AT a time when the world is working towards easing the heartbreaking plight of the casualties of the disastrous earthquake in Haiti, Israel is taking advantage of the massive floods, which hit some parts of the Middle East, to inundate the Gaza Valley in Palestine. The Jewish state deliberately opened a dam to release built-up waters without warning the Palestinians. Apparently by opening the dam, Israel meant to deluge Palestinian farms, houses and animal barns so as to wreak serious economic losses on the Palestinians, who have been living under harsh conditions for around three years, i.e. since Israel enforced a siege on the Gaza Strip. Ironically, since its creation on Palestinian territory, Israel has been working on swallowing up the water resources of the Palestinians and has concentrated its expansion plans on dominating water resources at the cost of the Palestinians' quota of water. However, when a flood came, Israel did not consider directing it in such a way as to enhance groundwater storage but employed it as an additional weapon against the hapless inhabitants of Gaza. While last year, Israel chose to rain down bombs on the Palestinians and use banned white phosphorus weapons, this year it saw that the easier option was to leave it to nature to deluge them with floodwaters. Some Israeli officials responded by denying the act, claiming that it is the habit of Hamas, who is ruling the impoverished enclave, to blame Israel for every natural disaster. If this is true, and Israel had nothing to do with last Monday's flood on the Gaza Valley, who is responsible for the landslide and the subsidence that have occurred? These cave-ins have continued to appear in different parts of the Wadi Hilwa road, of the Silwan area in occupied Jerusalem, a few metres away from Al- Aqsa Mosque, which is Islam's third holiest site. The landslide, which was exacerbated by last Monday's rains, proved to have been caused by the Israeli underground excavations below Al-Aqsa Mosque. Israel is constructing a network of tunnels that lead to the southern wall of the mosque, as well as underneath it. These illegal Israeli excavations, not only threaten Al Aqsa Mosque, making it vulnerable to the effects of any minor earthquake or other natural disaster such as a flood, but also puts buildings and homes of the Palestinians in East Jerusalem at risk. It is no secret that Israel has continued to force the Palestinians of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) to evacuate their houses and even to deport them from the old city under different excuses, with the sole aim of Judaising the Holy City and changing its demographic nature in favour of the Jews. Hamas, the main Palestinian rival of Israel, is controlling the Gaza Strip and Israel has found this an excuse not to extend a hand to assist the Gazans in preventing this catastrophic flood or even to lessen its consequences. What prevents the Netanyahu government then, which dominates most of the West Bank and Jerusalem, from speeding up with treating the landslides being caused by the tunnel network it insists on creating beneath Al-Aqsa Mosque? The answer is very clear: Israel intended to excavate so deeply into the ground so as to weaken the foundations of the mosque and its Palestinian environs so that they will shortly collapse with the slightest earthquake in the region. The international community has chosen to turn a blind eye to the crime being committed against one of the oldest religious monuments on earth. But what keeps the Islamic and the Arab world mum on the dirty plot being cooked up against Al-Aqsa, the third holiest Muslim place after Al- Kaaba in Mecca and the Prophet's mosque in Medina? If the Arabs have chosen to turn their backs on the Palestinians under the pretext of the present inter Palestinian conflict, the entire Muslim nation should not neglect the ongoing crime targeting their holy shrine in Al-Quds. Instead, via their governments and civil societies, as well as the Organisation of Islamic Conference, the Muslims should spare no efforts to put pressure on the Jewish state to stop its excavations beneath the Muslims shrine. The Muslim nation could also pressurise UNESCO into sending a team of experts to examine the mosque's foundations so as to carry out whatever maintenance is needed to protect the ancient building against possible collapse. Meanwhile, continuing to neglect the Israeli plot against Al-Aqsa for being a Muslim shrine would embolden Israel to perpetrate similar acts against the Christian holy sites in Bethlehem, such as the Churches of the Nativity and the Resurrection. In particular, given the major fall of the Christian population in these places to less than five per cent of the inhabitants, this negligence would abet Israel in achieving its main target of turning the country into a purely Jewish state. So, are we ready to sacrifice our Muslim and Christian holy sites in Palestine in Israel's interest or will we unite to stop this Israeli crime against our great religious heritage and humanitarian tradition? Dear readers are invited to contribute their comments, views and questions via the ordinary mail: 111-115 Ramsis St., Cairo and the e-mail: ([email protected])
