Shocking but not surprising. The system of an apartheid state goes back to 1917 when on the ashes of a disintegrating Ottomon Empire, Britain and France began to divide the war spoils. Each victorious power grabbed vast pieces of territory for an indefinite interim period. Palestine came under the British mandate. But soon the sinister designs were obvious. Balfour declaration sought to create a ‘home’ for Jews to be drawn from all over the world. And to be settled on Palestinian land. The Zionist state began to take shape — as a compensation for the ‘holocaust’ perpetrated by Europeans.
The compensation was a cruel and inhuman punishment for Arab Palestinians who had no role in the holocaust. Ant the punishment, humiliation and forced exodus from their ancestral homes has continued for 75 years. A saga of brutality, oppression, persecution continues while the world has watched with indifference and often with support both financial and military.
The current war is a continuation of the ugly, inhuman killing drama perpetrated against innocent, defenceless Palestinians. The Hamas attack of October 7 was a reaction of a people that have endured Israeli atrocities for generations with no end in sight. Shockingly, there is no mention in the statements of Western leaders on how emotions boiled over and forced some members of Hamas to resort to attacking Israeli positions and installations knowing that their actions would invite the wrath of a powerful enemy that would lay waste to the most populated enclave of Gaza. The retaliation broke all thresholds of humanity. Barbaric, indiscriminate, deliberate targeting of civilian population, residences, settlements of mosques and hospitals is being done with impunity. No international laws and no norms or values are coming in the way of the juggernaut of Israeli war machine, knowing that they have the full backing of the US and its allies. Not surprisingly the US took the lead in coming out openly in support of the killing spree launched by the IDF. The US began to supply weapons of all description — bombs, drones, tanks, anti-rocket missiles and of course huge amounts of money. It encouraged the European allies to follow suit. One after another the American officials visited Israel in a show of support and a promise to deliver all that is needed by the Zionist state. And finally President Joe Biden himself chose to visit making a solemn pledge to stand by the Israeli aggression.
What a mockery of international law and humanitarian norms when the deliberate destruction of a hospital that killed 500 people in Gaza is attributed by President Biden to an inaccurate Palestinian rocket! Such is the magic that captivates the US policymakers — so awfully dependent on powerful Israeli lobby.
That is one ugly dimension of this conflict.
Coupled with that and under the influence of the US, the conduct of the Islamic countries has been no less shameful. The regional countries of the Middle East shied away from extending help to Hamas in any form. Those outside the region preferred to make timid statements, reiterating the demand for a two state solution. No big countries, including Pakistan, had the courage to just condemn the enormous supply of weapons to a nuclear-armed country. It is a disgraceful spectacle to realise how even the Rafa border crossing has not been opened to urgently needed humanitarian assistance.
Gaza is now without water, food, medicines, hospitals. About 2.3 million people have been left to starve. And the relentless bombing continues round the clock while the world continues to watch. Israel has found an opportunity not only to display its might but also its total disregard for any international law or convention. Israel would never be held to account for its atrocities because the Islamic countries have no strength, capacity or willingness to confront the savagery let loose on helpless Muslims.
The monstrosity will continue as billions of Muslims continue to remain silent and indifferent to the plight of Palestinians. Talk of Muslim unity is farce.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 27th, 2023.
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