ATLANTA, USA, Oct 31 (IPS) – The most solemn and terrifying words ever uttered are those engraved on the gates of Hell in Dante’s Inferno. “Abandon all hope, you who enter here!” Hope is essential to human survival, both as individuals and as nations.
Looking at the history of endless wars and counteroffensives between Israel and its enemies in Gaza and Lebanon over the 76 years from 1948 to the present, all hope for peace seems lost. Palestinians, Lebanese, Gaza people, and Israelis are all residents of this hell, this hell of endless war.
If you pay close attention to the weak and spiteful remarks of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, the equally weak special envoy of President Joe Biden, you will understand that the Middle East region, and therefore the world, is rapidly approaching Circle 9. Hell of hell.
Both use nonsensical phrases that reveal, at best, a lack of understanding and, at worst, evil and inhuman complicity.
Now the latest and perhaps most salacious third act of this modern Greek tragedy was performed in Israel’s Knesset on October 28. Nearly 100 of the 120 members of this wise and honorable organization have voted to cut the lifeline of millions of Palestinians who depend on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for health care and education.
In addition to unreasonably inflicting new atrocities, pouring salt into the wounds of a whole class of innocent people, the Knesset’s decision constitutes cultural genocide. This is a key element underlying the highest international crime defined by the United Nations as genocide.
UNRWA’s registers constitute the main link with the property lost for millions of refugees from the 1948 war and their descendants. Destroying that link erases an entire person from history. This would wipe out Israel’s ‘crime of the century’ of theft of the Palestinian state.
Is this the Hand of Friendship, the “light for the nations” that Ben Gurion, the founder of Israel, promised in 1948? Take a look at the numbers. There are 1.2 million registered Palestinian refugees still dependent on food assistance in 68 camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In Gaza alone, UNRWA services include 140 health centers and 700 schools educating 300,000 students.
Is there hope in this grim scenario? Indeed it is. Sun Tzu’s Old Chinese Classics, art of warHe writes the following cynical and understated observation: “There is no example of a prolonged war benefiting anyone.”
This means that at some point people have to come to their senses. Otherwise, before a generation passes, your descendants will be dealing with new problems and wondering what all the fuss was about.
But that’s in the future. Maybe in the distant future. What about now? Is there any hope? Surprisingly, yes.
In an interview about aljazeera October 25, 2024 On television, Mustafa Barghouti, a leading Palestinian politician and spokesman, expressed optimism after more than a year of the most destructive and genocidal war against Palestinian civilians.
He said the only positive development during history’s longest and most destructive war with Palestine was the continued determination of the Palestinian people to remain in their land and resist efforts to erase their national identity and rights.
It is called this in Arabic. Sumud“Consistency” is loosely translated as “persistence.” Hope survives. Where there is life, there is hope.
James E. Jennings He is the Chairman of Conscience International, an international relief organization that has responded to wars in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, and Gaza since 1991.
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© Interpress Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Interpress Service
