By Robert Fantina
Much of the world is, understandably, focused on coronavirus, and all its repercussions. The nations where COVID-19 is spreading; social distancing, and its impact on the mental health and well-being of individuals; availability of personal protective devices for medical personnel and masks for everyone are current topics of thought and conversation. And amid all this, one is further distracted by the ravings of the lunatic U.S. president and his many contradictory and unreasonable statements about the disease.
But while the pandemic is getting just about all the world’s publicity, the brutal oppression of vulnerable populations continues; this is in addition to that of the Iranians and the Venezuelans by the U.S., oppression that gets some limited attention. But we are hearing nothing about Palestine and Kashmir, two of the most brutally repressed and cruelly treated peoples in the world.
This writer will attempt to remedy that deficit.
Palestine
In Palestine, things have only gotten worse for the people at the hands of their savage Israeli occupiers. For example, on March 26, Israeli government terrorists stole tents that were to be part of an emergency medical clinic in the West Bank. They ignored a warning from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) that the health-care system in Palestine, severely limited because of Israel’s restrictions on imports, is woefully ill-equipped to handle the coronavirus crisis. Israel has access to the most modern medical technology available, and its theft of these tents was merely another in a long, long list of activities to deprive the Palestinians of their basic human rights.
Additionally, in the past week, IDF soldiers (read: Israeli terrorists) conducted a middle-of-the-night raid in Ramallah, and continued demolishing Palestinian homes throughout the West Bank. They broke into and robbed the home of Fadi Hidmi, the Palestinian minister in charge of affairs of East Jerusalem.
Palestinian workers in Israel who are even suspected of having coronavirus, who are in Israel, are dumped like garbage on the Palestinian side of checkpoints, which in themselves are illegal. They are offered no compassion, let alone any medical assistance.
The total blockade of the Gaza Strip – by air, land, and sea – continues unabated, despite the need for the people there to be prepared for an outbreak of coronavirus.
So within Palestine, the brutality continues, and the world remains silent.
Kashmir
It was in August of 2019 that India, which has ‘administered’ Kashmir for decades, abrogated Article 370, which granted Kashmir some limited autonomy. In conjunction with this decision, 40,000 additional Indian troops were sent into the country. Prior to that addition of those troops, there was approximately 1 Indian ‘security officer’ for every 30 Kashmiris. Few nations on the planet have ever experienced this level of military occupation. Since August, the country has been closed to foreign visitors, including journalists and diplomats. All social media was banned, preventing Kashmiris inside the country from having any contact with anxious and worried friends and relatives outside their borders.
In November, ‘s consul general in New York, Sandeep Chakravorty, proposed following the Israeli model to colonize Kashmir. Said he: “I don’t know why we don’t follow it. It has happened in the Middle East. If the Israeli people can do it, we can also do it.” The issuing by India of the new domicile law paves the way for the Israeli-model to proceed.
Let us consider for a moment a few salient facts that seem to escape the news media:
- The people of Palestine and Kashmir are as worried and as threatened by coronavirus as are the people in the United States, Canada, France, Argentina and yes, even Israel and India.
- People suffering from coronavirus will have the same symptoms; the illness has the same lethal potential for Kashmiris and Palestinians as it does for everyone else.
- Palestinian and Kashmiri people love their parents the same way that the people of every other nation do. They want to protect their elderly parents from the risk of a pandemic, the same as everyone else.
- Kashmiri and Palestinian parents love their children the same as everyone else. They are desperately worried if they have a child with any kind of respiratory ailment and will do all in their power to protect that child from exposure to coronavirus. If that child or any other loved one is stricken with the illness, the people of Palestine and Kashmir want the best possible treatment for them. This, again, is no different from anyone else in the world.
If we can possibly establish in First World minds that the people whose oppression their governments are financing and otherwise supporting are no different from them, might there be some improvement in their conditions? How difficult would it be for the government of European countries, for example, to issue sanctions against Israel and India? Issuing sanctions can’t be too difficult to do: after all, the U.S. does it all the time!
Could not a resolution be introduced in the United Nations Security Council? Yes, the U.S., with no interest whatsoever in human rights and self-determination, would veto it, but it would certainly bring the topic of oppression to the forefront, and possibly even get it some media attention. And the U.N. General Assembly, not subject to a veto from anyone, could vote on it.
It is impossible to have this discussion without focusing on the United States, the global bully. Around the world, leaders have implored the erratic Trump to drop the sanctions against Iran and Venezuela so those nations can adequately deal with the pandemic within their borders. He has stated that he has no moral responsibility to do so.
World leaders have, at least minimally, condemned the occupation of Palestine and Kashmir. Not the U.S., however.
The U.S. has vetoed several Security Council resolutions condemning Israeli oppression of the Palestinians. Trump has done even worse, proposing a ‘solution’ to the decades-long oppression of the Palestinians that gives Israel everything it wants, and Palestine nothing that it needs. It is no surprise that this ‘deal’ was crafted by his son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner, who has substantial real estate holdings in the illegally occupied West Bank.
Regarding the situation in Kashmir, the U.S. has recommended ‘direct dialogue’ between Kashmir and India, perhaps hoping for the same ‘success’ that such ‘dialogue’ between Palestine and Israel has had: continual and ongoing victory for Indian goals at the complete expense of the human rights of the Kashmiri people.
Yes, coronavirus is having a worldwide impact that will be felt for a long time to come. But it isn’t the only unfolding disaster on the planet, despite what corporate-owned media outlets may want us all to believe. They will simply parrot what the government says, showing astonishment at the more ridiculous statements that emanate from the White House, but generally avoiding the less ‘fashionable’ topics such as shocking human rights violations.
In these times, and at all times, Palestine and Kashmir must not be forgotten.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian 
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!
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