by Raffaele Crocco
The newspapers write: the war between Israel and Hamas has reached day 373. As if it all started on 7 October 2023. They forget the preceding decades, all the years that fuelled hatred in each side, regardless of the wrongs or reasons. It seems to be either memory lapses or the bad faith of the World that allows this to happen. The 42,000 Palestinians killed in the name of ‘liberation from the danger of Hamas’, the 1,400 Israelis murdered in the name of ‘Palestinian freedom’, the more recent 1,500 Lebanese killed by Israeli raids in the name of ‘state security against Hezbollah terrorists’, have their origin in the world’s indifference, fuelled by partisan interests. The ‘just’ peace in the Near East could have been built a thousand times over by creating the conditions for justice, respect for identities and history, and above all by holding firm to the principles of humanitarian and international law. Strategic, geopolitical interests have prevailed and it is the peoples of the area who are paying the price, and it is the World on the brink of a dangerous hysterical crisis.
It seems to be the misuse of words and dates that is the hallmark of the ongoing global clash narrative. Even in this last week. In the Near East, Israel continues in its work of ‘appeasement’ by waging war everywhere, attacking Gaza and Lebanon simultaneously and threatening Iran insistently. In Lebanon, the men of the UN mission, Unifil, also ended up in the crosshairs of the Israelis. Two were wounded, they are Pakistani soldiers. For Tel Aviv, they are yet another ‘side effect’ of a war that has had, to date, 42 thousand dead for no reason.
There is no talk of negotiations, diplomatic avenues and shared solutions. Exactly as happens on another front of the planetary clash, in Ukraine. There the war continues, with now insane numbers of dead. The number of soldiers, on both sides, killed could be more than a million, with tens of thousands of dead civilians and millions of refugees. At the front, the fighting is fierce. In the Donetsk area, then in the middle of Ukraine, the Russians continue to advance, albeit slowly. They now have full control over the key Ukrainian stronghold of Vuhledar, as well as three other villages. They have also continued to advance towards Pokrovsk and north-west of Horlivka. In the Russian zone of Kursk, the Ukrainian army is holding out, having captured about 1,00 square kilometres of Russian territory. Military experts insist: without direct NATO military intervention, Ukraine is bound to lose.
There is no talk of negotiations, diplomatic avenues and shared solutions. Exactly as happens on another front of the planetary clash, in Ukraine. There the war continues, with now insane numbers of dead. The number of soldiers, on both sides, killed could be more than a million, with tens of thousands of dead civilians and millions of refugees. At the front, the fighting is fierce. In the Donetsk area, then in the middle of Ukraine, the Russians continue to advance, albeit slowly. They now have full control over the key Ukrainian stronghold of Vuhledar, as well as three other villages. They have also continued to advance towards Pokrovsk and north-west of Horlivka. In the Russian zone of Kursk, the Ukrainian army is holding out, having captured about 1,00 square kilometres of Russian territory. Military experts insist: without direct NATO military intervention, Ukraine is bound to lose.
