Silence of the Arab World on Israeli carnage shocking
For the last eighteen days, the Israeli military attacks on the Palestinians on the Gaza strip can be described as a modern day savagery. It has shocked the conscience of all human beings who witnessed the killing of innocent children, women and men in Gaza on the pretext that Hamas is a terrorist organization which fire rockets into Israeli lands.
Nearly 1100 Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed while a dozen Israeli were killed, many of them Israeli soldiers, since December when the conflict broke out.
The targeting of civilians in Gaza is potentially a war crime and the Israeli leaders could be tried by the International Criminal Court at The Hague for crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Who created Hamas?
When Hamas was created in 1987, Israel was mostly concerned with Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement and figured that a religious Palestinian organization would help undermine Arafat. Israel cracked down on Arafat's Fatah and allowed Hamas to rise as a counterforce. Most Gazans scorn Fatah (Chairman Abbas's party) as corrupt and incompetent. What we see today is the Boomerang Syndrome in the Middle East just as we had witnessed the rise of Talibans as a counter-force by the US intelligence to Soviet occupation in Afghanistan in the '80s. What does Hamas struggle for?
Hamas struggles for justice and fair play. Israel has been in illegal occupation since 1967. Israel does not care world opinion so long the US is with them. Most of the Gazans, were refugees, driven by Israeli military to Gaza in 1948. The Gaza Strip, one of the world's most densely packed places and is a firmly sealed human pressure cooker today because of Israeli economic blockade. The 1.5 million people, squeezed in a territory of 140 square miles - more than half of whom are under the age of 18 - are struggling under severe movement restrictions further tightened by Israel. Israel controls access to the area, exports and imports, movement of people in and out. Israel has control over Gaza's airspace and coastlines and its forces enter the area at will. Gaza has been choked off, leading to life-threatening problems of sanitation, health, water supply, and transportation. The economic blockade put by Israel on Gaza is inhuman. Why this attack?
Lifting the blockade and the cessation of rocket-fire was one of the key terms of the June cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. The cease-fire broke down when Israeli forces launched major air and ground attacks in early November. The present conflict is also politically motivated because the Labour party of Israeli defense Minister, Ehud Barak, (the chairman of the party) is trailing behind both Likud and Kadima parties in popularity poll in Israel. The next Israeli election is to be held next month and therefore the Defense Minister started this war against the Gazans to boost his party in the poll to prove his tough stance against Hamas, unnecessarily killing the innocent Gazans. Reactions
Across the world, people protested the Israeli attacks on civilians. The brutal killings of the innocent Palestinians led Venezuela and Bolivia to sever diplomatic ties with Israel but neither Egypt nor Jordan did take any step to cut-off its diplomatic relations. Turkey came out with strong statement that killing 4000 children in Gaza did not constitute "success for Israel". Furthermore, the twenty-one Arab States except Syria have been watching silently for almost three weeks as Palestinian civilians were being killed by Israeli attacks. Why are they silent for so long? They held the Arab League meeting only on 16th January, after good three-weeks of conflict had passed, and over a thousand Gazans were killed. There are many reasons for the silent behaviour of the Arab World and some of them may be described as follows: First, the attack on Hamas is seen by the Arab World as weakening Iran's hold over the Hamas who control the Gaza. If Hamas is destroyed, Iran's influence on the Palestinian peace process will be drastically reduced. Second, the Sunni Arab States feel threatened by Shi'ite Iran and Hamas, though Sunnis are being strongly supported by Iran; the Arab World wants to de-link Hamas from Iran. Third, the US provide billions of dollars as aid to Egypt and Jordan and many of the Arab rulers depend on the US for the continuation of their rule and therefore they do not wish to annoy the US by taking any action against its strongest ally in the region, Israel. Fourth, the Arab League is divided and the essential glue of uniting all Arab states is absent, partly because competition for leadership in the Arab World is still going on among certain states. Fifth, Arab oil-producing countries export substantial portion of oil to the US and they do not wish to disturb the export at a time when many Arab countries are in financial trouble because of the global economic crisis. The demand for oil is getting low day by day and the price is now less than $40.00 per barrel and most of their budgets were based on the oil price of $70.00 per barrel. Realities on the ground
Palestine was never a land without people. Israel is persistently and grossly breaching international law and infringing fundamental human rights with impunity afforded to it through the diplomatic, economic and military support of the US. The June cease-fire agreement has not been kept by Israel. The economic blockade was not lifted. The life of the Gazans was precarious and humiliating. The Israeli war on the people of Gaza is not about firing rockets. Its purpose in reality is to show to Iran how strong Israel is. It is also to demonstrate to Hamas that they understand the power of Israel and that they are defeated people. It is interesting to note Dr. Aaron David Miller, who has played a central role in US efforts to broker Arab-Israeli peace under both Republican and Democratic administrations, in his book "The Much Too Promised Land", (March 2008: Random House). He writes that the Bush team in eight years has managed to put America in the unique position in the Middle East where "it is not liked, not feared, and not respected…we stumbled for eight years under George Bush over how to make war there" and the result is " an America that is trapped in a region which it cannot fix and it cannot abandon." What the Obama administration should do is take initiative that is impartial, and inclusive to resolve the growing cycle of violence and tension. It is suggested that the new administration of the US should engage and entice the parties, in particular Israel, and hold them accountable in practical terms, not just rhetorically. The new Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may ensure that the Obama administration should not get sucked into an Israeli approach and should be a non-partisan and credible mediator of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The author is former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.
