The latest chapter in the conflict between Israel and Palestine began when Israeli forces abducted two civilians, a doctor and his brother, from Gaza. An incident scarcely reported anywhere, except in the Turkish press. The following day the Palestinians took an Israeli soldier prisoner — and proposed a negotiated exchange against prisoners taken by the Israelis — there are about 10 000 in Israeli jails.
That this ”kidnapping” was considered an outrage, whereas the illegal military occupation of the West Bank and the systematic appropriation of its natural resources — most particularly that of water — by the Israeli Defence (!) Forces is considered a regrettable but realistic fact of life, is typical of the double standards repeatedly employed by the West in face of what has befallen the Palestinians, on the land alloted to them by international agreements, during the past 70 years.
Today outrage follows outrage; makeshift missiles cross sophisticated ones. The latter usually find their target situated where the disinherited and crowded poor live, waiting for what was once called justice. Both categories of missile rip bodies apart horribly — who but field commanders can forget this for a moment?
Each provocation and counter- provocation is contested and preached over. But the subsequent arguments, accusations and vows all serve as a distraction in order to divert world attention from a long-term military, economic and geographic practice whose political aim is nothing less than the liquidation of the Palestinian nation.
This has to be said loud and clear for the practice, only half declared and often covert, is advancing fast these days, and, in our opinion, it must be unceasingly and eternally recognised for what it is and resisted. — Tariq Ali, John Berger, Noam Chomsky, Eduardo Galeano, Naomi Klein, Harold Pinter, Arundhati Roy, Jose Saramago, Giuliana Sgrena, Howard Zinn
‘A violation of humanitarian law’
The people of Lebanon are facing their ”hour of greatest need”, the United Nations said this week in launching an emergency appeal for $150-million to help an estimated 800 000 civilians whose lives have been disrupted by Israeli bombing of Lebanon, writes Brian Whitaker.
The relief plan would focus on providing food, water, health care and other essential services, Jan Egeland, the UN emergency relief coordinator, said. The situation in Lebanon is ”very bad, and deteriorating by the day”, said Egeland. He described the bombing of south Beirut as ”a violation of humanitarian law”.
A UN report accompanying the appeal highlighted the scale of the devastation:
- ”The ongoing [Israeli] military operation has caused enormous damage to residential areas and key civilian infrastructure such as power plants, seaports and fuel depots.”
- ”Hundreds of bridges and virtually all road networks have been systematically destroyed, leaving entire communities in the south inaccessible.”
- ”Skyrocketing prices for basic goods (for example, the price of sugar has risen by 600% and cooking gas by 400%) further deplete the coping mechanisms of the Lebanese.”
- ”The longer the hostilities last, the more dramatic the humanitarian situation will become. Food, water, health, fuel, and other basic needs will increase; so will the number of internally displaced persons.”
- ”Reports indicate that there is a lack of essential goods, with needs particularly acute in villages along the Israeli-Lebanese border, which have been isolated by the conflict. There are reports that food supplies in some villages have been exhausted.”
- ”The widespread destruction of public infrastructure … as well as the targeting of commercial trucks, has seriously hampered relief operations.”
- ”As many as 800 persons live in a school designed for 200 to 300 children. School water systems cannot cope with the extent of needs. Neither can sanitary facilities … a resurgence of diarrhoea cases has been noted in some centres.”
Egeland added that there was one school housing 1 000 people which had only six toilets. He warned that the fuel situation was becoming critical in many areas and power failure would affect water supplies and sewage systems, bringing increased health risks. — Â