Daily Times

It is a cruel coincidence that the worst aggression that the Palestinians have seen since at least the ruthless 2014 Israeli blockade and bombardment of Gaza falls around the May 15 Nakba (catastrophe) mourning day, which marks their displacement from their homes and their lands in 1948 even as their Arab brethren looked from the side and did nothing yet vowed revenge which, too, never came. And, as is standard practice in more than seven decades since then, the whole world is watching silently as Israeli aggression is destroying innocent Palestinian lives. The fact that everybody knows that nobody can do anything about it because of the strong clout of the influential Jewish lobby that dominates power circles in important capitals was never as shamelessly apparent as it is now.

Islamabad has been among the odd voices that at least condemned Tel Aviv’s atrocities; even if it did so only on Twitter. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, however, took a much bolder and much more straight-forward position when he addressed the decision plainly and urged the international community to step forward and play a part in stopping the madness. But nobody else spoke up and the silence of Arabs who have recently befriended Israel has in fact been deafening. Any hope that peace with the Jews would help push the peace process forward has already died a very ugly death and lies lifeless among the ruins of Gaza.

The world naturally looks to the United Nations (UN) in such times even though every capital is only too well aware of the institution’s own limitations, especially in light of the American veto that comes as soon as anything about Israel’s barbarism is ever raised in the general assembly or security council. Yet, for lack of anything better more than anything else, any road to peace in the Middle East, especially in the current setting, will have to pass through the UN. So far the Americans have been at their traditional best as far as keeping Israel off the table is concerned, but with Palestinian deaths reaching the 150 mark and social media making sure that everybody in the world knows about what is happening, this situation is already untenable. So the sooner the UN leans on Israel and makes it step back the better for the powder keg that the Middle East has become. How much longer does the world need to understand the grave danger that one tiny illegitimate state in the heart of the Gulf is putting the whole region in? *