Khaled Almaeena

 

THE carnage in Gaza goes on uninterrupted. A mad man rules Tel Aviv ordering wave after wave of freely supplied American warplanes and rockets to hit at a defenseless population. His ammunition depleted, a willing Congress supplies him with more.



While the Arab masses seethe with anger and frustration there is a deafening silence within the halls of Arab governments. The helplessness of the Arab states has surprised even the enemy.



Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah in his address to the nation on Friday pointed to the fact that the world’s silence over Israeli "war crimes" in the Gaza Strip was "inexcusable".



Tweets asking why no diplomatic offensive, questioning the closure of the opening of the Gaza crossing, prevention of basic life-sustaining materials to the besieged women and children, flood the tweetosphere.



Even Pope Francis wept as he appealed for peace. Marches by Jews, Christians and Hindus were held across the world to highlight the tragedy of Gaza and its children who are being blown apart every minute. This is not about Palestinians. This is about humanity.



Kindergarten schools, hospitals, orphanages and shelters are being deliberately targeted as I write this and the attacks will be intensifying as you go through these lines.



The Arab world caught in its own web of infighting and treachery has yet to speak.



Some states (not Arab of course) have withdrawn their ambassadors from Israel. Argentina has issued a directive that anyone of its citizens joining the Israeli Army will be stripped of his citizenship. Bolivia declared Israel a "terrorist state".



This is not a question about Hamas, which some writers in their narrow-minded view of its ideology blame it for initiating the conflict. Some Arab Quislings too parrot the Zionist lie that Hamas rockets provoked this action.



It is about a whole nation trapped in an open prison, blockaded, humiliated, deprived of their human and God-given right to live as free people.



It is about colonialism, oppression and subjugation by an evil ideology; racist and inhumane in nature.



It is about a powerful and cold-hearted "super power" that is oblivious to the aspiration of a people yearning to live — a power that cringes, grovels and whimpers at the feet of the Israelis whose prime minister openly browbeats its Foreign Secretary John Kerry.



It is about a war between a country equipped freely with the best weapons of human destruction and a hapless people. It is about Cluster bombs, gas bombs and an array of other death seeking missiles against a defenseless people. It is not even a war but a slaughter.



Then, of course, there are the Camerons, Hollandes and Merkels for whom a rebuke of Israel is tantamount to worse than blasphemy.



As the crimes against humanity continue, I would like to recall a brief conversation I had with a Palestinian, whose take on the ongoing carnage is illuminating.



"As a Palestinian all I want to do is live in peace and dignity, but I am being denied both. I am also deeply disappointed with the world's stand, for mouthing platitudes when a river of blood is in spate.



"But far worse than that is I am sick and tired of hearing the oft-repeated phrase that children and women are being used as human shields, by the same people who are condoning the merciless bombing of the Palestinian people."



For the Arabs there is no one. We cannot live on the kindness of strangers forever. Begging and pleading as we have been doing for years. There has to be a struggle for survival. To do that we have to put our own house in order.



You can get help from the United States to attack and invade another Arab country but you cannot get even a minor political or diplomatic understanding at the United Nations.



Right now, as many honest and patriotic Arabs see it, we are all alone. Let us start fending for ourselves!!!

 

– The writer is Editor-at-Large. He can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter: @KhaledAlmaeena