moon visited Gaza a couple of days ago and declared to the world that he stands “with the people of Gaza”, a statement of support that helps draw attention to the misery there even as a bigger diplomatic push is under way to restart peace talks. Ban Ki-moon may well be taking the only road that he can take in bringing the Palestinian catastrophe to the fore. Any secretary general who makes such a statement will certainly receive enough press coverage to put the story in most of the world's newspapers. Unfortunately, that seems to be the extent to what the United Nations is able to do as far as ending the situation there. The UN is well-known for the resolutions that it has passed over the years, demanding Israel to withdraw from lands occupied after the wars fought last century. It has refused to do so. Sanctions have been proposed, as well, but they have been vetoed by the US, which has repeatedly exercised its veto power in the UN Security Council to protect Israel from the wrath of the world. The UN has even sent peacekeeping troops to areas under siege by Israel. The Israelis challenged them. Israel even attacked and destroyed a UN compound in Gaza during last year's offensive. It's nice that the secretary general of the UN stands with the people of Gaza. It's nice that Lady Ashton, the EU's top foreign diplomat, told Arab leaders that she stands against the Israeli closure of Gaza even if she failed to mention that stance when actually in Gaza. Words of support are always nice. The question of Palestine is not a nice one, and the time has come for the world to stop being nice for the primary perpetrators of a situation that sees one people oppressing another while stealing its land and brutalizing its population. When Hamas won a fair election to rule the West Bank, the world banded together to do everything possible to run the party out of government. And it was largely successful. Instead of wringing its hands and fretting, perhaps it is time for the world to do the same to Israel that it has done to Hamas: marginalize it, starve it and run the current government out of the halls of power. Then, when someone says that they stand with Gaza, we will know what that means. __
