Help needed, not charity

By Aijaz Zaka Syed

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This is a strange world. All the global movers and shakers who stood around and stared while Israel pounded Gaza for three weeks have now come together at the international donors conference in Sharm El-Sheikh to rebuild it.

At the Sharm El-Sheikh meeting, everyone talked about reconstruction and committing billions in aid for Gaza. All in all, $5.2 billion have been promised to rebuild Gaza.

Will all this aid wash away our guilt and our sins against the people of Gaza? I doubt it. Will all this charity bring back the lives lost? Will it bring back smiles to the faces of Palestinian children or to parents who lost theirs?

The findings published in the UK's medical and research journal, The Lancet, last month reveal atrocities greater than any television images or news pictures could convey.

According to British physicians Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah and Dr Swee Ang, who managed to get into Gaza during the war, while there's plenty of evidence the Israelis used banned white phosphorous against civilians, the massive liver necrosis seen in many Palestinian victims couldn't have been caused by white phosphorous alone.

The elephant in the room that everyone pretends not to see is the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and continuing persecution of its people. If the world indeed wants to help the Palestinians, it should go beyond these reconstruction projects and pious peace pledges.

There will be no peace in the Middle East as long as the Israeli occupation continues and Palestinians remain prisoners in their own land. You rebuild Gaza today; Israel will destroy it tomorrow. So before building peace, prepare Israel for peace. Palestinians do not need our charity. They need our help.

This week's Soapbox speaker is opinion editor of Khaleej Times .