THE decades of brutal, illegal occupation of Palestinian territories by Israeli occupational forces are designed by the apartheid government of Israel to subjugate the freedom and lives of Christians, Muslins and others of the Palestinian nation without interruption and on a scale not witnessed since the Second World War.
The Israeli government does not accept or abide by international humanitarian laws, consistently ignoring countless UN resolutions, and works outside the parameters set by the righteous nations of the world. It has created the largest concentration camp in the world – the Gaza ghetto, walled in by land, sea and air – for 2.1 million of our fellow human beings, with mine fields, electric fences, automated machine guns posts and the ghetto guards set to kill any of the inmates who approach its boundaries. The equivalent of forcing and imprisoning all the citizens of Northern Ireland into the Ards peninsula and then denying them the basics of life – access to water, food, medicine, fuel and liberty – and collectively bombing the people into the dust because some dared to resist the 75 years of brutal and inhuman conditions of occupation.
The Palestinian resistance who recently stormed the Gaza camp guards had the same rights as the heroic Jewish fighters of the Warsaw ghetto uprising of 1943, as have all oppressed peoples, but what happened after – with clear acts of mindless violence against Israeli civilians by some of the Palestinian fighters – was clearly war crimes and must be rightly condemned.
It is also clear that the merciless Israeli occupational forces, unchecked and encouraged by apartheid collaborators – the US, England and some EU governments – are using Nato weapons to precision target millions of Palestinian civilians with inhuman forced starvation and displacement that can only be described as systematic genocide. All parties who violate international law must be prosecuted and punished, as was the case at the conclusion of the Second World War.
If Israel continues its war crimes, maintains its illegal occupation and denies a two-state solution for the Holy Lands then there should be a “no state” solution and this far-right Israeli regime must be treated as criminals by our global family of free nations and our governments must immediately (or never again be elected to power) close all diplomatic links, cut economic ties and ban travel with this inhuman apartheid state.
Michael Hagan
Dunmurry, Co Antrim
The hug of a US president is never innocent
PRESIDENT Joe Biden travelled to Israel to give Prime Minister Netanyahu one of his famous hugs, which was supposed to match the one he made earlier this year to war-torn Ukraine in terms of symbolism and substance.
This was only the second time an American president visited a war zone not under the control of the US military. Biden is famously known to be a big bear hugger. And as soon as he landed in Israel, he rushed to hug Israel’s bellicose prime minister and President Herzog.
It was a classic hug: a warm, loving hug between fellow Zionists, followed by a casual bonhomie handshake which the gullible media covered with matching emotion. But the hug of an American president is never innocent. When a superpower hugs a fragile ally in shock, whether it is Ukraine or Israel, it means both to shelter it and also shape its behaviour, accordingly. In other words, what looked like a classic Biden hug was also a strategic ‘bear hug’.
Joe Biden showed unequivocal support for Israel as the US dispatched two aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean. He expressed his sympathy with Israeli suffering, and committed to additional assistance of some $14 billion on top of the $4bn-plus in annual military aid.
Joe Biden’s justification of the destruction of Gaza has enraged the Arabs and alienated even their pro-American leaders in the process. As the mortifying destruction of the besieged Gaza Strip by Israel continues with hundreds of Palestinians losing their lives, fears the conflict may spill over and trigger another multi-front war are also growing.
GERRY COUGHLAN
Dublin 24
EU not innocent bystander in events at Stormont
THERE is an understandable focus upon the narrative pursued by the DUP leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, as the media, NIO and Westminster try to read the runes pertaining to the boycott of Stormont by that political party.
The Irish News observes (October 24) that during the recent BBC Question Time programme, the DUP leader ‘agreed that Northern Ireland’s (NI) finances had become unsustainable’. However, while efforts are underway to squeeze Westminster and/or the Dáil for funds, the missing component is the EU.
As NI remains within the single market for goods, and is currently listed as a member state, the EU arguably has a concomitant responsibility to set out for the NI Assembly what type of projects it could or would directly support and fund, and what terms and conditions would pertain.
We were a full member of the EU for some 50 years as part of the UK, but watched enviously as huge amounts of EU funding flowed into the Republic’s economy while NI received barely a trickle of funding in spite of our similar circumstances.
The EU is not an innocent bystander as current events unfold, and it has the wherewithal to communicate directly with MLAs to describe how and why it could remedy that situation. At least set out some broad parameters for discussion. MLAs should be quizzing the European Commission on what support is available.
Dr Bernard Mulholland
Belfast BT9
