Boycott on Israel only solution to Gaza hell

The international community and especially Arab nations must wake up from the induced slumber and impose political, military and trade embargoes and boycotts on Israel. Only by isolating Israel will the dream of having all peoples, of all races, ethnicity and faith live side by side in one state come true.   

An international political and trade embargo would send a strong signal to Israelis that their government’s actions are in breach of human rights and the apartheid must end.
The Israeli arms industry is one of the most advanced in the world, with more than 200 arms companies and a government expenditure of over $18 billion in 2013 alone.

An arms embargo would mean that Western and Asian companies and governments no longer profit from the murder of Palestinians and send a strong message that the Israeli government and its collective punishment of Gaza is inhuman and illegal. 

When the only possible solution left for the people of Gaza is an armed resistance against its occupier, it marks the failure of politics and international solidarity.

Had the events unfolding in the Gaza Strip over the past three weeks happened else where, the international community would be up in arms against the perpetrator of a reign of terror on a besieged people which for decades has been divested of its rights and dignity.

This week, the EU and its western partners imposed strict sanctions on Russia after a Malaysian airliner was accidently gunned down over eastern Ukraine. It is not yet clear whether the plane carrying 298 passengers was downed by Ukrainian forces or pro-Russian separatists, but whoever pulled the trigger most certainly had no intent on killing innocent civilians.

When the only possible solution left for the people of Gaza is an armed resistance against its occupier, it marks the failure of politics and international solidarity.

However, while the US and its allies are playing a dangerous game with Putin, the international community, including Arab countries, stand in silence as Israel pummels a stretch of land the size of Malta, home to 1.8 million Palestinians who have been under siege for eight years.

This is a truly sad moment for anyone who believes in humanity and justice. All humans and all nations will carry the shame and guilt for allowing the Zionist apartheid regime to freely extend its reign of terror.

On Wednesday, UN officials described the killing of sleeping children as “a disgrace to the world” and accused Israel of a serious violation of international law after a school in Gaza being used to shelter Palestinian families was shelled by the Israeli forces. UN human rights chief Navi Pillay slammed what she said was Israel's "deliberate defiance" of international law during the Gaza conflict.

A few hours later, Pentagon officials confirmed that the US was supplying the Israeli forces with more grenades and mortar rounds, which in three weeks have killed over 1,300 persons and injured almost 8,000.

This makes a mockery of the west’s feeble attempts to broker a ceasefire and confirms that the US, which gives Israel over $3 billion a year in military aid, is powerless in front of Israel’s appetite for destruction.

Probably by now you would expect to read a condemnation of both Israeli and Palestinian violence in equal measure. However, while any peaceful solution cannot happen without a complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed factions, the perpetual war on Gaza pits a State with one of the most sophisticated and best equipped armies in the world against an occupied people which has been left to its own devices by the rest of the world, including Arab countries such as Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf states.

While terrorist attacks should be condemned, they must never be taken out of their context. If Hamas is dismissed by the international community as a terrorist organisation because it advocates the destruction of Israel, than what should one do with a State which systematically bombs civilians, including children seeking protection in a UN shelter?

The Zionist Israeli apartheid regime uses terror to reach its political goals, making it no better than a resistance movement armed with homemade rockets.

To put things in perspective, in 1922, when Palestine was under British rule, Jews made up just over 10% of the population and these lived in enclaves scattered around the country which belonged to Palestinians who numbered around 700,000. By 1948, the Jewish population had increased to 720,000 out of a population of 1.8 million.

Between 1948 and 1967, 1.3 million Jews settled in and after the Six Day War in 1967 almost half a million Palestinians were displaced while more than a million were already living in exile.

My only hope is that one day future generations are alien to the hate and anger that the Zionist regime is fomenting with the aid of its visible and invisible accomplices

Since then Israel has destroyed thousands of Palestinian homes, the number of displaced Palestinians has multiplied, as has the number of exiles while Israeli colonial settlements mushroomed all over the land which only 60 years ago belonged to Palestinians.

Expecting Palestinians to give up the land were they were born and where their parents and grand parents grew olive trees and made za'atar without a fight is ridiculous. The political process and international solidarity have failed the Palestinians.

Since the “ground-breaking” Oslo talks in 1993, the number of illegal Israeli settlers has doubled, a 440 km wall has been built to keep Palestinians confined in the West Bank and Gaza has been under a sea, land and air blockade for eight years.   

The current bombardment of Gaza only reinforces the spirit of a besieged people and strengthens the hand of Hamas and as Israeli author Etgar Keret wrote last week, if Hamas are annihilated, Israel will have a new enemy on its illegally built doorstep.

Israel must understand that it cannot win this war and Palestinians have a cause which can never be defeated. Peace will never be achieved if both sides seek the destruction of one another.

Rightly so, Israel will never give up on living in Israel and Palestinians will never give up on their dream of living freely in the land they legitimately claim is theirs.  

Hamas should renounce violence and turn their aim on the barriers which force them to live in an open-air prison. The conditions they asked for an immediate ceasefire, including the opening of borders and freedom of movement for Palestinians; the opening of the Rafah crossing in coordination with Egypt and the Palestinian Authority; the release of prisoners and allow Gazan fishermen to sail up to 12 nautical miles from shore are a good start.

However, Israel opposes most of the demands and has shown no willingness to reach a peaceful solution and confirming its determination to destroy Gaza it has called up more reservists to man its land invasion. Peace cannot be reached by annihilating Gaza and by driving Palestinians out of their homeland.

My only hope is that one day future generations are alien to the hate and anger that the Zionist regime is fomenting with the aid of its visible and invisible accomplices. I hope to live to see the day when Palestinians and Israelis live side by side in one single state, eating za'atar and dancing to the tune of Yiddish music together.