Deep-rooted problems in Gaza

The bombs may have stopped falling, but don't mistake that with peace. There can be no peace in gaza until Gazans are free. There can be no peace without justice, and no justice on stolen land.

Every day in Gaza is a war. The media coverage, and big protests they generated might be dissipating, but that only means that Gaza will once again suffer in the dark, literally. While the western world turns their attention to the next big story, Gazans will be forced to pick through the rubble and corpses and salvage what little remains. Israel bombed everything and targeted everyone. Because according to Israeli military spokespeople, everything in Gaza supports terrorism. Israel bombed graduating police officers as they left school, and listed them as ‘enemy combatants'. Unarmed politicians were assassinated and labeled terrorists, not civilians. Anyone who could even remotely be labeled as ‘combatant' was, and still Israel concedes that most of the casualties were civilians. The reality is that everyone in Gaza is a civilian. Hamas is a political party, and a loosely-organized, lightly-armed revolutionary movement, not a national military. Hamas fighters are civilians engaging in some limited forms of self-defence against a brutal occupying superpower. Israel bombed and attacked ‘smugglers tunnels,' which they claim Hamas was using to sneak weapons into Gaza. But these tunnels were also used by ordinary Gazans to bring in food, fuel and building materials. Because of these tunnels many people have survived the crippling blockade that would have meant mass starvation. Because of these tunnels, life-saving medical supplies, made it to hospitals. Sure, some weapons made it into Gaza through these tunnels, but weapons smuggling was not their primary function. Now that Israel has carpet-bombed the most densely populated region of the world, what is left for Gazan's?

Israel crushed the Gazan economy long before this disgusting assault. Israel destroyed most of Gaza's infrastructure before this most recent assault, and has steadily been demolishing homes in Gaza (and the rest of Palestine) for decades. Israel has continued targeting Gazans' drinking water and food supply by demolishing wells and greenhouses. Even though Israel claims it does not occupy Gaza, when the last IDF soldier returns to the other side of the Apartheid wall, Gaza will still be occupied land. Gaza is not free, it is the world's largest open-air prison. Israel controls the coast, the airspace, and all the borders are perpetually sealed off to not only travel, but also to imports and exports.

Even most food and medical aid is not let through. Israel has pushed 1.5 million Palestinians into this tiny enclave, packed them in tighter than many of their other prisons, and built walls around them guarded by snipers and the worlds fourth most powerful military. There is a reason that many world leaders, even the Pope, labels Gaza a ‘concentration camp'. It is what it is, and it is the product of a massive ethnic cleansing based on race. For those of you who stay silent, or worse, claim that you are not taking sides because “both sides are in the wrong”, I challenge you to put yourself in a Palestinians shoes for a minute. Can you imagine having most of your family killed, being pushed from your home, jailed because of your race, and then starved, humiliated, shot at and even bombed by your jailers? Can you imagine not having any rights whatsoever? Can you imagine ‘temporarily' living in a crowded refugee camp for your entire life? Can you imagine not only be living in a warzone, but being trapped there indefinitely by a military which considers you a target even though your a civilian? What would you do if you were in a Palestinians shoes? Would you let yourself be broken? Would you die quietly without resisting? Would you accept peace without justice? Or would you dig illegal tunnels to stop your family from starving? Or would you fire a homemade missile back into Israel after they demolished your home and killed your children?

Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.