Roots of Arab-Israeli
conflict
Asif Haroon Raja
To cast Muslims as the ‘enemy’ of Jews is
distortion of history. Judaism resembles Islam in theology, structure and
rituals far more than with Christianity. Historically, the Muslims treated the
Jews fairly and humanely. Unlike in Europe where the Jews were hounded and
ruthlessly persecuted, the Muslim rulers didn’t consider the Jews as infidels
and were not proselytized. The Jews lived manifestly better in Muslim
societies when compared with their stay within the Christian world. This is
evident from the munificence and humility shown by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
towards the Jews. They were treated justly and kindheartedly by Muslim rulers
during their golden rule in Spain and during the rule of the mighty Ottomans.
Anti-Semitics was practiced by the Christians only. Accusing them of crucifying
the Christ, the Jews were not only made to live in ghettoes in Europe but they
also had to endure periodic massacres by Europeans.
It must also not be forgotten that Pope
Urban II instigated the Christians in the name of religion and launched a
crusade in 1095 to reclaim Jerusalem. The crusaders captured Jerusalem mainly because
of disunity among the Muslims. The Old City was soaked in ankle deep human
blood of Muslims and Jews. The crusaders were roundly defeated by Salahuddin
Ayubi in the third crusade (1187-92) in the epic battle of Hattin mainly
because he succeeded in achieving unity among the Arabs. Out of five crusades
spread over two centuries, four were lost to the Muslims and the Jews played no
role in defending Jerusalem. Logically, the Jews should have sought Muslims
help to fight against the Christians to seek revenge, but ironically the two
erstwhile antagonists joined hands to repress the Muslims.
None can deny that for over 1400 years,
Muslim Arabs have been predominant in Palestine and in Jerusalem. In the 19th
century, Palestine was inhabited by multi-cultural population with 86% Muslims,
10% Christians and 4% Jews living in peace. Extremist Jews called Zionists
decided to create a separate homeland for the Jews. Accordingly, from late 19th
century, the Jews spread all over the world were motivated by the Zionists to
relocate to Palestine under a calculated plan. Great Britain which was in
control of Palestine granted them permission to emigrate. Their influx
disturbed the local inhabitants and heightened tensions.
During the First World War, the British
Empire convinced the Arab leaders in 1916 to revolt against the Ottoman Empire
promising them an independent Arab State including Palestine. However, contrary
to the given commitment, Balfour Declaration in 1917 envisaged establishment of
a Jewish State in Palestine since the Europeans desperately wanted to get rid
of troublesome Jews. In 1920, European colonial powers divided Ottoman Empire
into series of separate States and shared the spoils of war in the Middle East.
Once Hitler gained power in Germany, the Jews eating into the vitals of German
economy came under the axe of Nazis. When they refused to depart despite
repeated threats, about 6 million Jews were killed, although some doubt the
Holocaust.
On November 29, 1947, the UN General
Assembly under Zionist pressure recommended partition of Palestine into two
States and internationalization of Jerusalem under UN administration. Minority
Jews were to receive 57% and the majority Arabs 43% of land. After the plan was
approved by the US, the State of Israel was proclaimed on May 14, 1948.
Rejection of the partition plan and creation of Israel by the Arab States led
to 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Greatly helped by over 4000 war veterans of 2nd
World War residing in US, Canada and Europe, the augmented Israeli Army
defeated the poorly trained armies of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Trans-Jordon, Saudi
Arabia, Yemen and Egypt and captured 78% of Palestine. 750,000 Palestinians
were driven out into refugee camps. Their breakdown was 2 million in Jordon,
427057 in Lebanon, 47770 in Syria, 788108 in West Bank, 1.1 million in Gaza and
a quarter million internally displaced within new Jewish State of Israel,
living under squalid and humiliating conditions as second rated citizens.
Systematic ethnic cleansing of Palestinians was undertaken by Zionists and over
500 villages/towns were depopulated and destroyed.
