Thursday, January 8th 2009

By basel jarrad

What is happening right now in Gaza is something that no human being should ever have to witness or accept. On December 27, 2008, Israel launched a series of air strikes and bombings on Gaza, killing more than 200 Palestinians within the first few hours.

On January 3, 2008 the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) started their land incursion on the Gaza strip. At the time I am writing this article, the total number of Palestinians killed by these unjust attacks has mounted to over 660, with over 2,800 wounded. On the other side, the Hamas and Palestinian fighters launched homemade short range rockets, causing the death of 10 Israelis and injuring around 30. This means that for every Israeli killed, there have been approximately 70 Palestinians killed by the IOF. It is ridiculous and shameful that no one is forcing Israel to stop their attack. A human being is still a human being, whether they are Palestinian or Israeli. It does not make sense that there is death on both sides, with the Palestinians having a death toll that is 70 times higher than that of the Israelis. This is not a matter of math equations and numbers; we are talking about humans and their lives. Each one of the people who died had a family, a life, stories and things to accomplish. 

Because of the crisis in Gaza, on Saturday, January 3, 2008 more than ten thousand marched in the streets of downtown Toronto opposing the terrorist attacks by the IDF on Gaza. People from everywhere in the province gathered at Yonge & Dundas, and marched first to the Israeli consulate, then to the American consulate, shouting to end the occupation of Palestine and stop the attacks on Gaza. This number of demonstrators should be a sign for the Canadian government to hear the people and take action against Israel. 

The Canadian government should call for a fair immediate cease-fire from both sides, and the lifting of the siege on Gaza to allow the delivery of aid and medicine. Canada should pressure Israel to allow free access for international humanitarian organizations, journalists and diplomats, which has been blocked. I really felt like throwing up when I read the statement made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs about the situation in Gaza, in which the blame was placed upon the Palestinians. 

People are blaming the Palestinians and Hamas for firing home made short-distance rockets into the Israeli cities close by Gaza, but what do you expect them to do in response to the destructive Israeli bombing on Gaza? The recent “cease-fire” between Hamas and Israel, which ended in early November, resulted in a decrease in missile fire into Israel but the situation in Gaza only got worse. During the cease-fire, Israel had a blockade on Gaza and restricted anything from moving in or out of the strip. They restricted the amount of fuel flowing in to less than 15% of the required amount, limiting electricity access to a maximum of 5-7 hours daily. By limiting the amount of fuel flowing into the strip, they paralyzed life in Gaza, as even hospitals could not operate properly without any electricity or fuel for an electricity generator. Even the United Nations (UN) has suffered because of the Israeli occupying regime, as the Israelis restricted their supplies, leaving the UN with no food supplies for many days.

I am laying most of the blame upon Israel for the deaths of the Palestinians and the Israelis too, because their actions led the Palestinians to fire their rockets. 

There is a verse in Bob Dylan’s song “Like a Rolling Stone” which says, “When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.” This can be applied to the situation faced by the Palestinians: faced with terrible conditions as a result of the Israeli occupation, they are firing rockets knowing that they will not damage Israel, but they have nothing more to lose. 

Last month, UN General Assembly President Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann prescribed that the only way for the international community to deal with Israel would be through “boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS),” similar to those enacted against South Africa two decades ago. This is a non-violent campaign to pressure Israel to stop its violations and end its occupation. It is time for the international community to take action and work on solving the conflict, because the Palestinians have been suffering for the last 60 years due to occupation. I am not writing this article to force people to have sympathy for the Palestinians, I am writing it so you can sit down and think about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and take an action to help in ending the Israeli occupation.