Daily Times

Six months after Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu decided to make an example out of millions besieged in the Gaza Strip, the horrors are far from over.

More than 33,000 have been killed in the monstrous war. Those who survived bullets and missiles are wasting away in their trenches as the world stands mesmerised by their resilience but silenced due to Israeli’s clout. No attack seems big enough for the international community to finally take a principled position.

A small flicker of hope comes from countries like South Africa who wish to be on the right side of history, but their efforts have not yet managed to force the troops out and push the administration towards deliberations. Contrary to what the Jewish ultra-right’s expansionist agenda contends, one-sided war can neither be justified nor won. For the past seventy-five years, we have looked the other way as Palestinians demanded recognition, if not accountability, of how they were wronged.

Stripped of their lands, pushed out of their homes, deprived of their water sources and forced to seek employment at the behest of their colonisers, Palestinians did not lose their drive to send out their message. The same struggle to be seen, be heard, and be noted continues in refugee camps and remnants of Gaza civilisation where Palestinian women and children refuse to back down. As videos of them wiping away tears and hopes for a better, free tomorrow are seen by millions of Muslims in all corners, one can’t help but be consumed by the anguish of their broken hearts.

The war would have to end one way or another. With Turkey becoming the first country to impose trade sanctions, Israel’s military slowly moving out of the southern strip and increasing diplomatic pressure, the end might be here, but is our conscience willing to carry the burden of these tens of thousands of deaths and unimaginable suffering? *