By: Dr. Mohammad Ghitreef*
In the first week of the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict, initially the balance of power seemingly was tilting towards Israel. Especially with the ruthless and brutal Israeli bombardment in which the Palestinian casualties are in the thousands. More than three thousand buildings are razed and destroyed. America brazenly and biasedly rushed to help Israel enact her sinister and deadliest plans of killing, destroying, and displacing millions. In addition to sending its two massive aircraft carriers to Israel and sending its secretary of state Antony Blinken there twice since the start of the conflict, the US also sent its president, Joe Biden, to the country to show support with the child killers. Now when the war is entering its crucial phase Hamas fighters and all the Palestinian people have shown unparalleled patience, endurance, resilience, and big sacrifices.
With the physical destruction Palestinians encountered at this time, there is a massive media war the Western media and biased anti-Muslim mainstream Indian media are waging against the Palestinians. They are covering the conflict as the war began on 7.10.2023. They deliberately and consistently ignore the bitter fact that Hamas’s attack did not occur in a vacuum as the UN secretary general observed in his comments. It has a 75-years-old tragic history of Jewish terror and the massive displacement of millions of Palestinians who are now refugees in the neighbouring countries and the West. It is the third Palestinian generation who is witnessing a perpetual injustice, and barbaric state terrorism on the world’s hearing and its full sight. Along with Gaza’s hardest economic blockade for 16 years, Palestinians of the West Bank face everyday humiliation every day terrorism at the hands of Jewish settlers and Israeli police and army and flagrant judicial discrimination. In addition to the sinister Zionist plans to usurp more and more Palestinian land and uproot them from their roots.
Then comes the Arab betrayal of the Palestinian issue, in which the Gulf rulers’ efforts to normalise their relations with Israel have led Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan, and Morocco establishing diplomatic ties with the Jewish state. More recently, Saudi Arabia was also eager to reach an agreement with Israel. So Palestinians have to fight and defeat the false narrative Western media is trying to build in the world. One tragic aspect of the whole event is very palpable apathy on the part of Arab and Muslim nations. Even the deadly bombardment of Zionists on the Al-Ahli hospital which claimed nearly 700 innocent lives in one go is not sufficient to move Muslim nations and their rulers in particular. The next day Joe Biden was in Israel and blatantly was insinuating the Palestinians for the heinous crime. which is very conspicuously committed by Israel, because its criminal army has taken its credit after the strike, in a tweet, then they very hastily deleted it. Now when the ongoing Israeli onslaught on Gaza is entering its 15th day 2 million Gazans have been displaced and thousands have been killed in cold blood including 1000 innocent children. more than 20 percent of Gaza has been wiped out from the surface of the earth. Arab and Muslim rulers did not go beyond the lip-service. Contrast it with the US rushing to help Israel with two huge aircraft carriers while Israel herself is a neo-clear power, along with 2000 US delta commandoes. The world apathy is a phenomenal indeed. Only a few countries dare to not condemn Hamas’s attack and call it a terror group, like Malaysia, Qatar, Venezuela, South Africa, and Colombia. The latter showed extraordinary courage when it expelled the Israeli ambassador from its land.
UNSC has been unable to stop this genocidal bloodshed as also OIC’s special meeting of its foreign ministers held on 18.10.2023 in Jeddah has ended as usual with a harsh condemnation of Israeli unproportional use of power and its inhuman conduct. Iran demanded the member states cut their diplomatic relations with Israel and impose an oil embargo. Though, its demand was summarily rejected for the time being, yet no doubt it is a very helpful tool in the hands of Arabs if only they can use it. History tells us that once they used it, the West was paralyzed for a while. The Arab summit for peace held in Cairo on 21 October,2023 also ended without yielding any good result.
Joe Biden’s flagrant and unwavering support of the Zionist entity is emboldening racist Netanyahu to kill more and more Palestinians and try to deport them. Not only Biden but UK’s prime minister Rishi Sunak, also visited Tel Aviv and the German chancellor as well.
Joe Biden is the most powerful man in the world. He is the president of a superpower. He must have behaved like a world leader instead of war-mongering, taking sides and abetting Israel for more war crimes. He must have preferred to calm down Israeli leadership mad about having revenge on Palestinians and bring them to the negotiating table. The priority must have been a ceasefire for the time being.
Punitive action towards Israel from the part of neighbouring Arab countries is mostly needed right now sooner or later they have to do it. Or it is a matter of days before Israel would enslave them all. I heard all the member states of the UNSC unanimously condemning Hamas’s attack on Israel even the UAE’s woman representative toed in their line. Regrettably, she was unable to advocate that Palestinians are also human beings and they also have their human rights and dignity. Everyone was insisting on Hamas’s condemnation and its act as terrorism which is an unqualified demand given the present scenario of the Palestine-Israeli conflict. Nobody was interested in stopping the horrific Israeli onslaught on Gaza and its enslavement of 2 million Gazans and its economic blockade of the Gaza strip, the 4 million Palestinians’ right to return to their homeland.
Two top White House officials resigned in protest of the US’s uncritical backing of Israel, a Spanish minister dared to demand that Israel be held accountable for wilfully violating international law, Scotland supported Palestinian human rights, and Ireland did the same. More significantly, the emergence of certain Jewish groups in the US protesting Israel in the US Congress building marked the start of a rift in the West’s stance of unquestioning support for Israel. Arab leaders also dared this time to wisely cancel their scheduled meeting with US President Joe Biden after Israel bombed the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza. Even Bin Salman made Antony Blinken the secretary of state waiting for a meeting for several hours.
The war on Gaza enters its 15th day Israel has so far killed more than a thousand children in Gaza. On a Tuesday night, the black night, the cruel and barbaric Israel bombed and destroyed a hospital in Gaza and killed more than 700 innocents. Now Arab peoples and Muslim masses are angry they surrounded Israel’s embassy in Ankara in protest. There are massive rallies in many major cities of the world in solidarity with Palestine.
The hypocritic West and its leader the USA and all her stooge in the East and West are insisting on calling Hamas(Palestinians) terrorists. Yet in this age of social media, their vicious and one-sided propaganda will not be successful because now it is being countered with the true Palestinian narrative which is being promoted by the young and brave Palestinian boys and girls who are active in raising their voices to educate the people of the true context and correct narrative of the Palestinian cause.
Now there must be a unified, uniform, and persistent Arab stand towards the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Palestinians must be unitedly vocal in support of beleaguered Gaza. There must be uprisings in the West Bank and Ramallah and other Palestinian cities and towns. Hezbollah must double its targeting of Israeli installations and army formations so that the rogue Zionist state be brought to justice soon.
I strongly hope that the balance of power will be shifting sooner or later towards Palestinian just cause. Provided the autocratic neighbouring Arab countries along with P. A should not spoil the chance.
I strongly hope that the balance of power will be shifting sooner or later towards Palestinian just cause. Provided the autocratic neighbouring
*Research Associate with
Centre for Promotion of Educational and Cultural Advancement of Muslims of India AMU Aligarh.
Comprehensive, very well written