Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, August 14, 2014:
“If you add together all the people who gathered over the past weekend to demand justice in Israel and Palestine – in Cape Town, Washington, D.C., New York, New Delhi, London, Dublin, Sydney, and all the other cities – this was arguably the largest active outcry by citizens around a single cause ever in the history of the world.”
Gaza City, July 27, 2014. Photo: Oxfam International.
“For the last eight years, Israel and the U.S. had repeated opportunities to opt for a diplomatic solution in Gaza. Each time, they have chosen war, with devastating consequences for the families of Gaza.”
Why?
The answer is here, in a well-documented account by Sandy Tolan, author of The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East, and an associate professor at the University of Southern California.
The only practical response that does not depend on goodwill or common sense from the Israeli or American authorities: the growing international grassroots movement for BDS – boycott, divestment and sanctions.
According to mainstream media, the terms of a ‘cease-fire’ are currently in negotiation between the elected government of Gaza and the elected government of Israel.
In a tweet posted August 5, a spokesman for the Israeli military wrote: “Mission accomplished.”
“Mission accomplished”
What the latest Israeli mission accomplished:
1,938 Palestinians killed, 1,626 of them civilians, including 460 children and 246 women
7,920 wounded, mostly civilians, including 2,111 children and 1,415 women;
800 houses destroyed and thousands of others severely damaged
Many thousands of Palestinian civilians forcibly displaced
The impact of Israel’s intentional destruction of health and education facilities, and water, sewage and electric infrastructure is beyond imagining.
August 5, the same day Israel declared “Mission accomplished,” US President Obama signed a $225 million cheque, approved by Congress, to resupply Israel with missiles.
What next?
In a searing cry for elemental justice, Raji Sourani, director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, writes from inside the “cage” that is Gaza: “A ceasefire is not enough. It will not end the suffering. It will only move us from the horror of death by bombardment to the horror of death by slow strangulation. We cannot go back to being prisoners in a cage that Israel rattles when it chooses with brutal destructive offensives.”
“In my opinion, the resistance is just a temporary phenomenon to achieve particular goals: to end the blockade and allow Palestinians to live in freedom and dignity in a state of their own.” – Nour Omar Shaban, 16 years old, Gaza, August 2, 2014.
“When the current attacks are called off, Israel hopes to be free to pursue its criminal policies in the occupied territories without interference, and with the U.S. support it has enjoyed in the past.” – Noam Chomsky, 86 years old, Lexington, Massachusetts, August 3, 2014.
Under Israel bombs, Gaza City, July 2014.
Day 25 of Israel’s assault on Gaza. So far:
1,888 Palestinians killed, 1586 of them civilians, including 447 children and 235 women
7815 wounded, mostly civilians, including 2079 children and 1398 women
Through the toxic fog of propaganda, compelling voices speak out for truth and sanity. Here are two:
Israel’s war crimes will only end when its illegal occupation of Palestine is stopped.
The occupation will only stop when it becomes impossible for Israel to sustain it.
The ruling authorities in Europe and North America offer no solution; they continue to support what Israeli historian Ilan Pappe calls “Israel’s incremental genocide on Gaza.”
For now, the only effective lever we have to end the occupation is the ever-growing international movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions.
“…to the family of the one thousandth victim of Israel’s genocidal slaughter in Gaza…”
Ilan Pappe, Israeli author, professor of history, director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter, England.
On Day 20 of the Israeli assault on Gaza, the toll:
1,014 Palestinians killed, 832 of them civilians, including 221 children and 121 women
4,706 others wounded, mostly civilians, including 1,263 children and 939 women
Shujaiya neighbourhood, Gaza
In the face of such overwhelming crimes, words seem painfully inadequate, even pointless. But Israel’s colonial war on Palestinians is partly sustained by words, in torrents of propaganda from governments and the corporate media. In resisting it, words can also have immense power to convey facts, reason, and compassion.
Ilan Pappe has just written such a message “to the family of the one thousandth victim of Israel’s genocidal slaughter in Gaza.” A fragment:
“…I feel the urge today to make a pledge to you, which none of the Germans my father knew during the time of the Nazi regime was willing to make to him when the thugs committed genocide against his family. This is not much of a pledge at your moment of grief, but it is the best I can offer, and saying nothing is not an option. And doing nothing is even less than an option…”
Gaza rally, London, July 2014
Michael Riordon 