Israeli atrocities must stop

We are appalled at the wanton destruction that Israeli has been wreaking on the people of Palestine and their property over the last seven days. The death toll so far has exceeded hundred including dozens of children and there is no sign of Israeli bombing abetting. We condemn Israeli action in the strongest possible terms and call upon it to stop the wanton bombing of Gaza—which has prompted Hamas to launch missiles towards Israel. Reportedly, Israel is planning for a ground operation. The long and short is that the situation has the potential of escalating into an all-out war—the outcome and consequences of which is unpredictable. Equally obnoxious is the impunity with which Israel is carrying out the attacks. 

The seeds of the latest spate of violence in the region were sown a month ago at the beginning of the month of Ramadan when Palestinian movements were restricted, and access to the Holy Mosque was restricted to only those who had got vaccinated with Covid-19 vaccine, a mindless condition when there were not enough vaccines to go around amongst the Palestinian residents. That, coupled with the expulsion of Arab families from occupied territories, under court order, has fuelled the recent violence. 

It is regrettable that the recent flare up has not generated the expected international response that the situation demands, particularly from the west, except for the predictable condemnation of the violence and criticism of the eviction.

The Palestine-Israel conflict shall never find a solution till Israel is made to abide by the numerous UN resolutions regarding the occupied and annexed territories that it has continued to flout without any retribution. Israeli occupation of these territories has been declared illegal by the UN and without validity. Yet, not only are the Arabs being evicted from their lands, those are going to Jews, even to those among them who had been living out of this territory for decades.

Double talk and no action will only encourage the Israeli government to continue its racist and apartheid policies in the occupied territories. Israel benefits from impunity lent by the as-usual US stance that Israel has the right to defend itself, overlooking the fact that the Palestinians in the occupied territories have been living without their rights since 1967. Trump's Israel policy has added fuel to the fire. His Middle East plan, which he called, "Peace to Prosperity" reads more like an obituary to the two-state solution—a sine qua non for any Palestinian-Israeli settlement. Peace demands justice and fair play; both are acutely absent when it comes to the Palestinian and their rights to their own sovereign homeland. Without justice there can never be peace.