After the end of war in 1949, Jordan
occupied East Jerusalem and West Bank while Egypt took control of Gaza Strip in
Sinai. In 1956, armies of Britain, France and Israel invaded Sinai after Egypt
under Jamal Nasser nationalized Suez Canal. After the ceasefire enforced by the
UN and withdrawal of invaders under international pressure, Israeli forces
moved into Palestinian garrison based in Khan Younis which had refused to
surrender and carried out gruesome massacre of 124 Palestinians in Rafah
refugee camp. In the six-day war in 1967, Israel annexed Golan Heights in
Syria, Jordon’s West Bank and Gaza Strip from Egypt. Since then, Israel is in
military occupation of these lands. In the 1973 war, few Pakistani pilots took
part in the Syrian air battles and downed several Israeli jets and checkmated
Israeli aerial onslaught. Israeli ground forces captured Sinai Peninsula but
returned it to Egypt after signing Camp David Accord in 1978.
After the debacle in 1967 war, Al-Fatah
founded in 1959 joined PLO and Yasser Arafat became its chairman in 1969. That
year, PLO carried out 2432 guerrilla attacks on Israel and became a force to
reckon with. Arafat led the resistance movement against Israeli aggressive and
expansionist policies resolutely and in short time internationalized the PLO
movement. After battling with Israeli forces in Karameh in Jordon, PLO began to
assert its authority and tended to mount a coup in Jordon. It impelled King
Hussein to launch an all out offensive in September 1970. In this, Pakistani
military advisor Brig Ziaul Haq guided Jordanian Army and helped it in
expelling Fatah fighters.
They had to shift to Lebanon where they
recouped and militarized 400,000 Palestinian refugees living in camps. PLO
created a state-within-state in West Beirut and Southern Lebanon and then
clashed with Maronite Christian Phalangists in 1975 which triggered civil war.
The infighting propelled Syria to intervene in Lebanon in June 1976 with 30,000
troops. PLO fighters kept targeting Israeli targets as well, prompting Israel
to invade Lebanon in March 1978 but it failed to dismantle PLO HQ. Another
force which posed a challenge to Israel was Iran backed Hezbollah in Beirut in
late 1970s. In the same timeframe intifada sparked in occupied Palestinian
territories. Israeli troops killed thousands of teenagers armed with sling
shots and stones. Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June 1982 which went up to
Beirut was led by Gen Aerial Sharon. 2-3000 Palestinians in Sabra and Shatila
camps were massacred by Phalangists under direct supervision of Sharon in
September 1982. PLO had to pullout and shift to Tunisia and later to West Bank
and Gaza Strip.
Suicide attack on US Embassy in Beirut on
April 18, 1982 followed by another attack on October 23, 1983 on Marine HQ
killing 241 Marines and attack on French paratroopers’ barracks killing 58
French soldiers forced the foreign forces to quit Lebanon. Civil war in Lebanon
raged till 1990 claiming 120,000 fatalities.
Under intense pressure of the US and
continued Israeli obduracy, Arafat made a huge compromise by foregoing PLO’s
stance of not recognizing existence of Israel and agreeing to sign US brokered
Oslo Peace Accords in 1993 whereby Israel recognized Palestinian Authority (PA)
and gave it limited autonomy over West Bank and Gaza Strip in return for peace.
The PA had however no control over borders, water and airspace. The Accord was
in actuality a ruse to end Intifada which had brought a bad name to Israel.
Instead of honoring the commitment and letting the PA to run an independent
Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital, Israel continued with its
forward settlement policy into West Bank at neck break speed to change the
demographic structure. This illegal settlement is going on unabated to this
day. It wanted the Palestinians to give right of existence to Israel but denied
this right to the Palestinian State. Oslo Accords gave birth to Hamas, an
offshoot of Ikhwanul Muslimeen/Muslim Brotherhood, which believed in
continuation of resistance movement till the accomplishment of
goals.
In 1994 Israel carried out partial
withdrawal from Gaza Strip and later withdrew from Lebanon in 2000. However, it
continued to persecute the Palestinians which triggered 2nd
Intifada. Besides constructing a security fence in West Bank in 2002/03, Israel
stepped up its campaign against Hamas as well as targeted assassination of
prominent Palestinians. Multiple pressures affected the health of Arafat and
after prolonged illness he died in November 2004 in Paris hospital under
mysterious circumstances. It was widely speculated that he was slow-poisoned by
Mossad. In 2012, the French authorities exhumed his body to investigate the
allegations and it was confirmed that he was poisoned with polonium-210.
