The outcome of the first hundred days of the savage Israeli assault on Gaza is a trail of devastation: 24,000 dead and counting, a large number being women and children; 85% of Gazans displaced; 50 % of buildings partly or completed damaged; only fifteen of the 36 hospitals functioning and unable to cope with the needs of the wounded and the sick.
There is no doubt that the voices of the millions of street protesters, who were even more numerous than those protesting against the Iraq war, will not stop bloodthirsty Netanyahu and neither will the South African ICJ case against the Israeli genocide. The Israeli Prime Minister is a staunch believer that God has sent Jews to cleanse Palestine of all non-Jews. It is a tragic paradox that the victims of holocaust create holocausts for others. He has, like Macbeth, “steeped so far in blood that returning is tedious as going over.” But the Palestinians, on their part, are not ready to allow him to proclaim triumphantly “Mission accomplished”.
Khan Younis shows the Palestinian resolve. The Palestinians have boobytrapped the second most important town of “their land” and this has proved such a big problem for the invading fascists who are daily losing bulldozers, tanks and military convoys and, of course, lives. 30,000 Israelis with NATO support are at their wits’ end. The Palestinians come out of their tunnels, strike and disappear into thin air. We have been exposed to the West’s and Israel’s narratives. But the Palestinian version proves to be different and is in consonance with the Israeli streets where mothers are demonstrating against the war saying that 3,000 Israeli dead soldiers and 10,000 injured are enough. They shout “bring our boys back” while asking Netanyahu to step down.
On a different note: if the Israelis are winning, why have they stopped at the periphery of Gaza staying there more than one month? They are so consumed by the desire to win that they are fantasizing that they are victorious or that victory is just round the corner; they do not seem to care about their economy which has been severely affected or the battle for public opinion. Israel has lost the sympathy of the non-Western world as well as the streets of the West.
The West that likes to use the Palestinians as their bogey men to win elections is in dire straits too. With the battle-hardened Houthis attacking any ship taking goods to Israel, an escalation of the war seems more likely. The Houthis have dared bomb even US ships… US and UK bombings haven’t weakened the mobile Houthi launch pads. In the meantime, ships have to circumnavigate the Cape of Good Hope to deliver their cargos with prices going through the roof.
When elephants fight, it is the grass that gets trampled upon. In this asymmetrical situation, the grass is getting trampled upon even if it is a fight between Western elephants and Middle East ants.
By Dawood Auleear
