Mansoor’s Musings: Post-mortem of Israel-Hamas war

By Mansoor Ladha on November 7, 2023.

While the world was still dealing with first Afghanistan takeover, it was followed by Russian invasion of Ukraine; in the latest world conflict, it must face the Israel-Hamas conflict. World crisis never seem to end.

As the proverb goes, when elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers. This proverb appropriately applies to the current Israel-Hamas war in which thousands of innocent civilians, women, and children, have been killed while the two “giants” – Israel and Hamas fight.

We all feel as much empathy for the Palestinians children who have died and will die in bombardment of Gaza as we do for the Jewish children who were killed in Hamas’s attack on Israel. There has been an outpouring of support for both sides with most western nations siding with Israel, criticizing Hamas for their “barbaric” and “terrorist” attacks.

The root cause of this conflict has been in front of us for years. Palestinians have been living under Israeli occupation, with human rights violations in the West Bank and settler violence against innocent people. We are repeatedly told by Western leaders, including Canada, that Israel has a right to exist while the same leaders have chosen to neglect to mention that so does Palestine.

A country founded by homeless people – Israel – should be the last one to destroy another country based on similar situation; to indiscriminately bomb densely populated areas, cut off fuel, medical supplies, electricity, and food in the name of revenge was the unkindest cut of all.

As far as the U.S. is concerned, Israel does no wrong. United States’ top diplomat, Anthony Blinken, has been on a whirlwind tour of the Middle East, propounding revenge instead of suggesting ways to solve the issue and bring peace to the area contrary to the annals of his diplomatic file.

Hamas have been branded as terrorists, but the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter is purely a matter of perception. History is full of examples of terrorists who were freedom fighters opposing colonialism and foreign domination.

As Prof. John Bolt, University of St. Michael’s College, said: “When our guy kills in battle, he’s a freedom fighter; when our enemy does, he is a terrorist. Similar acts get different labels depending on who is doing the labeling. Freedom fighters usually come from oppressed or marginalized groups that have been deprived of something important, such as a homeland, and their struggle is to obtain it or gain it back.”

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) was an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a republic encompassing all of Ireland. Nelson Mandela was a leader of African National Congress, a movement fighting for the rights of black people of South Africa and Jomo Kenyatta, an anti-colonial Kenyan activist and politician who became his first President led a group of freedom fighters, the Mau Mau, branded as terrorists by the British government.

Today’s terrorists become tomorrow’s freedom fighters who are applauded and honoured for their courage, determination, and valour.

The West, including Canada, has shown bias and double standard by categorizing all resistance from Palestinian as terrorism, while without any hesitation, it has supported and applauded Ukraine’s responses to Russian attacks as defensive, brave, and heroic, neglecting a proven and documented history of over 75 years of violence from the State of Israel towards Palestine.

The West has failed to condemn Israel for openly committing thousands of inhumane and illegal actions on the Palestinian people by unashamedly ignoring that Israel has been breaking international laws for years.

Palestinians are even afraid to speak in their own language at home around Israeli authorities fearing reprisals or arrests. The daily life of a Palestinian at home consists of being forced to show passports and entry permits at every armed checkpoint, not knowing when violence might erupt.

Children in Gaza live a miserable life so much so that even in times of “peace,” Gazan children are punished by the blockade. Their ambitions and freedom in life are restricted and they are never allowed to travel outside of Gaza. If any child needs complex medical care, he/she must apply to the Israeli government for a permit to travel to a hospital in Israel or the West Bank.

According to Israeli human rights NGO B’tselem, Israel denied 30 per cent of permit applications for children to leave Gaza to receive life-saving care in 2022. What international law would support cutting off food, fuel, electricity, and medical supplies to 2.1 million desperate residents?

The effect of the war on children in Gaza has been traumatic. Gazan children are developing severe trauma symptoms together with the risk of death and injury. According to psychiatrist Fadel Abu Heen, children in Gaza had “started to develop serious trauma symptoms such as convulsions, bedwetting, fear, aggressive behaviour, nervousness, and not leaving their parents’ sides.”

Netanyahu, a divisive figure, has been highly unpopular and distrusted by a majority of Israeli public because of the controversial judicial reform passed by his government. It is in Netanyahu’s interest to prolong the war which has had the effect of uniting the country, giving breathing space to Netanyahu who has blatantly refused ceasefire pleas from the international community.

The world cannot just sit back comfortably in their living rooms watching the Israel-Hamas conflict unfold on their TVs. This conflict didn’t begin on Oct. 7. This is a 75-year-old story of occupation by an apartheid regime and a superpower colonizing helpless people.

The only way out to end the current situation is to negotiate end of Israel’s occupation, and for Israel and Palestinians to live together as neighbours peacefully. It’s a difficult, if not impossible exercise, but the world must try. We shouldn’t have to wait another 75 years to end this conflict.

Mansoor Ladha is a Calgary-based journalist, travel writer and author of Off the Cuff, A Portrait in Pluralism: Aga Khan’s Shia Ismaili Muslims and Memoirs of a Muhindi.

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