In one of the European dailies, the following news item by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency recently appeared:
“The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) announced Thursday it stopped distributing emergency food aid to some 600,000 refugees in the Gaza Strip.
“UNRWA said in a statement that the suspension followed restrictions introduced by Israel on the sole commercial crossing into Gaza through which it is able to bring in humanitarian assistance. The agency said it had now completely run out of stocks of rice, flour, cooking oil and other essential products.
“’Under normal circumstances, UNRWA delivers some 250 tons of food aid per day in Gaza alone as part of a wider program of emergency assistance to refugees, initiated shortly after the outbreak of strife in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in September 2000,’ the statement said.
“Almost two out of three households in Gaza live below the poverty line and more than half its work force is unemployed. UNRWA said it urged Israel to loosen its restrictions in Gaza in a joint statement with other UN agencies in March, but thus far without success.”
And to ensure success of the blockage of humanitarian aid to the refugees, the Israeli government has set up special units of the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) to restrict any food or medicine from getting through. To those of you not familiar with the IDF, their rise to fame in recent years has been due to the callous shooting of children and the honing of their sharp-shooting skills with long-range telescopic rifles.
Now what better way to really exterminate a people than to first wall them in, and later to deny them the basic substances of sustenance? This is a scenario being repeated over and over in many parts of the occupied territories.
As the refugees wither and die from starvation and lack of essential medicines, their lands long confiscated and taken over by foreign settlers, the Israeli government can then claim abandonment.
Lest anyone be surprised or morally offended, it is within such dejected spirits that the desire to strap themselves with bombs and blow away their unseen enemy arises. They have nothing to lose, as they have nothing, period.
There are some good and decent Israelis today who are concerned with the immorality of these actions and signs of protests have started at grass-root levels. But so long as Uncle Sam condones the barbarous actions of Mr. Sharon and his gang of bloodthirsty men, very little progress is expected.
As an American reverend recently stated, “Before Israel came along, America had no enemies in the region.” It doesn’t take a nuclear scientist to figure out the rest.
