'Weaponization of relief and the sidelining of humanity

There could be no double standards on this question and moderate and democratic opinion on both sides of the divide should be prepared to identify aloud and clearly, as terrorists, those groups that shed civilian blood for the furtherance of their causes. Unfortunately, some sections in Sri Lanka fight shy of adhering to these norms. Consequently, peacemaking fumbles and runs aground.

- BY LYNN OCKERSZ

Some 28 countries have condemned what is being referred to as the 'drip feeding of aid' to the Gaza and this coming together in the name of humanity could be considered as long overdue. Included in this fold are some major states of the West, such as the UK, and it is hoped that more countries would join the grouping to prevent the Gazans from starving to death; for that is how the community is placed currently.

Those other states that mean well by the Palestinians are also obliged to bring moral pressure to bear on the Trump administration to change course and give pride of place to humanitarian considerations in the formulation of its Middle Eastern policy going forward. Currently, it is only moral pressure that could be seen as counting, because Western states empathizing with the Gazans and those countries making common cause with them are yet to collectively measure up fully to the US in terms of power and influence. It is the US' diktat that continues to prove most decisive in the region on account of its capability to fashion power relations in the Middle East virtually single-handedly.

At present, China and Russia are yet to inveigh heavily against the US on its Middle Eastern policy and could not be counted on much to hold the US to account on Gaza linked matters. Accordingly, the US and Israel are not facing any substantive opposition to their policy and actions in the Middle East and it is hoped that moral pressure would prove effective in the short and medium terms.

Meanwhile, the Gazans' condition could be best described as a 'living death'. It is being said in some quarters that relief to the Gazans is being 'weaponized' and the fact that scores of Gazans have been gunned down while rushing for food and water at relief centres gives substance to this allegation.