Palestinians given food, then bombed at night
The United States gives the Israelis tons of weapons, billions of dollars in aid and block every attempt at the UN Security Council to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza and then turn around to tell the world that they are going to build a temporary pier in the Medi-terranean Sea to deliver aid to the Palestinians trapped in Gaza.
It is a cynical publicity stunt to hoodwink the world that simply makes the tummy churn in disgust.
Scoffing at this absurd idea Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, of the Gift of the -Givers Foundation, said it was tantamount to the US saying to the Pale-stinians: “We will give you a little food in the morning and bomb you at night.”
Indeed, Israel is continuing with the indiscriminate carpet bombing of Gaza, killing mostly children, women and the elderly.
As of March 12, they had killed more than 31 000 Palestinians, of whom more than 13 000 were children. Thousands more were injured.
Footages of the dead and injured being pulled out of rubble are simply harrowing but Western media, such as the BBC and CNN, which are embedded with the Israelis and do their bidding, will not show the world such images.
The same goes for images of hungry children holding out bowls and pots, begging for food.
The children are starved and bombed by the Israelis with the unstinting support of the US and their European allies.
Engaging in their own sick publi-city gimmick, the EU proposes to deliver a little food to Gaza by boat from Cyprus, while there are hundreds of trucks laden with tons of supplies at the Egyptian border that can simply be driven into Gaza to deliver food and other essentials.
But the Israelis are blocking them while, with the support of the Ameri-cans, also continuing the relentless bombing of Gaza.
It is a display of raw racism at work. It is unimaginable that you could have Caucasian women and children cornered in an open-air prison such as the Gaza Strip, starved, bombed, denied medicine, food and water for months. This is done to Palestinians because they are not Caucasian.
We should remember that it was the Caucasians who took Africans into slavery, colonised other races around the globe, exploited their resources and
bodies to build their empires and economies.
They consider themselves the only real humans deserving of dignity, humanity and rights. That’s why they are not horrified by the atroci-ties perpetrated before our eyes by the American bombs tossed through the hands of the Israelis into Gaza.
There is credible talk that the Americans and Israelis are testing the efficacy of new weapons technologies in Gaza and that the awe and destruction are meant to advertise them to the world.
It is said that after the Gaza war, countries around the world, including the Arab world, will be queueing to buy the weapons.
This might explain in part why the Arab countries’ protests against the one-sided war in Gaza are so shamelessly muted and they have not terminated diplomatic relations with Israel. It has been left to ordinary people in those countries to take to the streets in protest at the genocide taking place in Gaza.
The Palestinians in Gaza are observing the holy month of Ramadan under heavy daily bombardment. They cannot engage in the activities and rituals associated with their faith in peace. We have seen ima-ges of them praying in the vicinity of destroyed mosques.
It remains for most of us to maintain our solidarity with and support for these colonised, oppressed and occupied people.
- Mangena is former president of Azapo and an ex-cabinet minister
