By Samia Khoury

The sight of the Ukrainian refugees running away from their homes to seek refuge in safe areas was very sad and moving indeed.  Loud voices of condemnation were raised mostly by the Western and European countries, demanding sanctions on Russia.  

As sad as it is, for us Palestinians the sight evoked very sad memories of our own eviction from our homes and our country which ceased to exist in 1948.  Not only because of the eviction, but because of the massacres and the razing of whole villages, which took place at the time, some of which were only made public many years later on by the Israeli new historians.  It was a  historical event known as “the Nakba” (Catastrophe), which turned out to be an ongoing Nakba to this day, as Israel continues to deprive the Palestinians of their right of return according to UN GA  resolution 194  on December 11, 1948, and refuses to withdraw from the rest of the Palestinian territory occupied in 1967 according to UN Security Council resolution 242 on November 22, 1967.  Never has the international community come up with the word “sanctions” regarding Israel, despite its flouting of UN resolutions, and its violations of Palestinian human rights.    

The maximum that we hear from the European community is “concern” for what the Israeli forces are doing in the Palestinian Territories.  And the USA commented on the settlements as not being conducive to peace.  A peace process that was initiated by the Oslo accords proved useless and redundant, only to confirm that Israel was never serious about peace.

Never has the glaring double standards and hypocrisy of the international community been so exposed as it has been during the invasion of Ukraine   Last year when sanctions were imposed on Iran and other countries I wrote one of my rhymes which is just as relevant these days. (Attached) 

Will anybody dare suggest sanctions on Israel?  Of course not.  Israel has been getting away with all the violations of Palestinian human rights under the guise of security. Three renowned organizations monitoring the region, Amnesty International, B’Tselem, and Human Rights Watch came to the conclusion in their reports recently,  that Israel is an apartheid state.   Of course, Israel refuted their reports and labeled them as anti-semitic.  Ironic indeed when one of them is an Israeli organization. 

Does the Israeli government stop to think about why those young Palestinians go on a shooting spree in the Israeli towns?  Nobody loves to die or enjoys being shot to death.  But when life becomes meaningless under a  brutal Israeli occupation, and a glimpse of hope is completely lost, not much option is left for them. It is high time Israel realizes that it will never feel secure while it continues to deprive the Palestinians of their freedom and their basic rights.  Furthermore, it allows the settlers to terrorize the Palestinians in their towns, in their fields, vineyards, and olive groves, as well as in their holy places, all under the protection of the Israeli police force.  When will all this madness and brutality come to an end?  

In this holy season for all the people of the Holy Land, Christians, Muslims, and Jews dare we hope that justice, security, and peace will eventually prevail, and the lives of so many people are spared, and we can truly and joyfully celebrate Easter, Ramadan, and Pesach?