The war in Gaza is a humanitarian catastrophe. The hypocritical United States of America and the European Union help Ukraine and abandon Palestine

“If the war in Gaza continues, there will be an all-out war Humanitarian catastrophe. The two-state solution is not impossible, but there are two conditions that must be met. The first is to end the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, and the second is to remove illegal Israeli settlements from the West Bank. If not, I think the only way out is to create a democratic state, where people can decide who rules them in democratic elections.”

to talk to Fanpage.it And Mustafa Barghouti. Founder and leader of the Palestinian National Initiative Party, who assessed the situation in Gaza and the West Bank after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and possible solutions to get out of the ongoing crisis, avoiding what would lead to a “humanitarian catastrophe.”

Dr. Barghouti, do you think that after the truce of the last days, we will be able to reach a permanent ceasefire?

He added: “I believe that a ceasefire is the best solution, and after the truce of recent days, we need to make it permanent, because we cannot really continue in this terrible situation.” massacre in Gaza. So far we have lost more than 700 Palestinians killed, more than a hundred of them children. If we also take into account the missing, we are talking about 22,000 Palestinians and 9,000 minors. All this must stop. The condition to address this situation and move towards a final ceasefire is Prisoner exchange On both sides.”

So, in your opinion, could the release of the hostages be a first step towards de-escalation?

He added: “We certainly do not want escalation, and we do not want another war in southern Gaza, because if that happens it will be a complete humanitarian catastrophe. Israel has already destroyed many lives and now there are about 1.3 million citizens gathered.” Together in a small area in the southern part of the sector. If they start bombing again, it will mean a massive humanitarian catastrophe, in which hundreds of thousands of people will die. Let me say that Israel has so far sent more than 400 soldiers and a thousand tons of explosives to Gaza, which is equivalent to twice the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

They have already destroyed 60% of all homes and 80% of people have had to leave their homes. Another attack would be a disaster, but it would not be limited to the potential victims of Israeli bombing. Israel has already destroyed most of Gaza’s infrastructure, and 26 out of 36 hospitals have stopped functioning, along with the electricity and drinking water networks. So, if it attacks again, we will see serious epidemics in Gaza, such as the spread of typhoid and hepatitis, but also cholera. “We have already had to suspend vaccination programs for children, with the risk of seeing an increase in childhood illnesses.”

What is the situation in the West Bank and in Jenin in particular?

“It is very dangerous, because the Israeli army continues its attacks in cities, not only in Jenin, but practically all the cities of the West Bank have been invaded by Tel Aviv forces. The raids began in Jenin, and the two cities were destroyed. They killed two main hospitals, But in recent days they have also killed children, one 8 years old and the other 15 years old. Much of Jenin has been destroyed again. The same thing happened first in the Tulkarm refugee camp, but also in Nablus and Palestine. “So. Since October 7, we have witnessed the killing of hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank, including at least 60 children, at the hands of the Israeli army, which continues its attacks. This could also be an escalation.”

In your opinion, is the two-state solution just an illusion at the moment?

It was so. It was an illusion created by the West and Israel through ongoing colonial activities. But it is not impossible, if two conditions are respected. The first is to end the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, and the second is to end the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. To remove illegal Israeli settlements from the West Bank. If these two conditions are met, this could pave the way for a two-state solution. If not, I think the only solution is to create a democratic state, where people can decide who to choose? They are governed by democratic elections.”

However, it seems that Netanyahu has no intention of stopping the colonization of the West Bank…

He added: “Of course, he is the first to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and he is the one who kills any possibility of peace based on the two-state solution, and in any case, the entire Israeli operation against Gaza, the main goal of this operation.” , is to cleanse the Gaza Strip and evacuate the population to Egypt, and it is clear that he is against the Palestinian state, and he said that he will finance the colonies and settlers in the West Bank until the Palestinians lose any hope for a Palestinian state. So they have three options: to ignore the situation, which is neglect, to accept a life of submission to Israel, which is apartheid, or to die, which is genocide. This is exactly what Israel is doing in Gaza, but they have failed. They failed. They failed to impose themselves on the Palestinians through their steadfastness and resistance. Also because Egypt refused Palestinian access to its borders.

Did you expect more decisive intervention from the international community?

“We have greatly appreciated the reactions of people around the world, including in Europe and the United States, and of course in the Arab world as well. But we are also disturbed and disappointed by the behavior of Western governments. It is strange that they have made a decision on this matter.” It is also very strange that some governments, such as Britain and the United States, continue to refuse to support a complete and permanent ceasefire, and we see very dangerous phenomena, including the refusal to consider the Palestinians as human beings.

Because if we compare the positions of Great Britain and the United States, for example in the war in Ukraine, there is clear hypocrisy. In the case of Ukraine, they provided $200 billion in aid, including military equipment, to fight the Russian occupation, and imposed a series of sanctions on Moscow in less than a month. In our case, Israel has been occupying Palestine for 56 years, but no action has ever been taken. Now the West, especially the United States, is sending all necessary support, including money and weapons, to Tel Aviv, the occupying country. This is illogical and unacceptable.”

Lu has repeatedly criticized the Palestinian National Authority for its management of this crisis. Do you think that the political leaders in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank could have behaved differently? like?

“The Palestinian Authority was very negative and made people very angry. It failed to do the one thing it should have done, which was to bring everyone together and create a single Palestinian leadership to protect and represent citizens. Instead, they did nothing, they just stood by and watched.” They take no action. I believe we must form a single national government that includes everyone in a transitional period and then hold democratic elections. “We should have held elections in 2021, but Israel did everything to prevent that.” “Not even the United States supported them, so the Palestinian Authority canceled them. “If we had held elections two years ago, the situation today would have been completely different.”

Many people believe that Marwan Barghouti, currently detained in Israeli prisons, could be a potential interlocutor for the peace process. what do you think?

“Marwan Barghouti is a friend of mine and a relative of mine. He is a good person, a true Palestinian patriot and would certainly be suitable to create a unique movement. But what we need is not to replace one leader with another leader.” We must have collective leadership based on democratic elections in which Marwan Barghouti can play an important role.”

By Ida Artiaco and Antonio Musella.