THE VIOLENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

·         A United Nations report, quoted by BBC says clearing the rubble that Gaza has become will take 14 years to accomplish. With this estimate it will take quite far into the century – 2070s – before Gaza resembles anything near its old self.

·           Israel has thus made good its promise to bomb any Arab state that confronted it militarily back to the Stone Age. And the world, mainly Arab states, coaxed by the United States, rather than Israel, will pay for the reconstruction. Next target is Lebanon where the Hezbollah challenge is an affront to the “only democracy in the Middle East.”

·          The reaction of leaders in the United States and Western Europe to the Israeli war on Gaza and Palestinians has laid bare a fact long known to international observers that the United States is in the service of Israel and Europe in fear. America and Europe rely on the inane refrain that Israel “has the right to defend itself” to offer it unconditional support in its regular rampage across Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territory. Is the right to self defence universal or exclusive to Israel or is it available to an Occupying Power whose open aim is the acquisition of territory by force? 

·           US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Britain’s David Cameron have offered that Israel’s proposals at the latest negotiations with Hamas were “extraordinarily generous” vis-a-vis Hamas demands – an exchange of hostages and prisoners, a 40-day ceasefire and improved supply of humanitarian aid. A ceasefire during which Palestinians will be fattened for slaughter in Israel’s coming invasion of Rafah.

·          President Biden says he opposes the invasion until he sees a plan that will protect civilians. An impossibility given the savagery with which Israeli forces are going about their task. At the end of the day, Israel will invade Rafah and a befuddled Biden will find reason to declare that civilian safety has been taken into consideration. Aware of a watching world whose conscience has been awakened, Israel has chosen not to conduct a blitzkrieg on Rafah; rather it is invading that last refuge for Palestinians by stealth – subduing the enclave district by district until Rafah finally falls.

·          South Africa saved the world’s blushes when it hauled Israel before the International Court of Justice over genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in relation to its war on Gaza while the United States and Western Europe continue to prioritise Israeli “security” over Palestinian freedom. 

·          Whatever the eventual ruling of the ICJ, a new Free World is emerging from the current crisis: one that confronts the dogmas of the Old World that protects injustice and oppression around the world. 

Mohammed Tukur Usman, aboumahmud@yahoo.com