Members of the National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, attend a news conference in Gaza City. Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip have agreed to Arab and United Nations proposals for a truce in the latest cross-border fighting with Israel. File picture
The Israeli killings and bombings of women, children and babies in Palestine show that moral force is of little importance.
More than 6 million Jewish people were killed in World War II.
Gandhi said only through pain and suffering do we understand what tolerance and understanding is. The present-day Israeli government has no compassion or tolerance for human beings.
The Oslo Agreements have been violated time and again by right wing Israeli governments.
Israelis, protected by the Israel Defence Forces, enter Palestinian territory and occupy Palestinian land in Gaza and the West Bank.
An independent State of Palestine is just a dream. The Western powers that have much influence regarding Israeli policy are deaf to the cry and suffering of Palestinian people.
They did the same when the South African apartheid regime illegally occupied South West Africa, which was a UN territory from 1918.
They refused to ask the apartheid regime to vacate South West Africa, which is present-day Namibia. They earned a lot of money buying shares in the mining companies in apartheid South Africa and occupied Namibia.
The UN secretary general said recently that the suffering of the Palestinian people for 56 years and their rights to statehood should be taken seriously.
He asked Israeli supporters in the West to act immediately to bring an end to the suffering of the people of Palestine.
If the people of Israel want peace there should be a free and democratic Palestine with internationally recognised borders. Just as the Palestinians need visas to enter Israel the Israeli population should be compelled to have visas to enter Palestine.
It is not enough to propose a substitute for military virtues, we have to develop alternatives for military methods.
The alternative for anarchy in the Middle East is a system of justice, law and order. A majority of the peoples support the rights of the Palestinians to nationhood.
If that does not take place then the Israelis will have no peace either.
President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa should have gone to the Middle East and advised both the Israeli government and Palestinian government to negotiate an independent Palestine state.
He should tell the Israeli government that South Africans of all races want people in Israel to live in peace.
It will only happen when the Palestinians have their own independent state.
He should also tell PM Netanyahu of Israel that South African Jewish leaders like Joe Slovo, Ruth First and Denis Goldberg fought for our freedom.
I also took part in the Free Palestine protests in the Netherlands for a free Palestine and an end to the war.
* Dr Sears Appalsamy Breda, Netherlands.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
Do you have something on your mind; or want to comment on the big stories of the day? We would love to hear from you. Please send your letters to arglet@inl.co.za.
All letters to be considered for publication, must contain full names, addresses and contact details (not for publication)