By Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander, New Age Islam
3 August 2021
Numerous Wars and Incursions Have Been Imposed On The
Palestinians
Main Points:
1.
Palestine is a
contested land among the believers of Semitic religions and Abrahimic Faith.
2.
The Wars and
Operations against Palestinians has led to grave human rights violations.
3.
Israel as a country
supported by U.S has never been persecuted for its crimes against humanity.
4.
In the aftermath of
Operation Cast Lead no IDF soldier was prosecuted for the massacres,
intentional killings and atrocities perpetuated on Gazans.
5.
Collective
punishment in the form of economic blockade was imposed on the people of Gaza.
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From Camp David To Cast Lead: Essays On Israel,
Palestine And The Future Of Peace Process
Edited by Daanish Faruqi
Lexington Books, Maryland, 2011
Pp: 173.ISBN: 978-0-7391-4456-5
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The issue of Palestine has been on the priority list of
United Nations as an unsolved and perpetual dispute since the unjust creation
of Israel on 14th May, 1948, the day which is still commemorated as Nakba by
the Palestinians. Many wars have been imposed on Palestinians and the
neighboring countries by Israel since then, which have consumed thousands of
souls, maimed hundreds and destroyed property worth billions. Israel illegally
justifies these wars as war for its survival among the hostile Arab Nations.
The unconditional and unrelenting support which Israel has been getting from
the Super Powers during and after the Cold War has encouraged it to commit more
aggression with impunity. Despite the hue and cry by Human Rights activists,
United Nations General Assembly resolutions and the bizarre condemnation
pouring every other day, Israel isn’t pressurized even by an iota to bring a
bit of relaxation in its atrocities against Palestinians.
The present book under review is a compilation of different
essays on Israel-Palestine conflict, why Peace is still a casualty, and
reconciliation efforts are bringing no respite in violence especially during
the last one decade, as the name of the book suggests, the failed negotiations
of Camp David(2000) to the Operation Cast Lead(2008-09) edited by a young
scholar Daanish Faruqi who in his powerful introduction to the collection describes that “The idea of
a bi-national State shared by Israelis and Palestinians, previously considered
sacrilegious in public discourse, is now garnering renewed interest”. Further
describing the purpose of the book he writes that, “its purpose is to address
the limitations of conventional discourse towards this conflict which the
rapidly shifting political dynamics of the past decade have made unabashedly
apparent”. This purpose runs through the blood and veins of the book as each
essay is a testimony of the same.
The volume has been divided into four sections and the first
section Beginnings consists of three chapters. Henry Pachter, in his essay, “Who
are the Palestinians?” touches the cord with the history of Palestinians,
their agony since creation of Israel and how they become refugees in their own
land but infers a unique solution, “The solution for Jerusalem will have to be
imposed by great powers; it cannot be negotiated between the parties concerned.
As long as they pretend to negotiate about it, they merely indicate that they
do not mean to make peace”. (P-17), but whether the imposed solution would be
respected by both Israel and Palestine remains a million dollar question and
who can guarantee that the imposed solution even if respected wouldn’t initiate
a new spate of violence??
“Deconstructing Israeli Democracy: On the cultural pre
requisites of Political Modernity” is the title of Michael J Thompson’s paper
which deliberates that a liberal democracy as pronounced by John Locke is
completely absent in the Israeli politick rather a Jewish hegemony via
ethnocentrism which is Pre modern concept and Thompson proves that the
presupposition of Uncle Sam and various other countries that Israel is the only
country in the Arab World which is a democracy and hence a model to be inspired
from and emulated is a brazen sham as, “the very idea of a State defined by
religious and ethnic identity becomes anti liberal and therefore
anti-democratic since it privileges a conception of politics which survives on the
basis of exclusion”(P-22), whereas democracy thrives and survives on pluralism,
inclusiveness and mass participation.
Menachem Klein discusses the “Security-Settlement Complex”
in the third chapter and unveils the settlement and expansion of Israel in the
West Bank, though Gaza is ignored. Klein very well describes how Palestinian
land is confiscated and no compensation is paid for the same, and how the nexus
of military-settlement-bureaucracy complex tries every tactic to squeeze and
suffocate the Palestinian inhabitants of West bank in all aspects. In many
cases the military even supports the unauthorized construction and expansion of
illegal settlements.
Part second of the book 2000 to 2006: Sharon, the Intifada,
and the Roadmap contain four essays which deal with various aspects of
Israel-Palestine conflict during these years. Avi Shlaim in his essay, “Ariel
Sharon’s War against the Palestinians”, traces the various roles of Ariel
Sharon from military to politics and how Sharon was following the Jabotinsky’s
way while dealing with Palestinians & Jabotinsky is the father of Jewish
right. Sharon was of the firm belief that Palestinians could never be Peace
partners; hence it was necessary to decimate and annihilate them wherever you
found them, and hence with all the military might at his disposal he expanded
the Jewish settlements breaching the Oslo accords. Sharon was a realist, hence
power was the deciding factor for his politics and negotiation too, “The
Arabs-first the Egyptians, then the Palestinians, then the Jordanians-learnt
the hard way that Israel could not be defeated on the battlefield and were
compelled to negotiate with it from a position of palpable weakness”(P-44). He
tried every tactic to defeat Palestinians and make them negotiate on his own
terms. Sharon was the father of the Iron Wall Zionist strategy too and hence
the ‘security barrier’ the wall was erected along the West bank.
