Will Israel Help Gaza's Victims?

Ask any civilian who has lost a loved one, a limb, or a home in war and they're likely to tell you they never received anything for their suffering. I've always found it shocking that international law doesn't generally require warring parties to help the people they've harmed.

Take for example the family of 60-year old Fayiz Ad-Daya. He was killed along with twenty of his relatives on January 6, 2009, when an Israeli warplane roared over Gaza attempting to bomb a house nearby that allegedly contained a weapons cache. Fayiz's family was killed instead, with victims ranging in age from four (granddaughter Kawkab) to sixty (Fayiz himself). An Israeli military official admitted it made a mistake in hitting the wrong house and said this "is bound to happen during intensive fighting."

The Al-Daya family thus joins a long list of millions of civilians destroyed in war. Like so many before them, the surviving members will likely never receive a formal apology or compensation for their losses.

When a similar mistake was made by the US military in Afghanistan back in 2001, they didn't pay any compensation either to a woman widowed by a missile intended for three miles east. Eight graves are lined up near her home, representing her husband and children. I've heard so many stories like this. And then a few years later, the US learned it had to do things differently: a compensation system now exists for "mistakes" and unintended casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. The system doesn't work perfectly, but making amends to these civilians is the decent thing to do. It is befitting a nation like the US that prides itself on abiding by international laws that obligate respect for civilians (as Israel has claimed it does too).

Plenty of people have a bone to pick with Israel over this winter's war with Hamas. And by bone I mean serious allegations linking Israeli Defense Forces to war crimes and violations of international laws governing armed conflict. All of the details have to be sorted out -- the investigations, witness accounts, military records, photos and media reports. In the meantime, the UN estimates that three-quarters of the population still needs some form of aid. They're talking about the basic stuff like food, water, shelter and healthcare.

So while the investigators press on and the applicable laws are figured out, here's an idea: help these people.

Billions have been pledged from donor countries to help Gazans, but Israel has blocked all but a trickle from reaching across the closed borders. Hamas has played a role in the devastation too and Gazans are now being punished broadly (if not intentionally by Israel than certainly by default) for the acts of a few. Israel's reticence comes from not wanting aid to go to people who will turn around and support Hamas; but who do they think they're turning Gaza's children toward by blocking life-saving aid?

If all that seems too daunting, start with the Al-Daya family.

 

Comments

[skialethia]

Thank you for this article. Helping the victims and refugees of any war is the moral, ethical thing to do, unfortunately, the victims of Israel's invasion are not getting any direct help from Israel whatsoever, and not much indirect help, since Israel is an obstacle to aid being provided by other counries.

It's really shameful when the U.N. must plead with a democratic country that brags about it's "morality" for the humane treatment of the victims of it's Gaza invasion:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1083528.html

[skialethia]

"provided by other "countries"

[TheRDG]

Great article! The writer is insightful and accurate in her commentary and observations concerning the killing of civilians regardless of the country where they live. The article was neither 'pro' either side. As a veteran, I believe that I can speak from experience that any and all military operations carry the potential of kill civilians. This is a fact of history. I agree with the writer that more can and should be done to help those civilians, regardless of nationality, who are victims of war. Again, great article!

[BubbaC33]

The posting was, in your opinion, neither "pro" either side. Given the overall tone of the article I'd ssay you are neither right nor correct.

[skialethia]

Oh bruuuuther! Are you condoning atrocities again? It's not even a question of pro any side; it's a question of doing the moral and correct thing once the damage is done irregardless of how it started and who's to blame! Civilians are always the innocent victims in these things and should be compensated for the senseless tragedy imposed on them!

However, I will go further from the article to state that in eight years 23 Israelis actually died from the rockets and 6,348 Palestinians were killed by Israel during that same period for once reason or another. In addition during those eight years people's homes have been bulldozed, they have been forced off their properties and have been living in dire conditions in ghettos in Gaza and the West Bank while Israelis are living the good life on stolen land in the West Bank stealing the water that Palestinians use to irrigate their crops, to fill their swimming pools! This is an egregious injustice and injustices usually reap more injustice unless the perpetrators of these criminal acts return to the victims of these crimes what is legally theirs and end this inhumanity!

[OverlandPost]

Shouldn't the author use a few paragraphs to explain why did Israel attack Gaza? If she doesn't, then let me say it. For years, rockets and mortar fire coming from Gaza rained in southern Israel. No country would have waited that long before acting. Hamas allowed the killing and terrorizing of Israeli civilians and by default of the suffering of their own Gazan citizens. The author did not write about the dangers to civilian Gazans when there was time to avoid the justified counter-attack. And it could happen again.

[moflard]

And for DECADES Israel has been in occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. Funny how the "context" always misses that little point.

[BubbaC33]

The IDF would not have gone into Gaza had Hamas stopped firing missles into Israel. Hamas fired the missles from civilian sites and then hid among its own innocent civilians when the IDF invaded. Hamas put its own people in harm's way.

[skarp]

I seem to remember reading that Israeli settlers were withdrawn unilaterally from Gaza in 2005. I also seem to remember reading stories about Gaza victims being treated in Israeli hospitals *during* the fighting. Why aren't these facts mentioned? They might create some balance and context.