May 15 is observed as Nakba Day by Palestinians around the world. Nakba means catastrophe and refers to 1948 when Israel declared its independence. The Arab side rejected the flawed United Nations plan to divide the territory of Mandatory Palestine and Israel defied the odds to win that war and claim all of the land bar the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians were ethnically cleansed by force from large swathes of land and were never allowed back. The loss of their homes and their land was the Catastrophe of the moment but that trauma has endured with the erosion of their rights and continued persecution over the decades.
Geopolitically, it can be argued that Israel has never been in a stronger position than it is now. In less than two years it has delivered a devastating blow against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Iranian regime directly. It has also seen neighbouring Syria throw out its pro-Iranian government for a new dispensation, though it does not quite trust the new leadership given its past links to Al-Qaeda.
But even as it can revel in these successes in the region, the country’s uncompromising stance in the current Gaza war is hurtling the Palestinian people there towards a new Nakba the likes of which they have never seen before.
For Gaza is under siege and not in a modern sort of way where civilians are protected. This is a siege from the Dark Ages where everyone is fair game. Man, woman, child, the elderly, the disabled – no one is safe. Not safe from the bombs and not safe from hunger.
It has now been nearly two and a half months and Israel has not let in an iota of aid. No medicine, no food. It claims that Hamas hijacked aid from the last ceasefire (which Israel broke in March) to help it regroup. This has been denied by the UN.
Alas, it has only been in the last few weeks that the international community has begun raising its voice against the haunting possibility of mass starvation in Gaza. Except, that is, for the Americans, who are collaborating with Israel on a crackpot plan to manage the flow of aid using private security firms.
But even the USA appears to be tiring of Israel’s intransigence when it comes to a ceasefire. Israel wants all the remaining hostages released but will not agree to a permanent end to the war unless Hamas is destroyed. But Hamas cannot be destroyed (not completely, anyway) and Israel knows this. So, why make this a condition of peace?
The current Israeli government is probably the most right-wing xenophobic nationalist administration the country has ever had. It is Zionist not just with a capital Z but with all-caps. The deeper, darker desire within the governing coalition is to remove the Palestinians of Gaza en masse and resettle and annex the territory to Israel.
Starvation is being used by Israel to accomplish this. The argument that aid is being hijacked by Hamas is just an excuse. The bombs and missiles destroy schools, hospitals, shelters and homes. With nowhere to live, now the Palestinians are being denied food and medicine as well. Ethnic cleansing, genocide even, is being played out in front of our eyes.
