War and peace: the Western perspective

The West, represented by America and Western Europe, has gone through two world wars that took a heavy toll of their people and wreaked havoc on their economies inflicting immense misery. After the end of the Second World War, shuddering at the nightmarish experience, their collective will led them to declare solemnly: never again. As victors in the war against Nazi Germany, America, Europe and communist Russia, all were comrades in arms in the literal sense. Yet, before the dust settled the West conjured up a new enemy, Russia and forged a new military alliance, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), designed to thwart an imaginary invasion. The cold war that ensued saw an unprecedented arms race between the two blocs, costing trillions of dollars annually, money that could alleviate the suffering of their own people through better nutrition and health care, not to speak of helping the multitudes of poor in third world countries. As a result of the costly stand-off and the doctrine of 'mutually assured destruction' no major war broke out in Europe in twentieth century. But America, in its crusading zeal to contain communism, unleashed wars elsewhere, in Korea and later in Vietnam that exceeded in ferocity and cruelty all the previous wars fought by the country. Its military leaders, including the commander in chief, the president, felt no qualms of conscience in dropping napalm bombs that wiped out habitations and burned civilians in hundreds of thousands. In both these theatres of wars, America failed to win and retreated in utter humiliation.
After the collapse of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the cold war came to an end and it was hoped that time had come to turn swords into ploughshares. But thanks to the vested interests of military establishments in the West, that was not to be. NATO, the Western military alliance, was not only kept alive but expanded through enlistment of new members from the erstwhile eastern bloc of USSR. Russia protested this expansion because it brought NATO nearer to its border and drew a redline along Ukraine. When the redline was about to be crossed, Russia almost in desperation invaded Ukraine. During the preceding months when Russia had conducted war games across the border of Ukraine there was enough time to negotiate a settlement in peace. But the West goaded Ukraine to assert its sovereign right to join NATO and assured full support if attacked. Since the invasion by Russia in February, 2022, the West led by America, has poured in arms and weapons, including state-of-the-art vintage, to Ukraine. During the one and a half year-long war, when thousands have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced, never for once has the West talked about peace. It is determined to see the war end with the defeat of Russia and has kept supplying Ukraine with more advanced weapons, including lethal ones laced with uranium. Even the risk of the war cascading in to a nuclear one has not softened its bellicose attitude.
With this record of waging war as the only means to achieve ends it is not surprising that the West is going all out in supporting Israel in its 'war' against Hamas in Palestine. Its repeated mantra has been, 'Israel has the right to defend itself' that misses implications of the assertion. Of course Israel has the right to defend itself with all the force at its command. But at the moment or hours when this right had to be exercised the Israeli army was found napping. For long twenty four hours when their civilians and members of the army were under attack by Hamas militants Israeli army was nowhere to be seen. With an enemy like Hamas, looking for any opportunity to overpower them and wreak vengeance, they should have been vigilant twenty four hours, every day. By this count, the Israelis failed to defend themselves and the rage they are articulating now should be directed against their prime minister and much vaunted army. If it was a true democracy, its arrogant prime minister and bloodthirsty defence minister should have resigned immediately after the Hamas incursions and consequent deaths. Instead of admitting his abject failure to defend his people the prime minister brazenly declared, 'Israeli citizens, we are at war', completely missing the fallacy in this. A war is declared against another country and a standing army. Gaza is not a sovereign country and Hamas is a rag tag militant group and not a regular army. Declaring war in such a circumstance could be as hilarious as Quixote's tilting of spear at the windmill but for the innocent civilians who have fallen victims to ruthless bombings in consequence of the brash declaration.
Inspire of the contradictions of the situation that Israel failed to defend its people at the hour of need and that civilians in Gaza are not the attackers, American and European leaders have continued to harp on the same tune of Israel's right to self-defence. Granted, the right to self-defence can be stretched to go across a territory in hot pursuit of enemy, involving collateral damage. But the carpet bombing of residential areas can hardly be seen as targeting enemy or its establishment. Israelis and others know very well that the few thousands of militants known as Hamas are shadowy figures, anxious to hide themselves from plain sight, and are constantly on the move in the warren of their subterranean tunnels. So far, after two weeks of relentless bombing, not a single Hamas member has been officially declared dead. The more than four thousand five hundred dead in Gaza, after the 'war of self defence' by Israel started two weeks back, are all civilians, half of whom are children. They cannot be described as 'collateral' casualties as there was no Hamas in the vicinity of residential buildings targeted. It is collective punishment, pure and simple, that the Israelis are exacting on civilians with vengeance. To make the collective punishment more comprehensive and unbearable they have cut off water, food, fuel and medicine supply to the entire population of Gaza. Even the Nazis did not do this in their blockade of Leningrad during the Second World War. Bombing innocent civilians and cutting off supplies of water, electricity and food are war crimes and against all international laws Yet, American and European leaders have remained silent on this, reiterating their support for Israel's right to defend. When Russian bombings in eastern Ukraine cut off electricity and water, American Secretary of State and Chief of European Union lost no time in denouncing this act as war crime. When the same thing has happened in Gaza, not due to bombing but as a deliberately calculated act, they have not come forward with the sane condemnation. This is hypocrisy and exercise of double standard of the worst kind imaginable. Never have basic human values been trampled so nonchalantly and cynically as now by the West. Israel, many of whose citizens have vivid memory of holocaust, is re-enacting holocaust now on a mini-scale on their neighbours with no qualms of conscience .They have tried to depict this as a 'civilisational' war, implying the Palestinians are uncivilised. In fact, their defence minister in his first press conference called people in Gaza as 'human animals', after declaring that power, water and food would be cut off. Civilised people do not show such barbarism as starving even animals. Yet, Netanyahu while receiving visiting leaders of the West, justified his ruthless bombing of Gaza, saying again and again that it was a civilizational war. The blind and unconditional support given by the West to Israel so far almost gives the impression that they share in his views on this. They are still outraged at the cold blooded killing of Israelis by Hamas and are so obsessed with this crime of the outcast militants (Hamas) that similar acts on a larger scale by the Israeli army fail to register similar reaction. They also conveniently forget that the crime committed by Hamas happened once, two weeks ago, while the crime of killing civilians in Gaza is continuing for two weeks and may become worse soon. Far from calling for ceasefire, they have even opposed a humanitarian 'pause' to allow aid to reach the beleaguered civilians of Gaza. The latest Resolution in the Security Council to this effect tabled by Brazil was vetoed by America. On the other hand, there has been no pressure from America and Europe on Israel to restore water, power and food supply to the people of Gaza. The humanitarian record of the West has never been at such a nadir as it is now.
