Salim Nazzal

The tragedy of Haiti, and the suffering of the Haitian people, has stirred an outpouring of compassion around the world. This is what humans should expect from each other following a catastrophe of this proportion.

Since I consider myself a person committed to the question of the human dignity, I was relieved to see the quick response from the rescue and the medical teams which travelled long distances and worked tirelessly to save the lives of those buried under the ruins.

But something baffled me. Why Israel send a team to help Haiti? What is the relationship between Israel and humanitarian aid? I raise this question because evidence has shown that the Zionist state comes up very short regarding issues of compassion toward humanity: to impose a relentless régime of terror, around the clock, on a whole nation for 61 years does not present an imagine one would associate with culture possessed of a humanitarian spirit.

If we were to canvass the question among 10 million Palestinians the Zionist state of Israel possessed of human compassion? I very much doubt that the consensus would be positive. More than likely those canvassed would be bewildered by such a question in light of the suffering they endured all these years.

The Zionist history demonstrates clearly that it is not synonymous with compassion. How could it be? We know that Israel murdered pregnant woman as in Deir Yasin in 1948, slaughtered Palestinians in front of their families in Nablus, and added poisonous bacteria in the Yarkon river to sicken the Palestinian population of Akka in order to occupy the town and to expel its native folk. Used Napalm bombs against civilians In 1967, and murdered Palestinians in Gaza with white phosphorus in January 2009. Not content with executing Egyptian soldiers held prisoner in Sinai, and unarmed Palestinians in Genin camp, they have murdered Palestinians for the purpose of harvesting human organs. Palestinian children have been used as human shields on the front of their military vehicles. The blockades imposed on Gaza to this day, denies food and medical supplies to reach the people, causing starvation and death.

With such a litany of crimes against humanity to its credit it is difficult to reconcile with the show of compassion Israel is extending to the Haitian people, who live half a world away, while at the same time they cause such misery and suffering to Palestinians who live only a few hundred meters from their comfortable homes and towns.

In the absence of any evidence that Zionists have any compassion towards humanity one might conclude that the aid the Zionist are giving to the devastated people of Haiti nothing more than ‘crocodile tears’. A cleverly crafted piece of propaganda, designed to clean up the reputation the Zionist state has for the brutal disregard for human suffering.

On the other hand it would have been very logic, very natural, and in harmony with the Palestinian culture that the future post Zionism Palestine will help brothers and sisters in humanity anywhere in the world. Palestine history is the best testimony: Palestine has helped and welcomed refugees and religious and ordinary immigrants from many parts in the world.

They came from different cultures but integrated in Palestine and became part of its social fiber; Armenians, Africans, Bosnians, Chechens, Egyptians, Germans, Greek, Moroccans, Maltese, and Jews who came to Palestine before the Zionist hateful occupation.

But when Palestine was struck by the Zionist earthquake it cannot unfortunately help others because it needs first to be free from the occupation, in other word the Palestinian humanism will be appear when the inhuman Zionism disappear. However, The Gaza symbolic gesture to help Haiti, demonstrates that the free Palestine will resume its human role. But before being able to do that, and there should be no shred of illusion about this point; a decisive victory must be achieved over the Zionist culture of death.

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* Dr. Salim Nazzal is a Palestinian-Norwegian historian in the Middle East, who has written extensively on social and political issues in the region. - snazzal@ymail.com