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WASHINGTON —As Israel retaliates against the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Palestinian leaders are calling for an immediate intervention by the United Nations and the international community to stop the ongoing violence. In an interview with VOA's Kurdish Service, Mustafa Barghouthi, leader of the Palestinian National Initiative based in the West Bank, said the Israeli attacks have caused a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
VOA: What's your assessment of the latest developments in the Gaza Strip?
Barghouthi: It's a very dangerous development. ... You're talking about 2.2 million people living in a very little area, which is no more than 140 square miles [362 square kilometers], the most densely populated area in the world. And Israel is airstriking the place with so many bombs. ... Also, they are putting Gaza under a very serious blockade, preventing the supply of water, electricity, food and medication and milk for children. Everything is blocked, and people have no access to all of these things. Now, Gaza is almost in complete darkness. People have no safety.
And then today, the spokesperson of the Israeli military said that all Palestinians in Gaza must evict to Egypt. So, clearly now Israel is conducting not only bombardment and a total blockade, but also, they are trying to conduct ethnic cleansing of 2.2 million Palestinians. ... We are facing here a very grave, very serious violation, not only of international law, but of the life of human beings.
VOA: There have been many calls for a U.N.-led international humanitarian intervention in the Gaza Strip. What can the Palestinian Authority do as a recognized Palestinian body to help in this regard?
Barghouthi: Not very much. I think what we need here is a very strong immediate intervention and reaction from the international community. I would like to hear whether the chancellor in Germany and the president of the United States and the prime minister of Britain, whether they agree with this blockade and this terrible bombardment that already took the lives of more than 870 Palestinians, including 150 children and more than 100 women. Do they accept the idea of ethnic cleansing? Do they accept that Palestinians would be evicted again and that most of the people of Gaza who have been ethnically cleansed in 1948 would be ethnically cleansed again?
VOA: This current violence started after Hamas militants invaded parts of the Israeli territory and killed hundreds of civilians.
Barghouthi: Actually, the conflict did not start with the Hamas attack. The Hamas attack came as a response to several things, including the Israeli settlers, attacks on Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and the Israeli army attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank during the last eight months, which killed 240 Palestinians, including 40 children. It came after Israeli settlers conducted terror attacks on many Palestinian villages, burning houses or burning cars. It came after the Israeli side violated the holy places for Muslims and Christians and attacked them. And it came also after [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu stood up at the United Nations declaring the annexation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as well as the Golan Heights.
VOA: Do you think there's still room for negotiation between the Palestinians and the Israelis?
Barghouthi: If the Israelis want. ... At this very moment, there is a very serious crisis affecting the lives of 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza and even millions more Palestinians in other parts of Palestine. One way is to immediately have a cease-fire, start a process of de-escalation, exchange prisoners ... and then maybe the international community could provide a platform for a peaceful resolution. The other alternative is what Israel is doing now, which is a very serious attack on Palestinians and then a ground invasion into Gaza, which would lead to another war in the north, most probably with Hezbollah. ... These are the two possibilities. And I hold the international community responsible for allowing such a terrible scenario to take place if they don't intervene immediately.
This story originated in VOA's Kurdish Service.