News:
The 8th of July marked one year since the terrorist state of ‘Israel’ began its merciless onslaught entitled, ‘Operation: Protective Edge’ against the defenceless, innocent Muslims of Gaza which left over 2,200 dead, including around 550 children and 300 women, and thousands of others injured. The war also destroyed over 18,000 homes, leaving more than 108,000 Gazans homeless. However, one year on since this bloodbath, thousands of Gazan Muslims continue to live in the ruins of their homes, in temporary shelters, or UN camps and endure the continuing trauma of the aftermath of the bombardment. According to aid agencies, not a single home that was destroyed has been rebuilt. This is primarily due to the Jewish entity’s crippling 8 year long blockade on Gaza which continues unabated. This has prevented essential construction materials needed to rebuild new homes or reconstruct the dozens of destroyed hospitals and medical centres and other vital infrastructure, from entering the Strip. Gaza’s apocalyptic scenes therefore remain, with tens of thousands of its citizens struggling to access basic amenities such as clean water and healthcare. 120,000 Palestinians are not connected to the water network due to unrepaired damage and there is limited access to electricity. Pierre Krahenbuhl, head of UN Relief and Works Agency stated, “The despair, destitution, and denial of dignity resulting from last year’s war and the blockade are a fact of life for ordinary people in Gaza.”
Comment:
Last year’s war simply exacerbated Gaza’s already devastating humanitarian catastrophe caused by decades of subjugation under the occupation of the conscienceless Zionist state, which has subjected Gaza’s Muslims to an unbearable, subhuman standard of living. Shadia Alsabagh, who currently lives in the UN Al-Shati Camp near Gaza’s coast, told an Al-Jazeera reporter, “I have only one desire: to cry”. Gaza’s Muslims have been reduced to living as captives in the world’s largest open-air prison, trapped and cut off from the world, due to the inhumane blockade by the Zionist entity and Egypt which has devastated Gaza’s economy and crippled its healthcare sector and infrastructure. According to an Oxfam report published on 3rd July, more than 40% of Gaza’s people are unemployed, including 67% of its youth which is the highest rate in the world, and 80% are in need of aid. The report stated, “Many key industries…..have been decimated as essential materials are not allowed,” into Gaza and that, “most of the water supply is unsafe to drink and there are power cuts of 12 hours a day.” Furthermore, 30% of essential medicines in Gaza are at zero stock; patients are denied permission to travel for life-saving treatment; and surgeons often operate by the light of their mobile phones due to power cuts, according to Tony Laurance, former head of the WHO in Palestine.
Some commentators have focussed on the need for the international community to pressure ‘Israel’ to end this siege as the means to end this human catastrophe. However, this is a misguided agenda – firstly, because Western governments, the UN and even the regimes of the Muslim world have repeatedly displayed a zero level of political will to take any action against the Jewish state regardless of its horrendous scale of violations against human life; and secondly, because it is not simply the siege on Gaza that needs to end but the entire occupation of Palestine whose people are being held hostage by the terrorist Zionist state – for how can the Muslims of Palestine ever enjoy a single day of peace and security while their destiny lies in the hands of a conscienceless state, or while they live under the shadow or even as a neighbour to a regime that only knows the language of murder and criminality? While the occupation over even one inch of Palestine remains, its people will always have the prospect of the next onslaught and bloodbath looming over their heads. Another war will simply be a question of when, not if. The children of Gaza have lived through three wars in the past 6 years. How many more will they be subjected to in their lifetime? A report by Save the Children published on the 6th July stated that ¾ of Palestinian children experience bedwetting and nightmares due to severe emotional distress as a result of the violence they have been subjected to. How many more emotional and physical scars will they have to endure? How much longer will fear be etched into the fabric of their lives?
This month of Ramadan reminds us of the Battle of Hitten which took place under the Khilafah on one of the last 10 days of this blessed month in 1187 C.E., in which the great General Salahuddin Ayubi defeated the Christian Crusaders who had occupied Palestine, and reclaimed Jerusalem for Islam. Prior to the battle, some of his advisors counseled him to delay the fighting till after the month. However, Salahuddin responded, “Man’s life-span is short, death gives no appointment and leaving the occupiers in the Muslim lands for more than a single day, despite the ability of driving them out is an abominable act that I could not bear.” Indeed, it is only through the re-establishment of the Khilafah based on the method of the Prophet ﷺ that generals of the caliber of Salahuddin Ayubi will once again be mobilized to uproot this Zionist cancer from the blessed land of Palestine and establish peace and security in the region for Muslims, Christians, and Jews alike.
Dr. Nazreen Nawaz
Director of the Women’s Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir