The Preservation of Humanity

For a consecutive week appeals made by medical professionals and relief workers to open humanitarian corridors in Gaza have fallen on deaf ears in the Knesset. International relief agencies report that medical supplies are running fatally low. To compound the situation Israeli forces are bombing underground tunnels, which Palestinians use as a lifeline to transport food and medical supplies. No one is denying the dual use of the tunnels: Hamas uses them to smuggle weapons. But it is aberrant that thousands of ordinary Palestinians are punished for the actions of a minority. 

Both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have incurred casualties during intense fighting between Hamas and the IDF, but the experiences of the wounded are oceans apart. Palestinians are in a more vulnerable state because they have endured the accumulation of discriminatory practices instituted by Israel. On an emotional and physical level they have experienced inequality and structural violence on a yearly, monthly, daily, and minute by minute basis. They are weaker from malnourishment and are more prone to disease as a direct result of deteriorating living standards under economic sanctions. When this string of injustice is wed to their present situation the chances of survival for the wounded are even bleaker. 

Presently in Gaza hospital staff must cope with diminishing medical supplies. Doctors can no longer rely on smugglers to provide them with medicine because Israeli forces are targeting tunnels. In this heightened state of emergency, medical services are over-burdened with escalating casualties, in the absence of humanitarian organizations, because Israel has tightened border controls. All these factors drastically lower the survival rates of wounded Palestinians (besides the general population) in comparison to Israelis who have unrestricted access to relief and adequate medical services. The central thesis is that the asymmetrical experiences of Palestinians and Israelis are structured and not arbitrary. The blockade of medical relief cannot be taken lightly or neutralized in the language of counter-terrorism. No one is preventing wounded Israelis from receiving medical treatment. How can we continue to tolerate the discrimination against Palestinians? 

The practice of administering relief is directly linked to our concept of humanity or what it is to be human. Different interpretations of humanity exist, but they all recognize that humans are sensory beings who experience pain and suffering. To deliberately deny someone alleviation from pain is to reject their humanity, that is, to automatically constitute them as inanimate or subhuman. We don’t need to consult the annals of history to remind us, that once one group has relegated another group to the status of non-human the potential for genocide is greater. Israel’s obstruction of the flow of aid into Gaza must be understood in this context. 

Israel has emphatically declared it is exercising its right as a sovereign nation to defend its citizens from the threat Hamas poses. The common thread woven into all press releases and interviews delivered by Israeli, British and American officials has been the concept of self-defense. Yet, opening the border so that the Red Cross or Medicines Sans Frontier can intervene does not jeopardize the security of their nation. The ban on humanitarian aid is simply untenable. The international community cannot afford to bury its head in the sand or pretend it does not have control over outcomes. We must act in solidarity to pressure Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza, stop aerial bombing and remove border restrictions now.