Gazans’ Plight: A Mirror to Our Moral Compass

Imagine, if you will, the Mediterranean Sea as a vast, shimmering canvas. Now, picture a tiny, isolated speck on its eastern edge, that’s Gaza. This tiny strip of land, roughly the size of Malta’s main island, has been under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade since 2007. It’s been called the world’s largest open-air prison. But why? And at what cost?

The Gaza Strip: A Brief Overview

Gaza, a densely populated coastal enclave, is home to around 2 million Palestinians. It’s a place where electricity is scarce, water is undrinkable, and unemployment hovers at a staggering 53%. This is not a natural state of affairs; it’s a result of decades of conflict, occupation, and blockade. The United Nations has warned that Gaza could become uninhabitable by 2020.

Genocide or Collective Punishment?

In 2014, the UN Human Rights Council established a commission to investigate possible war crimes during the Gaza conflict. The commission’s report, released in 2015, concluded that Israel’s actions may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the crime of persecution and the crime of apartheid. The report also noted that Israel’s blockade of Gaza may amount to collective punishment, a violation of international law.

But is this collective punishment a form of genocide? The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. While some argue that Israel’s actions in Gaza fit this definition, others disagree, citing a lack of intent to destroy the Palestinian people as a whole.

Ecocide: The Environmental Cost of Conflict

Gaza’s environmental degradation is a stark reminder of the human cost of conflict. The Strip’s coastal waters, once teeming with fish, are now heavily polluted due to untreated sewage and industrial waste. Gaza’s aquifer, the sole source of fresh water, is severely depleted and contaminated. A 2012 UN report warned that Gaza’s water could become unfit for human consumption within a few years.

the repeated Israeli military operations have left Gaza’s infrastructure in ruins. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that, as of 2021, around 18,000 housing units in Gaza are still in need of reconstruction following the 2014 conflict.

The Price of Impunity

The international community’s response to the Gaza crisis has been criticized as inadequate. While many countries have condemned Israel’s actions, few have taken meaningful steps to hold Israel accountable. This impunity, some argue, emboldens Israel to continue its policies in Gaza.

Malta, with its strategic location and historical ties to the region, could play a role in ending this impunity. In 2014, Malta’s then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat called for an international inquiry into the Gaza conflict. Today, Malta could push for concrete action to end the blockade and support Gaza’s reconstruction.

But change won’t come from governments alone. It’s up to us, as individuals, to demand justice for Gaza. We can start by learning about the crisis, speaking out against injustice, and supporting organizations working on the ground.

As the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish wrote, “We have on this earth what makes life worth living.” In Gaza, that worth is being slowly eroded. It’s time we ask ourselves: what kind of world do we want to live in? And what are we willing to do to make it a reality?