Deathly silence on Gaza

by Rannie Amiri

from The Frontier Post

As reported in the December 14 Sunday Times, some families have now resorted to eating grass.

Gaza is an island. Although located in the middle of the Arab world and bordering one of its principal and most populous countries, it could very well be in the middle of the ocean, isolated and unbeknownst to anyone. Its residents, if given the choice, may actually prefer this setting than bear witness to the malignant neglect afforded them by their fellow Arabs as Gaza inexorably withers under the barbaric Israeli siege. If there were any doubts of its dire situation, they were removed by Dr Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinians Territories. On December 9, Falk clearly and forcefully stated that, “An urgent effort should be made at the United Nations to implement the agreed norm of a responsibility to protect a civilian population being collectively punished by policies that amount to a Crime Against Humanity.” Yes, crimes against humanity are being committed in Gaza according to a Jewish-American professor of international law, and nary a peep was heard from Cairo, Amman, Riyadh or Doha. “If the UN says that the tight siege on the Gaza Strip is a war crime, we wonder why Arab leaders do not demand the reopening of the Rafah crossing,” said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum, in reference to the land border crossing shared with Egypt. The UNHRC harshly reprimanded Israel for its policies towards Palestinians generally and its blockade of Gaza specifically, calling for an end to their “cruel, inhuman and degrading” punishments. Falk also insisted the UN International Criminal Court investigate Israel’s behaviour and actions in order to “determine whether the Israeli civilian leaders and military commanders responsible for the Gaza siege should be indicted and prosecuted for violations of international criminal law.” In the face of Dr Falk’s and the UNHRC’s findings and conclusions, the Arab world remained enigmatically silent. Gaza’s 1.5 million citizens have been cut off from the rest of the world since June 2007. That is when Hamas exerted full authority over the tiny strip of land and its borders were subsequently sealed by Israel and Egypt. Since then, the Israelis have imposed ever more severe restrictions on what may enter the territory, now significantly limiting even the most basic of humanitarian supplies including food, fuel, clothing, cooking oil and medicine. As a result, according to Press TV, hundreds of patients have died, 40 per cent of ambulances have stopped running due to lack of fuel, and 75 per cent of Gaza’s children suffer from malnutrition. As reported in the December 14 Sunday Times, some families have now resorted to eating grass. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency just announced it has been forced to suspend food distribution to the 750,000 Gazans who depend on them for assistance. It has run out of flour and with all border crossings closed by Israel, there is no way for its trucks to enter and replenish empty food stockpiles. Attempts have been made to break the siege on Gaza. Who has tried, and who has not, is most telling. The US-based Free Gaza Movement has successfully landed four ships on its shores, bringing humanitarian relief along with academicians, journalists and doctors, and leaving with patients in need of medical attention and students otherwise prohibited from studying abroad. Heroic grassroots movements such as this have raised needed awareness of Gaza’s plight, but the question remains: where are the ships from the Arab countries? In early December, a Libyan cargo vessel carrying 3,000 tons of food, powdered milk and blankets to Gaza was turned away by Israel under the pretext of not having diplomatic relations with Libya. That has been the only attempt made by an Arab or Muslim country to challenge the Israeli blockade. A Qatar-based aid group, simply named Qatar Charity, was set to send a shipment of $2 million in cancer medication shortly after the Libyan endeavour. Under intense pressure from the Israeli government, however, Qatar capitulated and cancelled the trip just hours before departure. Within the last week, Iran’s Red Crescent Society stated its intention to send a relief ship with 1,000 tons of supplies including wheat, sugar, rice, cooking oil, and medical supplies. There have been large rallies in Teheran in support of Palestinians and in protest against Israeli actions. Sporadic and smaller demonstrations have taken place in Beirut and by the banned Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. The entire population of Gaza is paying dearly for their experiment in democracy, which elected Hamas in 2006, and they will continue to do so for some time. The vast majority of human rights activists, advocates and people of conscience are rightly condemning Israel for its cruel blockade. But what they have wholly failed to denounce is the acquiescence of the Arab and Muslim countries to it. When the siege of Gaza ends — and it will end, but only after a terrible price has been exacted — and its citizens in future years and generations are asked why it was allowed to continue on for so long, they will point east, west and south, and say: “We had met the enemy. And they were us.”