Tag: Hamas

ISRAEL-HAMAS DEAL: SHORT TERM FIXES TO EVADE PERMANENT SOLUTION

Posted on By Alan Collins Mpewo

The deal. One that has been of global interest, but not the deal the world has for decades sought – a permanent solution. War is cruel. The ultimate price has until 11th October, 2025, been paid. Death has been the final price paid for the decades Israel and Palestine have had a stand off. And what was thought would be a ‘mere’ weeks’ conflict, has dragged on for over 2 years. It is still thought by some observers that the war could be revived shortly after the call-off by the two adversaries. The number of children reported dead during the conflict have roughly been estimated beyond 20,000 children. More than 28,000 girls and women have been reported killed in the conflict coming to the ceasefire, while the numbers of men have by many observers ceased to count, and are only aggregated on percentage of the total deaths recorded – at approximately 40% of total deaths reported. The numbers matter. Yes they do because every life matters, and as such, it should be regrettable that the war ever happened. The ultimate price that is (has been) paid.

But in every war comes a victor. Not always, but mostly as history observes. And sometimes the victor is not the actual bearer of the primary loss. President Trump has a feast of the year 2025 to assert the heroics. “I delivered as promised.” He has been vocal since taking office for his Second Term as President of the United States of America about the subject of ‘war’. The Israel-Palestine conflict got high value in the White House ahead of the Russia-Ukraine war because of the obvious interests Washington under President Trump’s reign holds. It should not come as a surprise because it was not different from his first term. Israel has always been the infallible darling of the U.S. And while the world in recent months took steps of account towards the excesses of war such as South Africa’s claim against Israel in the International Court of Justice, the UN Human Rights Council sessions on the Gaza Question, and open calls by various States globally for an end of the assault occupation, much of it have received disregard from a U.S’s mouthpiece perspective.

The cease fire deal, now in effect, had at its centre, release of hostages that have been held by both sides. Thus the deal saw partial withdrawal of Israel’s forces from major areas such as the Rafa Border Crossing which will ease access to medical treatment on the Egyptian side for some casualties, and the access to humanitarian aid within the wrecked region. A sigh of relief perhaps, but for how long. The two-State solution as proposed decades ago has been maintained for some critics as the only longlasting solution. Indeed, a number of countries have in 2025, especially in Europe, declared total recognition of the Independent State of Palestine. On all occasions, even before the U.N, the U.S has either shown regret or exercised its veto right. One Country in the extreme parallel. Interests. So who are the winners?

Certainly after the first phase of the deal, the lingering question is “What does the future of Gaza look like? And who decides the future?” By now the short answers must already be clear. Coming this far, the shaping events have turned the eyes to the White House. It all got sealed by the bidding of Gaza to real estate conversations – a future likened to ‘paradise’. That will definitely not be received without resistance. The wider international community remains optimistic. In fact, even within Israel, protests have been reported of some sections of the country’s citizens that believe the war’s agenda was never as sold to them earlier. They call for a total end to the war. The winners? That is only a question that can be answered in time. The next phase of negotiations complicates the conversation more.

The solution of the Israel-Palestine question should not be a reserve of the very country that vetoed severally in the past efforts to straighten the situation by the wider international community. The solution is ultimately one that should lie to the member States of the U.N as a collective. Equal decision making. Equal bearing in the rebuilding. The U.S keeps steering away from engaging other States and as such, plays a part in the extension of the conflict. The whole idea has been to avoid the resurrection of the two-State  solution. Back door negotiations for example are neither going to answer the proposed terms of disarming Hamas, nor provide the leadership that is the imagination of the U.S in Gaza. Of course the desire of Israel is to fully alienate Gaza without question. But that will not come without resistence. It remains an unavoidable trip back to the U.N resolutions over time that have suggested interesting, but reasonable solutions. Without doing so, the U.S and Israel will only see themselves in an illusion as winners for a short time, but in reality, losers too for a long time.

