Word has it we’re about to witness a 4-day ceasefire in Gaza – which the Israelis grudgingly conceded after practically the entire world pleaded with them to show some mercy to the Palestinians they were killing like flies. Hamas, of course – which had been voted in to run the affairs of the 2 million Palestinians herded into the concentration camp imposed by the Israelis – have also reportedly accepted the gesture, so they’re also supposed to hardly be any counterfires to the Israeli onslaught.
1.7 million Palestinians have already been ousted from their homes – including those from Ramila, who’ve been displaced since 1948 when Israel was carved out from their lands. But even though the Israelis had told them to move south to escape their fire, they promptly bombed the Palestinians when they followed instructions. Killed if you do and killed if you don’t!!
So, what’s this temporary ceasefire supposed to do??
Well, give the international agencies like the UN and Red Cross – who’ve been screaming bloody murder about Palestinian babies and the sick in hospitals under bombardment – an opportunity to either get some of them out, or get medical and food supplies in. The Israelis have emphasised that as soon as the four days are up, they’ll resume their drive to exterminate Hamas – and the devil take those in their way. The only reason for the pause is that Hamas has agreed to free some of the civilians they’re holding, and the Israelis with do the same with a proportionate number of Palestinians. Captured soldiers will remain as prisoners of war (POWs) – never mind the world calling them “hostages”. If the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) can claim POWs, why can’t Hamas’s troops??
So, what does this mean in the big picture? That Hamas is winning, even though it has suffered at least 17,000 dead to the Israeli 1200. Why?? Well, for the first time since the British removed the Palestinians in ’48 to make “room” for Jews and dubbed the land “Israel”, world opinion has shifted from supporting the latter because of Hitler’s Holocaust towards the Jews!! And if you ask any Palestinian, they tell you it’s better to die immediately for their cause than to bleed slowly to death in the concentration camp called Gaza.
When all is said and done, the machinations of the great powers towards what we may see as a moral issue should be a cautionary tale for us in Guyana – who’re facing our own Netanyahu over in the west in the form of Mad Maduro. Ultimately – in the state system we’re locked into – either we Guyanese hang together to confront this threat, or we’ll all hang separately!! It doesn’t matter who runs Venezuela, they want Essequibo!!
…out west??
Whatever happens over in Venezuela after their referendum on Dec 3rd, there’s gonna be no peace, “manyana” for us!! And Guyanese better start appreciating that reality right now. To your Eyewitness’s surprise, some folks are hoping that Mad Maduro – or maybe his successors – will change their stripes on the controversy they concocted out of whispers and innuendoes!! Never gonna happen!!
Wasn’t the matter raised by their dictatorship after 1949?? And raised by the “democratic” Government under Betancourt back in 1962?? He claimed he was worried about Guyana becoming independent under a “communist” Cheddi Jagan. So, when the Brits and Yanks squeezed out Cheddi and inserted Burnham, did that change anything? No siree Bob!! And here we have the sycophant of communist Chavez in Mad Maduro breathing more fire and brimstone!! So, what’s gonna change?? The day we see Venezuelans remove Article 7 in their constitution – which declares Essequibo to be theirs – MAYBE we can start relooking.
Not a blade of grass!!
…not now
It’s heartening to see our troops rushing over to our western border to defend our land from the rapacious Mad Maduro. Some may feel we’re outmanned and outgunned, but the Viet Congs did defeat a mightier army!!
