“Massacre of innocent people is a serious matter. It is not a thing to be easily forgotten. It is our duty to cherish their memory”
Mahatma Gandhi (2 July 1947)
Today, 15th of May marks the anniversary of Nakbah. Sixty five years have passed since the invasion of Palestine by Zionists. The horrific assault on Palestine displaced the Palestinian population, left them no land but the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, while Zionist annexed their land.
In 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly UNGA approved a resolution to divide the British mandated Palestine to 56% Jewish state, and 44% Arab state. In 1948, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians began, and the notorious state of Israel was formed. From 1948 to 1967 Israel annexed larger parts of Palestine to become part of their state. Through this illegal process Israel occupied 78% of Palestine which caused many Palestinians to leave their land and become refugees. During the 1967 war Israel occupied Gaza Strip and the West Bank. To this date the situation has not changed, meaning that the entire land of Palestine is currently occupied by Israel.
The annexation of Palestine is a systematic genocide aimed to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and replacing their land with a Zionist state. From the beginning of the invasion, countless crimes have been committed against the Palestinian population. With the U.S. support and funding, up until today, Israel is not only acquiring weapons to kill Palestinians but are also enjoying immunity against condemnation for their rigorous actions. Defence Minister Moshe Dayan who was in charge of the occupied territories after 1967 stated: “you Palestinians, as a nation, don’t want us today, but we’ll change your attitude by forcing our presence on you. You will live like dogs, and whoever will leave, will leave,”
Between 1948 and 1967 Gaza became a refugee camp. A million and a half Palestinian currently live in this city while Israel occupies the rest of Palestine. Gaza is one of the most densely populated places in the world. In 1994 Gaza was circled with an electric fence which turned it into a prison. Palestinians are deprived of their basic human rights with Israel preventing human aid from crossing into Gaza, and since Israel also holds water and electricity infrastructure, Palestinians are left there to live in inhuman conditions.
From 2000 and later, Israel’s violence against Palestinians escalated dramatically. In June 2006, Israel launched the operation “Summer Rains”. Since there is no rain in Palestine during summer, these rains were meant to be F-16 bombs aiming to kill Palestinians and level their land. It has been stated that this operation was the most brutal attack since 1967. Just a few months later another operation “Autumn Clouds” was conducted in November 2006. 200 civilians were killed half of them were women and children.
In September 2006, an average of 8 Palestinians died daily. 660 civilians were reported dead during 2006 alone, 141 of whom were children. Since 2006, 4000 Palestinians have been killed. As horrific as these statistics may sound, it is shocking how the world is silent about these crimes.
27 December 2008 marks an unforgettable date in the history of the invasion. On this day Israel launched operation “Cast Lead” committing air and ground assaults and dropping 1000 tons of explosives on the defenceless population of Gaza. During the Gaza massacre Israel used white phosphorus shells against Palestinians civilians. White phosphorus is a deadly substance that burns the human skin to the bones. Unsurprisingly, it was supplied by the U.S. without any doubt this is an act of terrorism and Israel deserves to be punished for violating international laws. But who is listening?
The assault on Gaza aimed at “the destruction of all means of life” as officials warned, and indeed that was precisely what happened. In the first few minutes of the invasion 300 Palestinians were killed. Gaza was severely damaged due to the attack; 100,000 Palestinians were left homeless after the invasion. In addition, Agricultural land was destroyed, creating a major food crisis. An informal Israeli strategic analyst stated “the IDF, which planned to attack buildings and sites, populated by hundreds of people, did not want them in advance to leave, but intended to kill a great many of them, and succeeded.”
The IDF issued a number of statements claiming that the army did its best to avoid killing civilians, that it only targeted Hamas military bases. IDF alleged that it “clearly discriminated between military and civilian targets”. Other statements claimed that the IDF even provided injured civilians with medical aid. All these statements are refutable, as none of them are true. A company commander told his soldiers before the attack “we’re going to war”. “I want aggressiveness. If there’s someone suspicious on the upper floor of a house, we’ll shell it. If we have suspicions about a house we’ll take it down… there will be no hesitation.” “When we suspect that a Palestinian fighter is hiding in a house, we shoot it with a missile and then with two tank shells, and then a bulldozer hits the wall, it causes damage but it prevents the loss of life among soldiers” a senior IDF officer told Haaretz.
Testimonies of the IDF soldiers also refuted these lies. “We didn’t see a single house that remained intact…. Noting much was left in our designated area. It looked awful, like in those World War II films where nothing remained. A totally destroyed city”, “there was a point where D-9s were razing the area, it was amazing. At first you go in and see lots of houses. A week later, after the razing, you see the horizon further away, almost to the sea”; “the amount of destruction there was incredible. You drive around those neighborhoods, and can’t identify a thing. Not one stone left standing over another. You see plenty of fields, hothouses, orchards, everything devastated. Totally ruined. It’s terrible. It’s surreal.”
The massacre ended up not only with civilian casualties, but with horrendous devastation as well. Israel destroyed 58,000 homes, 280 schools and kindergartens, 1,500 factories and workshops, 80% of agricultural crops. The estimated cost of the damage was $660-900 million.
After the Gaza invasion many humanitarian organizations including the UN condemned Israel. However, with the U.S. support, it is nearly impossible to reach a condemnation on this matter. Though quite a number of reports have been issued what we can see after 3 years since the invasion is that nothing has changed. But do not worry; there is still justice in this world. One soldier has been sentenced to prison for stealing a Palestinian’s credit card.
It seems that every assault by Israel has a pretext to justify it. Israel forged a siege on Gaza Strip. Reason? Because Palestinians, during their first free elections, voted “the wrong way”. Palestinians chose Hamas as their government but they made a mistake by choosing someone whom the U.S. and Israel are not in favor of. Israel increased the attack on Gaza because Hamas captured a soldier of them. The irony is that Israel has a long history of kidnapping not just soldiers but also civilians and putting them into jail for years without a trial. Israel captured 8000 Palestinians political prisoners, 60 of whom are women and 390 children.
Another pretext is self-defence, because the primitive rockets launched by Hamas are threatening the safety of Israel. Also because Palestinians are terrorists who wish to put an end to Israel, therefore Israel must attack them before the Palestinians launch any attack.
More than sixty years living in oppression, the Palestinians are given the choice of either leaving or getting killed. Israel does not intend to end its assault on Palestine until Palestine is wiped out completely, while Palestinians refuse to leave their land and submit to the demands of Israel because even if Israel exists as a fact, it does not exist as a right.
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