A year has passed since the war of genocide in Gaza was unleashed by Israel. It has taken a toll of 42,350 lives to date, more than 50 per cent of which are those of women and children. According to UNICEF, the number of children dead in Gaza exceed that in any armed conflict in recorded history. Out of 32 hospitals in Gaza not a single exists with their former facilities for treatment of critically ill patients and the growing number of injured. Hundreds of doctors, nurses and medical assistants have either been killed in indiscriminate bombardments or taken as detainees by Israeli army. 70 per cent of buildings and infrastructures have been totally destroyed by bombs and artillery shells leaving the rest in conditions not fit for habitation. Industries, farmlands and shops selling sundry items, including bread and medicines, have been razed to the ground, stopping production of food and other items of daily necessities. Water supply through pipes, electricity generated in power plants and sewerage systems disposing of effluents have been bombed out of existence. Roads and parks in every towns and highways connecting them have deliberately been bulldozed rendering unfit for vehicular traffic.
All the acts of killings and destructions have the unmistakable imprimatur of one goal: genocide of the people of Gaza. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is yet give a verdict on this but the world community represented by conscientious men and women have already condemned this war crime through regular street demonstrations in cities and towns across the globe. Political leaders in America and Europe have regretted the loss of civilian life but have refrained from banning arms delivery to Israel and taking meaningful diplomatic steps to force Israel to stop the carnage. On the contrary, every statement made on the war in Gaza by so called 'world leaders' is prefaced by the condemnation of the killing by Hamas on October 7 in 2023 and the affirmation that 'Israel has the right to defend itself'. There is hypocrisy and irony in this apparent moral stance. Hypocrisy because it ignores the context of Israel's continued occupation of Palestine land and their brutal suppression of the Palestinians, including frequent killings on slight pretexts that provoked the incursion by Hamas on October 7. Irony in the mention of 'right to defend' lies in the fact of Israel being one of the formidable military power with regular arms supply from the West, on the basis of which its capacity to defend itself is beyond question. So, in this context, invoking 'the right to defend' is tantamount to giving it green signal to commit acts of aggression against the Palestinians. But for this moral, political and military support, Israel would have thought twice before unleashing the genocidal campaign against the Palestinians in Gaza and later in the West Bank.
The West, the champion of democracy and human rights, lost no time to express its moral indignation and political condemnation at the killing of some 1,200 Israelis by Hamas. But deaths of over 42,000 Palestinians have not evoked much criticism, not to speak of condemnation from Western leaders. If America and European countries believed that all lives are equal they would have not only condemned the wanton killings of innocent civilians in Gaza but would have taken drastic steps to stop the carnage. In the event, except mild reminders that Israel should abide by humanitarian rules in conducting the war in Gaza, nothing substantive and meaningful has been said or done by the West to hold Israel under leash. The attitude and policy of quiet support of Israel in what it is doing in Gaza can only be explained by one theory, that Israel has been conducting a civilisational war on behalf of the West. In fact, right at the beginning Netanyahu, the bloodthirsty prime minister of Israel, openly and repeatedly harped on this theme. Those who have read Samuel Huntington's thesis on clash of civilisations know that Judeo- Christian civilisation has been shown as a distinct category, pitted against other civilisation, particularly Islam. Policy makers in America and Europe accepted this thesis after September 11, 2001, bombing by Al Quaeda in America. The 'war against terrorism' has since then become an integral part of the security policy of governments in Western countries. It is no wonder that they consider the war conducted by Israel in Gaza as a continuation of their policy of war against terror. If the collateral damage of this war in Gaza in terms of civilian lives is high, it cannot be helped, the Western leaders must have concluded.
As a corollary to the 'war on terror', decapitating the 'terror' organisations by killing their leaders has received top priority in the strategy adopted. To defeat the Al Qaeda it thus became essential to assassinate its chief, Osama bin Laden. This strategy stood vindicated when the movement died down after the killing of Osama in Islamabad by American Navy Seals in a night operation. Following this evidence, assassinating the Hamas chief Ismael Haniyeh and its Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar assumed top priority. Israel's intelligence network kept a tab on the movement of Haniyeh as he moved around countries for negotiations and consultations. With the help of up to date information, Israel succeeded in eliminating its 'high value' target, killing Ismael Haniyeh in Tehran. But killing Yahya Sinwar proved more difficult as he remained a phantom figure, living in tunnels and in the maze of half destroyed buildings in Gaza. On 18 October Israel Defence Force (IDF) in Rafa almost stumbled upon him as he was walking on the side street with two Hamas fighters. When challenged, Sinwar and his companions engaged in a fire-fight but was overpowered by superior force of IDF, aided by a drone.
After the killing of Yahya Sinwar, Netanyahu gloated over decapitating Hamas and called upon Palestinians to welcome the event as Sinwar had caused so much pain and hardships for them. Western leaders, from America to European capitals, welcomed the situation created by the death of Yahya Sinwar and expressed their optimism about the end of the war now that Hamas had lost its two leaders. The fallacy in this expectation can be traced to the failure in distinguishing between terror organisations like Al Qaeda and freedom fighters represented by Hamas. While the former has only a negative goal of taking revenge based on hatred, the latter fights a guerrilla war for something more tangible, like winning freedom from alien occupation and gaining independence with a homeland. Unlike terrorists, the freedom fighters don't depend on centralised leadership of a few and as such can never be 'decapitated'. Prepared for regular attrition in top leaders, new leaders emerge to fill any vacuum. So, Hamas can be expected to have a new leader to carry on their guerrilla war against Israel just as Hezbulla in Lebanon has found a new leader after the assassination of Nasrullah.
As regards the Palestinians in Gaza, they have not yet turned against Hamas and they never will. To them, they are heroes who are fighting for their freedom and dignity. They are not likely to welcome the death of Yahya Sinwar because they know he laid down his life upholding Palestinian cause. One must appreciate the courage and fortitude of ordinary Palestinians who have withstood the most brutal onslaught by Israel, killing them by hundreds every day over the past year, forcing them to live without food water and medicine. Not a single Palestinian tried to escape to safety climbing the wall to Sinai in Egypt or taking a boat to flee by sea. Defying death and destruction, they have clung to their soil defying Israel's, policy of ethnic cleansing. The demonstration of such resistance by civilians treated like animals by a cynical enemy is unparalleled.
The war on terror may succeed when terrorists have no cause, other than giving vent to blind rage and deep hatred. Hamas has rage and hatred for the oppressor, too. But they are not consumed by this exclusively. They have a cause, which is freeing Palestine from Israeli occupation and let their people live in freedom and dignity. They are so committed to this that they did not flee to safe havens when IDF came with their overwhelming firepower marauding Gaza. They have kept one of the mightiest military pinned down for over one year, inflicting casualties. They are determined to go on fighting until a ceasefire is agreed to by Israel. Surrender is not a word in their dictionary.
Netanyahu and his Western allies do not realise that Hamas cannot be eliminated because the genocidal war in Gaza unleashed by Israel has turned each and every Palestinians into a Hamas. The idea that Hamas represents is invincible and will burn brightly in every mind of Palestinian as long as they are under Israeli occupation.
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