They are blocking food. Essential needs. Medicine. They are using food as pressure tactics. A freezing winter is coming. It is going to be tough. Thousands have vanished. Refugee camps are bombed. Universities have been fully destroyed. There were 34 hospitals in Gaza. All destroyed
Dr Abed Elrazeg Abu Jazer, Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy of the State of Palestine in Delhi, is a seasoned India hand. He has done his PhD from Jamia Millia Islamia central university in Delhi in political science. His subject was: ‘India and the question of Palestine — 1980-93’. He has worked as a professional journalist since 1995 and has been a media advisor to the Palestinian Authority. He was posted to India as a senior diplomat in 2014. “I miss journalism,” he says, wistfully. In conversation with Amit Sengupta, Editor, timesheadline.in, and a seasoned journalist, who has been writing on Gaza since last October.
Yesterday, the Security Council passed a resolution seeking ceasefire in Gaza. This is maybe the fourth or fifth time they have done it. As many as 14 countries have supported it, including France and Britain; but, yet again, America has vetoed the resolution: 14-1. They said the resolution does not have a reference to the hostages. However, the final resolution does have a reference to the hostages. What is your opinion on this?
This is not our first experience with the Americans. It has happened so many times in the history of the occupation, and our freedom struggle. You know, they always use the veto against our rights and aspirations. Almost the entire world, including India, has called for a ceasefire, but, no, the US will not allow a ceasefire and always back Israel to the hilt. Through these decisions, they are going against the collective global voice against the genocide currently happening in Gaza, the world’s biggest open air prison. Basically that means that nothing has improved on the ground. America has given a green signal to the Israeli aggression — politically and militarily. They simply don’t seem to care for all the other voices in the world.
Both Joe Biden and and Kamala Harris have said that the people of Gaza are suffering. Harris has used this rhetoric many times. But they have done nothing on the ground. Instead, they have pumped in bombs, weapons and billions into Israel which has been used to kill the people of Gaza.
This is not a political speech. There are figures and media reports. American reports. Statements from the Pentagon and the State Department in Washington. The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and others, they have all published the facts and figures. They published these stories with all of the details about the continuous supply of military equipment to Israel, the big bombs, including bombs which were being used and tested for the first time. On our people. On civilians. There is continuous military support. These are reports coming from America. This is type of the leadership in the rich countries.
Your wife and children were trapped in Rafah at the border with Egypt for a very long time, even while the killings continued relentlessly. All communication systems were dismantled. Thankfully, they are now in India. In recent times, Israel has started evacuating the refugee camps, like the Jabalia camp at the Israeli border, which is the largest refugee camp with more than 100,000 displaced people. They have been bombing shelters, hospitals and schools. Almost 250,000 people were reportedly forced to move from Northern Gaza at gun-point. There is no food. Aid has been stopped by the Israeli military. Many young boys and men have been taken in vehicles to unknown destinations.
This is a one-sided war. A strategic war. It is not war. It is a genocide. It is not between two soldiers, or two armies. Here, there is one strong country with a strong army, backed by the biggest military power in the world, and some Western countries. Gaza has 2.5 million unarmed people. Yes, most of them are refugees; they live in refugee camps. Majority of the people are extremely poor. They get basic food with UN support — wheat or sugar. Now, bombs are targeting them in tents. People are living on the beach, in tattered tents, in the open. In big houses, more than 100 people are taking shelter. One bomb destroys all of them. Civilians. Israel knows about them, uses its technology for serveillance, and then they bomb them. So this is the target and this is their war. You can see videos which are evidence.
Almost 90 per cent of Gaza is fully destroyed. I am from Rafah in the south. It’s in the border with Egypt. Almost 90 per cent of Rafah has been totally destroyed. Included my house. My brothers and father’s house as well — we are neighbours. Their homes too have been destroyed. We have lost everything. My father is 90 — now he is a displaced refugee. Many others are like him now.
Some people have lost everyone in their families. Thousands of children have turned orphans, including seriously wounded children. Consider their trauma.
They are blocking food. Essential needs. They are using food as pressure tactics. Jordon, Emirates, other countries are sending food. But they are blocking it — using food against the people.
It’s extremely difficult for the survivors.
Now, a freezing winter is coming. It is going to be really tough. Thousands of people have vanished. There are other types of suffering. No schools. Universities have been fully destroyed. There were 34 hospitals in Gaza. All destroyed. There was the Abu Yusuf hospital in Rafah, one of the main hospitals. This is the latest hospital they have bombed. Fully destroyed.
