As I am driving in a taxi from Gaza City to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, an Israeli air strike explodes four meters from the taxi. Why? Do I need one more reminder before I leave this sad, forgotten and besieged place, that the opressed continue to be subjugated by an out of control occupying power? Let's face it. Israel has erected an ethnically based, inescapable concentration camp and "the world's most ethical army" is again bombing its helpless citizens.
I have since crossed that near-impenetrable border and have thankfully made it safely to Cairo. I am distressed however to read reports from my newly made Gazan friends that indeed the bombing and related carnage have escalated.
The Canadian (and most other Western countries') Government's unethical and uncritical support of Israeli policy is in significant measure responsible for this renewed violence. Standing "shoulder to shoulder" with the Netanyahu administration emboldens that country to act above international law in complete disregard for life. Tacit support of the Harper Government encourages these miserable air strikes and contributes to the escalating cycle of violence. The hyperbole of the one-sided narrative needs to be exposed. "Security, existential threat, terrorists, Middle East's only democracy, measured response" - all these phrases do is intentionally obscure the fact that a massive military arsenal is enforcing a racist, colonial expansionist doctrine that has no place in the 21st century.
This photo courtesy of Mohammed El Majdalawi
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