Tanuj Goswami
(tanujuri03@gmail.com)
Israel recently celebrated its 76th Independence Day on May 14, 2024, in a solemn manner, amidst sadness and tears of losing hundreds of innocent lives of men, women, children, elderly, and the kidnappings of scores of Israelis in a brutal and murderous attack by the Hamas on October 7.
It is ironic that rather than appreciative notes of celebration on its historical birthday from its neighbours, well-wishers, and friends, Israel has to face opprobrium from across the globe and a barrage of missile attacks on the northern border by the monstrous terror group Hezbollah.
Of late, many US universities and the streets of European cities were rocked by a massive wave of anti-Semitism and ‘hate the Jews’ protests and demonstrations by some youngsters. This open display of support for Hamas, a brutal terrorist group, brings to light the regrouping and resurfacing of Nazism, far-right radicals, and Islamic fundamentalists. It is disgraceful that the US university campuses have turned into a hotbed of protestors openly fomenting hatred against the Jews.
However, Harvard University’s recently released poll found that 80% of common US citizens support Israel’s invasion of Gaza and 72% of Americans support Israel’s tactical operation in Rafa.
Despite the partial US arms embargo on Israel, PM Benjamin Netanyahu distinctly and unambiguously stated that ‘If we have to go alone, we will stand alone’ and this remark is strong enough to make out why the flushing out and total elimination of the remaining four Hamas battalions is needed to protect the security of the countrymen and the very survival of the one and only Jewish State of the World.
The US’s policy of temporarily distancing Israel at this point in time is expert manoeuvering, and being the only trusted natural ally of the US in the Middle East, Israel is standing tall, having been hemmed in by the so many brutal regimes of West Asia that are out to destroy and erase this small Zionist nation from the map of the Middle East.
Iran, an arch enemy of the US, has been fomenting proxies all across the Middle East, and Israel has always been the first line of defence against Iran’s antagonism, keeping the US interest alive and kicking there.
No one, not even the diehard Islamic Shiite radicals of Iran and its proxies of different militias in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen, cannot repudiate the existence of 2000 years of rich historical background of Israelites and the birth of a modern-day Zionist homeland on May 14, 1948.
Israel’s biblical significance as ‘God’s own land’ is in the hearts of most Jewish people, spawning an elixir of life indeed. The Jews, displaced long ago and scattered all over the world, ultimately flocked back to their ancestral homeland and built a prosperous and strong state.
Mahmoud Abbas, the puppet president of the so-called Palestinian Authority (PA), was used to administer the Gaza Strip for some period. He was disengaged following the usurpation of PA’s power by the Hamas, which masqueraded initially as a social agency and later morphed into hardened militants espousing rabid hatred against Jews and total annihilation of Israel at any cost as their prime aim.
The US and many other European nations, charitable institutions, and Arab countries regularly donate millions of dollars to the Palestinian refugees as aid for their education, medical care, livelihood creation, skill building, etc. But the Hamas spent the donated funds in procuring arms, ammunition, missiles, and drones and equipped themselves to be war-ready.
Hamas militants, who never recognized Israel, surreptitiously made huge preparations for an attack on Israel. The network of tunnels was willfully constructed under schools, hospitals, government buildings, mosques, and other public areas, which were later to be used as human shields and to avert public gaze. More than 500 km of tunnels were dug, criss-crossing the entire Gaza strip from north to south and even reaching the Egyptian border on the far south, which were used for smuggling of arms, ammunition, human trafficking, and also as an escape route for any emergency. The Gazans were thus deprived of their basic essentials of a decent life and education, and most unfortunately, the children were indoctrinated to be Jewish haters and to burn and kill Jews wherever they were sighted. The monstrosity of Hamas brutality on October 7 surpassed all limits. Human intolerance was clearly witnessed by the world in horror and deep shock.
Since 1948, Palestine has failed to get full UN status as a member nation, but in the recent General Assembly resolution for its statehood taken on April 10, there were 143 members in favour, 9 against, and 25 abstentions. The draft resolution is now awaiting approval by the Security Council until November 2024.
A biography of Yasser Arafat, the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, by Alan Hart In Arafat: Terrorist or Peacemaker, Arafat was quoted as saying, “The Palestinian people have no national identity. I, Yasser Arafat, a man of destiny, will give them that identity through conflict with Israel.”.
The head of the PLO’s Military Operations, Zuheir Mohsen, a noted Palestinian diplomat and a wealthy landlord, was quoted as saying in 1977 that ‘The Palestinian people do not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab Unity’…
But the path to Palestine statehood is rocky enough inasmuch as the Palestinian territory is not at all viable, it neither has civil administration nor a clear boundary, and as per the UN Charter, it has to be peace-loving. But how the international body takes measure of Palestine’s love for peace, only time will tell. Sans reconciliation with Israel, Palestine’s demand for statehood is unlikely, but for the best interest of peace and security in the Middle East, a peaceful coexistence between Palestine and Israel is the sine qua non. A new chapter is going to unfold after the Israeli operation in Rafa, and the world is waiting with bated breath for the UN to shoulder the responsibility to steer the boat towards a concrete solution.