JENIN’S BLOODSHED: THE WAY OUT
Palestinians protest against the Israeli army raid in Jenin, along Israel-Gaza border fence, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 4, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
The two-day Israeli-led operation in the Jenin Refugee camp which killed about 12 people harshly laid bare the fault lines and friction that abound in the Middle East.
In 1948, as the world picked up pieces from the ashes of World War Two, the Jews who were dealt a particularly heavy hand established the Independent state of Israel.
To establish this state, however, the Jews, six million of whom perished during the calamitous war, laid claims to vast swathes of land which had earlier been occupied by Palestinians.
Israel, unimaginably persecuted themselves, established the state of Israel on lands they had long laid claims to. But it came at a catastrophic cost which continues to rankle international law and the international community until now.
But the most forceful impact has been on the Palestinians themselves, who in the face of the Israeli occupation suddenly found themselves displaced and effectively rendered homeless. Over the years, Israel’s occupation of the disputed West Bank region has become a nightmare for the international community, which has had to tread carefully, having to cautiously balance Israel’s genuine apprehension over its security and the right of the Palestinians to lands they claim are ancestral.
The two-state solution has remained largely a mirage, with sporadic violence putting paid to faint hopes that Israelis and Palestinians would someday sheathe their swords and live in peace side by side.
A few days ago, Israel moved into the Jenin Refugee Camp in the occupied West Bank Region for an operation that turned out to be its largest in the camp since 2002. Their targets were said to be armed Palestinian groups who had consolidated their presence in Jenin, grown stronger by the day and resorted to launching armed attacks against Israelis and Israeli interests. It appears that a couple of deadly attacks in the last few weeks finally forced Israeli hands after Jenin had long become a flash point for Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.
As usual, when such attacks which disproportionately affect innocent civilians episodically occur, the international community led by the United Nations huff and puff over the dictates and demands of international law with embarrassingly little to show for it.
As it is, Jenin is already a symbol of the failure of the international community to clarify things and apply international law with forceful certainty as far as the rights of people in their territories are concerned. As a refugee camp many Palestinians were forced into it because of the Israeli occupation of disputed territory.
At the end of the day, it is a humanitarian problem more than anything else. There is really no description of the extent to which Palestinian women, children, and entire families have suffered for generations because the world has failed to find a solution to the horrors in the region.
A lot of the world’s seeming perception and treatment of the issue as insoluble comes from Israel’s weight on the international scene despite its tiny size.
With such powerful ally like the United States on its side, Israel has always been able to successfully shut down questions about its activities in the Palestine region. To deflect the question, Israel usually calls on its considerable commitments to some of the world’s most powerful countries and causes, the threat of radical Islamism and the unspeakable sufferings Jews endured during WW2. But for how long?
The Palestinian situation Is heartbreaking, and it has over the years become a forceful question of justice.
Resolving the humanitarian situation in the region as well as getting Israel to scale back on its occupation is critical if one of the most pressing questions of the century is to be put to bed once and for all.
To do these, the State of Israel must go beyond commitments to cogent and credible actions to resolve the situation. This would mean a great deal of sacrifice and compromise. Every side will have something to give up in commitments that will define how even unborn generations come to experience two states that were once at each other’s throats.
In a region that has known no little anger, bloodshed and bitterness for close to a century now, it is common humanity that must prevail. For humanity to win, all those with drawn swords in the conflict must sheath them and work for peace. That is the only guarantee for genuine progress and prosperity.
Kene Obiezu, keneobiezu@gmail.com
