Arabia tristis, redux

This week has been a horrific one for the Arab world, and my heart breaks for my friends and brothers and sisters living there. Gaza has been under sustained air attack by Israel since a covert operation by Israelis to abduct or assassinate Hamas leaders went south; Hamas retaliated with missile strikes. Seven Palestinians of Khan Younis were killed in the Israeli air strikes and three more after sustained aerial bombardment; one Israeli was killed by a retaliatory Hamas missile. Israel’s continued violations of areas that are under Palestinian governance, and the continued treatment of Gaza as essentially a massive open-air prison, simply cannot continue if there is ever going to be a lasting and just peace.

In Dayr az-Zûr, the US-led coalition in Syria has been using white phosphorous munitions in crowded civilian areas, killing 15 people and injuring dozens more. The use of white phosphorous as a weapon is considered a war crime by the International Red Cross.

And most seriously – in Yemen, resumed fighting in the port city of al-Hudayda is endangering millions of already-starving civilians and will assuredly worsen the already-catastrophic greatest humanitarian crisis of this century. These millions of civilians are utterly dependent on the water and transportation infrastructure of al-Hudayda to survive. And of course, our government – along with the Saudis and the Emiratis – are responsible more than any other party for destroying it. Why do we persist? So that our military-industrial complex can continue selling arms to the Saudis?

The Arab world continues to burn, bleed, weep and die. And not only are we directly implicated in all this suffering and death, but it serves no meaningful realist purpose in keeping our borders or our civilian populace safe. Indeed, it is merely doing the opposite. So what are we to do? The same as we ought to have done from the beginning: pray – give – organise – speak – and don’t despair. The news is, as usual, horrendous, but despair is the one thing we can’t afford. We just elected a slateful of new representatives, and I admit to being a tentative fan of my new rep Ms Omar, who talks a good game and keeps some good company. So let’s hold them accountable and put them to work doing something constructive – or at least, not destructive – both for the Arab world and for our own national interests.