Israel, Gaza and superbugs.

The Middle East is currently in a diplomatic mess. Particularly the Gaza – Israeli crisis. And it is a crisis. The Israelis say its all the Palestinians fault that there is a blockade of Gaza. The Israelis need to stop attacks on Israel. Fair comment! But what the Israelis forget, or ignore, is that some Palestinian families still have the keys to the houses they were forced to leave (without compensation) in 1948, when the State of Israel was formed. 

This injustice, and it is an injustice, being forced to leave your land and house without compensation, has been seared deep into the Palestinian psyche. All the Palestinians want in their land back. Instead they were told, “invited”, to move to Gaza, or be forcibly moved there. So the Palestinians, as they have done for 70 years, are trying, by any means to get the Israelis to agree to a solution, even the least worst option of a “Two State” country. 

This, “two state” possible solution, is anathema to the hard line parties in the Israeli parliament that will not budge – Israel belongs to the Jews according to Biblical records; it is a God given land, and so it will remain!  

So Gaza is now the most densely populated place on earth with its infrastructure largely destroyed by Israel. Normal standards of hygiene are impossible to achieve. Water and sewage treatment is largely non-existent. It is on record that untreated wastewater has now seeped into the aquifer that is drawn on by Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.  Hospitals are unable to obtain enough drugs and medications to effectively treat the many wounded by the Israeli air attacks.  

The result? An alarming increase in the incidence of antibiotic resistant superbugs. The trouble is this Genie is now well and truly out of the bottle and can never be put back. Superbugs are spread very easily and Gaza shares borders with Israel and Egypt – admittedly heavily controlled and fortified border crossings. But people move, crossing those border every day and will carry the bacteria on their clothes, shoes, on their skin, even up their nose. 

These superbugs will spread worldwide. Their movement is now unstoppable. 

Remember the old tale about the horseshoe nail? “For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; for want of a horse the battle was lost; for want of a battle the Kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horse shoe nail.” 

This still holds true. Inaction and intransigence on resolving a 70 years old injustice will cause problems for us all.