It is an outrage that the people of Gaza are suffering on their own. The rest of the world has failed to come to their support as Gazan families die in the rubble of their homes. It is a tragedy that no international leader visited Gaza last week to express their support for the Gazan people. There has neither been any concerted action to support Gaza nor any call for sanctions to be applied on Israel. It is a shame that the Arab League has been far too slow to meet on the crisis, even though it met yesterday.
It is wrong that the Quartet envoy, former British prime minister Tony Blair, who is supposed to have a special responsibility in Palestinian affairs, has not rushed to Gaza and Israel and taken the lead in finding how to implement a ceasefire. Instead, from the safety of London, Blair has issued vague warnings that the situation is at a “very, very critical point”. It is gravely disappointing that the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has not visited Gaza and has restricted his actions to commenting on the obvious when he said that the situation was on a knife-edge and that an Israeli ground offensive would increase the death toll. The people of Gaza need to hear from the global community that they have friends who are ready to take action. Any unjustified international distaste for the Hamas government should be put aside in the heat of the moment and the violence should stop immediately.