The writer is a Senior Research Fellow, Development Watch Centre.

Israel-Palestine Conflict: The United Nations Has Turned Blind, Again

Posted on By Alan Collins Mpewo

By Alan Collins Mpewo.

War should never be desirable for any human. Surprisingly, it has been active for many years in various societies and communities for all reasons, valid and otherwise. Every society has had a major event that has been shaped by war, and goes to an inquisition on whether it should be conflict that shape or has to be primary on the scale of modification of human society. Understandable is the fact that human society uncontrolled, would devour itself in pieces to great devastation. In modern history, some conflict while justified depending on what front one stands and the lenses through which one views such conflict, has much been one of interstate conflicts. Occasionally that is spurred by the internal hate such as the Rwanda genocide, and societies go miles of trouble in elevating their hate.

The Holocaust was however one to be viewed on an interstate conflict level. One race was determined to annihilate the other from the soils that make up earth in an extrajudicial manner. The Jews were the center point of the hate and annihilation. Fast-forward, they occupy, today, the greatest chunks of course, in Israel as known today. The Palestinian and Israel conflict is not new to the eyes of those with sight, and not unheard to those who hear. Today as it has gained much attention on the mouths of many, there is much reflection to be made on the state of conflict and consequences that have equally since happened.

Israel, whose citizens remember the devastation their kinsmen and kinswomen met during the not so far-gone days, would have been expected to know the gravity of what conflict like their current apartheid government is unleashing onto Palestinians can cause. For many years, Israel has been at war with Palestine and it goes without a reminder that many have been forgotten from the hour the conflict begun. Just recently, reports made tidings internationally that the Hamas fighters had made a retaliation against Israel which caused unexplainable deaths and injuries. As expected, Israel commenced retaliation and as usual during the conflict, the Gaza strip got warning to vacate before an operation that, according to the Israel Premier, “Would lead into a total destruction of Gaza.” Announcements were sent in the ordinary perfect war mode, by flying papers that fell from the skies as if snow. This followed orders from Israel government ordering more than 1.1 million Palestinians to leave their homes Gaza city to southern part, an order the UN warned it is “impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences”.

As the world tried to come to terms with endless bombings, Israel’s far-right defense minister Yoav Gallant declared a “complete siege” on Gaza’s about 365 square km, with its 2.36 million Palestinians, which has been under an Israel’s blockade for 17 years. Describing Palestinians as “human animals,” Gallant announced; “a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed.”

As you read this, many have been wiped off the face of the earth, and some bloodlines expunged forever. Indiscriminate killings have been recorded, regardless of age of those who face the wrath of Israel ammunition. A few decades ago, the world was in unity again the tyranny that faced the Jews, today! How time runs fast unnoticed. That ensuing, there has been a wait on how much tract, attention and criticisms the continued actions of Israel would face. None from the West. And when the United Nations, chose to speak, their words were so measured that it took them so long to even call for a ceasefire!

When UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres in a speech to the Security Council on Tuesday said he unequivocally condemned Hamas attacks in Israel but went ahead to give a context of Israel-Palestine conflict and explained that “Hamas attacks did not happen in vacuum,” he was attacked and bullied by Israel officials who called for his resignation simply for stating facts. It begs the often-asked question, who does the UN serve? It has been a silent question that has gone to silence unanswered for the known times it has been asked to the UN echelons of power.

At the inception when Russia had a faceoff with Ukraine, agitation from Washington and Brussels the seat of the European Union was at a large scale. Today? The same cannot be said. While Western media quickly and endlessly called for the end of what they called Russia’s invasion and aggression, with Israel in Palestine, the same media is worryingly silent! It can be understood that perhaps some interests matter without need for comparison to any other. There have been many conflicts overtime of a similar nature that have not been given attention. There is much comfort in pointing fingers when instances are commenced by key Eastern Bloc players, especially Russia and China. But it is ultimately clear as some may argue, that the United Nations is a tool used by the Western key players in advancing their interests. It has been put to a scale of seeming for no purpose, a systematic play that has equally led to distrust of many avenues the United Nations reveres such as has been gradually seen with the International Criminal Court, International Chamber of Commerce, and many alike.

