(C) Missouri Independent This story was originally published by Missouri Independent and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Gaza and the failed lessons of the past • Missouri Independent [1] ['Rasha Abousalem', 'Helen Webster', 'Douglas Burns', 'Nicole Strombom', 'More From Author', 'April'] Date: 2024-04-11 As a humanitarian aid worker, having traveled to over 40 refugee camp sites around the world throughout Europe, the Middle East and South Asia, I have seen the worst of human nature: experiencing second-hand trauma through horrific recounts of torture, sexual assault, slaughter, and oppression. Yet even after all of my field experiences, I have yet to see anything so intentionally cruel on such a wide scale as what we are witnessing in Gaza. For the first time in history, a genocide is being live streamed by the very population that is being targeted. Horrific scenes of wide-scale devastation, slaughter and now starvation flood our screens. Israeli military forces, armed predominately by the United States, have killed more than 32,800 in Gaza (as of April 2), including over 13,000 children. More than 8,000 Palestinians are missing and presumed dead under the rubble of bombed buildings. About 75,000 more Palestinians have been injured, with at least 1,000 children having lost one or more limbs. Of the 2.2 million people living in Gaza, more than 70% are now internally displaced, with the majority of the population crammed and cornered into Rafah. More than a million Palestinians will face famine in the coming weeks, as Palestinians have resorted to eating grass and animal-feed in a desperate attempt to ward off starvation. As a barbaric and internationally illegal form of collective punishment, the population in Gaza — besides being bombed — is literally being starved, dehydrated and diseased to death by Israel. By many metrics, Gaza has become the most severe humanitarian crisis in modern history and has turned into a 21st century concentration camp. Since World War II, the international community has developed a legal framework that, at least theoretically, prohibits acts of apartheid, genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. After the horrors of WWII, the world said “never again.” Yet time and again, the same world has stayed largely silent and watched as genocides and other atrocities have taken place in Rwanda, Bosnia, Guatemala and elsewhere. Today, the same leaders and nations that have developed these international laws of moral conduct are the very same ones ignoring them, as they passively stand by and watch Israel blatantly disregard international law after international law on a massive scale. South Africa, on the other hand, demonstrated international leadership last year in bringing Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which agreed in January there is a “plausible” case that Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza. The ICJ ordered Israel to halt its ongoing crimes against Palestinians as their investigation continues, but time-and-time again Israel has carried out its deadly campaign in Gaza by continuing its decades-long flouting of international law. Meanwhile, human rights organizations and aid workers collectively call on world leaders to immediately intervene and put an end to this carnage. Soon after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, the Biden administration bypassed Congress to assist in arming Israel’s war on Palestinians. In an investigation by the Washington Post, it was revealed that the Biden administration quietly approved and delivered more than 100 different weapons transfers to Israel. From October to December, it is estimated that U.S. weapons sales made to Israel amounted to over $573 million. By the end of March, U.S. officials stated that the State Department authorized the transfer of fighter jets and engines worth roughly $2.5 billion to Israel. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Democratic and Republican officials continue to openly support Israel’s “right to defend itself” by numerous resolutions in support of a foreign government that is currently in court on genocide charges. The United States needs to exercise its leverage and press Israel to immediately both halt its war on Gaza and allow in without delay desperately-needed humanitarian aid to Palestinians through its border crossings. It’s long past time for the U.S. to terminate its partnership in Israel’s ongoing campaign of occupation and apartheid against the Palestinian people, and to altogether cut off military aid to the veritable rogue state. As heavy bombardments continue in Gaza, aid workers and even Israeli hostages have not been spared from the fury of the Israeli military. Since October, numerous United Nations, Red Crescent and WCK workers have been killed, along with three Israeli hostages (at least) by the Israeli military. Empty words such as “accident” and “investigation” are used in a callous attempt to evade accountability seem to be all the norm these days. So how have we gotten to the point of acceptance to this level of excessive cruelty? I am the child of Palestinian refugees from the original 1948 Nakba (or “catastrophe” in Arabic). My father, one of the 700,000 Palestinians expelled or forced to flee, was a mere 8-year-old child when his family was violently forced out of their home in Haifa, and my mother’s family was expelled from their ancestral land in Nazareth. Both families were forced to walk their way into Lebanon, where my father spent 21 years in a Palestinian refugee camp. My entire existence as a Palestinian is politicized, vilified, dehumanized and questioned. Simply for stating, “My heritage is Palestinian,” I am no longer seen as American (or “American” enough). I am looked at with suspicious eyes and accused of being hateful and violent, and that the Palestinian existence is “complicated.” For decades, Palestinian history has been erased, appropriated, and taken over by settler-colonialist propaganda. Anti-Palestinian sentiment and rhetoric is so normalized and acceptable, that American politicians can openly call for mass killings and dropping atomic bombs in Gaza (as we heard since October from several public hearings). American society has been all too easily convinced that Palestinians are undeserving of even the most basic human rights. Decades from now, when future generations study this “war,” they will discuss how the world failed to stop yet another genocide. They will read accounts of the horrors that took place in Gaza and think to themselves exactly what so many of us think now about past atrocities – “I would have said something!” Except what you are doing now is exactly what you would have been doing then. In the words of the great Albus Dumbledore: “Dark and difficult times lie ahead. Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.” Indeed, we shall. So how do you want to be remembered, complicit through your silence or brave enough to take a stand? [END] --- [1] Url: https://missouriindependent.com/2024/04/11/gaza-and-the-failed-lessons-of-the-past/ Published and (C) by Missouri Independent Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/missouriindependent/