The Hamas attacks on Israel are still fresh in our minds; the reaction of the Israeli armed forces has been witnessed ever since. Thousands of innocent people died in less than two weeks. The international community’s hypocrisy towards the conflict has reached unprecedented levels. It is time to intervene and tell both parties that enough is enough instead of turning a blind eye.
By Arthur Blok
American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr once said: “Violence begets violence; hate begets hate; and toughness begets a greater toughness. It is all a descending spiral, and the end is destruction for everybody. Along the way of life, someone must have enough sense and morality to cut off the chain of hate."
Words that illustrate the lingering conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in a nutshell. After Hamas’ attacks earlier this month, Israel’s disproportionate counterattack on Gaza’s civilian infrastructure has been devastating.
To say the least.
Around-the-clock bombing of a civilian population, destroying apartment buildings, hospitals, and mosques, cutting off water, electricity and fuel and attacking convoys of civilians seeking refuge from the sky. Intimidating and targeting journalists who dare to report the truth.
Already, 15 journalists have been killed in the past two weeks. Where is the outrage in the Western mainstream media?
Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population and infrastructure are seen in international law as war crimes. Imagine if Russia would act similarly in Ukraine. The world would be too small.
Of course, it is a matter of perspective, but don’t all lives matter? Or only those close to the West?
Various questions remain unanswered: What is behind the sudden Palestinian attack against Israel? Was it a blunt miscalculation? Opportunism? Stupidity? Or deliberate action to sabotage regional developments and provoke an Arab-Israeli war?
A stark contrast with the euphoria of the Israelis at the United Nations General Assembly last month. An excited Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced behind-the-scenes negotiations with Saudi Arabia to normalise relations between the two states.
That euphoria is gone. The negotiations between the two regional powers are on hold. Matters can change overnight on the international stage, that needs no further illustration.
We will probably never get a clear answer as to why Hamas decided suddenly to attack.
It could have been an act to sabotage the peace mentioned above in negotiations. That is a dangerous game to play; that is evident by now. Was it ordered by Tehran and co-organised with Hezbollah to provoke a new round of Arab-Israeli violence?
Or was it a Russian-Chinese attempt to open a second proxy war front for the United States? Let’s not forget the unnecessary and unwinnable war the U.S.. is fighting against Russia in Ukraine.
It could be, but does it really matter?
What matters is that the hundreds of innocent civilians are lost every day. Almost one thousand children have been killed in less than two weeks, while relief supplies are being prevented from reaching refugees.
Anybody who is a parent should think about that for a second before picking any side.
As Martin Luther King Jr meant to say, never let yourself be guided by anger. It is a recipe for disaster. It is a descending spiral. Look what is happening worldwide: people are forced to choose sides, and fighting is erupting everywhere on the streets.
The end is destruction for everybody.
Hamas and Iran vow to destroy Israel. That is never going to happen. In its turn, Israel vows to destroy Hamas, but this will also not occur. Continuing like this will create thousands of more Palestinian fighters who have, literary, nothing to lose anymore.
What about the international community, which is guided by hypocrisy?
Both the U.S. and the European Union stand behind Israel. Why is there no plan to get out of this misery instead? Find a lasting solution and improve the lives of all. Both parties cannot eradicate each other; they must find a way out of this spiral of blind hate and violence.
It should be clear by now that there will be no solution to this lingering conflict without foreign interference. It is time for the international community to intervene and act.
Instead of looking the other way, there can only be one message: enough is enough.
The enough was said since 1948 buddy
Lest you resolve the situation with fairness
It will be as it sounds now as : the “final solution” that once the nazis instigated to get rid of the Jews.. We learned nothing from history allowing amid the biggest democracies in the world including those who claimed human rights not to see the obvious similarities. In 1915 the genocide of the Armenian was quoted by Hitler as an ok occurance that allowed him to do the same with polish and the Jews. Allowing the second genocide of Armenia this year by Azerbaijan in front of a silent world allows the Israelis to blitz Gaza and erase it to depopulate it!
Enough is the world order with constructive intentions… otherwise it is useless to mention it!
I fear this is a useless approach, Hamas terrorists hide between civilians and cannot be filtered out, unless the Gaza people help. But they dont. I see no other way then moving all Gaza civilians with Hamas to the West Bank and make it an autonome Palestina and handout passports. The 350 km2 Gaza will become Israelian land, and israel will add 350 km2 to west bank. One palestina, autonomous and recognized as a country can then work out its own destiny.
This take make sense theoretically and from a humanitarian point of view. Both are hwre to stay: logically they should find a way to coexist. But then we have higher interests at stake. Power and money. And those do nkt care about the people.
Arturo, a well timed piece to help us all consider the long term implications of the escalating crisi that threatens to draw the world into a global war. We need sound minds who do not react but rather anticipate the threats, risks and consequences if this strategy of hate and revenge is not stopped.
We all want peace but I sadly do not see or hear anyone global leaders other than UN Secretary General, Antonio Guetterres using this language. A lone advocated among the frenzy of warmongers who think revenge will solve the problem. This will only lead to more violence and new terrorists be borne to avenge the atrocities being committed by Israel with the blessing of the US, UK, Australia, France and many other western nations who purport to defend human rights and abide by international law. Hypocrisy is disgracefully evident everywhere.