Palastinians have the right to live with dignity (Opinion)

If you see major news outlets from the US, from New York Times to Washington Post, they call for both sides of Israel and Palestine's Hamas to restrain as if it's a war where both sides are equal in strength. Even Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, asserts that Israel has an "absolute" right to defend itself from militant attacks. He says Israel should "do everything it possibly can to avoid civilian casualties even as it is rightly responding in defence of which people". Really? They are "defending"? Just imagine China occupying US territory and when the US revolts and China in "self-defense" attacks and kills more than 80 innocent American civilians, would you think Mr. Blinken would have given that statement?

It was in fact Israeli forces who started this recent conflict when they stormed Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest site with rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas to evict Palastinians in the last week of the Holy month of Ramzan where 300 palestinians were injured in the raid. In retaliation Hamas, an armed group which controls Gaza launched rockets and the conflict escalates further. By the time of writing this piece Gaza's health ministry says at least 83 people including 17 children have been killed and more than 480 others have been wounded according to Al Jazeera. At least six Israelis have also been killed as claimed by israel.

The US administration has been providing billions of dollars to Israel which the Israeli government has been using to attack and stifle the civilians of the occupied territories, snatching their freedom of speech and basic human rights. We even saw Benjamin Netanyahu's discriminatory vaccination programme denying the Palastinians. Meanwhile, Mr. Netanyahu, who is standing trial on corruption charges and was unable to form a government after four elections in two years, has been trying to appeal to the far right Zionist nationalists saying that more of these attacks are coming.

The previous Trump administration was openly courting the Israeli side as all the previous administrations of the US were. But the present Biden administration has nothing new to offer. Yes it has adopted a lot of progressive policies at home, but in the foreign policy front, it remains the same. As the international community has been overlooking the repression of Israel against the Palastinians, the two state solution now seems impossible. The US has historically been supporting Israel and if this new administration led by Joe Biden really wants to be a champion of human rights as he claims, this is his golden opportunity to make things right.

An elaborate analysis of the recent conflict is coming soon.

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