1 day ago
13
You published a photograph of aid being airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates and Jordan (Palestinians wary as Israel begins military pauses to allow ‘minimal’ aid into Gaza, 27 July). Any aid is welcome, but they dropped 25 tonnes in one day, about 11 grams per Palestinian, barely a couple of teaspoonfuls. That’s not going to keep people alive, and neither are a few truckloads delivered over a limited period.
In 1984-85, I served with Operation Bushel, the RAF detachment in Ethiopia that flew aid into areas of famine. The operation was approved by Margaret Thatcher, despite Ethiopia’s government being a brutal regime propped up by the Soviet Union. Delivering aid by air is difficult, risky and expensive; it’s appropriate only when there is no other option.
In Gaza, the so-called safe area of al-Mawasi is only 10 miles by road from the Rafah crossing; just north of Gaza is a major Israeli port, with road access into Gaza just a few miles away. This is one of the worst aspects of the famine in Gaza: unlike in Ethiopia, where access was extremely difficult, in Gaza there is a mountain of aid sitting close by, but kept inaccessible by Israel’s actions.
That Benjamin Netanyahu is allowing a trickle of aid into Gaza is a sign that international pressure has an effect. Most of the pressure here is coming from the public while our government spouts platitudes. Mrs Thatcher might have had the compassion and guts to take difficult decisions. Sir Keir Starmer clearly hasn’t.
Doug Maughan
Dunblane, Perthshire
I agree with Nesrine Malik (Protesting over Gaza’s starvation feels like screaming into a void – but we mustn’t stop, 28 July), but unfortunately we have allowed pro-Israel pressure groups to redefine criticism of Israel as antisemitism, and the government to redefine expressing support for Palestine as terrorism. The former can be brushed away, but an arrest under anti-terrorism laws, even if no charges are brought, can have serious affects on someone’s employment prospects and freedom to travel for the rest of their lives. If the proscription of Palestine Action is ever reversed, we must demand that any related arrests, charges and convictions are expunged from people’s records.
Mike Perry
Ickenham, London
Nesrine Malik powerfully expressed the true nature of the catastrophe, the true horror of its outcomes and the true failure of governments to halt Israel’s wanton destruction of Palestine and its people.
But her words, and these few, are wasted unless governments come together to halt military and trade relations, and institute sanctions that will force Israel to end military action, withdraw from Gaza, allow meaningful aid to reach its people, restore infrastructure and agree to a two-state solution.
I have been a passive, if horrified, observer. I am now an active protester.
Teresa Boohan
London
My country can’t single-handedly stop what’s happening, but we could at a stroke cut off every atom of support, every shred of legitimacy to the perpetrators. And by choosing not to, my government is making me and all my fellow citizens accessories to an atrocity. How can I make it clear that I do not consent to this? Being ignored is what drives desperate law-abiding citizens first to be paint-sprayers and eventually to more violent forms of screaming.
Katy Jennison
Witney, Oxfordshire
