SHANTI MARIA FONSECA
When US President Donald Trump publicly and brazenly announced his plan to take over the Gaza strip, everyone was stunned including the man standing beside him, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump says everyone he has spoken to loves the idea. But whom has he spoken to?
In a recent statement, the Palestinian envoy to UN Riyad Mansour has stated that, “Gaza is not for sale and the land and the resources belong to the Palestinian people. Palestine is not a real-estate deal. It should and will be built. People must be allowed to return to their homes and stay on their land. The Gaza strip is not a free piece of land for anyone to grab. Those days are long since gone. Following this, the Israeli Ambassador to the UN who backed President Trump's plans for the US to take over Gaza firmly stated that the same should be achieved with consent viz the consent of the people moving out and the consent of the countries where they will be received.
Gaza, a paradise at one time, has been reduced to rubble today by America, Israel, the EU not excluding the many mute spectators world over. Turkish President Erdogan of Turkey: has stated that “Israel must compensate for the damage it has caused to Gaza. He slams Donald Trump’s Gaza ethnic cleansing and has rubbished Trump's Gaza proposal of sending the Palestinians into exile away from their land. ‘No one has or will have the power to force the Palestinian people to experience a second ‘NAKBA’. The mass expulsions of Palestinians from their homes during the 1948 war. The word ‘NARBA’ is Arabic for ‘catastrophe’. The Nakbha had a profound impact on the Palestinian people, who lost their homes, their land and their way of life. Today Gaza is known as the largest living memorial monument for the victims of genocide. Let us hope that this genocide will be the last in history.
Look at the Palestinians today? They are bravely walking into Gaza with heads raised high. Americans had written them off as a useless ragtag people full of fear. Their only one desire was to see them die or disappear. They thought that they would wake up one morning and find the Palestinians in the wilderness. But that has not happened. The Palestinians who have faced and lived through unending assault on their lives and livelihoods, dispossession, war and attack for such a long period of time have been tempered as steel - will not buckle down anymore. Negotiations are going on to achieve long term Peace agreement beyond the present cease fire. Seated beside the King of Jordan, Trump repeatedly kept calling the Hamas “The Islamic Resistance Movement” as bullies who are trying to pretend to be a tough group.
International law stipulates the exercise of inalienable Rights. Time to honour and affirm these Rights, to open the doors, re-construct Gaza and end the illegal occupation forever. ‘Trump's’ plan to forcefully push out the Palestinians from the land of their ancestors has back-fired in his face, with the whole world standing behind the Palestinian nation. In one voice, he has been clearly told, “We will fight you Donald”. The children of Gaza are relentlessly screaming on the streets, “Let Trump rant all he wants. Even if Trump strikes Gaza with fire-belts, we are not leaving Gaza. Let them drop a nuclear bomb. We will all go to God together.” Despite the difficult and tragic situations, they continue to live. They refuse to bend and be displaced.
Only few days ago, UN special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese went on to state that, ‘what President Donald Trump proposes to do is “utter nonsense”. His proposal is totally unlawful. People talk of ethnic-cleansing. This is even worse – inciting forced displacement which is an international crime. What he wants to do is unlawful, immoral and irresponsible. It will make the regional crisis even worse! The international community which has 193 states is trying its best to put a final end to this war. This is a population of genocide survivors who need to be helped and rescued. No one has a right to tell them how they should rebuild or develop Gaza. The Palestinians themselves will decide this. Time has now come to say “Enough is Enough”. Let us not be distracted by President Trump or the Zionist: ‘The Palestinian right to self determination and statehood is not negotiable.’
The world is sick and tired of the ongoing war in Gaza. In a recent humiliation for Israel, their Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was expelled from the 10th UN Alliance of Civilization in Summit Portugal. Multiple representatives led by Algeria’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Altaf protested and insisted that the presence of Israel: which is a state led by criminals and being tried for ‘genocide’ would destroy the credibility of the organisation. Her invitation was revoked prompting her to leave in disgrace. It is only a matter of time should the present situation continue, it is bound to escalate to escalate into a World War III.
I do not know where and when this is going to end. But it is going to be at a great cost. I am absolutely certain that Freedom will dawn one day for the Palestinians. The wheels of justice will not stop unless the wheels of injustice are brought to a grinding halt. Gaza is not for sale and the land and the resources belong to the Palestinian people. As the fight against oppression continues, we are reminded that every voice matters in the pursuit of justice. An avalanche, a tsunami is about to hit us. The collapse has begun. No place for anyone to remain neutral in these times of extreme turmoil. We all know what is happening in Gaza and we have the people and power to change it. People’s united power and voice is the only way to change the tide. Let’s dream of a tomorrow where there will be everlasting Peace for the children and families of every Palestinian.
(The writer a social scientist and is a senior practicing criminal lawyer)