“The Building of a Wall” is the title of the next
essay by Moshe Zuckermann, he takes the reader into the dynamics of the wall
debate and will it serve the purpose of curbing the ‘terrorism’ according to
Israel, but he concludes that this policy of “shattering terror”, “is nothing
other than a perfidious ideology as long as the actual causes of terror, and
the now decade-old Israeli occupation and systematic oppression of the
Palestinian people, are not abolished”(P-56).
“West Bank Settlements Obstruct Peace: Israel’s Empire
State Building” is the title of Marwan Bishara’s essay who believes that
the greatest barrier to Peace in the Middle East are the ever expanding Israeli
settlements and “the settlement drive and its ideology have become a
cornerstone of modern Israeli national identity”(P-59). The settlements have
various ramifications on different aspects of life and even the power of
settlers is growing in the electoral politics too and the settlers like Uncle
Sam believe in ethnic cleansing and targeting innocents under the veil of War
on terror, plus the discriminatory laws prevalent between the settlers and
Palestinians make Peace an illusion and distant dream.
Mustapha Barghouti’s essay “A Place for our Dream”
takes the settlement debate further and writes that, “through its settlement
activities, Israel has sought to transform the West bank into ethnically
Israeli territory, in which Palestinian villages and towns are nothing more
than isolated outposts”(P-65) and he also deliberates on several steps to be
undertaken for the restoration of Peace in Palestine.
Part third of the book, 2006 to 2008: Hamas Election Sweep,
Gaza Incursions, and the Annapolis Peace Conference contains three essays,
starting with Elna Sondergaard’s long essay “Trails in the Israeli-Palestinian
Conflict” which lucidly but academically discusses the helplessness of
judiciary and the fate of litigations. In case of settlements courts can’t
decide or provide judicial protection and usually have to take the official
position, thus courts fail to take an independent stance or come to rescue of the
wronged ones who are facing the Israeli State’s wrath.
“Blitzkrieg in Gaza’, is the title of Lawrence Davidson’s
essay according to whom there have been more than three hundred Israeli
incursions into Gaza, West bank and Lebanon since 1967, and this essay has been
written in the backdrop of Operation Summer Rains of 2006 which was imposed on
Gaza by Israel to recover an abducted soldier and the purpose of the war was to
dismantle and dislodge the elected Hamas government. Despite opting for the
Peaceful means of resistance, the biased media always stereotypes and reports
the suicide bombings by Palestinians only but sidelines the peaceful methods
and makes them die in oblivion.
Stephen Eric Bronner, tries to describe “Who are the
Palestinians Today?” in his essay and goes back into history when during the
Cold War the atrocities and breach of treaties by Israel were overlooked by
U.S.A because it was supposed to check the spread of communism in the Arab
world, but now when the elected Hamas government is in place, Israel is also
being condemned for its violations of treaties and human rights. The various
conferences like Annapolis are discussed too which had no outcome, plus the
attempts of unity between Hamas and Fateh are discussed too, alongwith the stance
of Israel to talk to Hamas only when it recognizes Israel, but till date no
such reconciliation attempts have been opted for.
The fourth and the last part Gaza in 2009-2010: Operation
Cast Lead and the Future of the Peace Process contains two essays, “Unjust and
Illegal: The Israeli attack on Gaza” is the fist essay by Stephen R Shalom,
which deals with the Operation Cast Lead when Israel attacked Gaza on the
pretext of firing rockets into Israel. Shalom is of the opinion that no self
defense theory of Israel is justified as Palestinians are struggling by just
means to end occupation. The settlements in occupied territories are illegal,
and it is always Israel which breaches every truce and in the pretext of
Operation Cast Lead Israel did the same, though Hamas was ready to extend the
truce again. There are no means by which Israel can justify the Operation Cast
Lead and the atrocities committed against Palestinians were just unheard of,
like using Palestinian civilians as human shields, mingling Israeli Defense
Forces(IDF) with Israeli civilians, targeting hospitals and ambulances on the
charge of harboring militants and acting as their safe havens. In the aftermath
of Operation Cast Lead no IDF soldier was prosecuted for the massacres,
intentional killings and atrocities perpetuated on Gazans and to add insult to
injury collective punishment in the form of economic blockade was imposed on
the people of Gaza.
Sara Roy’s essay “Gaza’s Diminishing Landscape” speaks about
the agony and devastation which people of Gaza underwent as a result of the
Operation cast lead and various other Israeli incursions before, how their
lives are ruined by the war and now by the economic blockade which has resulted
in a crises of every type in Gaza. Roy is of the opinion that whether
settlements are expanding or the Israel is militarily occupying Gaza water,
transport, food items, trade, taxes, tourism everything is controlled by
Israel, and Roy also tries to highlight the dichotomy between West Bank and
Gaza, but is all praises for the spirit of Gazan’s who have started to rebuild
their lives once again.
The book is an essential read for everyone interested in the
last decade of Israel-Palestine conflict and not even a general reader can
afford to miss the book, which contains opinions, analysis and solutions of
varied hues. The book lives to its promise which its Editor Daanish Faruqi
makes in the Introduction to the volume, “Whether the two state solution is the
most desirable outcome is beside the point; instead, the goal of this volume is
to challenge the underlying assumptions of prevailing peace paradigms by
exposing their limitations in the aftermath of the past ten years”. The book is
successful in addressing the challenges and we must congratulate the young
editor for compiling this volume which is an important addition to the
Israel-Palestine conflict.
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M.H.A. Sikander is Writer-Activist based in Srinagar,
Kashmir
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/books-documents/palestine-war-un/d/125169
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