After his death, Mahmood Abbas became
PLO’s Chairman and later President of PA but he couldn’t fit into the shoes of
Arafat and soon the Fatah Party gave in to corruption and comforts of life and
got factionalized and in turn strengthened Hamas. Izz al Din Qassam Brigade was
formed by a small group of school kids in Central Gaza to confront Israeli
aggression. By September 2005, Israeli troops completely withdrew from Gaza. In
January 2006, Hamas won the elections and ousted Fatah government, which by
then had become unpopular. It triggered infighting but in June 2007, much to
the chagrin of Israel, Hamas fighters seized control over Gaza Strip and formed
a government, restricting Abbas led Fatah government to Israeli controlled West
Bank only. Tel Aviv refused to recognize democratically elected Hamas
government and clamped down stringent controls over movement and flow of daily
commodities into/out of Gaza enclave. The US and the West backed Israeli stance
and jointly declared Hamas a terrorist outfit. Israel then widened rift between
Fatah and Hamas to keep them on warpath.
Since then, Gaza Strip which is only 41 km
long and crammed with 1.7 million Palestinians has remained under Israeli
military control and economic siege and even Egypt under pro-US/Israeli Hosni
Mubarak became part of the siege. Tel Aviv refuses to honor the Oslo Accords it
had signed in 1993, giving Palestinians the right to establish an independent State
in Gaza Strip and West Bank with Jerusalem as its capital or Jerusalem becoming
a common capital for both. Israel has refused to lift siege of Gaza as promised
in 2012 agreement and continued the land and sea blockade. Two-State solution
duly endorsed by the UN goes against the master plan of establishing ‘Greater
Israel’. Over 10,000 Palestinian men, women and children are held in Israeli
prisons. Physical abuse and torture are a routine. Refugees are prohibited to
return to their homeland. The lands on which Israelis are being settled are
prime lands. Water sources are under the control of Israel. Not a bird can fly
into Gaza Strip without the permission of Israel. Any ship attempting to send
relief goods is seized and cargo confiscated. According to Robert Fisk, ‘Future
Palestinian State will have no borders and be an enclave within Israel’.
Besides the economic blockade, Gaza was
subjected to frequent aerial and artillery assaults as well as ground
offensives by Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in order to fail the Hamas regime.
Israeli forces launched brutal offensives in 2007, Operation Cast Lead in
December 2008/January 2009, and Operation Pillar of Defence in November 2012
(8-day war). In each offensive, hundreds of Gazans including children died. Egypt
added to the miseries of people of Gaza by blocking Rafah crossing and
destroying secret tunnels opening into Sinai. Only time the two were on
friendly terms was during the one year rule of Morsi from June 2012 to July 2,
2013, who helped in arranging truce in November 2012, but ouster of Morsi
regime and replacement by pro-Israel military regime has once again put Hamas
under huge disadvantage.
Alignment of Hezbollah and Hamas during
Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006 put Israel on the back foot for the first
time. IDF suffered maximum fatalities in this war and the myth of invincibility
of IDF was broken for the first time by Hezbollah. Iran helped Hamas in
improving its defensive capability by providing rockets. It must not be
forgotten that Hamas is devoid of army, air force, air defence, navy and
intelligence and pitched against US-West backed IDF which is laced with most
advanced weapon systems. Owing to fearless resistance offered by al-Qassam
fighters against all odds, all Israeli offensives have proved inconclusive and
Hamas earned moral victory.
In 2012, the UN General Assembly upgraded
the Palestinian status at the UN from ‘observer entity’ to ‘Non-member State’,
which by implication was a de facto recognition of an independent Palestinian State.
Reconciliation pact was signed between Fatah Party and Islamist Hamas on April
23, 2014 which called for uniting the two feuding factions and forming a unity
government. The two sides agreed to establish an interim government of
independents that would organize elections, thus ending seven years old rivalry
which suited Israel. On May 29, 2014, President Mahmoud Abbas ignoring threat
of sanctions by Israel asked PM Rami Hamdullah to head a new national unity
government and the long awaited unity government took oath on June 2, 2014 at
Ramallah. Gaza’s Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah and his cabinet resigned and
17-member cabinet, all politically independent, was selected after mutual
consultations of Fatah and Hamas. Although the reconciliation agreement has
held, a lot of bad blood still remains between Hamas and West Bank leadership.
