ATLANTA, Georgia, Sep 17 (IPS) – Today’s weapons can wipe out entire sections of humanity and destroy what remains of culture. News reports of the unilateral Gaza campaign make clear that this is exactly what is happening. Destroying the past also destroys the future. The world must unite to ensure that these atrocities stop.
Israel’s war crimes against Palestinian civilians in Gaza have now reached a new low, despite ongoing international protests and UNESCO complaints about the destruction of culture. After nearly a year of overkill, Israeli fighter jets continue to bomb hospitals, schools and refugees in shaky tent camps, killing more and more people who had nothing to do with starting the war.
Four months ago, on May 15, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reported to Prime Minister Netanyahu that “HAMAS no longer functions as a military organization.” In recent times, it has become clear to everyone that there are no more military objectives in Gaza.
It can only mean that the incessant bombing of the last four months, which has killed dozens of innocent people every week, was intended to punish Gaza by deliberately killing civilians. Despite the claim that those being bombed are terrorists, there is no evidence to support that claim. It is a disgrace. War crimes continue to pile up.
Just last week, on September 10, 2024, after nearly a year of incredibly devastating bombardments, Israeli fighter jets bombed the ramshackle tents in al-Mawasi camp, previously declared a safe zone by the Israeli military itself, killing dozens of people and creating three 30-foot-deep craters.
A day later, the UN school in Jabalia Camp, which was being used as a shelter, was bombed again, killing at least 18 people, including 6 UN/UNRWA staff, while locals claimed up to 60 lives. After so many months and so many innocent deaths, what could explain this continued barbarity?
Deliberately targeting civilians anywhere is illegal under international law, and especially in the safe zones within United Nations shelters and tent camps. Such overkill is incomprehensible to most of the civilized world, as well as to the nearly one million Israelis who regularly protest their government’s unwillingness to accept a ceasefire.
They have been on the streets for months, begging the Likud-dominated War Cabinet to stop the war and free the dwindling number of Israeli prisoners. Weak warnings from the US White House have had no effect.
It is hard to see how this benefits Israel in any way. Their actions have drawn global contempt for the government in Jerusalem that insists on continuing the war. They have only succeeded in strengthening the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
How can continued bombing achieve any rational purpose other than to incite Israel’s enemies to more hatred and revenge killings that stretch far into the future? A military doctrine of “maximum force” can only mean killing large numbers of noncombatant women and children. These unilateral attacks will soon reach the one-year mark.
The only possible reason to continue Israel’s 11-month killing spree in Gaza—given that Netanyahu recently blocked a ceasefire with Hamas that could have saved the hostages—is to decimate Palestine’s future along with its past, a key goal for the government in Jerusalem. Targeting the youth of Palestine by bombing schools inevitably destroys their future opportunities along with the historical memory of the collective national existence of the Palestinian people. Young people will be unable to find jobs or reclaim their rightful heritage.
This barbaric unilateral brutality in Gaza continues despite the words of President Joe Biden and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris supporting two states. That formulation is now an improbable dream – far away if it ever happens. Most analysts believe it is unachievable at this point, after hundreds of thousands of settlers have been relocated to the West Bank.
Humanity, and that is all of us, is still struggling in an atmosphere of fear and lust for power. Bloody Gaza is at the center of a growing vortex in the current sea of troubles.
James E. JenningsPhD is chairman of Conscience International www.conscienceinternational.org and Executive Director of US Academics for Peace. Jennings has provided humanitarian aid to hospitals in Gaza since 1987, including during the first intifadathe al-Aqsa intifadaand the Israeli “cast lead” bombings of 2009 and 2014.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
