GAZA RELIEF #74 December 14, 2024
Self-determination for Syrians, freedom for Ukraine, but not for Palestinians
YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS
Humanitarian aid to North Gaza mostly blocked for the last 2 months, UN says
It’s a sad commentary that in a world of hurt, and despite global recognition of the horror, our imperfect, microcosmic, vanishingly small little relief effort is among the few means by which assistance is actually reaching families in Gaza.
It’s another example of Bill Clinton’s reported “Who’s the @#$@$\* superpower here?
Death feels imminent for 96% of children in Gaza, study finds | Gaza | The Guardian
You’ll see why in the photos at the end of this update.
War Child shares first study of psychological impact of war on vulnerable children in Gaza - News - War Child
IMPERIAL HUBRIS
Imperial Hubris is the name of one of the best books about the United States’ failed War on Terrorism.
Wikipedia: “In his video of September 7th 2007, bin Laden says that "if you would like to get to know some of the reasons for your losing of your war against us, then read the book of Michael Scheuer in this regard."
We are seeing a similar phenomenon now, as Netanhayu and the Biden administration rush to claim credit for the fall of the Assad regime, claim the emasculation of Iran, and Netanyahu, in particular, claims to be single-handedly remaking the Middle East to Israel’s advantage.
The claims by an unidentified State Department spokesman cited in Heather Cox Richardson’s December 12 update are both reflective of that hubris and horrifically laughable: claims of U.S. support for political and economic self-determination in African countries, the absolute need for freedom and self-determination for Syrians and Ukrainians, political and military support for Israel….
“He told reporters that Assad’s collapse “is a day for Syrians, about Syrians. It’s not about the United States or anyone else. It’s about the people of Syria who now have a chance to build a new country, free of the oppression and corruption of the Assad family and decades of misrule. We owe them support as they do so, and we are prepared to provide it. But the future of Syria, like the fall of Assad today, will be written by Syrians for Syrians.”
But for Gaza, the best that the unidentified spokesman could cite was a possible ceasefire and exchange of hostages. Forget self-determination, independence, a state, or any of the freedoms for which we are supporting Ukraine, Syria, Rohingya, Sudanese, Uyghurs and, depending on the location, Kurds.
AND MORE AMERICAN HUBRIS
UN General Assembly demands permanent ceasefire in Gaza: How did your country vote? | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera
Note: Of course, the General Assembly has no authority to force action by any party. Only the Security Council, where the United States wields its veto shamelessly against Palestinians, can force action.
ANOTHER VALUABLE SOURCE OF REPORTING
The American Friends Service Committee, or Quakers, provide regular updates from Gaza.
SOME CONTEXT TO CONSIDER WHEN VIEWING THE DISTURBING IMAGES BELOW
Five hundred years and more ago, this type of slaughter would have been considered simply the result of application of what were euphemistically termed European “Rules of Continental Siege Warfare,” in which, after the fall of a besieged city, even surrendering civilians — children, women and men — were slaughtered to teach opponents a lesson. You can determine for yourselves how it worked for, say, the centuries of Plantagenet reign by, and continuous, centuries-long warfare over — what is now Great Britain, Ireland and western France. They didn’t call a part of it the Hundred Years War for nothing.
Of course, in the case of Gaza, there is no way for families to surrender and reach safety, since they are locked into the Strip, and the Israeli-designated safe areas are regularly bombed.
The question for readers is how does this type of continuous slaughter by Israel —with munitions and weapons supplied unendingly by United States taxpayers — contribute to United States national security, which is, after all, perhaps the single most fundamental responsibility of our government.
Do we think that this will re-make the Middle East into a series of Jeffersonian (or perhaps Madisonian) democracies, or as Netanyahu seems to think, into a bunch Israel-dominated vassal states? (See Plantagenets, above).
Or that it will prompt the families of all those killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen to put aside their grief?
Or that it will make six million Palestinians content to live under an Occupation designed to aggressively expel them from their homes and property… again?
Or that it is generating increased international respect for the United States that will contribute to American well being and leadership of what we used to call the Free World?
When was the last time that anyone heard a U.S. government official mention Palestinian self-determination, or statehood?
From Haitham: 4 martyrs, including two children, and a number of injuries as a result of targeting a tent sheltering displaced people in the Al-Masha'la area, southwest of Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip
Note: This area is just south of Haitham and Abu Saif.
Haitham: The morgue of shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital is filled with martyrs, including children and women, as a result of the ongoing occupation raids on the central Gaza Strip.
AND IN NUSEIRAT
Haitham: The massacre committed by the Israeli occupation forces in Nusseirat camp last night and killed 30 martyrs.
Palestinian Statistics: A sharp rise in the cost of living index in the Gaza Strip by 490%
##