are spreading fast. No clean water is entering Gaza and the sanitation system is no longer working. There is great overcrowding, as at least half the population of 2.3 million have been moved to Rafah, a town on the most southern part of Gaza, on the border of Egypt.
Gideon Levy, journalist and editor of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, said that "the Israelis have been planning all along to empty Gaza, moving Palestinians into tent cities in the Sinai Desert of Egypt. However, initially Egypt refused to participate in this plan.
In October 2023 former foreign minister Danny Ayala called for "establishing tent cities in the Sinai Desert in Egypt.". For that purpose Gaza has been made uninhabitable, and life unbearable for the Palestinian people, so they will be amenable to leaving Gaza.
Infrastructure has been bombed, and left in ruins. The health care system has collapsed. There are only a few hospitals still intact, only partly functioning.
Anything that makes life meaningful or enjoyable has been destroyed, including mosques, cultural facilities and Palestinian heritage sites. Palestinians prize education, so schools, teachers, academics, artists, poets and journalists have been targeted.
The majority of Palestinians have been displaced from their homes. They have been ordered to keep moving south to "safe places". However, they are bombed when they arrive. Nowhere is safe.
In Rafah most people are living in the streets in makeshift tents, sleeping on the ground which turns into mud when it rains. They don't get much sleep, kept awake by the whine of bombs.
The United Nations pleaded with the international community to prevent a likely genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza. South Africa heeded the call and charged the State of Israel with genocide at the International Court of Justice. South Africa's case has compelling with the Court concluding that there was strong evidence of genocide occurring".
Wang Yi, the Foreign Minister of China, has called for a large scale peace conference, which is authoritative and effective, leading to the creation of an independent, fully sovereign Palestinian State. He said that China is very concerned about "the extreme loss of civilian lives, the destruction of infrastructure and the growing threat of a wider conflict."
Valiant and controversial protectors of the Palestinian people are the Houthi rebels. CODEPINK, an American peace organization, stated that "the Ansar Alla movement in Yemen blockades the Red Sea shipments to Israel, to uphold its treaty obligations to prevent further genocide". Despite Yemen being bombed as a result of their actions, the Yemenis say that "the blockade will continue in solidarity with the Palestinian people."
Almost immediately after the International Court of Justice ruled that "Israel must take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian aid, including food, to the people of Gaza", The State of Israel made unproven allegations against a handful of members of UNRWA, which would have brought these basic services and humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people.
As a result of these hasty allegations, most of the countries which funded UNRWA, ceased to do so. It is obvious that these allegations were made so the State of Israel could continue to starve the Palestinian people in Gaza. Without adequate funding UNRWA can't provide its life-saving services, bringing aid that is crucial to the continued survival of the people in Gaza. It has reached a crisis point, and can't continue without funding.
UNRWA is pleading for those countries that stopped funding it, to resume doing so, for the kind countries that have continued to fund it, to give more funding, and for new countries to please start funding it, so it can continue to help these people in urgent need.
Recently State of Israel Ministers, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, have asked countries to accept Palestinians from Gaza. They have refused to do so. The Foreign Minister of Scotland said that it was "a textbook case of ethnic cleansing.".
There is great concern at the moment that the State of Israel is planning a ground assault on Rafah. The United Nations Humanitarian Chief, Martin Griffiths, warned that due to the massive overcrowding in Rafah "it would be a slaughter of Palestinians."
The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights said that Egypt may be planning for a mass exodus through Rafah. It is constructing a "security zone" in eastern Sinai where 7 metre walls are being erected with the aim of receiving refugees.
Palestinians in Gaza fear they may soon have no choice but to amass at the border, pleading for refuge into the Sinai Desert. The few that can afford it have been paying thousands of dollars to Egyptian middlemen to secure a passage through the Rafah crossing.
Al Jazeera reported that Palestinians in Gaza expect to die at any moment. A mother said that "the Palestinian people above all want to live. We are desperately seeking a way to seek safety and provide a better life for our children."
So although we don't want to participate in ethnic cleansing, it is important we respect the wishes of Palestinian people in despair, who above all want to live by escaping the hell they are living and dying in. Their future looks very grim.
There are plans for a pause in fighting, but Prime Minister Netanyahu has emphasized that the military campaign will continue afterwards until he has reached his objective; the deaths of all the members of Hamas. It is greatly feared that over 80,000 more Palestinian people will be killed.
I would like countries to offer SANCTUARY to Palestinian people in despair, whose suffering is immense, and whose future promises to be even worse, while resolving to persuade a future State of Israel government to allow those who want to, to return to Gaza.
Palestinians in the past who have been driven from their homeland have not been permitted to return.
Many Israeli citizens have been protesting, calling for Prime Minister Netanyahu to be ousted, and for an immediate election.
Let us hope that he and his government will soon be replaced by a more ethical and rational government, so all Palestinians in Gaza have a future, and the refugees will have somewhere to return to.
Header photo: Gaza today. Credit Al Jazeera
[Opinions expressed are those of the author and not official policy of Greens WA]