Avert Full-scale War In West Asia

Yuba Nath Lamsal: The entire world is watching the newer turns of events in West Asia with grief, shock and outrage. The manslaughter in Gaza began following the Palestine militant group, Hamas, unleashed attack in Israel firing barrage of rockets in civilian targets and broke through Israeli border on October 7. Israel immediately declared a state of war and began retaliating to flush out the Hamas militias in Gaza and other areas used as hideouts by them. While the rest of the world has condemned Hamas attacks, a handful of states have expressed cautionary notes seeking to restore peace and settle problem through peaceful means. Iran, perhaps, the only country that appears in jubilant mood congratulating the Hamas for the attack, while some others in the Islamic world are sympathetic to the Palestinians cause but are opposed to the violent and inhuman modus operandi. The Hamas attack has left little room for peaceful negotiation and diplomacy between Israel and Hamas. As Israel government appears determined to crush the Hamas, more fierce war is expected in Gaza and the West Bank which may cause greater human casualties and collateral damage. Looming danger If violent conflict further escalates, the war may not remain within the Gaza and the West Bank but will impact the entire West Asia and even beyond. Some even see a looming danger of breaking out a full scale war in the Middle East. Hamas calls the attack as ‘Operation Al-Aqsa’ after the name of the Islamic holy shrine Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, a tactical move to give religious colour to its act. It has, at the same time, tried to link the attack with the Palestinian cause. In fact, Hamas’ sudden attack has further complicated Palestinians’ cause and Palestinian people have been the ultimate victims. The deep-rooted conflict between Jewish and Palestinian people goes back to the Biblical era, which continues to exist even today. This conflict is rooted in the differences over historical and cultural narratives. Jews claim that Israel is their sacred homeland as Biblical figures like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David once preserved and protected this area as the holy land. Palestinians and Islamic world contradict this argument and call the eastern Mediterian region as the Philistine or the land of Palestinian, which, according to them, existed right from early civilisation. With the rise and fall of different empires, the region came under the control of different rulers and regimes and they, accordingly, developed their own rhetoric and narratives. In 1917, the Balfour Declaration of the British government announced the establishment of national homeland for Jewish people. The United Nations General Assembly convened a special session in April 1947 to debate the question of Palestine. The General Assembly appointed a special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) that recommended the partition of the land to the east of Mediterranean and west of Jordan for the creation of two separate states for Israel and Palestine homelands, which was overwhelmingly adopted by the UN General Assembly. Jews accepted the resolution and founded Israel as their homeland in 1948 while Palestinians and some Arab countries rejected the idea. This led to wars, crises and one after another over time causing greater human suffering. Israel was established as a Jewish homeland under the UN mandate after Jews went through terrible and torturous humiliation and history’s worst prosecution and suppression in different parts of Europe. The holocaust and gas chamber prosecution of Jews by Hitler’s Nazi regime in Germany during the World War II is remembered as history’s worst crime against humanity. Given the protracted crisis, wars and human catastrophes in West Asia due to Israel-Palestine conflict, international community including the United Nations and Great Powers felt obligation to do justice to both Jews and Palestinians and restore peace in West Asia. The Oslo Process is the part of these initiatives of the international community in the process of establishing peace in the region. The Oslo Accord was reached in 1993 between the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Israel agreeing for a two-nation theory under which PLO will recognise the existence of Israel while Palestinians will have their own authority in areas consisting of Gaza and the West Bank. The Oslo Accord provides for the existence of Israel and Palestinian states and their mutual recognition. It was agreed that Israel will withdraw from the occupied areas of Gaza and the West Bank where Palestinians would enjoy their self-rule, which, in other words, would pave the way for the establishment of Palestinian state. While PLO that represented broader spectrum of Palestinian population agreed for a two-nation theory, Hamas rejected it and resorted to violent tactics to derail the peace process, which was backed by some extremist groups in the Arab world. This is the crux of the conflict and problem in the Middle East. Israel is a reality and Arab countries have realised it. Recently, there have been diplomatic efforts from Arab countries to accept the existence of Israel. Provocation The Oslo Accords was an opportunity for a Palestinian state. Hamas’ rejection of the existence of Israel aims at derailing the peace process in the region. This is neither in the interest of Palestinians nor other countries of the region. In fact, Hamas does not represent entire Palestine population and it has been using violent tactics to intimidate even Palestine community. Hamas was created in 1987 as an offshoot of Muslim Brotherhood, an Egyptian Sunni fundamentalist group, to weaken the moderate Fatah group or the PLO to not let peace prevail in the Arab world. Hamas’ surprise attack has provoked Israel which has accordingly retaliated in the Palestinian settlements. The attacks and counter-attacks have caused greater human casualties in both sides. Given the greater humanitarian crisis conflict has caused in the region, international community must act urgently to ensure that both sides cease hostility, release hostages, allow international humanitarian aid into Gaza and other areas and allow the people from the conflict prone zones to move out. These are the immediate tasks that international community has to ensure from both warring sides. (The author is former ambassador and former chief editor of this daily. lamsalyubanath@gmail.com) -- Published in TRN on October 31, 2023