If you support war crimes investigation of Putin, you need to demand accountability of Americans and their allies — George Bush for the Iraq catastrophe and Israel’s Gantz for bombing Gaza “back to the Stone Age,” as he bragged. But no one in our official culture cares about the ample American and Israeli track record of alleged war crimes. No, they shut such investigations down. The only consequences to Bush for the “unprovoked” war against Iraq — just what they say about Putin now — was he got shoes thrown at him.

Gaza continues to be at a major disadvantage in the pandemic due to the borderline functioning of the health care system after years of siege and repeated Israeli assaults and exhausted medical personnel. According to the World Health Organizations, 61.7% of the target population is fully vaccinated in the West Bank, 32.3% fully vaccinated in Gaza. The rate in Israel is 66 percent.

The Gaza Strip has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world – more than 50% – and an exceptionally young population. As more young people fall in love under the blockade, couples are turning to loan agencies to get married, and falling into crippling debt in the process.

One of the great reliefs of Gaza’s cold winters is knowing that strawberry season is coming in December.

Israel announced the completion of a 65-kilometer-long sensor-equipped underground wall and maritime barrier around the besieged Gaza Strip. Not a single mainstream media outlet used the term “concentration camp” to report on it but they should have.

You can’t food-wash apartheid. Naming a Philadelphia food truck “Moshava” after a colonial tradition is appropriate considering that its supposed Israeli menu is predominantly Arab food, appropriated by Israel much the same as they’ve appropriated Palestinian lands, home, and heritage. There is nothing Israeli about shawarma, hummus, falafel, or arayes, all of which predate the state of Israel by a few dozen centuries.

The U.N. must act to demand the end of the Gaza blockade and the collective punishment of 2 million, to insure the respect for holy sites in Jerusalem, and to push for a multilateral effort to grant equal rights to all members of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.

We are mentors for the We Are Not Numbers youth storytelling project. We work with Palestinian writers 18 to 30 years of age whose stories have been rendered largely invisible by the world. And we support the general strike by Palestinians on May 18.

Our current living conditions under the siege are an affront to human dignity. Concrete political action is needed NOW to end not only the current deathly bombing raids, but also this illegal occupation and siege of Gaza by Israel, immediately.

Mohammed Moussa recounts his harrowing attempt to travel from Gaza to Turkey, which included interminable waits, abuse, and extortion. “I did not feel alive again until I arrived at Istanbul airport, and was considered and treated like a normal human being. ”