DR. LUIS DIAS
I’ve written before about a Palestinian exchange student during my Goa Medical College (GMC) MBBS years in the 1980s. I remember him only by the name, Hassan. I wish I had spoken to him more, gotten to know him better.
I have been thinking of him quite a lot in the past few years, especially as the horrendous Gaza genocide continues unabated while the so-called ‘international community’ of nations looks on impotently, unwilling to put a stop
to it.
The first thought of course is about his safety, in case he happens to be in Gaza or the Occupied West Bank. But it also reminds me of the time not that long ago when the Indian foreign policy stance was solidly in support of Palestine.
In 1947, India voted against the partition of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly and voted against Israel’s admission to the U.N. in 1949.India recognised Palestine’s statehood following the Palestinian declaration of independence on November 18, 1988.
But since formally establishing relations with Israel in the 1990s, India’s stance towards Palestine has been ambivalent at best. Although India voted in favour of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that demanded an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza in December 2024, it abstained from (although 149 countries voted in favour of) a more recent UNGA resolution making the same demand in June 2025. Whatever the rationale for not being more outspoken in the Palestinian cause, in letting diplomatic, military, strategic, economic or other considerations override the moral, ethical and humanitarian ones, India will one day look upon this time and find it was on the wrong side of history.
Ever since Bible stories were read to me as a child, I’ve dreamed of visiting the Holy Land. I’ve imagined going to Bethlehem, Nazareth, Galilee, and Jerusalem. During my England years, it was a lot easier to make the trip to the Holy Land, and I could afford it
as well.
But this is also when my eyes were opened about so many things I had unquestioningly accepted until then. I found myself learning more about the troubled region, through reading up, watching documentaries and speaking to doctor-colleagues from all over the Middle East, including Israel. There are many Israeli Jews who were appalled by the apartheid policies of their country, all the more so now. The famous Israeli journalist and author Gideon Levy is just one prominent example among many.
I find it difficult not to keep abreast with the horror unfolding in Gaza and the West Bank, depressing though it is. As of July 9, 2025, over 60,200 people have been reported killed in Gaza, as well as 217 journalists and media workers, 120 academics, and over 224 humanitarian aid workers. Scholars have estimated 80% of Palestinians killed are civilians. 70% of the Palestinians killed in residential buildings or similar housing were women and children. This does not include those who have died from “preventable disease, malnutrition and other consequences of the war”. Thousands of more dead bodies are thought to be under the rubble of destroyed buildings. The number of injured is greater than 100,000. Gaza has the most amputated children per capita in the world.
But amid all the international hand-wringing and inaction, one brave woman is working tirelessly to remind the world that “if Palestine was a crime scene, it would have the fingerprints of all of us.”
Italian legal scholar and expert on human rights Francesca Albanese was on May 1, 2022 appointed United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories (the first woman to hold the position) for a three-year term, which was then renewed for another three years.
Her outspokenness against Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, and more recently, that Israel’s actions in Gaza amounted to genocide, have led to accusations against her of antisemitism and an anti-Israel bias, although several human rights groups and numerous scholars of antisemitism have said the accusations are illegitimate attempts to discredit her. She has even been the recipient of
death threats.
Her latest report (from the Human Rights Council’s 59th session, June 16–July 11, 2025) titled ‘From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide’ pulls no punches. It “investigates the corporate machinery sustaining Israel’s settler-colonial project of displacement and replacement of the Palestinians in the occupied territory.”
Its summary states that “While political leaders and governments shirk their obligations, far too many corporate entities have profited from Israel’s economy of illegal occupation, apartheid and now, genocide. The complicity exposed by this report is just the tip of the iceberg; ending it will not happen without holding the private sector accountable, including its executives. International law recognises varying degrees of responsibility – each requiring scrutiny and accountability, particularly in this case, where a people’s self-determination and very existence are at stake. This is a necessary step to end the genocide and dismantle the global system that has allowed it.”
The report lists 48 corporations, including Microsoft, Alphabet Inc., Amazon, booking.com and Airbnb, which it states are helping Israel displace Palestinians in breach of international law.
“The situation in the occupied Palestinian territory is apocalyptic,” Albanese said in a statement in the wake of her report. “In Gaza, people continue to endure suffering beyond imagination. Israel is responsible for one of the cruelest genocides in modern history.”
“As the cost to the Palestinian people grows, Israel has dismantled the last function of the UN in Gaza, humanitarian aid. Its so-called ‘Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’ is nothing less than a death trap, engineered to kill or force the flight of a starved, bombarded, emaciated population marked for elimination.”
“Meanwhile, in the West Bank, Palestinians continue to face the largest wave of forced displacement since 1967.” She quoted chilling facts and figures about numbers of people killed, injured, tortured.
She also noted that post-October 2023, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange soared by 213%, amassing 225.7 billion US dollars in market gains: “One people enriched, one people erased.”
“It is the very defenselessness that has made the people and the land of Palestine an ideal laboratory for the Israeli military-industrial complex. The ‘forever’ occupation has provided an optimal testing ground for arms manufacturers and big tech with little oversight and zero accountability, while investors, private and public institutions have profited handsomely.”
She concluded, saying that “[UN] member states must impose a full arms embargo on Israel, suspend all trade agreements and investment relations, and enforce accountability, ensuring that corporate entities face legal consequences for their involvement in serious violations of international law. And corporate entities must urgently cease all business activities and terminate relationship directly linked, contributing to, and causing humans rights violations and international crimes against the Palestinian people.”
“At this existential moment for the Palestinian people, trade unions, lawyers, civil society groups, and ordinary citizens should encourage such behavioural change from corporate entities and governments by pressing for boycotts, divestment, sanctions and accountability.”
“What comes next depends on all of us, and I truly believe that together we can make it happen. It’s not a question of ‘if’, it’s just a question of ‘when’.”