A genocide is unfolding as world watches

THE Israeli-Palestinian conflict dates back to the mid-20th century. Since October, renewed hostilities have flare up once again and, in recent weeks, Israel has intensified its offensive against Palestine by laying siege on the Gaza Strip. Our Online News Editor TAWANDA MUSARURWA (TM) sat down with Palestine Ambassador to Zimbabwe Dr TAMER ALMASSRI (TA) to get insights into the current situation, as well as a broader understanding of the conflict’s context. Below are excerpts from the interview.

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TM: Can you paint a picture of what it is to be a Palestinian in Gaza at this time?

TA: It’s horror! This is what our people are going through. Israel is committing a growing number of war crimes in the besieged Gaza, systematically targeting civilian residences and killing whole families, forcibly displacing over 1,5 million people, deliberately bombarding hospitals and schools, and intentionally depriving the whole civilian population of water, food, medicines and fuel.

Israel has dropped 26 000 tonnes of bombs on Gaza — twice the explosive force of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima during World War II — damaging more than 220 000 buildings, completely destroying 35 500 buildings, causing major damage to 230 schools and putting 51 schools completely out of service.

Twelve of Gaza’s 35 hospitals have been shut down due to damage or lack of fuel. An estimated 50 000 pregnant women in Gaza are in desperate need of pre-natal and post-natal care. The number of internally displaced people across the Gaza Strip is estimated at 1,5 million. The death toll of the brutal Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has risen to 9 200 — 70 percent are women and children — with over 25 000 others critically injured. This is a genocide happening under the watch of the world. And we should be aware about the definitions that the Israeli and the American propaganda use; it is not a war between Israel and Hamas. Hamas is a part of the Palestinian people. It’s an Israeli war against all Palestinians. Israel is using banned chemical weapons like white phosphorous, which is a war crime.

TM: It appears all attempts for a peace process have failed. What is the next step for Palestine?

TA: What is happening is a result of the disregard for ending apartheid and occupation by Israel, supported by its colonial allies. Palestinians will resist Israeli occupation with all necessary means permitted at international law. There will be no peace in the Middle East and beyond as long the Palestinian people have not achieved their independence, with Jerusalem as their capital. It is a wake-up call for the colonial powers supporting apartheid Israel to revert to international law and legitimate resolutions, otherwise the continued aggression and mass killings against Palestinians will not yield peace and the Palestinians will never raise the white flag.

TM: You have consistently mentioned the word “apartheid”, which is familiar to many here in Southern Africa. What are the similarities?

TA: Israel is an apartheid state. When they came to our area after escaping from the oppression in Europe, we received them as guests. Later on, they made a coalition with the British occupation in Palestine after 1917, and they tried to expand, to build their settlements and bring more immigrants who had escaped from discrimination in the West. And we received them. When the Holocaust happened in Europe, the same colonial power tried to reward the Jews, but from our pocket, by sending them to Palestine. So, the Zionism project is built on an idea that Palestine is ‘free land’ with no people. The mentality of colonialism is built on expanding and stealing the land.

And we have seen this before in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa; the mentality of apartheid — just put the original people in a small area and take all the land. Unfortunately, some colonial powers are trying to protect the last apartheid regime in the world by supporting the Israeli regime. And they even classify the freedom fighters in Palestine today as terrorists, because they did the same in South Africa and in Zimbabwe.

TM: Last week, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution that called for a humanitarian truce in Gaza. From information on the ground that you receive, has the call for a humanitarian truce made any difference?

TA: It is unfortunate that America, which is always on the side of apartheid Israel, has used its veto powers to impede the ceasefire. All the colonial powers are complicit with the genocide against the Palestinians. The humanitarian aid that entered Gaza mainly consists of water and shroud fabric. The amount of water that entered in aid is very little that if we distribute it to the nearly one million displaced Gazans only, each of them will get 50ml only. Palestinians have no safe zone anywhere in Gaza, with Israel having imposed a complete siege on the tiny enclave, with water, food, fuel and electricity unlawfully cut off.

Rafah, the only border crossing that remained partially open to the Gaza Strip, was closed after damage caused by Israeli airstrikes. There is grave danger that what we are witnessing may be a repeat of the 1948 Nakba (expulsion), and the 1967 Naksa (setback), but on a larger scale. The international community must do everything to stop this from happening again.

Apartheid Israel has already carried out mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians under the fog of war, and in the name of self-defence, Israel is seeking to justify what amounts to ethnic cleansing and genocide.

Israel is an occupying power, hence, it cannot claim self-defence against the people it is trying to dominate. Any continued military operations by Israel have gone well beyond the limits of international law.

The international community must stop these egregious violations of international law now, before tragic history is repeated.

Time is of the essence. Palestinians deserve to live in peace, equality of rights, dignity and freedom.

TM: Have you approached the International Criminal Court (ICC) to report war crimes that are being committed by Israel?

TA: The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, said the court has active investigations ongoing in relation to crimes committed by Israel since October 7, in relation to Gaza and the West Bank. Israel has refused to cooperate with the ICC, and America has always been a stumbling block in achieving justice for the war crimes that Israel has committed for close to a century. Impunity for past abuses has clearly contributed to today’s violations, which show no signs of abating. Double standards in victims’ access to accountability are unacceptable.

TM: Support and solidarity have been pouring in from countries in the region and internationally. What does this mean to the people of Palestine?

TA: We profoundly appreciate and value the positions of all states like Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and others that have supported our struggle and the rights of our people, including the right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital. This support for our people is more valuable to the Palestinians than you can imagine, for it makes them feel that someone is listening to their narrative and that of their tragedy and the horrors of the ongoing genocide. Apartheid and the occupation, from which they are suffering from, are not being ignored. And it reinforces their hope, which stems from the belief that justice is possible in this world. In the face of this continuing bloody scene, we, however, implore all countries to review their relations with the occupying state and exert real pressure on it to stop its destructive war on the Gaza Strip, as well as its attacks by settler militias on citizens in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

TM: You have previously described Israel as a “military base for colonialism” in the region. What is Israel and its allies’ endgame?

TA: We affirm that the inalienable rights that Palestinians hold under international law will not be compromised, and that the Palestinian people will never concede on their right to return to the homes forcibly taken from them and their ancestors. Despite the systematic suffering, displacement and oppression aimed at eradicating the Palestinian identity and the right of return according to the UN resolutions, Palestinians will continue to resist by all means, according to international law, and remain steadfast in defending their human rights. Let the colonial governments supporting Israel know that their plans are bound to fail. The only solution to the current situation is to establish the independent state of Palestine and ending the occupation. Palestine has been occupied by over 20 empires, but all fall down, and Israel is not an exception. This brutal occupation shall fail and Palestine will be free in our lifetime.