The two million people of Gaza, half of them children, have been besieged for nearly two decades. They live in a prison camp, under a crippling economic blockade, and have been periodically massacred by Israeli forces.
We have now seen a massive intensification of Israel’s violence; this is the most devastating attack on Palestinians in recent history. Gaza is bombed incessantly. Water, food, electricity and fuel have been cut off by Israel’s apartheid regime, a regime that calls Palestinians “human animals”. The ground has been laid for genocide. Soon Israel will invade Gaza.
It is the duty of people living in the West – people whose governments, like mine, have given Israel military and diplomatic support for decades, and granted it impunity – to speak up and take action. Western governments have given their approval to Israel’s “right to defend itself” – in practice, these governments have approved Israel’s slaughter of a largely defenceless population.
We must work to end these ongoing atrocities. Stop the bombing! Lift the blockade! End apartheid!
Notes in the Margins of the Days 