On May 24, the International Court of Justice issued new provisional measures ordering Israel to end military operations in Rafah immediately. Israel, the US, and the UK are vehemently opposed to this. In the Middle East, as well as in the Global South and Europe, there are growing condemnations of Israel and calls for an early ceasefire. In the midst of such voices raised, another tragedy occurred. Israeli military forces bombed the refugee camp in Rafah, killed 45 civilians, and injured hundreds of people. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where people there continue to be starved and attacked, can no longer be overlooked. A prompt ceasefire and delivery of food and medicine are desired.

While the “theory of the origin” of this issue goes back to the Mandate by the UK in the early 20th century, in terms of “against Hamas,” the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in 2006 were the starting point. Amid the series of confrontations and peace processes that started because of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in 1947, public dissatisfaction with the Fatah-controlled government headed by the president Abbas, which ultimately failed to stop the expansion of occupation and settlement and where corruption was rampant, led Hamas to victory in the elections. Against Hamas, which does not allow Israel’s right to exist, Israel with its military power has been thoroughly separating and dividing Gaza, and isolating Gaza politically, economically, socially, and mentally.

There is an unforgettable passage in “From Holocaust to Gaza” (first published by Seidosha in 2009), a book written by Sara Roy, a political scientist in the US whose parents are survivors of the Holocaust by the Nazis. On January 28, 2009, the grandchild of a Treblinka extermination camp victim appealed to the president of the State of Israel on the newspaper “Le Monde” to remove his or her grandfather’s name from a monument in the Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, Israel. The appeal was that the grandchild did not want his or her grandfather’s name, a witness to the fear that the Jewish people suffered from, to be used to justify the current crisis that the Palestinian people are experiencing.

On May 28, 2024, Ireland, Spain, and Norway announced that they would recognize a Palestinian state, and Macron, the president of France, also mentioned the “recognition.” On the other hand, Erdoğan, the president of Turkey, said that the spirit of the UN died in Gaza, and called on the Islamic world to take action. A small-scale clash between Egypt and Israel was also reported. A week before that, the Japanese government resumed the provision of supplies through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which had been suspended because its staff had been involved in attacks on Israel by Hamas. At a ceremony held in Cairo, the ambassador of Japan to Egypt reportedly said that he heard that many countries are resuming their support, but I do not think other countries’ recent activities matter. I want the diplomacy of Japan to represent the will of the nation, which proclaims the rule of law and rejects any changes in the current situation by force, rather than following the stances and actions of other countries.

This Week’s Focus, May 31

Takashi Mizukoshi, the President