By: Hadia Mukhtar
Israeli aggression and atrocities on the people of Palestine is not a new story. Taking the historical genesis into account, forced eviction and mass exodus of Palestinians from their own lands dates back to 1948 when under the UN partition plan, Israel declared independence. Or by digging deeper into the roots of history, the 1923 Iron Wall Policy written in 1923, was employed by Israel which legitimized attacks on Arab civilians to demoralize any resistant effort towards Jewish settlers. Thus, even before Israel declared independence, the Iron Wall policy had provided the country with a breeding ground to foster its Zionist ambitions and had been its modus operandi when engaged in war. In this respect, the Middle Eastern history is ripe with examples when Israeli forces have attacks civilians and civilian infrastructure in various campaigns including the 1956 Egypt- Israeli war, attacks on Lebanon in 1982, 1996, 2006, Gaza Massacre of 2008 under Operation Cast Lead and repeated incidents of violence on Palestinians shrouded under the pretext of self-defence and Just War Theory.
The Palestinian Issue has been one of the the bloodiest and protracted conflicts in history. Flaring from 73 years, the violence continue to remain unabated as multiple triggers play major role in inciting this relentless cycle of vehemence. Since the first Arab Israeli war in 1948, 700,000 people in Palestine are living as refugees in their own lands. Their right of return, after the imminent Nakba that deprived them from living in their own state, reflect their plight and ordeal which have gone largely unnoticed by the Arab world. This brings into limelight the inefficacy of the Arab League which was founded with the very purpose of defending the Palestinian cause.
The strategic failure of the intifadas
With the failure of the Camp David Accords to come up with a lasting two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the “intifadas” demonstrated range of protests and riots from the Palestinian political wing. As the Palestinian side continue to blame the Israeli intransigence towards striking a fair and just deal which was the major cause of these protests, the strategic failure of these intifadas cannot be ignored. The Palestinians played a major price for these intifadas in terms of human sufferings and economic destruction with the loss of statehood. More than that, these protests cultivated the cult of martyrdom among the Palestinians. Thus, intifadas also developed trust deficit between the illegitimate Israeli government and native Palestinians leaving the innocent civilians to face the brunt of the violence in the aftermath of Al-Aqsa intifada.
The recent Scenario
The recent Al Aqsa clashes and the forceful eviction of the Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, highlighted the blatant fact that the core of the violence rested in Jewish greed and garb for more Palestinian land. The Israeli forces backed their heinous and brutish ambitions through the range of provocations such as forceful evictions, restricting the access for Palestinian worshippers to worship in Al-Aqsa mosque and a vexing extremist march that chanted, “Death to Arab” that aimed to celebrate Israeli occupation of the divided city in 1967 which only fanned the flames of fire. The last nail in the coffin was the storming of an Israeli man in the Al-Aqsa mosque who opened fired indiscriminately at the worshippers injuring hundreds and desecrating the mosque. The retaliation by Hamas in the form of firing rockets made the matters go only worse as Israeli aggression knew no bounds as it wreak havoc upon the Palestinians through the blitzkrieg like bombing in densely populated areas and bombarding media offices.
What caused the lava to erupt?
The lava that exploded in Palestine was something that was brewing for years. One of the major triggers was the decision taken by US administration under Donald Trump to shift US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a disputed city under International law. This decision gave green light to the Israeli leaders to trample on global conventions with impunity and foster their Zionist ideology with belligerence. Furthermore, the dubious Manama Conference in Bahrain in 2019 paving the way for the notorious deal of the century played the role in obfuscating the Palestinian core issue under the mirage of economic prosperity. Then, of course there was a rush by Palestinian Arab “brothers” to overtly recognize Israel and establish diplomatic and political ties with the latter despite the fact that the Jewish narrative has no clear intention of paying heed to the two-state solution. And while these ties were restored, nothing was done to stop rapacious Jewish settlers from devouring more and more Palestinian lands. As the appeasement for the Israel continued both by the Arab brethren and the West, the storming of Al- Aqsa mosque which is a national and religious symbol of the Palestinian left the lasting message that Tel Aviv is pitching for fight. Such admonition may alert Israeli friends and the international community at large that if the slaughtering and genocide of the Palestinian doesn’t halt, then dealing with the consequences of the new intifada might beget more violence and bloodbath.
Global response in the face of Israeli apartheid
From the governmental side, there has been mostly silence or half-hearted appeal to de-escalate the violence. However, thousands of conscientious people across the world including Europe and America has taken to the streets to denounce and condemn Israeli’s ruthless barrage. Also, social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have played a major role highlighting the plight and miseries of the civilians and through the use of hashtags have allowed people to show solidarity with the Palestinians. On the other hand, some self-styled human right champions have trumpeted their view that Israel has a right of self-defence through the just ad bellum aspect and moral equivalence of Just War doctrine. This viewpoint from the US side should not come to us as surprise given the fact that it has always used self-defence as a tool to foster its realist foreign policy. Nonetheless, it is indecisive as to how a right of self-defence can be legitimized in butchering children and disabled in Gaza. Furthermore, with Israeli forces bombarding Al-Jazeera offices and related media outlets and war crimes blowing out of proportion, the flagrant violation of the provisions of international humanitarian law is something that has shackled the grassroots of international political order and rule of the law.
The collective conscience of the Muslim world, especially of the Arab states who were the champions of Palestinian cause, died long time ago. As Palestinians bravely face the Israeli terror and the uphill battle, the OIC and Arab League do meagre efforts like issuing statements of abating violence and mere condemnation. Even after normalizing ties with Israel, leading Arab states have done little to curtail the butchery done by their Tel Aviv friends. It is because targeting civilians, destroying residents and infrastructure are blatant violations of the Four Geneva Conventions which are highly unacceptable. However, the irony is that despite the presence of International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court, Israel is able to flout these conventions with latitude thanks to its powerful patrons. With US being the champion of safeguarding human rights and democratic ideals, paradoxically, when it comes to protecting the interests of Israel whose lobby dominates the US politics, such democratic fervour takes a backseat.
The writer is a geopolitical analyst with a keen interest in international politics. I can be reached at [email protected]