World inclined towards Palestine’s freedom
I’ve grown up hearing news of Israel’s brutality upon Palestine. Is there any beacon of hope for the Palestinian children? Is there really a solution for such a tangled conflict? Let’s zoom in on the ever complicated Palestine-Israel conflict, how it see-sawed with time, what it looks like now and what its possible solution can be.
In simplest words, the conflict is over ‘who gets what land and how it’s controlled’. If we go back, this was ‘a free, independent Palestine’ before Britain’s colonisation. But between 1896 and 1948, hundreds of thousands of Jews started resettling from Europe to what was then British-controlled Palestine, with the logic of their old homeland and presence of their holy sites. Obviously, it was two different rather contradicting ideologies, ethnicities and religions (Jews and Palestinian Muslims), which popped out as havoc uncontrollable for Britain. The UN voted on the resolution for partition of Palestine, hence dividing the country into two halves. As per this resolution, more than 50 per cent of the territory was given to the Jews, with which Israel came into being on 14th May, 1948.
This was absolutely indigestible for Palestinians to believe that more than half of their homeland had been given someone else. The very next morning began the bloodiest Arab-Israel war of 1948, in which Israel, the newly born small state, defeated Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, all one by one, uprooting 700,000 Palestinians from their homes, creating a refugee crisis that is still not resolved. Palestinians call this mass eviction the Nakba — Arabic for ‘catastrophe’. After this war, Palestinians were left with only 21% of the land.
The second war happened in 1967, known as 6-Day War, and ended up very much in favour of Israel again. Israel captured the whole territory of Palestine (later giving Palestine the present Gaza and West Bank).
In simplest words, the conflict is over ‘who gets what land and how it’s controlled’. If we go back, this was ‘a free, independent Palestine’ before Britain’s colonisation. But between 1896 and 1948, hundreds of thousands of Jews started resettling from Europe to what was then British-controlled Palestine, with the logic of their old homeland and presence of their holy sites
Later in 1973, another war took place with Egypt and Syria’s surprise attack on Israel on Youm-e-Kippur (a holy day of Jews). This ended up with Israel capturing Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Syria’s Golan Heights. After this war, the whole scenario changed. Now it was only Syria standing against Israel along Palestine, up till ISIS arose in the region.
So at present the picture is only left with Palestine on its own versus Israel. What is the future of Palestine? Is this it, with Israel suppressing the innocent Palestinians or is there more to come? Is it really going to end by Israel capturing whole of Palestine, rendering them homeless? No, certainly not. It can’t be this way. Then what’s the solution?
Standing against Israel, and applying force with the fullest of your (Palestine’s) capability would obviously not work, as what you’ve got is like a water gun in front of a real revolver. And results are what we’ve seen in the recent 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict. Death toll of Gaza was more than 2,000 whereas Israel’s was 67. It’s really not a fair comparison.
This offensive attempt from Palestinians and multiplied retaliation from Israel had its own positive signs. This recent clash has actually given the issue a humanitarian colour. Ever since the Holocaust the sympathies that Jews enjoyed (anti-Semitism) are now being shifted towards Palestine. Not only the public opinion but also the stances taken by states officially have strengthened the Palestinian side. Sweden, a Scandinavian state, has already recognised Palestine as a separate independent state.
But the milestone contribution has just come from European Union. Newly elected high representative of EU’s Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini has shown her enthusiasm to help Palestine achieve its independent state during her tenure. That’s not all; EU has actually started practical steps upon the agenda. Recent news says the EU is planning on imposing sanctions on Israel if it hinders the two-state solution. If it turns out well then these sanctions are going to affect Israel in real terms.
Israel cannot afford isolation in today’s globalised world. If giants like EU take a stand against Israel, where would Israel find its future? Even America, which has been an all-weather ally for Israel, is gradually drifting away from it
The story does not end at EU only. There are other factors which are rather catalysing the process. One of the very influential is the inner division of Jews and Zionists. This has led to two ideologies. One in favour of Israel’s attrition upon Palestine, the other opposing the war crimes and inclined towards the two-state solution.
Social networking websites have played a very vital role in portraying Israel’s war crimes to the world. This has highlighted the issue.
Israel cannot afford isolation in today’s globalised world. If giants like EU take a stand against Israel, where would Israel find its future? Even America, which has been an all-weather ally for Israel, is gradually drifting away from it.
Another positive outcome of Hamas’ aggressive behaviour towards Israel is that there are no Israeli settlements in Gaza. Whereas in the West bank, where PLO is comparatively peaceful and more appeasing towards Israel, has been infiltrated by Jewish settlements.
In nutshell, though Gaza had to face many innocent civilian and children’s deaths, this brutality has actually paved path towards their achieving goal. I believe that Hamas should behave so that the helping hands like EU, Sweden and others can move ahead with the two-state solution.