Dear Editor,
I have not written a letter to the press in a very long time but I cannot let Mr Herbert Allen’s brief reply to former President Donald Ramotar’s letter headlined “Hamas is not a terrorist organization” pass without comment. (SN Letters, October 20, 2024: “A former president and Hamas’ choir boys”)
It appears that Mr Allen’s reply is based on the idea that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on October 7, 2023 with that heinous act by Hamas which should be condemned for sure. He has, out of error or convenience, erased the 76 years of history of the conflict which was triggered in 1948 by the “nakba” when the Israelis chased the Palestinian people off their land and confiscated a huge chunk for themselves. This with the approval and collusion of the British, and the UN of that time.
In today’s rules of warfare there is an underlying principle of proportionality which is governed by international humanitarian law that expressly protects those who are not combatants, such as women and children. For the 1200 Israelis killed and over 200 kidnapped by Hamas on October 7th, the current number of Palestinians killed in Gaza by Israeli forces runs to 42,500, and more than 99,000 have been injured. Of the number of Palestinians killed, 16, 456 were children and over 11,000 were women. This is not proportionality. This is genocide.
The UN, despite its many resolutions to stop the genocide, has proven toothless. At least, Guyana is on the right side of history as it continues to vote in the UN to support the Palestinian people in their continued struggle for their independence from the Israeli colonisers. They also have the full support of the South Africa government with South Africans understandably empathising with the Palestinian cause having engaged in their own armed resistance and struggle against the horrors of apartheid.
While the Palestinians try to engage in armed resistance against a brutal coloniser, that coloniser enjoys the unreserved support of the US government which continues to arm the Israelis with the best and most sophisticated weaponry and which stands shoulder to shoulder with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This as he continues his war which is now extended to Lebanon.
Israel’s end game is to take Gaza for themselves and, perhaps, in time, the West Bank. They have destroyed schools, hospitals, whole neighbourhoods, and intend to murder and starve the people of Gaza in the process. They are doing this with a bare-faced bravado as most of the world, which stands on the side of justice for the Palestinians, looks on helplessly. Perhaps, in Mr Allen’s book, they are choir boys.
Sincerely,
Ryhaan Shah