Israeli’s war on Gaza: An Unabated Process

The ongoing aggression by Israel in Gaza is pure genocide, crime. Killing innocent children and women is not permitted by any religion or law. What Israel is doing in Gaza is a criminal offence, untenable and unjustifiable from any standards of ethics or law. The Israel’s government legitimizes its bombardment on Gaza on account of self defense, notwithstanding, the fact that the doctrine of self defense is permissible in situations when a sovereign state is attacked by another state. The doctrine of self defense does not arise in Israel-Palestine conflict as former illegally controls the latter. Therefore the question of self defense does not arise in this situation. What Gazans are doing is simply a resistance against the Zionist occupation. 

The war between Israel and Hamas is a war between two asymmetrical entities as there is no compatibility and comparison between the two. Israel is a nuclear power (unrecognized and illegal under international law), Israel has huge military arsenal, technology, huge navy and aerial power and full of missiles and war jets (all subsidized by US special aid) while as Palestine lack all these capabilities. Israel by their Iron Dome system neutralizes rackets (the only weapon they possess) of Hamas but Hamas has no such system at their disposal. Therefore, the Israel aggression with the latest weaponry is untenable.   

The basic issue which the Israel deliberately avoids since it came into existence as modern state is its illegal occupation of the Palestine land. Since then it has forced millions of Palestinians from their lands and has made construction for residences for Jew communities migrating from different places of world. This settlement issue is one of the basic issues in the Israel-Palestine conflict and this does also violates the Fourth Geneva Convention, a core principle of international humanitarian law, established in 1949.  The issue of settlement expansion is simply a diversion. The real issue is the existence of the settlements and related infrastructure developments. These have been carefully designed as Israel has already taken over more than 40 percent of the occupied West Bank, including suburbs of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv; the arable land; and the primary water sources of the region, all on the Israeli side of the Separation Wall -- in reality an annexation wall. Since 1967, Israel has vastly expanded the borders of Jerusalem in violation of Security Council orders and despite universal international objection.

The other sensitive issues in the Israel-Palestine conflict are Israel’s withdrawal to pre 1967 borders, return of displaced people by the conflict and their rehabilitation in the occupied land and east Jerusalem as future capital of Palestine are some issues which need immediate attention. To resolve these disputes the United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 accepted Israel’s withdrawal to Pre 1967 borders, return of refugees and East Jerusalem as Palestine capital are prerequisite for the final settlement of the conflict. But on all these issues Israel has over the period of time nurtured negative perception in the world inorder to justify the status quo it has maintained in the region. It is also because of these reasons that Israel is not even ready to accept two state solution which seems viable solution to the conflict.

Other than Israel there are other factors responsible for the current atrocities on the Palestinians. The geopolitical rivalry between Iran one side and Saudi and Egypt another side has provided more leverage to the Israel occupation in the region and consequently has helped Israel to nurture and substantiate its Zionistic designs in the region. There is one narrative of present situation that Israel has a tacit understanding with Saudis and Egypt on current war on Gaza. The major powers of Europe and United States of America have different reasons to accept Israel hegemony in the region. Other than strong Jew lobby the policy of US in the region has always dominated by the oil factor. A strong Zionist regime in the West Asia is a powerful tool to dominate the richest oil region in the world.   

The greater paradox is that international community and institutions particularly UNO is just behaving as spectators of Israel aggression. One side US brought the doctrine of ‘humanitarian intervention’ in Labiya, Iraq, Syria (though in all these states it was purely illegitimate intervention in a sovereign states) but other side where it is tenable it is not being used. What Palestinians are facing is biggest moral/humanitarian causality; therefore, it requires humanitarian intervention. Israel backed by US is doing as per their whims and fancies without taking consideration of any morality and international law.

In recent history the doctrine of R2P (responsibility to protect) has highly been used by the US and its western allies particularly in the west Asia and Africa. Again this doctrine has been misused by the western powers. This doctrine is premised upon three pillars: the responsibility to prevent atrocity, the responsibility to protect and intervene when atrocities are committed, and a responsibility to rebuild in the wake of intervention. In 2005 R2P was accepted to be evolved under four specific circumstances: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. Israel is doing it all; therefore, on both legal and moral grounds international community has responsibility to protect the Palestinians from the Israel aggression.

The Israel’s aggression on Palestine is not new. They are doing it again and again since 1948. The recent times they bombarded Palestine in 2008-09 and again in 2012. All the time they justified it from self defense point of view. All the times there were ceasefire with promise of genuine dialogue and resolution of all the issues, on the part of West and UNO but all the times nothing yielded accept more horrific deaths of innocent Palestinians. Therefore, one should not expect that something new will happen this time as there is no one who are ready to address the basic questions on Israel-Palestine conflict neither Israeli’s nor Western dominated international organizations. Until the basic issues would not be addressed the wars in this region will happen again and again.