Daily Times

After several rounds of ceasefires agreed upon and then broken, an open-ended ceasefire has come into effect from Tuesday, August 26, 2014. Both Hamas and Israel claimed victory though the vital issues triggering the conflict remained unresolved. The Rafah border has been reopened allowing besieged Palestinians to move in and out of Egypt and transport essentials. Check posts along Israel have been relaxed to some extent permitting goods and services to flow into Gaza. Fishing on Gaza’s west coast will be opened to the people of Gaza. The Israeli demand to demilitarise Gaza and the Palestinian demands for completely dismantling the blockade, rebuilding Yasser Arafat International Airport and release of prisoners have not been addressed. The Egyptian government, credited for brokering the truce, has invited the warring factions to return to Cairo to resume peace talks in order to arrive at a long-term peace agreement.

The Israeli government claimed Hamas’ military capability has been significantly weakened and that 80 percent of its underground tunnels have been destroyed. Reactions from the people of Israel have been mixed. Many people questioned the wisdom of going into war, losing over 70 soldiers, the highest casualty figure since the Yom Kippur war in 1973, and returning to a pre-July situation. Meanwhile, over 250,000 people living alongside the Gaza border fled their homes in search of shelter deeper inside Israel, tourism took a dive and the indiscriminate killings of civilians in Gaza brought worldwide condemnation. Our readers will recall that this is not the first time Israel has resorted to unscrupulous military action against its neighbours. In mid-2006, on the pretext of rescuing two soldiers allegedly abducted by Hezbollah, Israel launched a military offensive in Lebanon. Israel destroyed large parts of Beirut and damaged infrastructure in south Lebanon but the abducted soldiers were not found. The war ended without achieving declared objectives. Years later, the abducted soldiers were exchanged for Arab prisoners in Israeli detention in a deal brokered by the International Red Cross.

The seven-week war cost over 2,000 lives, 72 percent of which were women and children, and pulverised over 10,000 buildings including homes, hospitals and mosques. People all over the world voiced outrage at the destruction and demanded immediate cessation of military actions against unarmed civilian populations. Even Jewish communities in Israel and abroad condemned Israeli actions in Gaza. Early this week, 33 Holocaust survivors and 247 descendents of Holocaust survivors issued statements condemning Israeli actions and demanding an immediate halt to the carnage. In a strongly worded statement, they said, “As Jewish survivors and descendents of survivors of the Nazi genocide we unequivocally condemn the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and the ongoing occupation and colonisation of historic Palestine. We further condemn the US for providing Israel with the funding to carry out the attack and western states more generally for using their diplomatic muscle to protect Israel from condemnation. Genocide begins with the silence of the world. We are alarmed by the extreme, racist dehumanisation of Palestinians in Israeli society that has reached a fever pitch. In Israel, politicians and pundits in The Times of Israel and The Jerusalem Post have called openly for the genocide of Palestinians and right wing Israelis are adopting neo Nazi insignia. Furthermore, we are disgusted and outraged by Elie Wiesel’s abuse of our history in these [New York Times’] pages to promote blatant falsehoods used to justify the unjustifiable: Israel’s wholesale effort to destroy Gaza and the murder of nearly 2,000 Palestinians including many hundreds of children. Nothing can justify bombing UN shelters, homes, hospitals and universities. Nothing can justify depriving people of electricity and water. We must raise our collective voices and use our collective power to bring about an end to all forms of racism, including the ongoing genocide of Palestinian people. We call for an immediate end to the siege against and blockade of Gaza. We call for the full economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel. ‘Never again’ must mean never again for anyone!”

Civilian casualties have shocked people across the world. The UN Human Rights Council appointed a commission led by William Schabas, a distinguished Canadian professor, to investigate how so many civilians were killed in the conflict. In reaction, an Israeli lobby issued a one-page long condemnation in The Washington Post demeaning William Schabas and saying the proposed commission would serve no useful purpose. If Israel’s government and its lobbyists believe they committed no crimes and were fighting for a just cause why are they opposed to investigation by an international organisation? Does the Israeli government feel it is within its right to periodically resort to mass slaughter in Gaza or in the West Bank in order to exterminate a race in Palestine? Richard Cohen, in an article in The Washington Post on August 19, lauded Israel for its legendary intelligence service that is capable of monitoring just about every phone conversation in Gaza. He was shown aerial photos that were so clear that license plates of parked cars could be compared with motor vehicle records. Israel knows who lives where, Cohen claimed, and these impressive technological feats suggest a kind of perfection. Cohen concluded, “If the bombing of a school or a hospital is not a mistake, then it must have been on purpose: Israel is the cold-hearted killer of children.”

The Palestinian Authority has decided to approach the International Criminal Court (ICC) seeking indictments against those responsible for the murder of women and children in Gaza. Tel Aviv and Washington jointly opposed the move and warned President Mahmud Abbas that this would jeopardise the peace initiative. What a ridiculous proposition! The ICC is an international judicial forum where many perpetrators have been tried and convicted of human rights abuses. The US’ attempts to restrain President Abbas from approaching the ICC are brazen partisanship since a US sponsored peace initiative collapsed long ago. John Kerry revived the peace talks with an artificial timeframe in mid-2013. It achieved nothing because the US, being a party to the conflict, has lost the neutrality essential to broker peace. It remains the largest arms supplier to Israel and it unconditionally provides much needed diplomatic support for Israel to perpetuate the occupation of Palestinian lands. It is clear that a two state solution is no longer an option because the massive expansion of settlements has not left enough land for a viable Palestinian state. There could be one secular state, Israel, where all could live as equal citizens but hardliners led by Netanyahu will not agree because Israel would cease to be an exclusively Jewish state.

In this polarised world who can arbitrate? France, Germany and the Scandinavians could come forward and jointly arbitrate in this long conflict but, prior to arbitration, both warring factions should accept the reality. Palestinians should accept Israel as an established fact. On the other hand, Israel should realise that, despite the possession of nuclear weapons, advanced military hardware and guarantees of unconditional support from the US, they are still searching for security. A nation cannot survive for long by depending on another country. The key to Israel’s security lies in the hands of the homeless Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank. It would be wiser to enter a meaningful dialogue with the party that matters rather than looking for help from a friend thousands of miles away.

The author is a former official of the United Nations