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.
