Déja vu in Gaza
by Vera Gowlland-Debbas
Do events in Gaza show the "responsibility to protect" to be nothing but pious buzz-words? Through the lens of history, remember the famous attempt by Jews to resist the Germans in armed fighting in the Warsaw ghetto? As recounted by The Holocaust Encyclopedia, the Warsaw ghetto was established by German decree on October 12, 1940 and sealed off from the rest of the city. “The ghetto was enclosed by a wall that was over 10 feet high, topped with barbed wire, and closely guarded to prevent movement between the ghetto and the rest of Warsaw. The population of the ghetto…was estimated to be over 400,000 Jews. German authorities forced ghetto residents to live in an area of 1.3 square miles, with an average of 7.2 persons per room.”
Deserted in Western Sahara
by Saeed Taji Farouky
Thirty years since the declaration of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic the people of this "non-country" are still waiting for peaceful independence and expecting war. Saeed Taji Farouky joins a grim anniversary celebration. From children to adults," says Mohammad Ali, "everyone will tell you they want war." We are in Tifariti, a collection of municipal buildings in the western extreme of the Sahara desert, hundreds of kilometres from the nearest city. We are supposed to be celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the declaration of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), for which the Polisario Front, which runs the SADR, has brought more than five hundred foreign journalists, aid workers, artists and others here to mark the occasion. But the mood is not festive.
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