“When is the next Israeli offensive against our people?” The question haunting the Palestinians of Gaza
Ten days after the umpteenth deadly Israeli offensive, which caused more than thirty Palestinian civilian victims (including women and children), leaving behind a river of blood, where the blood of the innocent flows, and a gloomy landscape of desolation , a question haunts the minds: “When will be the new aggression of Israel against our people?”
This haunting question, which torments the painfully tried Palestinians of Gaza, the academic Ziad Medoukh she also asks herself with anxiety, having a moved thought for her deceased little cousin Layan, 10 years old, innocence personified. This little angel that the Israeli bombs, dropped massively and intensively, tore forever from his family, on May 10th.
We broadcast the text of Ziad Medoukh, poet and writer of French expression and citizen of Gaza
” When will be Israel’s new aggression against our people?“. Translating the anguish that oppresses them, this is the first sentence pronounced by the Palestinians of Gaza, the day after the ceasefire negotiated by Egypt, on May 13th.
This question, a source of great torment, was and still is on everyone’s lips, came up and still comes up in all the discussions, after five days of intensive Israeli bombardments on the martyred Palestinian enclave. A Palestinian enclave on which fell a torrential rain of bombs, from May 9 to 13, 2023, and which found itself even more isolated from the rest of the world.
These deadly bombs made over 35 Palestinian casualties, including six children, three women and two elderly people, and over 190 injured, several of whom were seriously injured. Among them, 65 children, 36 women and 14 elderly people. Sowers of misfortune and death, these devastating bombs again destroyed many houses, buildings, and civil infrastructures, making Gaza an eternal field of ruins.
More than a week after this new Israeli war crime against Palestinian civilians, the heavily bereaved Gaza Strip is wondering about the sanctions and measures taken against this ruthless occupation army, and fears a new bloody attack by His part.
Palestinians in Gaza, including myself, were hoping for a noticeable change in attitude from the international community, which has always turned a blind eye and condoned Israeli war crimes committed against our people for 75 years.
We hoped that it would finally emerge from its culpable passivity and indifference, but apart from some courageous reactions from certain countries which condemned this murderous attack, the rest of the official world did not move, did not raise their voices to be indignant.
This new bloodbath, which unfortunately coincided with the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Nakba (the Catastrophe), not only reminds us of the tragic events caused by the last four major Israeli military offensives against the Gaza Strip in 2009, 2012 , 2014 and 2021. Offensives that left thousands dead and injured. It also reminds us, painfully, of the massacres of Palestinians perpetrated since 1948 in Deir-Yassine, Jerusalem, Hebron and Jenin.
This new tragedy shows once again that this illegal State continues to disregard international law with complete impunity, and that its war crimes are encouraged by the inertia of international bodies.
During those five days of absolute terror in which Gaza endured the unbearable, the Israeli apartheid regime pursued four main objectives :
- military objective by bombardments without distinction of targets ;
- psychological objective by sowing terror ;
- strategic objective by provoking resistance factions;
- economic objective with the reinforcement of the closure of the sea, land and air crossings of Gaza, which has been under blockade for more than sixteen years, in order to deprive civilians of food and medicine.
Fundamental questions remain : occupation, colonization, blockade, and apartheid. So that as long as the Israeli crimes will not be judged and as long as the insolent impunity of this colonial regime lasts, a new genocide will be prepared.
The strong mobilization for Gaza all over the world, during and after the recent Israeli aggression, is highly appreciated by our people. It must be continued, because the situation we are experiencing remains overshadowed by the total absence of prospects.
We observed the timid reactions of the international authorities, during the emergency meeting of the Security Council, which failed to denounce the Israeli crimes in Gaza because of the American veto. And we applauded the decision of the UN Human Rights Council to send an international commission of inquiry to the scene, even though it was immediately refused by the Israeli government.
Yet, hasn’t the time come for the international community to oblige the ultra-Zionist and fascist government of Netanyahu to respect international law? How long will the scandalous impunity of this occupation last? And until when this glaring injustice?
In the meantime, the citizens of Gaza have no choice but to continue to live, or rather to survive, with the extraordinary courage and resilience that characterizes them, all carrying a simple and clear message: Here is our land, we will not leave!
The Palestinians should seize this historic opportunity to unify their efforts, choose a single form of resistance and move forward with reconciliation. They should take advantage of international solidarity, which fortunately is not weakening, to strengthen their position against the Israeli occupation and its allies, by moving on to a broader diplomatic offensive.
More than ever, the fight continues! For the lifting of the Israeli blockade imposed on the people of Gaza. For a free and independent Palestine! We are all convinced that our freedom is approaching, and that justice will eventually triumph over absolute evil.
Ziad Medoukh
