I don’t mock those who sit on a beach and wear a T-shirt that says My heart bleeds for Gaza. I don’t mock those who say they are shocked and stunned by what is going on as they write on Facebook and other social media and then ask if we are coming to the party tonight. Life goes on. I don’t even mock those who say, we have to do something as they munch canapes in the drawing room. Because thought collectively they are not going to do anything and most of them would be hard-placed to point out the West Bank or Gaza on the map, at least their fragile little actions add to the global awareness.
What are any of us doing and how are the streaming pictures of gratuitous violence affecting our lives on a day to day basis? Not much really, actually nothing at all. After all, what can we do except display verbal solidarity. One feels good about feeling bad but there is sacrifice or support that is tangible from individuals around the world. It has now been 24 days of one-way assault.
So, what does make me angry is when I wake up on a morning and read that the US senate has approved the sale of ammunition to refill the depleted supplies for the Israeli armed forces. So, the Americans are going to dispatch Cargomaster loads of weaponry so that the war can continue. You are filling the barrels of the guns that are killing the people you are protesting should not be killed. And this okay is given the same day that the Israeli prime minister states for the record that the war will not end any time soon.
Washington has also added that Israel is killing too many civilians and should be careful about its rising toll of collateral damage, (1,500 dead and 8,000 wounded) but the inference is the war can continue and maybe we can just put a quota on the daily deaths of women and children.
Into this cauldron’s evil brew we now have the UN making what can best be described as mewling sounds. Senior UN officials have told the Security Council the situation in the Gaza Strip is extreme, calling for an immediate action to put an end to the humanitarian catastrophe in the besieged enclave. What action is yet to be placed into words.
What were they waiting for all these weeks as the tanks surged forth, crushing everything in their path … some sort of clarion call before realizing the situation is grim.
Valerie Amos, the UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, said on Thursday that 24 days of conflict in Gaza has exacerbated the situation in the Palestinian territory. This is scarcely enlightening what with even those on the beach realizing that something is amiss. The UN has made three observations which don’t add up to anything profound.
One: Some 440,000 people have been displaced and over 240,000 are housed in UN-run facilities while others seek refuge wherever they can, in government buildings or hospital grounds.
Two: The reality of Gaza today is that no place is safe.
Three: Gazans were “facing a precipice.”
They are not facing over a precipice they are tumbling all over it.
With nearly half a million people displaced in what is a displaced region it is astounding that the UN can make these less than meaningful observations. Hospitals, clinics, schools, even UN facilities are being hit and all the august body can say is it is not a good situation.
Talk about a lack of pressure on the Israel government and you have it in one. It is almost a tacit permission.
Even the cease-fire calls are pointless unless the blockade around Gaza is lifted. You cannot close a gaping wound with a band aid.
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