Much of the world might not have noticed but the Palestinians certainly didn’t miss the fact that the Israeli government followed its historic peace deals with the UAE and Bahrain in Washington by ordering a bombing raid on territories in Gaza. As usual Tel Avivi blamed rocket fire from the Palestinians as the main cause for what it called a natural reaction, but those that know and understand the Arab-Israeli theatre were expecting just such symbolic bombings since when US President Trump announced the first deal with Abu Dhabi some weeks ago. What Israel is doing, in simple words, is just showing the poor Palestinian refugees just who is boss, especially now that the principal partners of the persecuted and displaced Arabs are shaking hands with the Jews. This is, in the plainest terms, a travesty of justice. Unfortunately there is little a state like Pakistan can do except stay committed to its decision not to formally recognise the Israeli state. We did make some advances in that direction some years ago in the Musharraf era, but the present government is pretty clear that no such thing is going to happen; not at least until the Palestinians get their two-state solution. And since that was not going to happen even if the status quo had continued, there is absolutely zero chance of Islamabad initiating formal diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv at least till Imran Khan is prime minister. It was bad enough that things had become so stalemated that there was no chance of the lot of the Palestinians getting any better. But now things have worsened and it stands to be much worse than even before. The Arabs, who have watched out for their interests all these decades are now finally deciding to protect their own wellbeing and future. And experience has shown that there are few better things to do than to get a pat on the back from Uncle Sam himself, by recognising Israel, especially if the going is tough and the economy has got caught in something of a rough patch. It seems history is preparing to turn the leaf, so to speak, on the plight of the Palestinians and these symbolic bombings are the prelude to yet more injustice and oppression. *