At the time of writing, the death toll of Palestinians in the Middle East had edged over the 800 mark as the Israeli army intensified its attacks in Gaza and began to suppress protests in the West Bank.

In comparison, 34 Israelis have been killed in the conflict. In essence, Gaza remains to be the world’s largest open prison, with rockets, bombs and shells raining down on it indiscriminately. How can the world ever expect terrorism to stop if this continues? The children of today who are being terrorised as houses and schools blow up around them will be the radicals and extremists of tomorrow.

And who can blame them? These children do not even remember freedom. All they know is the sorry excuse of living conditions that they live in, the power cuts, the bombings, the abductions and the crimes against humanity that are being perpetrated as we speak.

Yet, the whole world continues to watch as more and more people die. How is this tolerated in modern society? Of course, Hamas has as much to answer for, as does Israel (which also has a right to defend itself). But to them this is normality. They strike back at Israel with whatever they have, and in return, Israel tried to crush them with all their military might. Sadly, it is families – women, children, young men, old men – they are the ones who suffer. They are the ones who are burying someone they know or were related to every single day, and all the while, the bombs continue to rain down.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat deserves kudos for the way he immediately spoke up and pushed for the introductions of sanctions against Russia by the EU within hours of the Malaysia Airlines disaster. But equally, he should say something about Gaza. Last night, parliament was to hold an urgent debate on the situation in Libya – and this is also necessary given that we still have people stuck there and the fact that it is on our doorstep. This was at the opposition’s request. But have we heard any word on Gaza? Not aside from a solitary statement by an MP here and there. Malta has – to a degree – painted itself into a tight corner. On the one hand, the nation has always advocated the two-state solution and on the other, ties with Israel have been warmed.

No one can deny that the cooperation agreement for cancer treatment of Maltese patients in Israel (a world leader in the field) is a good thing. But where does that leave us? Do we take the Israeli side, or do we take the Palestinian side. It seems that while it was OK to speak up about Russia and Libya – Palestine is now a taboo. 

Foreign Ministry replies:

These clearly show that the statement made in today’s issue of your newspaper is incorrect.