{"id":8125,"date":"2025-05-22T14:29:54","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T19:29:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/?p=8125"},"modified":"2025-05-22T14:29:57","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T19:29:57","slug":"what-israel-calls-safe-gaza-families-now-call-a-graveyard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/what-israel-calls-safe-gaza-families-now-call-a-graveyard\/","title":{"rendered":"What Israel Calls Safe, Gaza Families Now Call a Graveyard"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cAre we going somewhere safe?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what countless Palestinian children have asked as their families fled one destroyed neighborhood after another in Gaza. But as Dalia Abu Ramadan movingly writes in her Truthout<\/em> essay<\/a>, even so-called \u201csafe zones\u201d have become death traps. Schools, markets, homes, and hospitals\u2014spaces that should be protected under international law\u2014have been reduced to rubble under Israeli airstrikes. Families were told to evacuate north Gaza. Then south. Then west. And still, the bombs came.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Peace Economy Project<\/a>, we are devastated and enraged by these stories. We exist to challenge a global system that prioritizes weapons and war over human life. And what is happening in Gaza right now is a direct result of that system operating at full force\u2014with no brakes, no accountability, and no moral justification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Militarism Without Limits<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Dalia\u2019s firsthand account describes the horror of being bombed in Gaza\u2019s Al-Rimal neighborhood\u2014an area the Israeli military labeled a \u201csafe zone.\u201d She recalls how her father narrowly escaped a blast while buying flour, and how her brother survived a strike at a caf\u00e9, where dozens were killed, including students just trying to access the internet to continue their education. Children like ten-year-old Noah Al-Saqqa were told it was safe to run to the store\u2014only to be buried hours after their birthday party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are not accidents. These are not isolated. These are symptoms of a militarized worldview that treats civilians as collateral and human suffering as acceptable<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why It Matters in the U.S.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The United States provides more than $3 billion annually in military aid to Israel<\/a>, funding the very weapons systems responsible for this destruction. This means we are not neutral. We are not observers. We are complicit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weapons paid for by U.S. tax dollars are being used against hospitals, schools, and refugee camps. While American families struggle to access housing, healthcare, and education, our government is pouring billions into tools of war\u2014supporting a strategy that perpetuates violence rather than peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We must ask: What does it mean to fund military \u201csecurity\u201d when children are dying in places they were told were safe?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Peace Requires<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Peace is not the absence of war rhetoric\u2014it is the presence of justice<\/a><\/strong>. It requires accountability for war crimes, the protection of civilians, and the honoring of international humanitarian law. It means ending the policy of military aid without oversight, and investing instead in diplomacy, reconstruction, and human dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Dalia\u2019s piece so painfully illustrates, \u201csafety\u201d under militarism is a lie. No neighborhood is safe when airstrikes are indiscriminate. No child is safe when bombs are dropped on grocery stores and caf\u00e9s. No future is safe when the world remains silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We Stand in Solidarity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Peace Economy Project stands with the people of Gaza. We stand with families whose children were murdered in so-called safe zones. We call for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n