International action can stop the carnage in Gaza

Despite agreeing to the latest three-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, there is no guarantee that the parties to the conflict in Gaza will observe the truce.

The war has raged on to frightening proportions, costing hundreds of lives and near total damage to homes and civilian infrastructure.

Meanwhile, all humanity appears to be watching aghast as to how far this conflict would go. Since the start of the fighting on 8 July, incessant bombings have threatened not only to obliterate Gaza, but also targeting Israel and the region for self-destruction.

No one wants to go there. But the din of blame game - accusations and counter accusations – has remained ever louder in the almost one month old conflict. Gaza and environs have been turned into a killing field, continuously reducing the strip to rubble.

Even in the least hope that the current truce might lead to talks on ending years of repeated carnage in Gaza, the international community cannot afford silence on the horrifying Israel-Palestinian war.

Gaza has been under siege from moments it was occupied by Israel during the 1967 Middle East war. When Israel pulled out troops and settlers in 2005, it was only nominal; the borders of Gaza, waters and airspace firmly remained in Israeli hands.

Media figures on human life and infrastructure toll, reflecting sources from the United Nations, Israel and Palestine, have been staggering: 4,760+ air strikes on Gaza; 3,356 rockets fired into Israel; 1,875 people killed in Gaza; (UN estimates +85 per cent of deaths being civilians); three civilians killed in Israel, 64 Israeli soldiers killed, as of 6 August.

Immediate end

No wonder then, people of all persuasions – politicians, diplomats and international activists- demand an immediate and comprehensive end to the ongoing Middle East crisis.

The conflict, pitting Hamas and Israel, has descended to the insane, even threatening use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) without bounds. The strikes have been indiscriminate and disproportionate.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, reacting to bombings targeting populated areas and UN designated refugee locations in Gaza, rightly warned that the situation amounted to “a violation of international humanitarian law, therefore a war crime.” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed similar revulsion.

Unfortunately, attempts for truce including those backed by the UN, remain perfunctory because they lack honesty and fail to address the underlying causes of the conflict. The UN, including the Security Council have for years remained seized of the matter, but only let down by one sided use of the power of veto.

Silence on matters of international peace and justice, notably on the situation in the Middle East, can no longer hold. For Tanzanians, Mwalimu Nyerere taught us this:

“We recognize Israel and wish to be friendly with her as well as with the Arab nations. But we cannot condone aggression on any pretext, nor accept victory in war as a justification for the exploitation of other lands, or government over other peoples.”