ATLANTA, USA, Oct 31 (IPS) – Essentially the most solemn and terrifying phrases ever uttered are these inscribed over the gateway to Hell in Dante’s Inferno: “Abandon all hope, ye who enter right here!” Hope is crucial for human survival each as people and as nations.
Surveying the historical past of the seemingly infinite collection of wars and counter-wars between Israel and its foes in Gaza and Lebanon from 1948 till now—a interval of 76 years—it appears that evidently all hope for peace has been misplaced. Palestinians, Lebanese, the folks of Gaza—and sure, the Israelis too—are all residents of this inferno, the infinite Hell of conflict.
In case you pay shut consideration to the weak, mealy-mouthed utterances of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken—the emissary of the equally weak President Joe Biden—you may perceive that the Center East area and due to this fact the world is quickly approaching the Ninth Circle of Hell.
Each of them utter meaningless phrases that reveal their lack of know-how at greatest, or at worst their vicious, inhumane complicity.
Now, the newest, and presumably most obscene, third act on this trendy Greek tragedy was performed out October 28 in Israel’s Knesset. Practically 100 of the 120 members of that smart and honorable physique voted to chop the lifeline for thousands and thousands of Palestinians who rely upon the UN’s Aid and Works Company (UNRWA) for well being care and schooling.
Apart from irrationally imposing new cruelties—rubbing salt within the wounds of a whole inhabitants of harmless folks—the Knesset’s resolution constitutes cultural genocide, an important issue underlying the supreme worldwide crime of Genocide as outlined by the United Nations.
UNRWA’s registry constitutes the first hyperlink thousands and thousands of 1948 Conflict refugees and their descendants should their misplaced properties. Destroying that hyperlink erases a whole folks from historical past. It obliterates Israel’s “Crime of the Century,” which is the theft of the nation of Palestine.
Is that this the hand of friendship, the “Mild to the Nations” Israel’s founder Ben Gurion promised in 1948? Evaluate the numbers: there are nonetheless 1.2 million registered Palestinian refugees depending on meals help in 68 camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Financial institution, and Gaza. UNRWA providers in Gaza alone embrace 140 well being care facilities and 700 faculties educating 300,000 college students.
Is there hope on this darkened state of affairs? Truly, there may be. Solar Tzu’s long-ago Chinese language traditional, The Artwork of Conflict, information the next sardonic, understated commentary: “There isn’t any instance of a protracted conflict benefitting anyone.”
Which signifies that in some unspecified time in the future folks must come to their senses, or else generations will move away earlier than their descendants, with new points to cope with, will surprise what the fuss was all about.
However that is sooner or later—maybe the distant future. What about now? Is there any hope? Surprisingly, sure, there may be.
In an interview on al-Jazeera tv on October 25, 2024, after greater than a 12 months of essentially the most devastating and genocidal conflict on Palestine’s civilian inhabitants, main Palestinian politician and spokesman Mustafa Barghouti, expressed optimism.
He mentioned that the only constructive improvement throughout the longest and most harmful conflict in opposition to Palestine in its historical past is the persevering with willpower of the Palestinian folks to stay on their land and to withstand efforts to expunge their nationwide id, as is their proper.
In Arabic it’s known as Sumud, “steadfastness,” loosely translated as “Endurance.” Hope survives. The place there’s life, there’s hope.
James E. Jennings is President of Conscience Worldwide, a global help group that has responded to wars in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, and Gaza since 1991.
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