Will it be one years time
five years time
ten years time
there’ll be a prize-winning documentary
that will move us
and sadden us
that will be acclaimed by all
because it asks the question:
how could it have happened?

It will win prizes
because the media are always
so good at looking back
at the past
and expressing
what makes us weep
but are always so bad
at showing us
what might make us angry
at the moment
when it’s happening. – Michael Rosen

As Gaza enters its third month of the Israeli Blockade preventing any humanitarian aid getting in, Orkney Islanders will again meet on the Kirk Green, Broad Street, today Saturday 10 May between 1 and 2 pm.

Using starvation is a war crime. Israel has also proposed to create a handful of aid hubs exclusively in the south of the Gaza Strip. Rounding people up to give them food and essential supplies, forcing them to move to receive the aid.

This proposal has been roundly condemned by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

James Elder of UNICEF said that Israel’s plan “contravenes basic humanitarian principles” and appears designed to “reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic.

“It’s dangerous to ask civilians to go into militarized zones to collect rations…humanitarian aid should never be used as a bargaining chip”.

UNRWA, the largest aid provider in the Strip, said that the UN agency has “over 3,000 trucks of aid” that are stuck outside Gaza because of the Israeli blockade with much of the food now going to waste whilst people in Gaza are starving to death.  More than 9,000 children have been admitted for treatment of acute malnutrition since the beginning of the year. Hundreds more children in desperate need of treatment are not able to access it due to the insecurity and displacement.

Since 18 March Israel has issued 22 displacement orders forcing people to move. About 144.3 square kilometres of the Gaza Strip are now under active displacement orders (the total area of the Gaza Strip is approximately 365 square kilometres).  This is in preparation for Israeli settlers to move in. The UN estimates that nearly 430,000 people have been displaced yet again since the breakdown of the ceasefire. This is ethnic cleansing of a region inhabited by Palestinian families for generations.

The aid agency reported that  basic humanitarian supplies, including food, fuel, medical aid and vaccines for children, are rapidly running out; UNRWA flour and food parcels have run out and over one third of essential medical supplies are already out of stock. This is having a devastating impact on the population, particularly on vulnerable groups including children, women and the elderly.

Israel continues to bomb Gaza even where nothing is left, setting makeshift shelters and tents on fire whilst people sleep.

Military operations by Israel are continuing in The West Bank clearing the way for illegal Israeli settlers to move into those areas. On 8 May, heavily armed Israeli Forces entered three UNRWA schools in Shu’fat Camp in occupied East Jerusalem, with the intent to enforce the illegal closure orders issued on 8 April 2025, forcing over 550 children out of their schools. The Israeli Security Forces harassed UNRWA teachers and detained one UNRWA staff member, ordering them to dismiss the students. As a result, UNRWA was forced to evacuate all children across the six schools it runs in East Jerusalem.

The UK continues to aid Israel, by selling arms, and through use of its base in Cyprus for Intelligence gathering. The UK provides approximately 15% of the components for the F-35 fighter jets used by Israel.

Oxfam reports:

These parts are supplied to Israel indirectly, via a global programme led by the US company Lockheed Martin. The UK is a programme partner, and supplies parts produced by BAE Sytems.

The UK produces components for Israeli armed and surveillance drones. The parts are made by UK-linked companies and then assembled in Israeli factories. These drones are ever-present above Gaza and the West Bank, used both for spying missions and in attacks on civilians.

The UK military provides intelligence from spy flights over Gaza and the West Bank to enable Israeli military operations. They also allow the US to use UK military bases on Cyprus to do the same, which facilitates Israeli attacks on Palestinians.

The UK also trains Israeli military personnel in Britain, but the government keeps details of these missions secret.

The Guardian reports on 7 May that “UK firms have exported thousands of military items including munitions to Israel despite the government suspending key arms export licences to the country in September, new analysis of trade data shows.”

In 1939, the finest generation we have known, stood up against fascism and the genocide that the Nazis were committing against European Jews. The UK has just rolled out the bunting to celebrate 80 years of VE Day. Today, however, the UK is not being led by the finest, but by politicians, supporters of Israel, which is conducting a genocide against the people of Gaza, and witnessed by us across social media and news sites. This is a shameful period in our history.

The Orkney Peace vigil will run from 1 to 2pm on the Kirk Green and all are welcome.

Fiona Grahame