Geostrategic Media Political Commentary, Analysis, Security, Defense
The world is witnessing the worst human miseries due to the Israeli attacks in Gaza which has killed at least 200 Palestinians(according to the official data) in a week including 59 children. The real picture on the ground would be much higher. According to Israel, Hamas killed ten people in Israel.
As a father of two children, my heart cries for the Palestinian children when I see their helpless face, their infinite miseries. Where is the world conscience? Where is the humanity now?Where is the world community now?According to the Guardian, ‘Benjamin Netanyahu signals Israel’s bombardment will continue as Joe Biden issues statement supporting ceasefire’ (May 17, 2021).Nobody knows how many more Palestinian children would die if the bombardment continues. I wonder, among these 59 children, if anyone would be the children of Joe Biden or Benjamin Netanyahu, would the bombardment be continued? And how would they feel?
According to the UN Secretary General, AntónioGuterres, the Israeli-Palestinian crisis was heading for an ‘uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis’. Despite the growing severity of the crisis, according to the Guardian (May 17, 2021), the United States ‘blocked – for the third time in a week – the adoption of a joint UN security council statement calling for a halt to Israeli-Palestinian violence’. This means that the United States might be interested to see more civilian casualties, more Palestinian or Israeli children to die or suffer. This is the same United States along with other major powers who shouts for the human rights, for the legitimate rights of the people in the developing world. But where are Palestinian people’s human rights now? It is quite ironic indeed.
According to a report of theWashington Post (May 17, 2021) the ‘Biden administration approves $735 million weapons sale to Israel’ which has been critiqued even by the Democrats. Thus, one can ask whether the recent Israel attacks on the Palestinians were for the sake of the justification of the (US) selling and buying (Israel) of weapons. The congresswoman Ilhan Omar said in a statement that ‘The United States should not stand idly by while crimes against humanity are being committed with our backing’ (The Guardian, May 17, 2021).
To understand the factors/complexities of Arab-Israeli conflict and the role of the United States in the case, one needs to look back. In this case, Tony McAleavy, in the book, The Arab-Israeli Conflict notes that ‘American influence over Israel was seen in the wars of 1956, 1967 and 1973. During the Suez crisis of 1956, Israel attacked Egypt, together with French and British forces. The Americans were not consulted and the US President, Eisenhower, was very angry at the Israeli action. The Israeli army successfully seized the Egyptian Sinai Desert but the American government insisted thatthe Israelis should withdraw. Over 10 years later, in June 1967, Israel went to war against Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Having learned the lesson of 1 956, the Israelis only attacked when sure ofthe support of the Americans’ (p.50).From this fact, one can conclude that the United States is the key factor. Thus, the narrowly defined interest of the major powers including the United States needs to be questioned over the just cause of the Palestinian issue. In this case, the role of the non-state actors in the world including the United States needs to be accelerated. The role of the global media needs to be reinforced to resolve the crisis.
On 3 August 1973 at the meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of governments in Ottowa, Bangabandhu Sheikh MujiburRahman, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh drew world’s attention that ‘the continued occupation of Arab territories and the denial of the legitimate rights of the people of Palestine urgently demand a just solution’. Coming in 2021, the illegal occupation still continues, Israeli attack on the Palestinians and vice versa still continues, innocent Palestinian civilian including the innocent children still are killed by the Israel and vice versa. What an unjust world it is!This is certainly unbearable!
Therefore, the article argues that the decade’s long blockades and restrictions in Gaza, decades long illegal occupation by Israelis in West Bank and the continuation of Palestinian and Israeli civilian killing needs to be stopped. On the contrary, Hamas which has been defined by the Western state as a ‘terrorist organization’ also needs to stop its attack on the Israelis. At least for the sake of the innocent, helpless children, the Israeli attack on the Palestinians and vice versa need to be stopped permanently and a two-state solution needs to be executed by the international community. It is a shame for the international community that in more than six decades, they could not resolve this single issue, the Israel-Palestine conflict. It is high time to realize that the humanity needs to be triumphed over the political economy of war or narrowly defined interest.
