Pursue peace, not war, in Mideast
The current conflict in the Middle East will go down in history as one of the cruelest man-made catastrophe of this century.
As of the writing of this article, more than 32,000 people have perished in Gaza. According to UNICEF, these include about 13,000 children. The United Nations Women's Forum estimates that the number of women who have been killed exceeds 9,000. More than 200 physicians and health care workers and over 85 journalists have been killed. More than 75,000 people have been injured, and many will perish because of a lack of medical care.
This does not even consider the natural deaths due to lack of medicine, etc., for people with chronic diseases. One can argue over semantics as to whether it's genocide or not, but the reality is that this is a devastatingly cruel war. It is even saddening to note that many of its horrors have been conducted using American arms supplied by our tax dollars.
The need to accelerate humanitarian assistance cannot be overstated. The World Health Organization and other responsible relief agencies have warned us of significant threat is the possibility of famine, which will kill many more people, mostly innocent noncombatants.
The immediate need is for an accelerated supply of food and water to the civilian population in Gaza. We should be more active and increase our influence to get more humanitarian aid. It is estimated that more than 70% of the infrastructure is uninhabitable and close to one and a half million people are crammed into tents.
Supplying humanitarian aid is possible only with a permanent cease-fire, rebuilding their infrastructure and allowing people to go back to their homes.
The Israel/Palestine conflict should be viewed in its entirety. The conflict did not start on Oct. 7, 2023. The loss of civilian Israeli lives on Oct. 7 was cruel and should be condemned. However, the root causes of this violence should not be overlooked. The siege of Gaza is fertile ground for hate against those who are responsible for denying the Palestinian people the freedom that they so vehemently seek for themselves.
The occupation and continued seizure of Palestinian land and harassment in the West Bank by extreme religious zealots are not conducive to long-term peace in the Middle East.
A fair resolution of the Palestine issue is in America's long-term strategic interest. This is possible only if Congress takes a bipartisan approach to work toward a long-term resolution of the Middle East by working for the security of both Israel and an independent Palestine State.
Several congressional leaders, including Sen. Chuck Schumer, have wisely discussed the need for the Netanyahu administration to take a different course of action. Hopefully, this effort will become bipartisan, as it is indeed in the interest of Israel and peace in the world.
People all over the world are hoping that sanity prevails and that the holy land will see peace and tranquility replacing death and destruction in the holy lands in years to come.
• Vaseem Iftekhar is a retired senior executive in pharmaceutical research and development from Hawthorn Woods.