Israel, which is an artificial implant in
the Muslim heartland, is highly perturbed over the unification of Fatah and
Hamas and in reaction has established 1500 new settlements in New Jerusalem and
West Bank. Israel is trying its best to break the unity and reactivate their
enmity. In revenge of the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli youths on June
12, 2014, alleged to be the handiwork of Hamas activists, a 15-year old Palestinian
Tariq Abu Khudair was arrested by Israeli Police in East Jerusalem on July 3
and beaten to pulp. His 16-year old cousin M. Abu Khudair was kidnapped,
beaten to near-death and then burnt to death by the three Israeli teens in
Jerusalem on July 4. Over 460 Palestinians in West Bank and East Jerusalem were
arrested and jailed on suspicion and their homes demolished. Social media
sprang into action and young Jewish boys and girls started posting flurry of
messages seeking death to Palestinians. An individual act has subjected 1.7
million Gazans to collective punishment.
These vicious acts prompted the armed wing
of Hamas Izzel-Deen al-Qassam to fire rockets over Israeli southern towns
including city of Ashdod in protest. Hamas has fired 800 rockets during the
ongoing conflict most of which were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome
anti-missile system. In reaction, IDF launched an airstrike on July 1, striking
15 Hamas sites in Gaza Strip. From July 8 onwards, Israel broke the 2012 truce
and unleashed Operation Protective Edge. Thousands of young volunteers from the
western world are streaming in to Israel to take part in the massacre of
Gazans. This inflow has caused no anxiety to the western world as in the case
of western Jihadists taking part in Syrian and Iraqi conflicts. Hamas fighters
have so far killed 50 Israeli soldiers.
Till July 26, 3250 aerial strikes and
gunfire have killed over 1050 Palestinians, mostly women and children including
handicapped, injured 5500 including 950 children and 90 women and destroyed
over 500 homes. Hamas homes are the preferential targets. Over 77% fatalities
are of innocent civilians. On an average, seven children are killed daily. It
is soul searing to watch the pictures of mutilated bodies of children. One such
picture was that of four-year old lovely Sahar Salman Abu Namous before and
after his decapitation by an Israeli shell.
This is the worst flare-up in last two
years and is for sure in reaction to reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.
Israeli leadership particularly defence minister Moshe Ya’alon wishes to
completely obliterate Hamas infrastructure once and for all to prevent future
rocket attacks. Dani Dayon urged the government to cut off fuel and electricity
to Gaza. Netanyahu asked 100,000 Gazans to vacate northern Gaza. Fearing ground
assault, over 10,000 Gazans took shelter in installations of UN agency, but
even the UN run school was not spared. Hospitals are short of medicines and
equipment. Repeated bombardments are destroying the vulnerable water system.
Hundreds of thousands are now without water. Israeli forces besides using
chemicals are also using flechette shells which spray thousands of tiny and
lethal metal darts. Israel has turned Gaza Strip into an experimental
laboratory for its high-tech weapons industry and chemicals. Israelis are
criminals in every law of the civilized world and are behaving worse than
Nazis.
Amid worldwide protests condemning
genocide of people of Gaza by IDFs, Egypt proposed a ceasefire on July 15
without consulting Hamas. It was silent on sea blockade and compensation for
human/material losses incurred by Gazans. These shortfalls shortened the life
of ceasefire to six hours only. Continuation of rocket attacks by Hamas and
other militant groups like Islamic Jihad, Popular Front/Democratic Front for
Liberation of Palestine impelled Israel to resume aerial offensive followed by
ground offensive on 19 July which took the lives of 42 Israeli soldiers and
three civilians. One Israeli soldier has been captured alive. Israel
disregarded UN proposed humanitarian ceasefire on 26th July for 24
hours. Operation Protective Edge is aimed at punishing Gazans for bestowing
confidence in the leadership of Hamas, forcibly obliterating Hamas network or
bringing it to its knees.