After five days of relentless bombing Israel asked civilians in north Gaza to leave their homes and go south. UN officials working in Gaza for many years were shocked at the cavalier announcement and wondered living in a very congested place where could the civilians of Gaza go? But the more important question was did the Israelis made this announcement in their sincere effort to save civilians? If that was the case why wait for five days? Why not at the start of bombing residential areas in north Gaza? Some analysts reasoned that this was the outcome of latest thinking among Israeli policy makers to occupy Gaza for good and make it part of Israel. Killing of Palestinians in the West bank by both Israeli army and settlers was seen as part of the same plan to ethnically cleanse the areas where the Palestinians are living.
Both Egypt and Jordan, familiar with the policy of Israel on forcible population transfer, promptly closed their crossings. In the West bank, though death toll among Palestinians rose, there was no scare among population to move out of their homes. But in Gaza, Palestinians under constant bombing, left on foot, donkey cart and trucks for the south. Even as they fled bombs fell along their way, killing many. For those who managed to arrive south there was no place to take shelter, no food and water. They have been forced to leave their homes either to cross into Sinai or face death in slow motion.
Israel army also ordered 24 hospitals and clinics in north Gaza to move out south. The UN described this as a 'death sentence' to the inmates of the health facilities. Doctors and staff working in those facilities were determined to go on doing their duties. Nothing was said by the leaders of the West regarding this inhuman policy of Israeli army, giving the impression that they considered this as part of Israel's right of self defence. Moral bankruptcy of the West became all the more apparent when the American President declared that bomb that fell on the Baptist hospital in north Gaza killing nearly five hundred was not the work of Israel and that he had seen evidence of that. Neutral observers have taken that statement with a grain of salt, even disbelief. They remember very well how American intelligence told about the Weapon of Mass Destruction in Iraq which led to the invasion of Iraq by America and Britain in 2002.
Bombing of civilians and specially the hospital changed the cautious attitude of leaders in the Arab leaders. They were so furious that Israel was condemned by all of them, including those that had normalised relations with Israel. Exasperated by the double standard of America, Egypt and Jordan cancelled a summit with President Biden in Amman during his visit to Israel. No American President has been snubbed by Arab leaders so publicly before. Stunned by this turn of events President Biden may have done some soul searching and came to the conclusion that his middle-east policy required resetting. In his address to the nation, among other issues, he mentioned about 'two state solution' for the first time. This was an indirect acknowledgment that Hamas and the Palestinians have a cause that should be taken up for restoration of peace in the region.
Wining the hearts and minds of Arab leaders to their cause and forcing a change in the thoughts of American policy makers towards the Palestine issue have been the greatest achievement of the Palestinian freedom fighters so far. Hamas may have committed a crime against humanity by attacking civilians but they had a cause, the right to live in the land belonging to them under international law. This right has been ignored for long and put in cold storage by the West who created Israel in 1948 in Palestine. After making some half-hearted attempts at arriving at a two-state solution based on 1967 border the West, particularly America, gave up on the idea. Instead, it proceeded with the normalisation of relations between Arab countries and Israel under the so called Abraham Accord. That policy is now in tatters. The Palestinian issue refuses to go away, however much the West had wished it would.
A new beginning in the middle-east cannot be made if Israel persists in its war in Gaza, flouting all international laws and is abetted by America and Europe with blind and unconditional support. For that the West has to be even handed and more pragmatic. Sending aircraft carriers and battle ships is reminiscent of gunboat diplomacy of yesteryears which can only promote war and not peace. Sending more arms and ammunitions to Israel (which is already armed to the teeth) to kill civilians and a few thousand militants is not going to bring them enduring security. It is only when they agree to give up land that belong to their neighbours and learn to live amicably with them that Israel can live in enduring peace.
It is understandable that Israelis are now bent on avenging the deaths of their 1450 civilians at the hands of Hamas. The West, that acted as the midwife at the birth of Israel while dismembering the Ottoman Empire after the end of First World War, has, as always, given unconditional support to its ongoing bombings in Gaza, killing thousands of civilians, saying war against Hamas is not negotiable. The German chancellor, the British prime minister and the American president making the unprecedented gesture of flying to Israel to express their solidarity, never for once mentioned the need for peace and were all for the 'just war' that Israel was waging in densely populated Gaza to take revenge for the deaths of their civilians. But what about the thousands of deaths and the anguish and misery of displacements of millions of Palestinians since 1948 and 1967? The West wants to justify what Israel and they are doing now, referring to the horrifying events of 7 October. If there is any humanity left in them, forsaking selective amnesia, they should travel little farther back in history and revisit human tragedy that played out in Palestine on a vaster scale since 1948.That modest effort can give them the right perspective on the Hamas attack and the greater context of the Palestine issue. Firm in their belief that only war can solve problems among countries, it is not likely that they will give peace a chance this time around.

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