| M |
ore journalists have been killed in Gaza in recent days, taking the number of deaths to a new level. The previous record, too, was set during the current conflict. A record is now being set every few weeks. Each new figure should hold a mirror to the world’s conscience, but it appears to provoke little more than a customary statement. Deliberately or through insensitivity, the world has by and large turned a blind eye to this since the war began almost two years ago.
Journalists, writers and filmmakers have been particularly targeted in Gaza and the West Bank, as they are the only source of news and information from the war zone. Foreign journalists have not been allowed into the territory. Silencing local voices is the only way to prevent the world from hearing any account other than the one proclaimed, loudly and repeatedly, by the Israeli authorities.
It is appalling that all the institutional frameworks put in place at local and international level have either collapsed or become totally ineffective. All norms, conventions and protocols have been steamrolled or thrown overboard in an attempt to prove that everything is fair in war.
With each passing day and each new killing, it becomes more obvious that the international order established after the World War II, with the United Nations as its fountainhead, has collapsed. In the near future, there seems to be no replacement in sight. The world is back to square one, where might is right and the weak have no recourse but to live in servitude.
Are we paying the due tribute to these last sons and daughters who are laying down their lives for a dream that was never realised?
The easiest and most malicious alibi advanced is to label journalists and other professionals, such as medical staff, as working for or being sympathetic to the Palestinians. Repeatedly, these groups have been mercilessly attacked. At times there is some pretence; at times there is none. The primary purpose is to stop the world from knowing what is happening on the ground. Only these journalists can describe the hell that has broken loose
and recount the heroism of the medical and aid personnel who remain at their posts.
As the world order, for whatever it is worth, has collapsed, all countries must be prepared to face action and its consequences. This will spark a race to prepare for violence or to counter violence with violence.
Are we paying the due tribute to these last sons and daughters who are laying down their lives for a dream that was never realised – a free world, the right of self-determination and respect for human rights? As in Greek tragedy, the collapse of an ideal leaves only the scattered debris of wisdom, alongside the futility that nothing will emerge from it but repetition.
The write is a Lahore-based culture journalist