2023-10-17 15:54:54
10 days after the Hamas attacks on Israel that led to one of the biggest Israeli offensives in recent decades against the Gaza Strip and the death of thousands of people on both sides, “an immediate ceasefire” is urgently needed and let it pass humanitarian aid to Palestinians, argues researcher Giulia Daniele.
For 10 days, the escalation of violence between Israel and Palestine has once again placed the focus of the international community’s attention on the Middle East, with more than four thousand deaths on both sides of the conflict and an Israeli military offensive taking place in the north of the Strip. Gaza. The conflict is now also spreading to Lebanon and Iran, with Joe Biden, US President, visiting Israel and Jordan tomorrow to try to find a solution to this war.
Giulia Daniele, Guest Assistant Professor at ISCTE, in Portugal, who has been following this conflict on the ground since 2005, considers that the intervention of the international community is imperative to ensure a ceasefire and the passage of humanitarian aid sent by the United Nations and currently blocked at the gates of the Gaza Strip.
“An immediate ceasefire is needed by the international community and another thing that is even more important for Palestinian civilians is the entry of humanitarian aid that is currently waiting in Rafah to enter the Gaza Strip and help with medicines, food and everything that is necessary for people’s lives. You have to enter immediately”, defended the researcher.
For Giulia Daniele, this current escalation of violence is “a continuation” of what has been going on in the region for several decades.
“We are in a continuation of what has been happening for 75 years. This is a scale of violence, tension and death, but it is part of a process of violation of human rights and ethnic cleansing that has been going on for 75 years. The images of these last few days remember a lot what happened in 1948 and 1949 during the Nakba [o êxodo forçado dos palestinianos após a criação do estado de Israel]shortly after the creation of the State of Israel when tens of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes and lands and this continues to happen now from the North to the South of the Gaza Strip”, he declared.
Joe Biden visits Israel and Jordan tomorrow to try to find a solution to the escalation of violence in the Middle East that has lasted 10 days, after saying that Israel had every right to defend itself. For Giulia Daniele, Guest Assistant Professor at ISCTE, in Portugal, this visit will help the North American President to appease internal criticism.
“Biden completely supported Israel, he spoke about Israel’s right to defense, he continues to support it, but he is beginning to realize that what is happening could be very serious internationally, but also within the Democratic party debate and this year we have elections in United States in 2024, so the relationship between national politics and domestic politics is something we have to take into account”, he analyzed.
With Israel bombing Lebanon and Iran warning of possible “preventive action” against Israel in the coming hours, this is a conflict that extends across the entire Middle East.
“This conflict is not only focused on the Gaza Strip, the West Bank is also exploding, there are many dead and detained, especially young Palestinians. Lebanon and Iran will also be important actors, with Lebanon responding to Israeli attacks and with Iran having already said many times that with a possible land invasion of the Gaza Strip it will act against Israel”, said the university professor.
Regarding the consecutive terrorist attacks that have been seen in recent days in the United States, where a six-year-old Muslim boy was killed, in France, where a teacher was killed, or in Belgium where two Swedish fans were killed, Giulia Daniele warns that These are different phenomena.
“We have to be very careful because we are talking about different phenomena, we are talking about a national reaction when we talk about what happened in France, Belgium and the United States, but when we talk about Hamas we are talking about trying to continue a fight that could be violence to combat Israel’s military occupation”, he concluded.
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