Palestine - Lest We Forget

The sad truth is that in the last decade more than twenty Israeli civilians have been killed by weapons fired from Gaza. The Israeli response that has unfolded in the last few days has killed (to date) almost 700 Palestinians. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers been killed so far, including four soldiers fallen victim to two friendly fire incidents. While moral equivalence arguments take us nowhere, it is blindingly obvious that the Israeli response is outrageously over the top.

The Israeli notion that crushing Hamas will somehow bring stability to the region is flawed. One only needs to look at the reaction in countries around the world. First we saw sad disbelief, but as atrocity piled on atrocity that sadness has turned to anger. The Palestinians have long memories and while there is disgust around the world at the slaughter of forty-three refugees killed in two United Nations schools, for Palestinians these killings will be added to a long list of grievances.

In a recent article, Robert Fisk asks why we should be surprised by the killings in the UN schools.

Have we forgotten the 17,500 dead – almost all civilians, most of them children and women – in Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon; the 1,700 Palestinian civilian dead in the Sabra-Chatila massacre; the 1996 Qana massacre of 106 Lebanese civilian refugees, more than half of them children, at a UN base; the massacre of the Marwahin refugees who were ordered from their homes by the Israelis in 2006 then slaughtered by an Israeli helicopter crew; the 1,000 dead of that same 2006 bombardment and Lebanese invasion, almost all of them civilians?

So, how should we respond? Calls for justice are warrented and yet, if history is any guide, will fall on deaf ears. While some (like Fisk) are now calling the killings a war crime, there is little chance that Israel will ever face court for their actions. Yet the killings of civilians and the use of illegal phosphorus munitions calls for a response. With few exceptions the international community has condemned Israel's actions but proved powerless in the United Nations. Many point the finger at the US administration for thwarting a global response. The USA have long supported Israel and only the arrival of Barak Obama in the Whitehouse will show us if any change is possible.

The sad fact is that the frustration and anger of Palestinians and their supporters may feed into the cycle of violence and reap years of violent reponses. Yet, calls for the destruction of Israel and the deaths of suicide bombers and innocent civilians will solve nothing. It should be remembered that there are many Israelis who are actively protesting their government's actions in Gaza

In the long term, what will make a difference is a world united in providing Palestinian statehood, peace and eventual prosperity. In the interim Israel does need to be held to account, if not in international courts, at the very least in the international media. Thankfully there are respected journalists, such as Robert Fisk, telling the story.  It is a sad tale but one we dare not forget.

Yes, Israelis deserve security. Twenty Israelis dead in 10 years around Gaza is a grim figure indeed. But 600 Palestinians dead in just over a week, thousands over the years since 1948 – when the Israeli massacre at Deir Yassin helped to kick-start the flight of Palestinians from that part of Palestine that was to become Israel – is on a quite different scale. This recalls not a normal Middle East bloodletting but an atrocity on the level of the Balkan wars of the 1990s. And of course, when an Arab bestirs himself with unrestrained fury and takes out his incendiary, blind anger on the West, we will say it has nothing to do with us. Why do they hate us, we will ask? But let us not say we do not know the answer.

Morocco's Humanitarian Response.  

On Wednesday, Morocco's King Mohammed VI issued an order that Morocco should take in several hundred wounded Palestinians and treat them in two hospitals in Rabat. According to sources close to the King, his order was as a result of his own personal grief at what is unfolding in Gaza where there are estimated to be around 3000 wounded civilians.

The official MAP news agency says: "Following direct instructions from King Mohammed VI, the Kingdom of Morocco voices readiness to receive immediately 200 wounded for care and treatment.They will be treated in the Mohammed V Military Hospital and the University Hospital Avicenne, both located in the capital Rabat."

Morocco's response is timely, compassionate and practical. King Mohammed VI is to be congratulated.


Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news