A lust for war is dangerous, and some countries have lived to pay a heavy price. As more than 6,000 inhabitants of Gaza have died, the United Nations came to a realization that it could no longer be seen openly siding with a higher power. Unwavering however, are countries like China that have consistently taken a position far much firm than that of the United States. China has not only condemned the ruthless attacks on either front in the long-time conflict, but has for long called on Israel to respect international humanitarian laws. These are the cornerstones for any conflict bred region, despite the fact that on the contrary it is said that the innocent people are casualties of war.

Like the League of Nations, the United Nations now faces a plague, which although much different from that of the past body it replaced, is the partiality it exercises no regard for shame to show. The trend may never find a day of saving if it goes on to be well accommodated. The people of Palestine, like Ukraine deserve equal attention, unless they don’t as should be publicly published by a body whose job it is to unify all global players equally with blindness to any glaring superiority. It should rather follow to similar outcry like China’s which has been clear calling for restraint, ceasefire, and respect for international humanitarian law. Perhaps defiance and boycott from many countries against the United Nations is warranted, and maybe, a reset is needed. But as far as functionality stands, impartiality cannot be said of the body today, neither can the values the West have often claimed to stand for.

Alan Collins Mpewo Senior Research Fellow, Development Watch Center.

Palestine-Israel Conflict: U.S & the EU are Hypocrites; They Should Learn from China

Posted on By Allawi Ssemanda

There are growing fears of unprecedented humanitarian crisis as a result of Israeli indiscriminate bombing and blockade of Gaza strip. This follows widely expected Israeli ground invasion as the fanatical far-right government vows to turn Gaza into what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “desert island” as a response to what Israelis see as humiliating attack by Hamas.
This is after Hamas fighters breached Israel’s assumed tight security and killed at least 1,200 people before retreating with captured soldiers and civilians as hostages. Israelis responded with a disproportional force; bombing Gaza with thousands of bombs and killed over 2,400 Palestinians including children, women and elderly. As indiscriminate bombing is ongoing, Israel has ordered more than 1.1 million people in Gaza to move to South but later targeted and killed 70 civilians as they fled the area. UN strongly opposed the order saying it is ‘impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences’.
Hamas argues; their offensive was in response to desecration of the Al Aqsa Mosque and endless Israeli atrocities against Palestinians over the decades listing 17-year blockade, Israeli raids inside West Bank cities, increasing attacks by settlers on Palestinians and growing expansion of illegal settlements in occupied territories.
Even before Netanyahu declared a “state of war” against Gaza, U.S ruler, Joe Biden responded equating Hamas’ incursion to America’s 9/11 before he repeated unsubstantiated Israel’s allegations that Hamas fighters “raped women” and “beheaded babies”. In what appeared like a well-rehearsed orchestra, from Washington to London, Paris to EU headquarters, they voiced their unconditional support for apartheid Israel and condemned “unprovoked attacks against Israel” and repeated Washington’s lines calling Hamas terrorists.
If critically analysed, as constructivists and poststructuralists would argue, terrorism is a result of stereotypes and a misconception politically and socially constructed to describe some groups with primary purpose of discrediting actors involved and portray them as violent so that they are rejected by right thinking members of community.

Just hours after Western leader’s similar wording of solid support for Israel, Israel’s far-right defense minister Yoav Gallant declared a “complete siege” Gaza’s about 365 square km, with its 2.36 million Palestinians, which has been under an Israel’s blockade for 17 years.

Describing Palestinians as “human animals” Gallant announced; “a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed.”

