Column: Wake up call to end this human massacre

As I write this column, almost 60 Palestinians have been killed and more than 2,000 injured. It’s another massacre and, by the time this week comes to an end, the casualty toll is set to increase.

Let me make clear, this is not a conflict, nor is it a clash, or a war. This results from a protest against a decision that Trump unilaterally took to further occupy the land of the Palestinian people. Protest is an act of democracy and should never result in a massacre.

This is a land that provided a safe haven to Jewish people from the horrors of the German Holocaust. We should all remember the role Palestine played in World War Two to protect minorities and the Jewish community. We may have won the war, but it was Palestine that won the conscience of humanity. Let me also state that the Israeli Government openly quote that Trump has recognised the history of 3,000 years ago in declaring Jerusalem the capital – and I know that some theologians will declare that being a fact too. Nonetheless, I can’t be concerned about religion when I observe, and can foresee, the massacre of a people that is going to take place in the coming days.

B’Teselm a leading Israeli human rights organisation stated “that the demonstrations were no surprise and that Israel had plenty of time to come up with alternate approaches”. They went on to say “the fact that live gunfire is once again the sole measure that the Israeli military is using in the field is evidence of appalling indifference to human life on the part of senior Israeli Government and military officials”.

I am unsure what exactly constitutes a human rights violation in the context of international law. I’ve lost count of the number of times the UN have condemned the Israel Government for human rights breaches, or the number of times politicians representing membership clubs in so-called democracies have spoken about the two-state solution. Frankly, it is all talk. Little by little we have all witnessed what has happened to the land that Palestine once called home.

As I write this, I still recall Jon Snow’s brilliant journalism in calling out the Israeli Government on its aggression and shelling of parts of Palestine that resulted in many deaths of children. The image of the young child with the big bruised, black eyes still haunts me today. I hope our government will awaken from its slumber and call this out for what it is ... a human being massacre.