Massacre in Gaza
By Chandra Muzaffar

The International Movement for a Just World (JUST) condemns the massacre of Palestinian civilians in Gaza over the past two weeks.

According to a media report at 8 p.m. (Malaysia time), Monday, March 3, 2008, 117 Palestinians had been killed by the Israeli armed forces in seven days. Among the dead are women and children, including a 21-month-old Palestinian girl and a 14-year-old boy.   United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has criticized Israel for using “excessive force” and demanded that it halt its military operation in Gaza. A number of countries have also asked Israel to end its air and ground attacks. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his cabinet have ignored their pleas.   Olmert has told the world that Israel has been forced to employ “its elementary right of self-defense” in the face of rocket attacks from Hamas ‘militants’ in Gaza. What he has not disclosed is that Hamas attacks are in retaliation for Israeli raids, demolitions, and assassinations, which have intensified over the past few weeks. These military incursions are an extension of the harsh blockade that Israel has imposed upon Gaza since early 2006 in the wake of Hamas’s electoral victory in Gaza and the West Bank in January 2006.   The aim is clear. The Israeli regime is determined to emasculate the democratically elected Hamas government and oust it from power. It is hoping that the suffering of the Gazans -- their destitution and despair -- would compel them to rise up against Hamas. This has not happened. On the contrary, the Israeli blockade has brought the people closer to the Hamas leadership and vice versa. Their shared pain and hardship has strengthened their bond.   Since the blockade is the root of the problem, the international community should pressure the Israeli regime to lift the blockade immediately. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas should ask Olmert to end the blockade. In fact, he should make that the precondition for the resumption of talks with the Israeli regime. At the very least, it would help to restore a bit of his credibility with the Palestinian and Arab masses.

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