“ __The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality_ ”_
-Dante Alighieri
In a deepening and widening interconnected world (globalization), where time and space are intensely challenged, our common humanity of sharing pains of sufferings of innocent people anywhere in the world remains sub-conscious and involuntary; thus, the horrors of the Israel-Palestine conflict should trigger our collective human impulse.
It is undoubted that the controversial creation of the state of Israel in 1948 is culminated in sheer and crippling dehumanization of the Palestinian population, which is also characterized by frequent and violent invasions, occupations, annexation of lands, and killings of innocent people. Israeli’s acts are not only immoral in any human civilization, but also flagrant violations of international laws, precisely the Geneva and Hague Conventions, as well as the entire stream of International Humanitarian Law.
In a renewed escalation; upon claims of deadly incursions on the Israeli towns along the “border”, with the occupied Gaza Strip by the Palestinian armed group, Hamas, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) responded in the most disproportionate scale, causing unforgivable and unforgettable killings on the Gazans. This indiscriminate military campaign does not only continue targeting innocent people but unleashing massive damage on civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals.
Over the weeks, the IDF’s aerial bombardment goes beyond legitimate military targets to gruesomely kill children, women, and the elderly.
Furthermore, the premeditated and systematic move of exposing over two million people to humanitarian catastrophe by the state of Israel in the besieged Gaza is comprehensibly appalling and dire. Israel’s refusal to allow vital supply of humanitarian assistance into the blockaded Gaza, in addition to its cutting of electricity, water, fuel, and food supply to this densely populated settlement is gratuitously abhorrent.
While I condemn killings of innocent people on both sides (Israel and Palestine), I call on the conflicting parties, especially Israel to cease hostilities and allow humanitarian supplies to reach the affected population, and the major (veto) powers at the United Nations to resolve their polarity which has long since made the UN paralyzed and dysfunctional in resolving the Israeli-Palestine conflict. The UN should now, through the Security Council, activate a meaningful stance on this conflict for a better Israel and Palestine.
Meanwhile, all regional and sub-regional organizations should take strategic diplomatic moves towards resolving this conflict. The United States and the United Kingdom should stimulate their collective impulses towards objectively resolving this almost-century-long bitter conflict.
May peace reign on the children of Abraham, Aameen.
Kemo Conteh
University of The Gambia
