Tragedy that is Palestine
Last week, on December 27 Palestine commemorated the
first anniversary of the brutal Israeli attack on Gaza that
killed 1,434 Palestinians.
One and half million Palestinians in the Gaza strip continue
to be under siege for the past two and half years. For the
Palestinians who are denied food, medicines, livelihood and
freedom of movement every day it is a struggle to live. In fact,
they are denied the right to life.
The siege is being intensified now by the construction of a
bomb-proof steel wall by Egypt along the Gaza border. It is also
unfortunate that Palestinians are also divided at this juncture
complicating and weakening their resistance to Israeli
aggression. The population of Gaza is being collectively
punished for democratically electing Hamas as their
representative.
The criminal blockade of Palestine continues unabated despite
world opposition. It continues to hold Palestine territory and
build Israeli settlements in the West Bank. It could do so only
due to the protection offered to it by the United States and the
western powers.
The United Nations and its Security Council ignores the
non-implementation of its own resolutions and the violations of
human rights by Israel as the proverbial monkey who saw no evil,
heard no evil and spoke no evil.
It continues to ignore the Report of its own Fact Finding
Mission on the Israeli attack on Gaza from December 27, 2008 to
January 18, 2009. The Report of the Commission headed by Justice
Richard Goldstone of the Constitutional Court of South Africa
concluded that “the conduct of Israeli Armed Forces constitutes
grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention in respect of
wilful killings and wilfully causing great suffering to
protected persons, and as such give rise to individual criminal
responsibility”.
The Mission after investigating 36 specific incidents of
serious human rights violations, also concluded that serious
violations of International Humanitarian Law by Israeli Armed
Forces fall within the jurisdiction of the International
Criminal Court (ICC) and requested the United Nations and its
Security Council to inform the Prosecutor of the ICC for action.
Though the Goldstone Report has been endorsed by the General
Assembly no action has been taken so far by the UN against
Israel. It exposes the selective treatment of Member States by
the UN which has become a prisoner of the United States and the
European Union.
In this context it is necessary to strengthen the movement of
worldwide solidarity with the people of Palestine for only such
a movement could force the UN to act.
Ayurveda
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has told a group of
Ayurveda practitioners and students that the Government will
seek the assistance of the World Health Organization in
developing Ayurveda research. This is good news.
Ayurveda is a system of medicine on par with other systems
like alopathy. However, it has not received sufficient
recognition and attention. It is now acknowledged by the
scientific community that Ayurveda and other indigenous systems
of healing need to be developed and that they might provide
means of treating various ailments that have so far eluded the
western practitioner.
The need for Ayurvedic research was first recognized by S W R
D Bandaranaike. He was instrumental in setting up the Indigenous
Medicine Ministry and the Ayurveda Research Institute at Nawinna.
However, the institute is cash strapped and also deficient in
human resources. It is high time that this institute is provided
with all means to conduct research.
This is urgent in view of various new ailments that are
spreading. Perhaps, Ayurvedha would have a clue to the treatment
of many such ailments. It is also necessary to provide a
scientific basis for most drugs and patent them.
There is also the necessity to scientifically substantiate
the therapeutic value of many medicinal herbs and ayurvedic
drugs. In this the native knowledge of the country could be made
good use of. Unfortunately foreigners and multinational
companies make use of them and patent drugs and put them for
commercial production.
It is possible to get expertise from India, China and other
Asian countries in the development of the Ayurvedic system,
including its research. |