Tag: Palestine

Wars are terrible things to happen in the lives of anybody. Human beings right from the time Homo sapiens evolved from ape men have been in a struggle of survival of the fittest. Stone Age men fought with stones and sticks but from the Iron Age onwards, wars have become destructive to the point of the nuclear age when wars between nuclear powers would lead to the total annihilation of life as we know it. Albert Einstein, the father of the atomic age famously said he did not know what would be used to fight the Third World War but that he knew that the fourth would be fought with stones and sticks, indirectly affirming the fact that nuclear holocaust would end human life as we know it. Some scientists have argued that rats could survive a nuclear holocaust and they will inherit the earth after man must have willingly or unwillingly self-destruct. During the 19th century, the century full of wars in Europe, there began an argument about “just” or “unjust” wars. This was in reaction to certain ideas of some philosophers who argued that wars were a cleansing process for national resurgence and that triumph of a victorious country over another constituted an advance of civilisation and that this was the march of God on earth. Of course, it can be argued that wars of defence were just wars whereas wars of aggression were unjust wars but then military strategists would argue that offence is the best form of defence in which case the margin of difference between wars of aggression and wars of defence is very thin. But at the same time, there are wars that are unequal between bullies and weaker countries. American invasion of Panama, Grenada or even Vietnam was unequal war between the combatant nations. Whereas, wars between the British Empire and the German empire in the early 20th century between 1914 and 1918 were wars between equals. In fact it used to be said that a war between the British Empire and the German empire was like a struggle between a hippopotamus and an elephant. The British were supreme on the sea and the German on land. When the forces of the third Reich invaded Russia in 1941, the two powers were equally matched.The Germans had an edge over communist Russia and Germany seemed to have bitten more than it could chew by fighting wars on two fronts- the eastern and the western fronts.

The nuclear age has led to proxy wars in which surrogates backed by rival powers fight each other without the nuclear powers being directly involved. In spite of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1994, the spirit of the cold war is still much alive. The Russian federation always appears to take a position opposed to whatever position the western powers take on any given issue and conflict. In Syria and in Libya, these antagonistic positions are manifestly clear. Russia supports the Bashir al-Assad’s regime in Syria while the west is opposed to that regime. In Libya, Russia was slow to make its position clear thus allowing the west to walk over the Colonel Muhammad Gaddafi regime. The ideological differences in today’s global conflicts are not as sharp as before. The Russian federation is no longer a communist state. It is practising some form of guided democracy in which Vladimir Putin is acting like a Romanov Czar wanting to recover all the so-called lost territories of Russia. This is the only way one can understand why Russia annexed Crimea and it is prepared to dismantle what is left of Ukraine. Russia is arming the rebels of Ukraine with lethal weapons one of which has been used to bring down the civilian Malaysian plane killing almost 300 souls most of who are from Holland and a substantial number of these are children. This terrible disaster has happened to the Malaysian airline, the second such disaster within six months. The search for the disappeared Malaysian airline in the Indian Ocean is still on-going. The tragedy that has befallen the Malaysian airline would definitely lead to the bankruptcy of the airline, because it is inconceivable that anyone would board that airline again. While it is understandable that Russia may want to protect the rights and lives of ethnic Russians in Ukraine, it is dangerous for Russia to make the protection of Russians in all former Soviet bloc countries a state policy. A policy of this sort will lead to wars in almost all the 15 republics into which the Soviet Union dissolved. A full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine will be a tragedy because it will be an unequal war and the result will be so horrendous and there will be nothing anybody can do about it because western intervention will spark a nuclear war. The wars in Iraq and northern Syria with so-called Islamic caliphate of Iraq and the Levant for now can be seen as an internal war with possible serious consequences for peace and security in the entire Middle East.

But the war between Israel and Hamas calls for sober reflection. This is a human tragedy of immense proportion. The war is totally unequal and by the time this war is brought to an end, hundreds of Palestinians would have been murdered while a few Israelis would have died. The Israelis have total control of the sea and the air.They are shelling from the sea and bombing from the air and lobbing artillery shells into a piece of territory in which human beings are packed like sardines. Palestine for almost a decade has been totally hedged in by Israeli blockade on one side and surprisingly by Egyptian blockade on the other because Hamas and the dreaded Muslim brotherhood are allies. Israel claims it is fighting a just war because since its creation in 1947, the Arabs were committed to its destruction. Most of the Arabs have backed away from this position but the Palestinians particularly Hamas have refused to recognise the right of Israel to exist in old Palestine. While their position is understandable, it is not realistic. Israel has come to stay and any force on earth that is determined to bring Israel down would go down with Israel in a nuclear incineration. But at the same time, should humanity just watch Israel using mostly American weapons and political support from the USA to slaughter hapless and helpless Palestinians who driven to the wall have been sending to Israel, ineffective crude missiles from the Gaza strip. For every Israeli citizen killed, the Jewish state is not only able and willing to inflict retribution based not only on an eye for an eye, but the life of an Israeli for hundreds of lives of Palestinians. Ideally, a two-state solution which the superpowers say they are committed to would be the best way out but the fear in Israel is that if a viable Palestinian state were to be created with full right of sovereignty over its waters and airspace, it will perpetually arm itself for a future showdown with Israel. On the other hand, a totally disarmed independent Palestine would be an easy target for Israeli aggression whenever there is a problem between the two countries.Yet a way must be found out for these two ancient suffering peoples to live together. Some have suggested a secular state of Palestine bringing back old Palestine in which Jews and Arabs live together which would be an ideal situation. This kind of proposition is not based on political realism yet Israel and Palestine is home to the three monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam with the holy sites of the three religions in the two countries. The eternal city of Jerusalem is also claimed by the two communities. The international community must step in and find a way for future peace between Israel and Palestine and if the problem is left to fester, the wound being inflicted on the Palestinians may again lead to a major confrontation between Israel, the Arabs, the Persians and other Muslim powers one of which is now a nuclear power thus cancelling out the nuclear advantage of Israel