To a hammer every problem is a nail
Battle between Palestine and Israel continues, not looking good for the guy with the sling shot
By Ricky Browne
Israel, not content with the relatively good PR it has been getting globally for its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, is now set on throwing that all away, as it sets about once again bombarding the people of Palestine.
True, the Palestinians are fighting back, throwing rocks and firing rockets at Tel Aviv – but to limited effect.
To a hammer, every problem is a nail.
The United Nations fears the two sides are “escalating towards a full-scale war”.
Earlier this week a group of religious Jews marched through a Muslim area of Jerusalem – with the objective, no doubt, of provoking the residents there.
They were extremely successful, and the Israeli security forces did little to help prevent what clearly had the potential to become a major flare up.
Israel has sent hundreds of air strikes against Palestine, and Palestine has fired more than 1000 rockets at Israel, most of which were successfully destroyed by Israeli’s Iron Dome air defence system.
Palestinian children – at least 14 -- have been among the more than 50 people killed so far by the Israeli forces, and a 13 story apartment building in Gaza was destroyed on Tuesday. Another residential tower block was destroyed again today.
A mosque was also attacked during prayer and as many as 600 people may have been injured. It didn’t help that this attack happened on one of the holiest days in the Muslim calendar, during the height of Ramadan.
The Palestinian rockets have so far killed at least six people in Israel, one of whom may have been an Indian citizen.
The dramatic return to warfare after several years of relative peace puts a new perspective on why Palestine is so far behind in its vaccination programme, especially when compared to Israel.
VACCINES AS A WEAPON OF WAR?
Could it be that in a move that is the opposite of vaccine diplomacy, Israel has been using vaccines as a weapon of war? Could the leadership of Israel be so determined to see the neutralisation of its Palestinian neighbours, that it has implemented a policy to not give a helping hand to the people it must live with?
The Israeli position has been that Palestine is in control of its own health policy, and that it has no right to interfere – that it has made the offer, but that the offer was refused.
Could it be that Palestine is so set on denying the legitimacy of Israel that it would not accept vaccines from its sworn enemy, even if it meant saving its own people?
POLITICAL TROUBLE FOR NETANYAHU
A cynic might think that this is all just a power play by long-time Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to keep his position, now that it looks like he may be forced from office. He may only have days left in the position, if another political party is able to cobble together a big enough alliance with smaller parties.
It doesn’t look like Netanyahu has any intention of backing down. He reportedly said that his government would use all its strength to protect Israel from enemies on the outside and rioters on the inside.
AMERICAN POLICY
Also look out for accusations that this is all Donald Trump’s fault – probably for recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and moving the American embassy there from Tel Aviv. That was a promise that was made by just about every presidential candidate since Israel got independence, but it was only Trump who followed through on that promise. And to the shock of many, the decision was not followed by an outpouring of violence from Palestinians or other Arab states.
President Joe Biden has been in office in the US for more than 100 days now, and it doesn’t look like Israel or Palestine has been much of a concern. Indeed, the new US administration has made no move to pull back from Trump’s decision over recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Biden’s Secretary of State is Antony Blinken -- who is Jewish, and who may therefore not be seen as an unbiased person by the Palestinian side. In a tweet earlier today Binken mentioned speaking to the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs and seemed to lay the blame primarily with Palestine.
“Spoke with @Gabi_Ashkenazi today about the ongoing situation in Israel including rocket fire emanating from the Gaza Strip. Israelis and Palestinians need to be able to live in safety and security, as well as enjoy equal measures of freedom, security, prosperity, and democracy.”
So far Biden himself has said little about the situation, tweeting instead about the importance of clean water for all Americans, and the continuing success of its vaccination programme.
Former US President Donald Trump is still banned from both Facebook and Twitter – but recently started his own site called From the Desk of Donald J Trump. From there he has commented on the situation – showing clear preference for Israel.
“When I was in office we were known as the Peace Presidency, because Israel’s adversaries knew that the United States stood strongly with Israel and there would be swift retribution if Israel was attacked. Under Biden, the world is getting more violent and more unstable because Biden’s weakness and lack of support for Israel is leading to new attacks on our allies. America must always stand with Israel and make clear that the Palestinians must end the violence, terror, and rocket attacks, and make clear that the U.S. will always strongly support Israel’s right to defend itself. Unbelievably, Democrats also continue to stand by crazed anti-American Rep. Ilhan Omar, and others, who savagely attack Israel while they are under terrorist assault,” Trump wrote.
Perhaps the Democrats would like to use the Trump position to find a policy that is completely opposed to his view point. Or perhaps it would like to retain its good relations with the State of Israel – especially when it considers nuclear negotiations with Iran – by supporting the Israel position.