Apparently, there are only three hospitals, damaged or otherwise, which are still there. Scores of doctors and nurses (and patients) have been killed. Even doctors have been arrested and taken to unknown destinations. There are epidemics and diseases. How are the people coping with it?
Health care has been severely hit. Minimal primary health care is available. They are not allowing medicine or medical aid from outside. They are not allowing doctors, specialists or volunteers to enter Gaza. Surgeries are urgently required for many patients. But where are the doctors?
Nobody can enter Gaza. It’s totally controlled by them. Even the international media is not coming. Only Israel media is coming with their soldiers. They are the spokespersons of the Israeli government. They publish the Israeli agenda. For example, we have lost 188 journalist since October 7, 2023. Many of them were killed as targeted assassinations. Local civilians are now working as journalists. They too are being targeted. There is no internet or connectivity. Nobody’s coming from outside to report. No big channels like CNN or NBC or the New York Times, Washington Post, etc. They are targeting journalists because they don’t want ground reports to reach to the world. They want to wipe out the truth from the world’s consciousness. Hence, you will not see, for instance, stories about the human beings trapped or buried under the rubble. Or similar stories.
If there is a ceasefire, and journalists can enter, you will see that thousands of buried or forgotten stories will emerge from the ravaged landscape of Gaza. That is also why they don’t want a ceasefire.
Several men and young boys have been picked up recently and taken to unknown places by the Israeli army. And how many Palestinian children and women and others are in prison in Israel?
They have arrested several people from the north and the south of Gaza, and also from the West Bank. They have built new prisons. The prisoners are treated with cruelty. This is their policy. They catch the people for no rhyme or reason, and they take them to the prisons. They punish them. It’s very bad. They torture them. And this has been going on much before this one-sided war started last October.
They treat the 2.5 million people like prisoners in a gated society. They control everything. Nobody can travel without their permission. Nobody can go out of Gaza. There is no education, no employment, no food security. The economic condition is abysmal. They are not only killing the people physically, it’s a daily and endless mental torture. Everyday existence is hell.
What is happening in the West Bank?
In the West Bank, large areas have been forcibly taken over by Israeli settlers. Most of them are armed, patronised by their ,government and have full impunity to do whatever they want with the locals. They have taken over our homes and houses. Lot of people have been killed in West Bank too in recent times.
Plus, there are other types of war. There are assassinations. Raids. Arrests. Special operations. There are military invasions. They enter Ramallah, other towns. There are 80 check points. They have divided the land according to their security and other needs. You can’t go from one point to another without their permission. If you travel, a 30 minutes journey will take more than three hours. They can arrest anyone any time. Stop anyone anytime. You can’t cross the King Hussein border with Jordan without their permission. They refuse to refund our tax, agreed as per the Paris agreement. They make it economically unfeasable to run the administration and cater to civil society needs. With a meagre budget, it becomes extremely difficult for the Palestinian authority in West Bank to operate. People get 60 or 70 per cent of their salaries only. They control the banks. It is like they have actually annexed the West Bank, and now Gaza. This is the original Israeli dream.
Western media reports have stuck to a figure of 43,000 people dead, and around 17,000 children dead. This figure remains unchanged despite the daily killings in Gaza since weeks now. Plus, those who are buried under the rubble. Unofficial sources say the toll could be many times more.
I think the number is much higher than these media reports. I presume the ministry of health also thinks the same. No one knows the number of people buried under the rubble across Gaza.
Among the dead, the number of children and women are many times high.
Indeed, they particularly target women and children, especially mothers. They want to eliminate the children en masse because they are the future of Palestine. They kill mothers and young women because they will bring children to this world. That is why the number of women who have been murdered by Israeli army is very, very high.
They know everything. They use technology to spy on women. They scan everything. Drones can come in at home, anytime. If I am a peaceful and quiet citizen, and sitting quietly at home, they can come and kill me. They know that there is a civilian family, perhaps one hundred of them are living in the four floors of a building. They know. Like a game in a play station, they play this game of death.
They especially choose to kill the mothers because they will give birth to children. Entire families have been wiped out. That is why they kill children in the hospital. Nurses and doctors have been murdered. Even new-born children die because of lack of medical facilities. They need special care. Hence, all medical aid is cut of the little ones. This is the government policy of the Isreali government in Tel Aviv.
A young Abed Elrazeg Abu Jazer (in blue shirt) interviewing Yasser Arafat in 1996
23 November 2024
Source: countercurrents.org