Daily Times

As yet another gruesome report of Israeli brutality unleashing upon Palestinian civilians has surfaced only weeks after the blood-curdling murder of journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh, one cannot help but wonder would the holiest of lands ever taste the forbidden fruit of peace? Following a script that has been repeated to a degree of perfection, authorities in Jerusalem would be quick to respond with scathing allegations against the hapless three gunned down in the occupied West Bank.

After all, if they can point fingers at the member of the press who stood in the line of fire to do exactly what her job description entailed as provoking the soldiers, nothing appears more far-fetched. Only last week, the murder of four Palestinians in two days over trivial issues was being demeaned as a testament to the fact that their blood is considered very cheap. If that had not been so, there would have been a wave of outrage across the globe over the 65 or so lives taken by Israeli forces this year alone. Those who have been pushed to the lowest rung of the society thanks to countless barriers to better employment and living standards are a different story altogether. More frighteningly, celebrities like part-Palestinian supermodel Bella Hadid risk facing the wrath of social media if they dare shed a tear seeing the plight of the sun-kissed valley.

Since Tel Aviv does not believe in empathy when it comes to bloodbaths right underneath its nose, its sympathetic championing of the Ukrainian cause screams of naked hypocrisy. Nevertheless, the rest of the world continues to enjoy its deep slumber while the Palestinians are killed, brutally assaulted, and stripped of their homes, their savings, their identity and their honour. Solving the bloodied Israel-Palestine crisis would be the ultimate gamechanger of this century, which can only remain a beautiful dream unless and until the allies pressurise Israel to come to the deliberations table. For this to happen, the Jewish lobby needs to understand that Palestinians too deserve a homeland of their own. Simply chanting “death to Arabs” cannot erase an overwhelmingly large community off the face of the earth. On second thought, the relentless subjugation and experiments straight out of the Holocaust playbook might even make this possible. *