FAMINE has finally arrived in the Gaza Strip. This is because those who could stop it from happening wouldn't. Not that they didn't know that as early as January.
Aid workers reported parents there feeding their children animal feed. Some children were even eating grass to quell their hunger. If grass becomes a staple diet of humans, then it must be a tell-tale sign of famine.
The great powers and institutions, whose power they wield, are standing on the wrong side of history. These include legal institutions such as the world's highest court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Admitting that a plausible case of genocide has been made by South Africa against Israel, the ICJ made preliminary orders calling on the Zionist regime to cease such atrocities. Criticising the court for hearing the case, Israel made it clear that it wouldn't stop until all Palestinians were out of Palestine.
The ICJ is clearly aware of this, but it refused to make further orders against Israel when South Africa, out of concern for the Palestinians, returned to The Hague urging it to do so urgently.
Thousands of trucks ferrying humanitarian aid are being prevented by Israel from reaching the Palestinians. Some are even fired at by Israeli soldiers. The blockade of food and other humanitarian aid into Gaza is an unmistakable sign of genocide by famine.
If the ICJ doesn't want to act, why isn't the ICC doing something? The answer is obvious. Powerful nations won't allow the court to act against Israel, even if it wants to. It is easier for the ICC to issue warrants of arrest against Russian leaders and generals. Sure, the ICC recently warned Israel that if it continued its atrocities against the Palestinians, it will act.
But the threat has turned out to be a Macbethian tale "full of sound and fury signifying nothing". When it comes to the ICC acting against Israel, it is "tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow".
Under the Rome Treaty, the United Nations Security Council is legally enabled to refer Israel to the ICC. But its Western allies wouldn't bring themselves to do that. Israel's Western allies have another weapon at their disposal: stopping military aid to Israel.
Unconditional supply of military aid is the principal cause of Israel's impunity. Tel Aviv knows even if it continues to massacre Palestinian women and children, its Western allies will continue to supply it with arms. So why should Israel stop the killings until the last Palestinian is dead or evicted? There is another looming danger for Israel's Western allies.
International lawyers are warning nations that supply weapons to the Zionist regime that if the ICJ rules that Israel had indeed committed genocide against the Palestinians, as alleged by South Africa, then they will be hard put to deny the charges of complicity in the crime.
The only solution to the massacres and famine of the Palestinians is an immediate end to Israeli atrocities in Palestine. This the Western powers can do to save the Palestinians, and themselves, too.
