Living by chance
There is an extreme exigency in Gaza, which is unfortunately out of the sight of the civilised world. The recent daredevil and horrifying Israeli airstrikes on the conclave, and deep inside the city of Rafah, has claimed more than 160 Palestinians. This has taken the death toll in the last three months of carnage to more than 29,000, and the magnitude of destruction is beyond comprehension. This is so because real politick has impacted state-centrism and there is no move, whatsoever, to act against the Jewish state and bring an end to the systematic genocide that is underway in the heartland of the Middle East. Diplomatic interventions to, at least, make the presence felt in finding a way out have come to a naught, and the UN calls for retribution are nothing but a window-dressing in adversity.
In the backdrop of a categorical pronouncement from the International Court of Justice in January that Israel is complicit in genocide, the follow-up from the Appeals Court in The Hague calling upon the Netherlands to stop delivering parts for F-35 fighter jets used by Israel in the Gaza Strip are appreciated. At least, the International Law is clear and has made a profound point on the excesses underway in the occupied territories. The court said that Israel is involved in breaking international humanitarian law, and aptly backed a petition of the human rights organisations that argued the spare-parts contributed to violations of law by Israel in its war with Hamas and Palestinians. This reprimanding coupled with the castigation that has come from US Senator Bernie Sanders must show the way for taking the Zionist state to task.
We have been here. The fact is that there is no remorse or concern for the tragedy that is happening on a daily basis in Gaza. Two million Palestinians are displaced and in the sphere of an instant death. They are living by chance, only if they manage to survive the sorties and ground invasion of a brutal regime. This underscores that mechanisms and protocols to defend humanity are up in thin air.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 13th, 2024.
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