Poetic Justice

I was in Jakarta, Indonesia last week to attend a forum on Civil Society in Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The forum was made particularly interesting, I thought, by the presence and participation of a number of Israelis.

Some were journalists, some were members of civil society and one was even running for a seat on the Knesset – a legislative branch of the Israeli government. What was immediately apparent, though, was that they were not shy of putting forward their views.

Amira Haas, for example, pointed out that the solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict involved more than mere formulas like having a “two State solution” i.e. Israel and Palestine. The reality is that it also involved considering how resources like water was going to be divided between the Israelis and the Palestinians. According to her, Israel is resistant to the idea of a two State solution as it means giving up privileges it has acquired over the years and losing control of the future of the area. The loss of control isn’t too hard to imagine as there would be probably be a large influx of refugees into Palestine if the two States solution was realized.

Another Israeli, Dr. Gershon Baskine expressed the view that Palestinians should be demanding for membership of Palestine at the UN. Quite cleverly, he pointed out that the request should be made by Mahmoud Abbas (a.k.a. Abu Mazen). Implicitly, Gershon was endorsing the position adopted by Mahmoud that he was entitled to extend the terms of his Presidency in accordance with the Palestinian Constitution, a sticking point with those aligned with Hamas.

His suggestion does not highlight the political fragmentation between the Fattah and Hamas and understandably so given the present scenario on the ground. The fact is, what with the wall and the various policies impelemented by Israel on the Occupied Palestinian Territories including East Jerusalem, Palestine is practically on the brink of non-existence. As such, it Palestinians may be drawn to focus resources into the more compelling problems afflicting the state.

Much was also said about the US President’s recent speech in Cairo, particularly that it heralded a new approach towards Palestine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, eventhough I may be a minority in this respect, I remain highly skeptical about Obama’s ability to exert any influence over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Well, not unless there is a radical change in how the US media reports on the conflict and not unless there are concerted efforts to educate the public. Israel realizes this and is already ramping up a post-Cairo PR campaign to ensure that the Zionist narrative remains foremost in the minds of the Americans.

The supreme irony of it all is that Israel was initially envisioned to be a sanctuary for persecuted Jews. Yet, today, Israel is probably one of the most consistent and flagrant persecuters in the world.

A cursory glance at the 2004 ICJ decision in the Palestinian Wall Case reveals that very clearly. Fifteen judges heard the case and by and large it was a 14 votes for and 1 vote against. Yet, even that 1 ‘dissenting judge’, voted affirmatively to confirm that Israeli-settlements on Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal.

In fact, this much is also clear if we look at the reports tabulated by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and B’tselem, specifically the statistics involving the deaths of children.

Two in particular struck me i.e. the one involving 16-year-old Jackline Abu Shbak and her 15-year-old brother Iyad. Both were shot dead with a single bullet to their head in front of their mother.

Twenty minutes before being shot, New York Times reports that Jackline spoke to her father about scoring 97% in her exams and Iyad was telling his Dad that he misses him very much.

So, how did Israel transition from being a sanctuary for the persecuted to what it is today? I really don’t know. All I know is that from where I am sitting, that transition seems pretty complete.

The Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War held a Forum for Palestine at the Crowne Plaza today. In his special address at the Forum, Tun Mahathir Mohamad gave an excellent primer on the creation of Palestine/Israel and the tragedy that is occassioned upon Palestine and her people. A transcript of the 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia’s speech can be found here. 

The Palestinian death toll is up to 500. Yet, the offensive continues. Sadly, the UN Security Council found itself unable to even issue a statement calling for a ceasefire with usual suspect, US, blocking such a move. The reason for the veto by US was because “the U.S. believed that there was no immediate prospect that Hamas militants would cease their rocket attacks against Israel”. (Implicit from that is that US viewed Hamas as being responsible for the present conflict.)

The present “disfunctionality of the Security Council”, to use Miguel D’escoto Brockmann’s diplomatic choice of words, once again begs the question why select members of the UN are permitted to possess veto powers which impairs the UN from functioning in an effective and democratic manner.¹ This may have played some part in stultifying any genuine efforts to resolve the decades old conflict.

Israel/Palestine has had many, many “installments” and each having its own causes. The causes for the present one has been retraced by Adam Sheets and can be read here.²

It may also be helpful to consider other viewpoints to the issue. See:

• Vic Alhadeff’s op-ed on the ABC News website in favour of Israel’s actions. Vic is the CEO of the New South Wales (Australia) Jewish Board of Deputies
• Michael Brull’s response to Vic’s op-ed. Michael is one of the bloggers at Independent Australian Jewish Voices an “association” principally “concerned about the narrow range of opinion and fact that is available in the mainstream media on Israel/Palestine and also with the uncritical stance of the leadership of the organized Jewish community”.

Having said all of the above, it just seems that there is a lot of unnecessary debate about whether Israel or Hamas is the cause of the present conflict. The focus should be less about who to blame and more about stopping the loss of lives – Israeli and Palestinian.

In the interim, as a consequence of the blockade enforced upon it, Palestinians needs aid. If you are not sure where to channel your donations, try this Palestinian NGO.

1. The veto power when originally granted to the “Big Five” – US, UK, China, Soviet and France – during UN’s formative years reflected the realities at the time, where without it, the “Big Five” would not have considered joining the United Nations. ((See more particularly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_veto_power [↩]
2. There are also some highly recommended books to read on this issue - Noam Chomsky’s Fateful Triangle, Robert Fisk’s Pity the Nation and Zeev Maoz’s Defending the Holyland. [↩]