THE EDITOR: After viewing the movie Out of the Ashes, which recalled the life and times of Dr Gisella Perl (a Jewish gynaecologist), it appears more and more that the war in Palestine bears many similarities.

The concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland, where millions of people were ill-treated and many died, some by deliberate action of their captors, others by disease and malnutrition, bears a stark resemblance to the herding of Palestinians in Rafah.

The Jews in World War II were taken out of their homes and transported to the camps while the people of Gaza have been forced to the southern city (which has become an Auschwitz-like camp), where we are seeing thousands of people massacred at the hands of Israeli troops.

This time it's not the killing of defenceless people by those whose faces the victims can see, but it's bombing by missiles and planes flying overhead, especially in the dead of night. A very cowardly act indeed by the perpetrators who hide themselves and fire under the cover of darkness.

Incidentally, the over 30,000 people who have been massacred by the Israeli forces are mostly civilians who have nothing to do with the war and don't even understand why they are being bombed. Over 50 per cent of the innocent people killed are women and children.

In the movie, which is a true account of the horrible incidents in the life of the doctor, the question is asked to the immigration panel by Perl, "And when our people were being slaughtered, where were you and what did you do?"

A similar question has to be asked today, "Where are the people who condemned the Holocaust and said that it will never happen again?"

The people of Gaza and the West Bank are being killed not in the same manner like in World War II, but they are herded into one small area (over 1.5 million) and prevented from accessing food, water, electricity and medicines to treat injuries and diseases. For the people of Palestine, it is World War II all over again, and some victims must certainly be thinking the world is now experiencing world war III.

The powers that be need to stop this atrocity immediately and get help to the innocents caught up in this horrible situation. If this is not done soon, there is no telling if similar incidents would happen elsewhere.

WKS HOSEIN

Chaguanas

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