BDS Malaysia would like to thank Mr Kevin Watkins of Save the Children UK, for elucidating the terrible deprivations now being inflicted on the people of Gaza, especially the children there.
Mr Watkins is absolutely right in that the humanitarian crisis engulfing the Gazan population has not received the highlighting it deserves in the world media. It is but one manifestation of the double standards and hypocrisy of the world’s major media outlets which have helped to prolong the agony and suffering of Palestinians to more than seven decades.
If there is one criticism that can be directed against Mr Watkins’ article, it is that, as is often the wont among observers whose overriding concern is humanitarian, it does not take cognizance of the fact that the conflict is not at all a contest between equals.
In what is going on in Gaza, there is one side, the Israeli one, which holds all the cards, the weapons and the means to put an end to the humanitarian crisis and then there is the other side which no word other than ‘victims’ can describe it and that is the Palestinians in Gaza. This is the inescapable reality on the ground, a reality reflected by various resolutions of international bodies that the Gaza siege is tantamount to collective punishment and a war crime. It is not a reviving of an old tired debate. It is merely a recognition of which party is fully responsible for the slow genocide of Gaza’s children and should bear the full brunt of international pressure to end the blockade of Gaza.
There is no basis in reality to even imply that the Gazans and their local leaders have any more scope of concessions to make to Israel’s security in order for the blockade to be lifted.
That said, we stand shoulder to shoulder with Mr Watkins in that no one in his or her right mind should believe that it is right the children of Gaza be pushed to the brink of starvation by a crisis they played no part in creating and we therefore call on the international community to apply all necessary pressure on Israel to immediately lift its blockade of Gaza.
* This article was first published in Free Malaysia Today.