THERE is once again death, blood and destruction all over Gaza Strip that is now filled with smoke and smell of gunpowder. This time the occupiers in Israel were clearly in shock and felt unnerved when Hamas, in a daring operation, infiltrated the southern part of the Jewish state, launching a barrage of rocket attacks.

In response, the occupiers, who have been oppressing the Palestinians and have transformed the Gaza Strip into the world’s biggest open-air prison, unleashed hell on Gaza, bombarding it heavily.

The Hamas, it must be remembered, had launched the attack in response to the raids on the revered Al-Aqsa Mosque. There had been a sharp increase in Israeli settlers’ rather provocative tours — carrying arms, for instance — of the mosque complex in occupied Jerusalem with the support of ultranationalist Jewish groups. The Hamas action is basically a reaction to what Israel has been doing in the region.

While the Israelis may have been caught off guard, the fact is that Hamas attacks should not be a surprise for the world community, especially for the Israelis. It was in retaliation to Israeli aggression and occupation since 1948. It was, however, perhaps unprecedented in a sense, because Hamas fighters not only entered southern Israel, they attacked military targets, briefly taking control of some Israeli settlements, capturing Israeli military vehicles and dozens of soldiers and civilians.

About 700 Palestinians have lost their lives in recent Israeli air strikes, while over 900 Israelis are believed to have been killed. In addition to the military response, Israel has imposed a siege on Gaza Strip, shutting down food, water, fuel and electricity supplies to 2.1 million people already facing land, air and sea blockade since 2006.

Israel has declared ‘a state of war’ against Palestine. The Arab world seems to be offering lip-service, whereas the West has openly sided with Israel, calling the Hamas attack an act of ‘terror’. The West calls the retaliation of Israel against Hamas in Gaza as the ‘right to self-defence’. The West chooses to ignore what had led to this extreme situation. All those who have stopped considering Palestinians humans are responsible for this onslaught.

The West seems to be ignoring its own role in dozens of conflicts around the world, killing millions of people across regions, and leaving millions in grave humanitarian crises.

If the acts by Hamas are ‘terrorism’, then what should we call the atrocities against unarmed Palestinian civilians by Israel? The West seems to be jittery and in panic on the death of a few hundred Israelis. But what about those thousands of Palestinians who have been martyred by occupying forces in the last seven decades.

Are the lives of Israelis more impor- tant than those of Palestinians? Why do Israelis expect peace from the oppressed when their defence minister calls Palestinians “human animals”? The shameless hypocrisy of the West, on the other hand, is simply stomach-turning, to say the least.

The new flare-up has once again put global peace at stake. International institutions and powers have failed to resolve the prevailing conflicts across the world that have caused human misery. Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, this new escalation of hostilities is a test for the global community.

The history of mankind bears testi- mony to the grave degeneration of human societies due to military conflicts. But we have not learned any lesson from the past. Conflicts in Ukraine, Nagorno-Karabakh, Kashmir and Palestine are looking for sustain-able resolution. But there are none.

Why are the global leaders waiting for humanity to witness another flash of nuclear bomb? Do they not understand that wars cannot be a source of conflict resolution? What are the so-called and self-acclaimed champions of peace — the United States and the European Union as well as their allies — waiting for?

The global institutions, like the United Nations, have a greater responsibility to resolve these conflicts peacefully and effectively. The West needs to shun its biased role in the Middle East and other regions.

Instead of declaring the lengthy Israeli occupation of Palestine illegal and stopping atrocities on Palestinians, the West is fully backing the Jewish state militarily. This will lead to further escalation in the region.

The only way to come out of the currently raging inferno is to give the two-state solution a chance by restoring the pre-1967 geographical boundaries. Global and regional powers as well as organisations must strive to achieve this goal. Else, there will be more deaths and bloodshed on both sides of the divide.

Zain ul Abdin Jessar
Larkana

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2023