May 15th marks the 56th anniversary of al-Nakba (the catastrophe), the most disastrous episode in Palestinian history. 56 years ago, the Israeli state was established by systematically destroying 531 Palestinian villages and forcibly uprooting, dispossessing and displacing 737,166 Palestinian refugees.
Today, more than five million Palestinian, scattered all around the world, are still waiting for Israel to abide by UN resolution 194, which guaranteed their right to return to their original homes in historical Palestine (Israel).
Between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s “unilateral disengagement” plan and the U.S. government’s unfulfilled promises to establish peace in the Middle East, over 3,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the outbreak of violence on September 2000. In the last four days alone, 37 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and over 215 injured, the vast majority of which were unarmed civilians.
Israel’s brutal occupation continues unabated as Israeli tanks roll through Palestinian villages, towns, and refugee camps; as Palestinian hospitals, ambulances and medical staff are attacked; as Apache gunships shell homes and assassinate their human targets; as Palestinian land is stolen and Israeli settlements are expanding; and as Israeli prisons swell with Palestinians.
The worst is yet to come, as Israel turns all Palestinian areas into prisons and isolation cells with the construction of the Apartheid Wall, which consists of eight meter high cement blocks constructed on the east of 1967 borders, aiming to annex more Palestinian lands, severely restrict freedom of movement, and deny Palestinians access to hospitals and schools and adequate water resources.
The imposition of such a barrier on Palestinian land is a gross violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, international law and Oslo agreements, presenting yet another form of illegal collective punishment that has been practiced against Palestinian civilians by Israel for so long.
The international community has failed to restrict such atrocious acts and has tacitly allowed Israel to remain above the law in blatant defiance of UN Resolutions 242, 181, 338, and most prominently 194.
The Palestinians rights should not be folded in the pages of history and forgotten, or compromised in agreements forced by an American administration that has become complicit in the Israeli occupation’s lawlessness and violations of international law. Neither Israel nor the U.S. can negotiate on behalf of the Palestinians or compromise and relinquish their inalienable rights.
Ben-Gurion University professor Lev Greenberg wrote, in a recently published article in the Belgian daily 'La Libre Belgique,' “The government of Israel is asymmetrically liquidating and destroying the Palestinian people. Israel has invented bureaucratic jargon to camouflage its criminal acts: murder becomes targeted killing; occupation and repression are called the peace process. The Palestinians have offered endless ceasefires. But Sharon responds by assassinating the democratic leadership of the Palestinian people. The government of Israel is leading the Middle East to Jihad. The world must stop Sharon immediately."
The urgency of his words resonates loudly on the anniversary of this tragic day.
