Israel Calls for a "Generous" 3 Hour Humanitarian Cease Fire in Gaza
Three hours for hundreds of thousands of the 1.4 million population, most of whom are UN refugees, crammed in this small strip of coastal land that is approximately 25 miles long and from 4 to 10 miles wide to find and compete for decreasing food supplies.
What a nightmare, as if being caught in a deadly conflict between Hamas and Israel, and the increasing civilian death toll wasn't bad enough.
As McClatchy reports: "It remained unclear whether Palestinians would feel safe enough to venture from their homes to try to find supplies....
"Gaza medical officials say that more than 600 Palestinians, including at least 111 children, have been killed by Israeli strikes.
"The single-deadliest strike so far on civilians came Tuesday when Israeli mortars hit a United Nations school where scores of Palestinians had sought refuge from the fighting. The United Nations is demanding an investigation into the strike that killed as many as 40 people.
" 'These attacks by Israeli military forces which endanger UN facilities acting as places of refuge are totally unacceptable and must not be repeated,' said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
As I wrote last month: "This Israeli attack with a possible military invasion in the immediate future is an escalation from the Israeli blockades this year of Gaza that caused such a grave humanitarian crisis...no medicines, no food, no electricity, etc. and Hamas was not defeated nor weakend then either."
Both Hamas and right wing Israeli government officials, apparently imitating a Bushite-like doomed to failure policy, are to blame for this terrible tragedy.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration bears responsibility for this conflict with its hands off, failed Middle East policies, including its stupid neocon strategy that exacerbated the Israeli-Gaza hostilities.
Here in the US, regular Americans show more wisdom than their elected officials regarding the Gaza conflict. Even in Israel there are pro and con points of view among Israelis regarding Israel's policy towards Hamas (Israel funded Hamas as opposition to the PLO and created its own monster), and Palestinians.
In the US, any criticism of Israeli policy is greeted with false "anti-Semitism" epithets, and US officials, such as the elected representatives on Capitol Hill, sound like knee jerk PR flacks for Israel rather than objective, wise, and knowledgeable observers seeking an equitable, realistic solution to so many decades of Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Comments