Regardless of how we got to this dire situation, with two million displaced Palestinians now at risk of starvation, international pressure must surely force the Israelis to halt this genocidal stranglehold on Gaza, allow the aid trucks to roll in and let the UN humanitarian organisation resume its efforts to distribute water, food and medicines to the people of the Strip.
I am of the opinion that what we are witnessing is genocide, and that a large faction of the coalition Israeli government would dearly like to annex the Strip as Israeli territory and force the relocation of the Palestinians elsewhere (to Egypt? to Jordan?) They have even voted in principle to proceed with a formal annexation of the West Bank, territory they have held illegally since 1967. But first and foremost must be aid relief for the starving in Gaza, or the world doesn't have a conscience anymore.
What is equally troubling is that in the wake of the decision by the UK government to declare Palestine Action a proscribed "terrorist" organisation, any member of the public peacefully demonstrating against the actions of the Israeli IDF or the illegal Israeli settlers, and in favour of action towards recognition of a Palestinian state, could face arrest and imprisonment. It's as though 1984 has arrived here forty years late, and it's scary.
I am in favour of an immediate ceasefire. After that can come negotiations to end the war, and I believe it is vital that western nations formally recognise the State of Palestine as part of an eventual 'two nation' solution in the middle east. That to my way of thinking will require the giving up of territory by Israel, at least back to pre-1967 boundaries.
I find it difficult to write a poem to order about something as monstrous as what is happening to the Palestinians in Gaza, but I hope this hits the mark. I must also warn you that because it's a 'concrete' poem approximately in she shape of the Gaza Strip (see above), it may look completely jumbled up unless viewed in landscape mode. Anyway, here goes...
And it should never be forgotten that it was an Israeli terrorist organisation that first commenced a civil war in Palestine after WWII and unilaterally annexed part of the region, expelling nearly a million Palestinians from their homeland, to create the State of Israel in 1948. The UN and western powers failed Palestine's Arab population then, under pressure from the United States. We must not fail again.
I find it difficult to write a poem to order about something as monstrous as what is happening to the Palestinians in Gaza, but I hope this hits the mark. I must also warn you that because it's a 'concrete' poem approximately in she shape of the Gaza Strip (see above), it may look completely jumbled up unless viewed in landscape mode. Anyway, here goes...
Gaza Stripped
From north to south,
neither living nor dead
but breathing corpses,
nil by mouth. Dr Josef
Mengele could hardly
have managed it better
this inhumane suffering
imposed on a population.
Hungry on waking,
walking like sticks
their thin shadows
pointing seawards
where Israeli warships
block aid. Constantly
defiled. Hungry on
sleeping, emaciated ribs
encaging hopeless hearts,
huddled into rubble, their
shadows at dusk lengthening
eastward across what was once
their homeland, before the Nakba.
Israeli soldiers fence them in, block aid,
shoot down men, women, children, babies
desperate for food. The IDF are razing the
Gaza Strip, hoping it will be theirs some
day, this riviera death camp ripe for
redevelopment. Lots are being
reserved already as we view
skin and bone newsreels
nightly, wringing our
complicit hands
again.
Those previous blogs on topic are linked here. I urge you to read them too:
Glittering Prize? (the detailed historical background - part one)
Injustice (the detailed historical background - part two)
Thanks for reading, S ;-)
38 comments:
I know the intention was to shock, but I suspect many Jewish people will be offended by your Mengele analogy. It's not as though the Israelis are experimenting on Palestinians - though they probably do want them out of Gaza as your poem infers.
Well said Steve. Keir Starmer thinks it’s ‘Unspeakable’. Odd that all he’s done so far is ‘speak’ but take no action - except to call for yet another emergency inquiry.
It is a shame what happens when you start a war and it backfires.
Tony, the war started in 1946 when the Haganah (a Jewish guerrilla group) drove 750,000 Palestinian Arabs out of their homeland in order to create the Zionist state of Israel by unilateral declaration of independence in 1948. Educate yourself. The Palestinians had been corralled in Gaza for 20 years by the Israelis, dependent on international aid to survive. No wonder they hit back at their oppressors. I don't condone the Hamas attack, but I can understand it. The latest Israeli genocide is inexcusable on any level and 'self-defence' is a joke. They knowingly let October 7th happen (deliberately ignoring Egyptian Intelligence warning of the attack).
I'd agree with you. Israeli intelligence is second to none. I think they deliberately let their own people be murdered to give them the excuse to do what they are now doing - murdering innocent people and making the whole area uninhabitable so they can take over. They've been illegally settling in it for years - this has just speeded things up. All done with American approval.
Israel keeps on denying there is any starvation in Gaza. So why won't they allow any outside journalists in to confirm this?
Israel that Palestinians do not accept the state of Israel. So why is it never pointed out that Israel also does not accept the state of Palestine? Why has Israel never confirmed its own borders? And why, why is any criticism of Israel met with cries of antisemitism?
I have to disagree with you on this topic. Who would run this Palestinian state? Hamas, who have always devoted themselves to the total destruction of Israel? You want Israel to be "at least" as small as its pre-1967 borders. But Israel lost territory when the Arabs attacked it in 1948. I don't dispute that the Gaza situation is tragic, but the only truly genocidal organisations are hamas and hezbollah (they have stated, many times, that they regard all Jews as their enemies. Oct 7 '23 showed what their intentions are.) I also question the accuracy of some of the claims made against Israel.
It's a very moving poem and I'm sure you're right about the need for formal recognition of the State of Palestine. I'm not convinced that it will happen while Trump and Netanyahu are in office.
