Globe, Human Rights, Politics, United Kingdom, World

A crime against humanity that we have all allowed

The full extent of the events is not revealed by the press, who also remains silent over the Palestine people´s right to defend itself, given that Palestine is the victim here, and Israel is the aggressor.

 

Stella Calloni

 

Gaza covers an area of 360 square kilometres and is home to two million inhabitants, who live under the most merciless state terrorism enforced by Israel in all occupied territories, where children, women, and old people are detained, tortured and killed while they systematically destroy the region.

The inhabitants live among rubble, surrounded on all sides – by land, sea and air – and are left without water, electricity, and food supply. In reality, it’s a giant concentration camp, a crime against humanity that is being committed before the complicit eyes of a vast majority of countries around the world.

This situation, one of injustice, colonialism, racism and apartheid, has persisted since 1948, when Palestine was divided into two and the state of Israel was created in one of the two parts without consulting the ancestral inhabitants that would be displaced and then persecuted.

Furthermore, Jewish terrorist organisations Hagan and Irgun, among others, set themselves the task of “cleaning” the area that Israel would occupy, burning down Palestine villages and killing their inhabitants. This was the case with the Deir Yassin massacre, which took place on 9 April 1948 and went down as one of the most atrocious crimes committed in history.

The armed attacks began on 7 May, when Israeli troops and police blocked access to the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, where Palestinian inhabitants were arriving for Friday prayer.

They also mobilised to defend their rights and the rights of the families in Sheikh Yarrah, a predominantly Palestinian neighbourhood in Jerusalem. Israeli troops are trying to force these families out of their homes, inherited from their ancestors, in order to hand them over to Israeli settlers. It is a clear case of ethnic cleansing, considered to be a war crime in International Law.

According to the story concocted by the world press, who are controlled by a dominant power, these bombings were Israel’s “response” to the homemade rockets fabricated in Gaza, though the latter have no real potential against the enormous arsenal possessed by its invader, which includes nuclear weapons.

The first rockets were fired after the Palestinian movement Hamas had pleaded with the Israeli government to end the brutal repression in Jerusalem that left almost a thousand people wounded and detained.

These events are concealed by the war press, who also remain silent over the Palestinian people’s right to defend itself, as the victim here, not the aggressor.

There are also different versions of the provocative actions used by Israeli intelligence in certain sectors of the Gaza Strip, which is surrounded on all sides.

Given the latest events, it is impossible to forget the events that took place on 28 September 2000, after former Defence Minister Ariel Sharon’s incursion into the Al Aqsa compound. Surrounded by thousands of police and military, his presence led to a very serious conflict after the principle of two capitals co-existing had been accepted in Jerusalem.

We should also not forget that during the six-day war, on 7 June 1967, the Israeli army took the compound, which is home to monumental buildings such as the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, along with the entire old city of Jerusalem.

Once he had left the compound, the then-Defence Minister Moshe Dayan proclaimed over the radio: “This morning Tsahal liberated Jerusalem, the divided capital of Israel. We have returned to the most sacred of our holy places and we will never be separated from it.” (See Israel Foreign Relations, selected document, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem 1976). At the time, Sharon clung to that colonial mandate. This led to a new Palestinian Intifada, which was supported by large demonstrations in the Arab and Muslim capitals in different countries around the Persian Gulf.

Solidarity has never been so strong, given that the Al Aqsa Mosque is the third holy site for Muslims after Mecca and Medina, and holds great value for Palestinians.

Military manoeuvres

In conjunction with the dramatic situation playing out, the Israeli occupation army began the so-called “Fire Vehicles” military manoeuvres on 9 May.

It is the largest in its history and occurs alongside “the Israeli discourse on the existence of a political vacuum and isolation in military and security institutions. An authoritarian vacuum”. (Latin American Summary 9-5-21, Al Mayadeen).

Israeli Channel 13 military affairs correspondent Or Heller is also quoted as saying that “all this is happening on the Palestinian arena, as the Israeli army launches the largest military manoeuvre in its history, announced by Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi”.

Furthermore, senior Israeli officer Kochavi decided not to cancel or postpone the manoeuvre “in order to prepare the army for battle this summer. A manoeuvre never seen before”.

The regular and reserve army forces of all commanders and armaments are involved, along with the political area, the Ministry of Security, the National Emergency Authority, the Ministry of Foreign Relations and other organisations.

The fourth most powerful army in the world has committed numerous criminal acts of war with total impunity, including the attack of the so-called ‘Peace Flotilla’ in international waters. The ships was transporting humanitarian aid for the population of Gaza.

Some 15 people died and dozens were injured when in the early morning of 31 May 2010,  Israeli commandos attacked the convoy of six ships carrying hundreds of pacifists from 27 countries.

They descended from helicopters and fired at the crew, despite the white flags being raised. The events happened in international waters, about 40 miles off the coast of Israel.

In spite of the UN Security Council convening and the demands from Europe and humanitarian organisations for an explanation from Israel regarding the inexplicable events, Greece was the only country to suspend its joint military exercises with Israel.

For its part, Turkey, where the boats and activists departed from, organised a crisis table. The then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described Israel’s actions as “state terrorism” and a violation of international laws, breaking off relations with the country.

The Israeli State’s violations of the most basic human rights are denounced even by Jewish citizens within Israel and around the world, as well as by Human Rights organisations.

Hidden history

In his book “Method and Madness. The Hidden Story of Israel’s Assaults on Gaza”, Norman G. Finkelstein, researcher and professor at DePaul University in Chicago, summarises Israeli politics towards the Palestinian population based on an analysis of the military operations Operation Cast Lead (2008-9), Operation Pillar of Defence (2012), and Operation Protective Edge (2014), which devastated the Gaza Strip.

A total of 3,700 Palestinian men, women and children were killed. In his work, the author details the arguments, lies and false reasons given by Israel to justify these attacks, and also discusses the international plot that allows the country to further its occupation year after year by placing settlements in what little remains of Palestinian territory.

With regard to the particularly bloody military operation Cast Lead, he refers to the report by Richard Goldstone, who led an investigation of all the crimes committed by Israel during this operation. (PL)

(Translated by Lucy Daghorn) – Photos: Pixabay

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