West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem
are under illegal military occupation of Israel for the last 47 years. The
Israeli forces laced with latest state-of-art weaponry are ruthlessly bombing
densely crowded refugee camps, schools, apartments, mosques and hospitals. They
are raining bombs unchecked since they know the other side is devoid of an
adequate response action. They are also confident that their excesses will not
be questioned. Champions of democracy and human rights mired in hypocrisy, double-standards
and Orwellian lies instead of bridling the monster are projecting Israel as the
victim of aggression and patting it on the back that it has the right to defend
itself and to go any length to safeguard its people. The US led west is
shedding copious tears over the so-called piteous plight of the Israelis. The
Israelis are mourning that they have to run for cover each time a rocket is
fired and that they cannot sleep peacefully because of the noise of rockets.
In the calculation of Israel and biased
west, Palestinians are an expendable commodity while Israeli Jews are holy cows
and have license to kill. For the US, security of Israel is top most priority.
The western world is silent over vicious bombing of IDFs massacring so many in
open prison of Gaza and is not moved over the heart-wrenching sights of cruelly
killed infants and wailing mothers. World powers including the biased UN are
insisting upon Hamas to stop rocket attacks that have caused death to one
Israeli soldier and injury to two and are politely requesting Israel to show
‘maximum restraint’. For a single death of Israeli, hundreds of Palestinians
are killed and their properties destroyed. Jewish controlled CNN, Fox News,
CNBC, BBC are uttering sheer lies to project racist Israel as victim of
aggression and Palestinians as terrorists.
The American leadership bears the taunts
and barbs of Israeli leaders smilingly and not only accept their blackmailing
tactics submissively but also defends Israel’s black deeds resolutely and bend
over backwards to keep it in good humor. Obama has doled out more aid to Israel
than any president ever. This policy of appeasing Israel has been going on for
decades and there are no signs of any change in this policy despite the fact
that over a period of time the American public has got weary of Israel. While
the Americans detest the repulsive arrogance and high-handedness of Israeli
leaders and feel pity for the victims of Israeli unabated savagery, they abhor
their leadership getting dictated by Israel and that too at the cost of
American interests. They have seen the ugly face of Israel which is in illegal
occupation of Palestinian lands since 1967 and is consistently gobbling up
additional territory under the scheme of forward settlement of Jews and persecuting
the subjugated Palestinians.
They are now questioning as to why their
government remains subservient to the commands of Tel Aviv when it doles out
largest share of aid ($3 billion) to it each year. They ask as to why Israel’s
wanton crimes and injustices against Palestinians are being willfully ignored
and its criminal acts backed. Such resentful sentiments are heard all over the
world and voices of concern against Israeli Apartheid can be heard from all
quarters. Support to Israel is diminishing in Europe as well and calls are
being made to try Israeli leaders for war crimes in international court of
justice. Even Jews in Israel are turning away from vindictive and violent
policies pursued by their Zionist leaders.
Notwithstanding the barbarity of Israel
and connivance of the US-western leadership, what is more painful is the
abysmal role of the OIC and the Arab League in particular and the Muslim world
in general. Their shameful silence and dreary approach is appalling. One is
equally nonplussed over the indifference of dozens of Jihadi groups in Middle
East towards the dilemma of marooned Gazans being mercilessly slaughtered by
bestial Israelis. There is no Salahuddin Ayubi in the entire span of Muslim
world to face up to the Israeli challenge. None has the ability to unite the
Arab world since they direly lack Salahuddin’s piety, his mysticism, and his
human and fighting abilities. The people of Gaza who in the past used to look
towards Egypt are today cursing the ruling regime and are beseeching Pakistan
Army to come to their rescue. Within the Muslim world only Pakistani, Turkish
and Iranian armies backed by Pak air force are capable of roundly defeating
US-NATO supported IDF in the battlefield.
The Muslim leaders must rise from their
slumber and pick up courage to remind Israel that Muslims have historically
greater claim over the holy city of Jerusalem and Israel is an illegitimate
child of the west illegally occupying Palestinian land. As a minimum, they
should take advantage of the change in the thinking of American and European
public and collectively exert pressure on Israel to immediately stop the
genocide of people of Gaza, end the inhuman blockade of Gaza, vacate the
Palestinian lands under its illegal occupation and grant Palestinian refugees
the right to return to their homeland.
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