As Netanyahu posted videos of civilians’ buildings being bombed, EU President Ursula von der Leyen who on October 19th 2022 told EU parliament; “Russia’s attacks against civilian infrastructure, especially electricity, are war crimes. Cutting off men, women, children of water, electricity and heating with winter coming- these are acts of pure terror” did not criticise Israel’s decision to cut off same supplies to Palestinians.

The above shows double standards and hypocrisy of leaders of the E.U and their American allies. Rightly so, Clare Daly, the Irish Member of Parliament to the EU told off Ursula for being a hypocrite; “the double standards of Ursula and EU leaders are laid bare. They back Israel to hilt, even as it engages in state terror against innocent people. All wars are evil, and all victims deserve support, and until you get on that page, you have no credibility whatever.”

Sadly, Israel backers seem not bothered or are not doing much as civilians’ death from Israel’s collective punishment skyrockets. Hopefully, they are not waiting for the wishes of former U.S’ ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley who told Netanyahu to “finish them.” Put differently, the U.S and the EU are fully backing what radical theorists Noam Chomsky calls “wholesale state terrorism” against Palestinians.

Of the major powers, it is only China and Russia that have called for de-escalation, exercising restraint, respecting of international laws and ending hostilities to protect civilians. In a statement, China pointed at the root cause of Palestine-Israel conflict and suggested how to address it; “The fundamental way out of the conflict lies in implementing the two-state solution and establishing an independent State of Palestine. The international community needs to act with greater urgency, step up input into the Palestinian question, facilitate the early resumption of peace talks between Palestine and Israel, and find a way to bring about enduring peace,” read the stamen.

China’s response is not only peace cantered. It is in line with UN recommendations. Strangely, the U.S criticised China claiming it leaned more on Palestine’s side with U.S Senate Majority Chuck Schumer telling China’s top diplomat Wang Yi that China should stand with Israel.

It should be recalled; on 29th November 2012, after 65 years of the approval of the partition plan for Palestine, UN General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to recognise Palestine as approved by UN within the 1967 borders as a non-member state with observer status. 138 countries voted in favour, 41 abstained and only 9 voting against it. Therefore, as one of the five UNSC permanent members, China’s stand should be lauded by the peace-loving countries including hypocrites in Washington and Brussels who have made it a tradition to cherry-pick when to call for observance and respecting of international laws.

Otherwise, it is despicable to see the Biden administration and allies unbothered by the racist and genocidal language calling Palestinians “human animals.” It is sickening seeing U.S which normally presents itself as a defender of international laws and playing by rules being the same country arming Israel with bombs aiding Netannyahu’s crimes against humanity in Gaza.

In equal measures, seeing EU’s Ursula von der Leyen issuing Israel a blanket cheque that she and the EU are behind what she called self defense which Israel is using including their complete siege and blockading of electricity, food, fuel, which while referring to Russia-Ukraine crisis called “war crimes” begs us to ask and doubt claims of values they have always claimed to have.

From above, Israel’s war against Palestine and Russia-Ukraine crisis have exposed the West and their lies. Their claims of being pro-democracy or having values is fake news as we have seen their media promote largely propaganda during the said two conflicts.

Like old brats, seeing Biden and Ursula von der Leyen, Rishi Sunak and Macron almost parroting Netanya’s speeches makes one thing clear. Geopolitics of self-claimed democracies and the so-called free world has never been about creating a peaceful and free world. The logic that guides these reckless powerful countries is not human rights or democracy, neither is it about respecting sovereignty of other countries or upholding international law. It is just power and their selfish interest. They are hypocrites and the world should despise them for insulting international collective intelligence.

While I agree that targeting civilians by any side is unacceptable, we must have historical facts right! It’s wrong to compare Hamas with ISIS as the U.S and Israel would want. Hamas has never staged any attack outside historical Palestine. Their attacks are always in historical Palestine and the illegally occupied Palestine areas. The logic way to end this Israeli made and America backed crisis is to address the root cause. Implement the two-state solution!

Allawi Ssemanda is Senior Research Fellow at the Development Watch Centre.