Adel Misk: Israel’s war in Gaza and now the West Bank will not destroy Hamas
The Palestinian activist describes the joy for the temporary suspension of fighting, but everyone is looking at what is to come. Israel’s "war machine” wants to "cleanse" Gaza where 85 per cent of the dead “are women and children”. Only the intervention of the international community can stop this tragedy.
Jerusalem (AsiaNews) – People are "happy" about the break in the fighting but "are greatly concerned” for what could happen "in the coming days" because "the Israeli war machine" threatens to strike with greater force "to cleanse the entire Strip,” said Adel Misk, a neurologist and Palestinian activist, speaking to AsiaNews.
While noting “the pause in the fighting" and the exchanges "of prisoners, especially women and children,” he worries about rumours coming from Israel about "further escalation” amid fears that the conflict might even get bloodier.
The temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is in its fifth day after a 48-hour extension was agreed. Three Palestinians will be released from Israeli prisons in exchange for every Israeli hostage allowed to leave Gaza.
Speaking to the BBC, a Hamas source in Qatar said that some of the civilian hostages are being held by smaller groups such as Islamic Jihad, adding that 10 hostages will be released today and another 10 tomorrow, but there is no confirmation of the numbers.
For its part, the United Nations has taken advantage of the pause in fighting to get desperately needed aid to the Strip, but much more is needed.
Adel Misk, the face of The Parents Circle, an association that brings together about 250 Israelis and 250 Palestinians, all family members of victims of the conflict, reports that in the enclave "people are perplexed and frightened; they do not know where to go, and even the move from north to south (engineered by Israel) does not guarantee security.
“In 47 days of fighting, homes have been destroyed and thousands of people have been killed, 85 per cent women and children,” so it is no exaggeration to speak of a danger of “genocide”.
"No place is safe," he continues, "especially after the truce if the army strikes everywhere with the aim, using their language, of 'cleansing' the Strip."
The support of Western governments, especially in Europe and the United States, for now guarantees substantial freedom of action to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), but many people in the West "have shown solidarity with the Palestinian people, who are paying a very high price," the activist notes.
"Everyone is concerned and paying attention to possible developments, and fears are not only about Gaza because atrocities are also taking place in the West Bank, from Nablus to Jenin, especially in the north where Palestinian factions are targeted."
"It's not just a war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip," he warns, "because it now also concerns the West Bank. This is why it is urgent that the world, the international community, stop the Israeli war machine" because "those who look on and do nothing to hinder or stop it are complicit in all this."
For Misk, the issue of prisoner exchange also raises more than one question. “There are over 7,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, starting with [Marwan] Barghouti”. His supporters see him as a political prisoner, a Palestinian Nelson Mandela, while Israel views him as a criminal.
Since 7 October, the day when Hamas launched its terrorist attack on Israeli territory that triggered the new conflict, “another 3,000 Palestinians" have been arrested.
According to Misk, the prisoners-for-hostages exchange is useful to Israel for its coming "cleansing operation" in Gaza.
The Palestinian activist ends with his thoughts about what Israel calls the primary goal of the war, namely the elimination of Hamas from the region.
"In reality, it (Hamas) also enjoys political support in the West Bank. It is an armed faction, but it is part of the Palestinian people, one of its components, with a political line one may or may not support, but that is not the point.
“This is why, given the situation, it makes no sense to say that we want to exterminate Hamas because, like the Palestinian Front, like Fatah, it is part of Palestinian society and will not be erased by this military operation.”
(Images of Palestinians being arrested in the West Bank taken from the Telegram page of Eye on Palestine)
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22/06/2023 20:10
04/05/2017 17:52
