Act now: Implement Saudi Arabia’s 2002 Arab Peace Initiative
Six months ago, Hamas’s actions precipitated an Israeli onslaught of titanic dimensions on the people of Gaza. As Arab countries condemned the actions of Hamas, Israel was already preparing a war that would far outstrip Hamas in terms of death and destruction, killing more than 33,000 Gazans, destroying almost every building standing in Gaza, and forcing its population to flee and starve in the most abject and inhumane conditions. After almost six months, this massacre continues daily, all while the world watches live footage of Israeli atrocities that even the Israelis no longer seek to hide.
Israeli ministers have declared multiple times that their aim is to raze Gaza to the ground, to force its people to flee and never come back, to cut off all food, water and fuel to them. Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared in December: “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.” In the dreams of such Israelis, all Gazans would be removed from Gaza, whether by watching their haggard bodies flee to Egypt or Jordan, or by bombing the life out of them all, even by a nuclear bomb as yet another Israeli minister suggested.
We cannot say today that we were not warned. Israel’s declared policy has been followed since day one, and every day that passes brings further death, destruction and suffering to Gazans, qualifying at the very least as collective punishment and war crimes, but arguably as genocide. While words of concern have been expressed at the murder of the Gazan people, world governments have overwhelmingly assented, both actively and passively, to Israel’s continued assault.
Ordinary people with real consciences have been demonstrating on the streets of the world, of the West, even in the US, reminding our leaders that nowhere else would such indiscriminate death and destruction be tolerated for even a day, let alone for six interminable months.
The uproar we have witnessed in the media and on the part of world governments over the Israeli killing of foreign aid workers — seven heroic aid workers from around the world working for the NGO World Central Kitchen — is even more painful considering the mournful speeches deploring this unpardonable violation of human life, human rights and international law are not regularly heard to mark the daily deaths of innumerable and equally brave and innocent Palestinians.
Even worse, as the US and Europe call on Egypt and Qatar to mediate a deal to free Israeli hostages in exchange for “increased protection” of civilian lives in Gaza, they seem to entirely forget that hundreds of additional Gazan civilians will be killed, starved or maimed in the meantime. Every day Gazans lose their parents, their children, their loved ones in horrendous circumstances. We cannot afford to delay a single minute, let alone a few days, let alone six whole months. In Gaza, the spring flowers of renewed life and love are not blossoming. The deaths of tens of thousands of brave and caring human beings do not even register in the minds and consciences of Western officials. There is no option but to require Israel to immediately halt its crimes against humanity, and, equally, for Hamas to release its hostages.
There should not be the slightest hesitation on the part of any human being regarding the need for an immediate halt to Israeli hostilities. There should not have been the slightest hesitation on halting Israel almost six months ago, when the intentions and ensuing deaths of innocents were no less clear than they are today.
The deaths of tens of thousands of brave and caring human beings do not even register in the minds and consciences of Western officials. There is no option but to require Israel to immediately halt its crimes against humanity.
Hassan bin Youssef Yassin worked closely with Saudi Arabia’s petroleum ministers, Abdullah Tariki and Ahmed Zaki Yamani, from 1959 to 1967. He led the Saudi Information Office in Washington from 1972 to 1981 and served with the Arab League’s observer delegation to the UN from 1981 to 1983.