Since 8 July, the Israeli military has killed nearly 1,400 Palestinians, a majority of whom have been civilians. It has wounded 8000 people. 3 Israeli civilians have been killed along with 56 Israeli soldiers during this time. At least 15 women and children have been killed when the Israeli state hit a UN-run school and another 19 when it hit a crowded market on 30 July.
Mass killings in the name of protecting one’s ‘own people’ can never be justified nor can the aerial bombardment of such a densely-populated area like Gaza, which is the biggest “prison camp” in the world. The murder of civilians cannot be explained away as military “achievements”.
In this human tragedy, the number of civilian dead and wounded – many of them children – increase several-fold every day in Gaza, leaving the world stunned. On the other hand, the Right-wing anti-Semitic Hamas continues firing towards Israel, forcibly preventing Palestinians attempting to flee their homes to seek shelter and demanding the destruction of Israel.
War and continuation of war now for both of the reactionary sides seems to be the means as well as the objective. They both benefit from this war; ceasefire for them is only to prepare for another round of killing and destruction of the other side.
Humanity’s voice is not represented by either the Israeli government or the anti-Semitic Hamas. In the continuation of the carnage, these two reactionary forces feed off each other and prevent peace and a two-state solution for their own interests and in order to legitimise their rule. The Israeli government continues to prevent the formation of a legitimate and independent Palestinian state whilst Hamas sees the formation of a Palestinian state as its own downfall.
International bodies and Western governments also rely on empty rhetoric to deflect the growing popular and public opinion against this murder of innocent and defenceless civilians in Gaza.
This war is criminal and must end immediately and unconditionally. The voice of humanity must clearly side with neither of the two poles of reaction: the Israeli state and its Western government backers on the one-hand and the reactionary right-wing Islamic Hamas backed by and the Islamic regime of Iran and Hezbollah of Lebanon on the other.
The third camp, the camp of humanity, must defend the people of Gaza against this criminal bombardment of civilians and side with the people of Israel and Palestine who deserve nothing less than peace and this could only be achieved through a two-state solution.
Worker-communist Party of Iran – Organization Abroad
1 August 2014
I was stunned to see your comments on Israel vs. Hamas which made no mention of Hamas atrocities (using Gazans as shields, illegally invading Israel via underground tunnels, arbitrarily killing suspected collaborators, training nine year old boys to use weapons and become martyrs, and of course their imposition of rigid shariah law. Your suggestion that Israel not use everything at its disposal to destroy the sources of the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel defies reason, morality and also international law. If Hamas stores and launches rockets from civilian alleys near
homes and from beneath mosques and hospitals, Hamas is committing war crimes on its own people. Collateral
deaths and destruction during wartime are routine but it is Hamas that is to blame for both initiating the attacks and
using its people as human shields, which they publicly justify. In fact Hamas has probably definitively prevented any
“two state solution” now…which of course it never favored anyway. Hamas, Iran, Qatar, ISIS: these are all responsible for the situation. The Israeli settlements in lands they conquered in 1967 (and which they legally own) should eventually cease, but this small transgression pales in comparison to the brutal atrocities committed by Hamas. You should abandon your leftist ideology and face the facts: Hamas needs to be demilitarized, disarmed and deprived of
all weapons, it should acknowledge the existence of the state of Israel and devote its energies and funds (all received from abroad and subsequently misspent on weapons instead of homes) to fulfilling human needs and welfare. If it
refuses, it deserves everything it gets.
I am stunned that you can make excuses despite all the innocent dead. As I have always said – it is not enough to be anti-Islamist. Try being human.
We cannot help being human and that is a double edged sword because human nature carries such potential for terrible cruelty and marvellous kindness.
Human fallibility leads us to tribalism, polarisation and war, Human compassion and empathy can lead us out of them. Human creativity can touch our hearts with artwork from paintings to blogs and sculptures and land us on our natural satellite, our Moon.
We can reach out and orbit comets and the butterscotch most picturesque of planets and send spacecraft, robot surrogates of ourselves, to Pluto and beyond.
Or you know, we can kill and hate be douchebags to our fellow humans all too easily. We can drop bombs and fire rockets and kidnap and kill and brain wash and fight and argue like no other species we know of.
So .. yeah.
There are many times I wish I had been born a dog or cat or owl. Coz humanity. Yeesh. The things we can do. The things we do do.
Israel Palestine. We,,us bloggers and commenters here, can’t solve it.
Only they can. By choosing wisely.
We have’t seen that in our lifetimes yet.
I wonder if one day we will.
Or if it’ll just keep being deja vu all over again.
To understand the conflict, one must know the history that led to this human catastrophe!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm7dMhE80dw
Believe it or not, it all started with Napoleon!