Britain’s support for Zionism has caused 76 years of conflict. It is time this barbarism stops
People protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, London, 27 April 2024
David Hearst writes in Middle East Eye on 15 May 2024:
US President Joe Biden, the US Congress and the British Foreign Secretary David Cameron are living in a parallel world.
In their world, Hamas could have had a ceasefire tomorrow if it handed over the captives. In their world, only continued pressure on Hamas will force them to release the captives and therefore weapons must be supplied to Israel to do that. Israeli forces are still mounting “pin-point operations” to the east of Rafah and hence not crossing the red line set by Biden on the use of US-supplied heavy bombs.
US Senator Lindsey Graham is grotesque, but he could as well be their most eloquent spokesman. ust as the US had “rightly” ended the Second World War by dropping nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Israel should be given the bombs it needs to end this war, Graham said. By dropping one of its 200 nuclear warheads on Gaza?
In the real world, the US walked away from an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire deal that Hamas signed and that CIA Director Bill Burns sponsored; Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has called Biden’s bluff by launching the biggest offensive on all parts of Gaza since the war began and cutting off all but token amounts of aid.
In the real world, Israeli forces are carpet bombing eastern Rafah and central and northern Gaza. Jabalia in the north, Zeitoun in Gaza City, Nuseirat in the centre and Rafah in the south are simultaneously under massive bombardment.
Rafah, the main entry point of aid, has been closed completely, and a fraction of what is needed on a daily basis is let through other crossings.
Since taking control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, Israel has let just six trucks of aid through its crossing at Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) and 157,000 litres of fuel. The very minimum Gaza needs is 500 trucks and 300,000 litres a day.
UNRWA says that nearly 450,000 people have been pushed north, heading to the devastated towns of Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, while tens of thousands in Gaza City are heading south fleeing what the World Food Programme has called a “full-blown famine”.