Palestine the focal point of all injustices

By: Saeb Shaath

12^th Sep 2011

The Collective Punishment unleashed on the Palestinian people under occupation by the combined might of ‘Israel,’ and its master the United States, has failed to crush the extraordinary resistance mounted by the Palestinian people. They refuse to surrender. From the early days of the last century to the continuing daily struggle faced by thousands of Palestinians at this very moment, their resistance has deflected, confused and thwarted the Imperialists’ designs for the whole of the Arab World.

The stubborn resistance of the Palestinians has already forced Uncle Sam and his cronies to play the political game; recognizing the legitimacy of the PLO, taking part in the 1991 Madrid peace conference on the Middle East, the signing of the Oslo accords between the Zionist Entity and the right wing of the PLO, the road Map; the game-playing has continued, right up to the favouring or not of a UN resolution to support recognition of a Palestinian state in few days.

Official ‘Israeli’ and American policy has consistently rejected the equal status of the Palestinian people, let alone their right to a Palestinian independent state with full UN membership. The US has refused to acknowledge the historically persistent and appalling violation of Palestinian rights by the Zionist entity of ‘Israel’. With bewildering conceptual back-flips, and a Herod-like washing of hands, they have denied the Palestinian reality. We shall witness clearly this position in a week time and see how the USA well vetoes the UN resolution to recognize the Palestinian state.

I was asked by the media to comment on a new opinion poll published Monday 12^th of Sep which displayed a majority of people in Germany Britain, and France wanting their leaders to vote in favour of a UN resolution to support recognition of a Palestinian state when its discussed at the UN. I linked the findings of the poll and the opposition of Germany, Italy, Holland, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria to recognize Palestine at the UN. I told my inquisitor, ‘’the significance of this poll lies in its exposure of the undemocratic processes of some of the European governments in dictating and executing the EU Nations’ foreign policies in the Middle East, to serve large business and foreign interest groups which is not representative of what the majority of European citizens want to see taking place in the Middle East’’.

However, we cannot begin to express the unspeakable effects of the illegal US supplied weaponry inflicted, indiscriminately, on the people of Gaza. And, in the aftermath of the criminal war on Gaza the massacre; babies are still being born, on a daily basis, with birth defects caused by the depleted uranium and tactical nukes supplied by US and used by the criminal Zionist war machine.

During its onslaught, Israel systematically destroyed and ruined 58,000 homes, 280 schools, 1,500 factories, water and sewage installations and 80 per cent of agricultural land and crops. The cost to Gaza’s civilian infrastructure was estimated at $ 3.50 to $ 4.00 billion ‘total economic cost’.

The Blockade on Gaza and the criminal wars were designed to achieve:

• The destruction of the Palestinian civil society as an incubator of the Palestinian resistance, and its heart in Gaza.

• The decimation of the Palestinians in Gaza, so allowing the Zionist entity to retain the valuable sections of the West Bank, and to force the Palestinians to accept this.

•The looting of significant deposits of natural gas under the water 10 to 15 nautical miles off the shore of Gaza which British Gas Group (later BG Group) discovered in partnership with Palestinian companies. The deposits are estimated to contain up to 1.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

In spite of the catastrophic costs incurred by the Palestinian people, they stayed resilient, startling the Zionist entity with their strength. The biggest bombshell faced by ‘Israel’ was the power and defiance of the society they sought to break.

The turning point was the attack on the International Aid workers on board the Turkish humanitarian aid flotilla in the early hours of 31st of May 2010. The killing of the  Aid workers and humanitarian activists in the midst of international waters marked a new era in international politics and activism.

Since then we have witnessed across the world direct recognition and expression of the most profound solidarity with the justice of the Palestinian cause, and with the courageous struggle carried by the Palestinian people and its international supporters, who reject the double standards and hypocrisy of the international community in terms of the USA and its puppets.

The politics of direct people action, people power and popular resistance have been galvanised, and are now in full swing in support of Palestinians in their hour of need.

We are taking direct action against anyone who supports the Zionist war and the human rights atrocity of the blockade on our brothers, sisters and comrades in Palestine.

We are all a vital part of this noble cause. It is in the interest of the people is to stop criminal acts against nations and populations, and to live in peace with them – not to use our monies and names to supply Zionist Israel with weapons to destroy the Palestinians, and the leeway to use them. Opening our markets for them to sell their stolen goods makes every one of us directly party to Zionist and the Imperialist crimes.

Dr Saeb Shaath: an author, Middle Eastern affairs expert, chairman of Palestine Aid, and a former diplomat. He is the co-founder of Irish Map (Medical Aid for Palestine).