Writing in the Guardian two days ago, Nick Clegg highlighted Palestinian suffering in Gaza:
On 27 December last year, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, an overwhelming exercise of military force aimed at silencing the Hamas rockets which had terrorised Israeli towns and villages. The immediate effects of the invasion are well known: 1,400 Palestinians dead, mostly civilians, with many more wounded or displaced; 10 Israeli soldiers and three civilians killed, dozens more injured; and thousands of families in southern Israel forced to flee to other parts of the country. The rocketfire from Gaza into Israel has slowed but has not entirely ceased. Hamas is still in power.
What is less well-known is the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The legacy of Operation Cast Lead is a living nightmare for one and a half million Palestinians squeezed into one of the most overcrowded and wretched stretches of land on the planet. And as Israel and Egypt maintain a near total blockade against Gaza, the misery deepens by the day.
This is not only shocking in humanitarian terms. It is not in Israel’s or Egypt’s interest, either. Confining people in abject poverty in a tiny slice of territory is a recipe for continued bitterness, fury and radicalism.
And what has the British government and the international community done to lift the blockade? Next to nothing. Tough-sounding declarations are issued at regular intervals but little real pressure is applied. It is a scandal that the international community has sat on its hands in the face of this unfolding crisis.
Thanks to readers in our Forum for highlighting the article.
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4 Comments
This article makes me incredibly proud to be a Lib Dem.
Really jim? It makes me embarrassed as a Jewish member/supporter of the party. Shows an inherent lack of understanding once again on this issue.
The constant over reach of Israel with its propensity for `disproportionate’ bombing in self defence was censored by the UN but the attacks on the civilians on Gaza, including bombing of civilian medical humanitarian workers and their families was unrestrained.
There were many protest marches in the street against the unilateral and unprecedented attack on the Gaza population, including churches and liberal Jewish pro-Gazza supporters but the bombardment was relentless.
There is a duty of care by the international humanitarian community to make certain that all is being done to bring about new hope for the Gaza people in 2010 in the name of a `Two State Solution’.
I am not one of Nick’s biggest fans, but this is a good article and hits things right on the nail. Look at the comments after the Guardian article to see the bile of the pro-Israel lobby.
Charlote (sic) the implication that only Jewish people know anything about this subject is one of the problems. Thankfully, in my local party we have a number of Jewish members who are ashamed of what Israel is doing. I think I am fairly typical of someone who a decade or so ago was an almost unquestioning supporter of Israel to now believing that it is a pariah state on a par with apartheid South Africa. The knee jerk supporters of Israel need to ask themselves how it has lost the goodwill of so many in such a short space of time.