Genocide or Simply Extermination of Palestinians?

Genocide or simply extermination of the Palestinians in the tiny Gaza Strip? At least one of those descriptions is unquestionably correct about what is going on in the Middle East.

It’s called a strip for a reason: it’s a small 360-square-kilometer sliver of territory sandwiched between Israel, Egypt, and the Mediterranean Sea.

The Gaza Strip, which has a population of about two million people, is one of the world’s most densely populated locations. However, humanity is about to witness the total annihilation of the community there.

Water and food supplies have been cut off, and no power is reaching the hospitals. No one is safe since Israel has ordered everyone to leave, even hospital patients before the ground offensive begins.

The World Health Organization (WHO) appropriately described it as a “death sentence” by Israel.

Ordinary Palestinians who aren’t even members of Hamas will now lose what’s left of their race. The tiny enclave, which has no genuine administration or army, risks losing its people’s dignity.

While many of us are shocked by the unfolding tragedies, we must first comprehend some basic concepts.

The Palestinians currently live in the Iran-backed Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, while the neighboring West Bank is overseen by Israel with some autonomy from the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority.

No rational person could justify Hamas’ kidnapping or murder of Israelis. Violence is wrong, and it is difficult to defend such actions under any circumstances. Young people attending a music event have been kidnapped and used as human shields. However, regular Gazans are now bearing the brunt of Hamas’s onslaught.

It will be an Israeli onslaught that the people of Gaza cannot defeat, and it is sadly disappointing that the US refuses to establish a ceasefire or de-escalation.

Instead, the US has armed its ally with increased firepower for total annihilation. It has just pledged billions of dollars to support Israel. The world was under the impression that US President Joe Biden aimed to negotiate a compromise or to plead with Israel to offer passages out of the combat zone, but his visit now seems to be clear, and it was not to stop the war but to show solidarity to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and not to the ordinary Israeli citizen who is facing the brunt of this conflict.

The world will not accept Hamas was responsible for the death of nearly 500 people at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.

The hospital, which was founded in 1882 and is operated by the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem, is located in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza’s south. Before this, health officials and medical organizations reported Israel forces purposefully bombing ambulances and health facilities in Gaza, in violation of international law, which classifies such acts as war crimes. There are numerous stories documenting these systematic attacks and the targeting and killing of medical staff.

If the world does nothing but condemn, the dispute will not be resolved. Only superpowers can put pressure on and stop Israel. No Muslim nation has the audacity to take on Israel, which has the backing of US and European strongmen.

The Arab world is in a similar situation because several countries have diplomatic links with Israel, but they have wisely decided not to meet Biden during a hurriedly scheduled conference. It sends a strong message to Biden and Israel about the Arab world’s deep discontent, even though some of these countries are not supporters of Hamas.

The Arab Christian Community of Palestine

It is not only a war between Palestinian Muslims, who are further oppressed by Israeli Jews. It’s far more complicated than that.

Palestinian Christians have had their land taken from them, and they are treated the same as their Muslim brothers when they enter Israeli-occupied territory.

There are so many reports, images, and videos in the public domain about the humiliation of Palestinians. Yes, there are Christian Arabs.

Similarly, there are Muslim Arabs who have Israeli citizenship and live in Israel. By the way, Jews are not all Christians, nor are all Israelis or Jews Zionists. There are many secular Jews who do not follow their community’s religious practices.

Bethlehem

Bethlehem is a city in Palestine’s West Bank, about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) south of Jerusalem. It is also revered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus. Every year, Christians make a pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity, which is recognized as the site of Jesus’ birth. The Israeli West Bank barrier restricts movement throughout the city and the Christian community is harassed by the settlers and occupying forces.

In April 2002, the IDF deployed tanks at Manger Square, right opposite the church, and Israeli Army snipers took up positions on nearby buildings, claiming that Palestinian militants had taken refuge in the church. The Israel Defense Forces were told to fire at anyone seen inside the church, using laser beams to find targets. An Israeli sniper shot and killed Church bellringer Samir Ibrahim Salman many times in the chest. Israeli sources reported the clerics had been taken hostage but Franciscan order representatives said they were “voluntary hostages” who wanted to stay to demonstrate solidarity with Palestinians and prevent bloodshed.

Church leaders in Jerusalem condemned attacks on Christians throughout Jerusalem and the Holy Land in 2021. Physical assaults and church vandalism were carried out by “fringe radical groups” with significant Jewish ties.

There are numerous videos on YouTube that show Christian pilgrims being spat at and insulted.

Several security checkpoints operated by Israeli soldiers outside towns such as Bethlehem, Jericho, and Nazareth, all biblical sites under the Palestinian Authority, have rendered ordinary Palestinians’ lives in the modern era inconceivable.

Silent Suffering: The Unseen Struggles of Discrimination, Intimidation, and Harassment Faced by Innocent Palestinians

Palestinians are frequently stopped at random along highways, and the basic act of entering their hometowns can turn into six-hour ordeals, disrupting their everyday lives and impeding their travels.

How would you feel if occupiers treated you and your family like convicted criminals for several decades?

How many Palestinians have been murdered by Israeli soldiers since 7th October? The answer is 5,100 people, nearly half of them children, and over 16,000 injured. This figure is most likely outdated by now.

How could anyone imagine that Israel did not bomb Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital? Not at all, and it’s even more distressing to hear Biden try bravely to defend Israel by claiming the strike was the result of a misfire by the other side. The “other side” could not have killed so many people. The “other side” does not have huge weaponry capable of killing roughly 500 people in a single strike. Sooner or later, the Israeli government will issue statements claiming that their forces mistakenly bombed the hospital, and nobody will be held accountable for a large number of deaths, just like in the case of Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu-Akleh, who was killed in May 2022 while reporting from the ground.

Shireen Abu-Akleh, a Christian Palestinian also holding American citizenship, was killed by an Israeli sniper. The IDF first denied it and placed the blame on militants; later, they retracted their statement and said it was a case of misfire from the Israeli forces.

The world saw horrible pictures of the IDF’s insensitivity when they attacked the funeral procession of Shireen Abu-Akleh. People carrying her coffin were beaten and intimidated. Shireen, an American national, had no support whatsoever from her own country. The US government did not ask Israel to question the soldiers on the ground, let alone ask for the arrest of the culprits.

Unfortunately, the West is unwilling to address the root causes of the problem.

Israeli tanks will pour into Gaza’s streets in the coming weeks if not days. If they believe they have finally won the war, they are greatly mistaken since, despite their massive arsenal of modern weapons and financial backing, little has changed after decades of conflict.

As kids watching old Hollywood westerns and TV shows, we thought cowboys were good guys and Red Indians were savages. Not anymore, because we now know that the cowboys were stealing territory from the native Americans’ by murder and intimidation.

The world has become more informed. We don’t have to rely just on mainstream media houses like CNN, BBC, or Fox News to figure out what’s going on in the Gaza Strip.

For almost 8 decades, Palestinians have been intimidated, provoked, attacked, killed, and trampled over. And yet they are expected to show restraint and abide by the rules laid by the occupying forces.

When will the West recognize that their continued support for Israel without addressing the real concerns of Palestinians just adds to the complexities of the issue, impeding prospects for genuine peace and stability in the region?

I wish and pray that better sense prevails and the bloodbath comes to an end. And all the stakeholders resolved this dispute while sitting across the table.

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