When Hamas was created in 1987, Israel was mostly concerned with Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement and figured that a religious Palestinian organization would help undermine Arafat. Israel cracked down on Arafat's Fatah and allowed Hamas to rise as a counterforce. Most Gazans scorn Fatah (Chairman Abbas's party) as corrupt and incompetent. What we see today is the Boomerang Syndrome in the Middle East just as we had witnessed the rise of Talibans as a counter-force by the US intelligence to Soviet occupation in Afghanistan in the '80s. What does Hamas struggle for?
Hamas struggles for justice and fair play. Israel has been in illegal occupation since 1967. Israel does not care world opinion so long the US is with them. Most of the Gazans, were refugees, driven by Israeli military to Gaza in 1948. The Gaza Strip, one of the world's most densely packed places and is a firmly sealed human pressure cooker today because of Israeli economic blockade. The 1.5 million people, squeezed in a territory of 140 square miles - more than half of whom are under the age of 18 - are struggling under severe movement restrictions further tightened by Israel. Israel controls access to the area, exports and imports, movement of people in and out. Israel has control over Gaza's airspace and coastlines and its forces enter the area at will. Gaza has been choked off, leading to life-threatening problems of sanitation, health, water supply, and transportation. The economic blockade put by Israel on Gaza is inhuman. Why this attack?
Lifting the blockade and the cessation of rocket-fire was one of the key terms of the June cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. The cease-fire broke down when Israeli forces launched major air and ground attacks in early November. The present conflict is also politically motivated because the Labour party of Israeli defense Minister, Ehud Barak, (the chairman of the party) is trailing behind both Likud and Kadima parties in popularity poll in Israel. The next Israeli election is to be held next month and therefore the Defense Minister started this war against the Gazans to boost his party in the poll to prove his tough stance against Hamas, unnecessarily killing the innocent Gazans. Reactions
Across the world, people protested the Israeli attacks on civilians. The brutal killings of the innocent Palestinians led Venezuela and Bolivia to sever diplomatic ties with Israel but neither Egypt nor Jordan did take any step to cut-off its diplomatic relations. Turkey came out with strong statement that killing 4000 children in Gaza did not constitute "success for Israel". Furthermore, the twenty-one Arab States except Syria have been watching silently for almost three weeks as Palestinian civilians were being killed by Israeli attacks. Why are they silent for so long? They held the Arab League meeting only on 16th January, after good three-weeks of conflict had passed, and over a thousand Gazans were killed. There are many reasons for the silent behaviour of the Arab World and some of them may be described as follows: First, the attack on Hamas is seen by the Arab World as weakening Iran's hold over the Hamas who control the Gaza. If Hamas is destroyed, Iran's influence on the Palestinian peace process will be drastically reduced. Second, the Sunni Arab States feel threatened by Shi'ite Iran and Hamas, though Sunnis are being strongly supported by Iran; the Arab World wants to de-link Hamas from Iran. Third, the US provide billions of dollars as aid to Egypt and Jordan and many of the Arab rulers depend on the US for the continuation of their rule and therefore they do not wish to annoy the US by taking any action against its strongest ally in the region, Israel. Fourth, the Arab League is divided and the essential glue of uniting all Arab states is absent, partly because competition for leadership in the Arab World is still going on among certain states. Fifth, Arab oil-producing countries export substantial portion of oil to the US and they do not wish to disturb the export at a time when many Arab countries are in financial trouble because of the global economic crisis. The demand for oil is getting low day by day and the price is now less than $40.00 per barrel and most of their budgets were based on the oil price of $70.00 per barrel. Realities on the ground
Palestine was never a land without people. Israel is persistently and grossly breaching international law and infringing fundamental human rights with impunity afforded to it through the diplomatic, economic and military support of the US. The June cease-fire agreement has not been kept by Israel. The economic blockade was not lifted. The life of the Gazans was precarious and humiliating. The Israeli war on the people of Gaza is not about firing rockets. Its purpose in reality is to show to Iran how strong Israel is. It is also to demonstrate to Hamas that they understand the power of Israel and that they are defeated people. It is interesting to note Dr. Aaron David Miller, who has played a central role in US efforts to broker Arab-Israeli peace under both Republican and Democratic administrations, in his book "The Much Too Promised Land", (March 2008: Random House). He writes that the Bush team in eight years has managed to put America in the unique position in the Middle East where "it is not liked, not feared, and not respected…we stumbled for eight years under George Bush over how to make war there" and the result is " an America that is trapped in a region which it cannot fix and it cannot abandon." What the Obama administration should do is take initiative that is impartial, and inclusive to resolve the growing cycle of violence and tension. It is suggested that the new administration of the US should engage and entice the parties, in particular Israel, and hold them accountable in practical terms, not just rhetorically. The new Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may ensure that the Obama administration should not get sucked into an Israeli approach and should be a non-partisan and credible mediator of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The author is former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.
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