Jamia Journal Independent Student-run News Website of Jamia Millia Islamia (a Central University)
Gaza has been under attack since Wednesday, when Israel launched a military offensive with the declared goal of deterring Gaza fighters from launching rockets into its territory.
Gaza is a tiny territory where 1.7 million Palestinians, most of whom are refugees, are denied the right to return to their homes simply because they are not Jewish. Forty-eight Palestinians, about half of them civilians, including 13 children, have been killed in Israel’s raids, according to Al-Jazeera.
Gaza has become Israel’s playpen for use of military weapons, targeted assassination as it controls a hapless, colonized population, who seems to be virtually living at the mercy of its all powerful neighbour.
For example, according to Yousef Munayyer, the Executive Director of The Jerusalem Fund and its educational program, The Palestine Center, in 2011, the projectiles fired by the Israeli military into Gaza have been responsible for the death of 108 Palestinians, of which 15 where women or children, and the injury of 468 Palestinians, of which 143 where women or children. The methods by which these causalities were inflicted by Israeli projectiles breaks down as follows: 57 percent, or 310, were caused by Israeli aircraft missile fire; 28 percent, or 150, where from Israeli live ammunition; 11 percent, or 59, were from Israeli tank shells; while another 3 percent, or 18, were from Israeli mortar fire.
Through September 2012, Israeli weaponry caused 55 Palestinian deaths and 257 injuries. Among these 312 casualties, 61, or roughly 20 percent, were children and 28 were female. 209 of these casualties came as a result of Israeli Air Force missiles, 69 from live ammunition fire, and 18 from tank shells. It is important to note that these figures do not represent a totality of Israeli projectiles fired into Gaza but rather only Israeli projectiles fired into Gaza which cause casualties. The total number of Israeli projectiles fired into Gaza is bound to be significantly larger.
While Gaza is being pounded from the air and the sea, world governments either ignore the situation, or in some cases push Israel’s propaganda to justify Israel’s war crimes in Gaza as “self-dense” and “retaliatory,” a claim that falls flat on its face if you have even a vague understanding of the conflict.
Take Action
We cannot sit back and wait for our government to do something about the situation while Gaza burns. It is time for ordinary people to take action. Protest against Israeli occupation of Palestine and the aggression on Gaza.
Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University students have already taken initiative and will be protesting on Monday, Nov. 19 at 2:00 pm. The meeting point for the demonstration is supposed to be in front of the Hungarian Cultural Center on Janpath near the Claridges Hotel, which is near the Israeli Embassy.
It is time for Jamia students to show their support for Palestine. Join the demonstration!
Students in Gaza Ask For Your Support
In this linked Youtube video, students in Gaza ask students all over the world to show their support by speaking against Israel’s occupation and by boycotting the State of Israel and all its institutions.