A brilliantly executed poem. How ever long did that take you? 👏
Absolutely heart-breaking what is happening in Gaza. What a moving poem.
Well said, Steve. Despite your disclaimer I think you've created a wonderfully powerful poem. And do I detect echoes of The Waste Land in there? The shadows imagery, fear in a handful of dust?
An excellent poem. 🇵🇸
Well said. Recognise Palestine now! As for Israel, as well as annexing large parts of Gaza and the West Bank illegally, they still hold territory they took from Lebanon and Syria after earlier wars. The international community really needs to get a grip on this. That includes the USA which has been protecting Israeli interests for decades now.
Action not more words.
Powerful poem.
So sad. And how to make Israel 'give up' territory it has annexed? It will resist any suggestion of a two-state solution just as it has thwarted peace initiatives in the past.
Children starving in the 21st century is barbaric and there is so much more that I could go on to say, so I will Annex this with a wish for World Peace - for All 🌍
Good poem. 👍
I see your Prime Minister Starmer has promised 'conditional' recognition of Palestine, which sounds like a bit of a cop-out. I don't think there's any way Israel will accept a two-state solution voluntarily. The implications are dire for the Palestinian people. Well done with the poem, pointedly clever.
More 'rubble' than 'concrete'?
Succinct writing and an impressive poem. I read there's a pushback from UK lawyers sympathetic to the Israeli cause that Palestine cannot be legally recognised because it does not have 'verifiable' borders - but surely since most of its territory abuts to Israel, the corollary ought to be that Israel doesn't have 'verifiable' borders either. I'm with you in believing that Israel has to cede stolen territory back to Palestine, and the International Community (the UN) has to do its job properly this time and establish clearly demarcated lands for a two state solution of Israel and Palestine, with sanctions hanging over both sides until they sign a lasting peace.
Well said, la! Brilliant poem. Free Palestine.
Impressively shocking. Glad to see you and Miriam Margoles both referencing the Nazis. Needs to be said louder and by politicians.
Good to read you're taking a principled stand on this. Depressing that our government has taken so long to make its voice heard against what's happening. It's a very powerful poem, and shocking if that's the intended outcome.
Some topics are impossible to comment on.I tried weeks ago and failed
I don't know much about the politics of the Gaza war but surely what the Israelis are doing to civilians in Gaza is a war crime, way beyond any definition of self-defence.
Your Joseph Mengele comparison is utterly abhorrent.
You say you can also "understand" the Oct 7th pogrom against Jewish people. That makes me feel physically sick.
You should be ashamed of of yourself.
Moreover the government has only proscribed Palestine Action - a vicious violent group- not all pro Palestinian protest so that is completely misleading.
What an horrific piece of writing.
Am chai Israel.
Just to pick the previous anonymous commentator on one thing (s)he said: Palestine Action is not a "vicious violent group" to the best of my knowledge. It has targeted specific companies supplying weapons of war to Israel or deemed (in the case of the RAF base) of supporting Israeli war efforts. Its actions don't harm individuals, only property. Some of its actions might be illegal but they are hardly vicious or violent. Now anyone who shows any public support for Palestine Action is liable to get arrested even if they don't belong to the group. This is happening.
For the rest, I thought the blog was remarkably restrained, given the horrific atrocities it is addressing. Well done with the poem, too.
I would really like to think that the majority of Israelis are horrified by what their government is doing now in Gaza. I agree that the path to a lasting peace has to be via a two state solution, but cease the war now and end the humanitarian suffering first.
Wonderfully expressed, Steve. xx
Hauntingly sad - they will never be free of the bloodstains on their souls - surely all support for their goals has faded to dust after their monstrous onslaught on so many innocents - their rabid revenge is beyond any cruelty - their stubborn refusal to ceasefire forever taints them & marks them for who they really are…..lest we ever forget…
I read on the BBC this morning that Israelis are pushing more Palestinians off their land in the West Bank, trying to extend their illegal occupation. It is not only Gaza they are trying to take over.
that stunning map poem
I can see you've got some flak on here from some quarters. Not surprising given the strength of feeling. I just wanted to say thank you for airing the issue as eloquently as you do (not just in this blog but previous ones) and keep saying it. Your poem is both technically clever and very powerful. Readers ought to realise that it is intended to shock.
I am sorry to say it, but Israel has been operating an apartheid state within its own disputable borders for decades, in addition to its encroachments into Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank. It made a big noise about the 1,000 hostages Hamas seized, but it has ten times that many Palestinians locked up in Israeli jails and detention centres, many for years and without trial. Why isn't the world hearing about all of that?
Wringing our complicit hands again. We do. It’s so impotent what can we do that would make a difference?
Dear 'physically sick' anonymous, can you not understand why Hamas acted as it did on October 7 (while not condoning it)? Does the Nakba mean nothing to you? Perhaps if Palestine had been afforded international Statehood at any time in the last 80 years, and the economic support that goes with such recognition, there might be peace now in the Middle East. Instead, many Palestinians have been expelled from their homeland, those who remain in Israel suffer apartheid, and the West Bank and Gaza (in particular) have been under Israeli military jurisdiction for half a century! Disenfranchise, encage and oppress a people and they will eventually strike back. Like I said, I don't condone the actions of Hamas, but I can understand why they happened. And it appears the fact that Israel chose not to prevent the October 7th attack so it would have an excuse to undertake the war it has been engaged in for nearly two years now. How do you think this will end?
It's a huge challenge Rosemary, I agree. The usual things to change consciousness, public opinion and government policy: educate, publicise, campaign, lobby, protest peacefully, donate (to charities), boycott etc.
He won’t let them leave
He won’t let them stay
What are they supposed to do 😢
Post a Comment