Israel-Hamas war: predator portrayed as victim
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The world is eager to see an end to the Hamas-Israel conflict. Everyone is curious to know the outcome of the attempts for negotiations between the big powers and the countries of West Asia. At the time of writing this, 2500 Palestinians and 1300 Israelis have been killed and about ten thousand people were injured. About 500,000 Palestinians in Gaza face displacement. At the beginning of Hamas's rocket attacks, which began on Saturday, October 7, many countries came out in support of Israel. The moment they hear the very name of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, those used to labelling it as a a terrorist outfit do not have to think twice to take sides with Israel against it. However, as the Israeli offensive, which began as a 'defensive strike', moved towards the destruction of the tiny Palestinian enclave of Gaza and the Palestinians, including their children, many of the early backers began to shift focus. So did India’s Ministry of External Affairs, clarifying India's traditional approach of recognizing the rights of the Palestinians, as an add on to the position on the current situation.
Now, Tel Aviv is getting set on a mission to decimate Hamas and Gaza by conducting a ground war. In preparation for that, residents in the northern part of Gaza have been asked to evacuate. Supply of water, electricity and fuel are blocked for the inhabitants there, to a scale that suffocates them. However, with this, the course of world opinion tilted a little. The European Union, many Western countries and many other countries, including Russia and China, have taken a stance against Israel's move. Overall, when it comes to Hamas, most countries have shown a propensity to practice to blame Israel seeing it as the victim, even as that country refuses to respect the human rights of the Palestinians, let alone their title to the land of their birth. America is at the forefront of this. But now the matter is going to be raised in the UN. Yesterday (Monday), one of the two resolutions reported to be on the cards in the United Nations Security Council, from Russia, asks both parties to agree to a ceasefire and stop terrorist acts, without its language naming any parties. The second, to be tabled by Brazil, asks to pave the way for peace – which is unlikely to be approved as it mentions Hamas by name and since China and Russia maintain that Hamas is not on their terrorist list. Meanwhile, as another sign of easing of the tension is the reports about the Egyptian side border of Gaza, Rafah is likely to be opened facilitating exit of besieged Gazans.
To put matters in perspective, Israel is a country with a history of war crimes - including the bombing of civilians. In the current conflict, more than 700 children were killed in Gaza. As per the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, occupied territories come under their ambit, and Israel is a signatory to the Conventions. This behoves the ocupying country to provide hospital facilities, food and clothing for children below 15 years of age and special protection for children who are orphaned or separated from their families. Many countries that put all the blame on Hamas in the first stage are now trying to stop the atrocities of the Zionist state. It is also pointed out that issuing an ultimatum to the 1.1 million Palestinians living north of the Gaza Strip to leave would either lead to an unending humanitarian disaster or harm the Jewish state itself. Whenever Israel responded militarily against Hamas in the past, it has a history of not weakening but instead surviving mostly with greater force. The sad fact is that most observers forget the simple fact that the Zionist state not only occupied the land of others and set up its regime there, but even denies civil rights to the inhabitants, then extends its rule to new land and builds settlements there. Thus Israel is portrayed as the victim. That is followed by attempts to equate the losses during the real victims' resistance with the predator's genocidal war.
The injustice of this juxtaposition can be understood if Israel's geographical expansion since 1947 is examined. In 1946, before the formation of the State of Israel, only six percent of the land and 30 percent of the population in Palestine belonged to Jews, but in 1947, at the time of the UN partition award, 55 percent of the land came to the hands of the Jews. Even then, Arabs formed the majority of the population. After the 1948 war, 78 percent of the land came under Israel's control. With the six-day war of 1967, Israel took over the West Bank and Gaza, and later displaced the natives in many areas. Many countries in the world fume against Hamas, which they themselves reduce to a terrorist group, in favour of the state of Israel, which has immense military power and advanced weapons including nuclear bombs. It is hoped that at least in the context of the extreme military action by Israel - both ongoing and planned - which can lead to a humanitarian disaster, that school of thought may correct their perception.