Bernie Saunders, who is Jewish, and who represents the left of the Democrat Party and who ran against Joe Biden in the primaries last year, tweeted about the situation.
“I am extremely concerned by the growing conflict in Israel and Palestine. Once again we are seeing how the irresponsible actions of government-allied right-wing extremists in Jerusalem can escalate quickly into devastating war,” Saunders tweeted.
UK POLICY
Over in the UK, which –with the US -- helped to create the state of Israel and to dispossess Palestinians of their state after World War II, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson did come out with a statement.
“I am urging Israel and the Palestinians to step back from the brink and for both sides to show restraint. The UK is deeply concerned by the growing violence and civilian casualties and we want to see an urgent de-escalation of tensions,” Johnson tweeted earlier today.
The statement is likely to have nil effect on the escalation – but at least it shows that the UK is paying some attention to the developments.
RETURN TO NORMALCY
Israelis were among the first people to return to a level of 2019 normalcy, with the majority of their population vaccinated. Photos of Israelis socialising and walking down the street without masks made it into the international media.
Then, in a religious festival, many people were killed after a stampede in some narrow corridors. The country went into mourning. But the incident could not have happened if the strict protocols of other countries were still in place – so Israel was a victim of its own success.
Now, with Palestine firing off more than 1000 rockets, many Israelis must be living in fear once more. But this too seems to largely be a result of Israel’s own policy .
JAMAICA
In Jamaica, which is about as far from the Israeli Arab conflict as you can get, there are people of both Palestinian and Jewish descent who live side by side, go to the same watering holes, have real friendships and where there is none of the trouble between them that exists between their cousins 11,000 kilometres away.
Some of those people that I know in Jamaica of Palestinian descent still own the land titles to the land they are supposed to own in what is now Israel – but which was taken from them – presumably illegally, by Israel.
There is today in Kingston one synagogue and one mosque. The country has one of the highest murder rates around – but the small population of Muslims and the small population of Jewish people have no discernible animosity towards each other.
But many Jamaicans look at Israel as a kind of colonial aggressor when it comes to how it treats Palestine – though at the same time the country is admired for its technological abilities especially in areas like IT, agriculture and security.
ACCUSATIONS OF APARTHEID
Israel has been accused of continuing a South African-style system of apartheid, where Palestinians can never have the same rights as Israeli citizens. Much of the developing world feels for the Palestinians, and resents the Israeli strongman approach.
Israel has done an amazing job of transforming the piece of land that it is on into a country that is very close to being considered developed – without the help of the oil that many of its neighbours have.
But in its effort to avoid the type of persecution and the Holocaust that Jews faced throughout Europe, it has appeared to persecute Arabs – many of whom never accepted that the Palestinian homeland could be taken from them and given to a group of people who had barely lived there for more than a thousand years.
PEACE BE WITH YOU
This mess was partially created by the UK and the US. A time of peace seemed to have been reached previously, but neither the Israelis under Netanyahu or the Palestinians under Hamas, seem to be interested in pursuing that route again.
Meanwhile, the Arab states have moved on – no longer much bothered by the problems of the Palestinians, who have been left with unconnected bits of their former homeland, largely under the control of Israel.
Every time the Israeli security forces kill a Palestinian child and creates a martyr, it intensifies the desire of many Palestinians to reclaim their homeland and their honour.
The Israeli argument that Hamas is a terrorist organisation and that it uses women and children as human shields is not getting much international support. The Israelis only look like the primary aggressor, hitting every nail with a hammer.
WILL EXPORTS BE HIT?
Israel may now see that its consumer exports are hit, as many consumers in countries like the UK and US may stop buying Israeli products. But this will have little effect on Israel policy to its neighbours.
Israel is one of only a handful of countries that English people can currently visit as tourists. But its desirability may take a dive -- not only for those people who support the Palestinian cause, but also those people who don't want to have a bomb drop on their heads.
Meanwhile, as Palestinians rush into the street to protest the latest attacks, they will be spreading the Covid-19 disease at a faster rate, and may end up killing more of their unvaccinated fellow citizens than the Israelis are capable of doing.
There doesn’t seem to be any end to this problem – a never ending story of a non-Jewish David fighting a Jewish Goliath, and continually missing the giant’s head with his rocks. But the US will no doubt try to get involved once more to try and promote peace. With Netanyahu out of office that may seem to have a slightly better chance – and even better if the leadership in Palestine also changed.
Meanwhile, the globe can quit feeling slightly jealous of Israel and its return to normalcy, because the Israeli normalcy isn’t anything to aspire to.
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