The Palestinians and the Israelis are at war currently because they both want to be in control of the Gaza strip. The Gaza strip for a long time was a part of Egypt, but it is currently separated from the west bank, making it closer to the east of Israel and totally separated from other Palestinian populations. Israel has been in control of the strip since 1967 after the war with Egypt and it has been its owner just as much as it owns the west bank. The strip is among the most densely populated cities in the world. A major part of this population was comprised of the Israelis and this made sure that the Israeli troops and its militants stayed here. The prime minister for Israeli Ariel Sharon brought about the change in 2005 when he withdrew from Gaza and hence, the city was taken control of by a united Palestinian authority (El-Hassan).
Gaza later was taken control by the Hamas who proved to be the most powerful of the Palestinian groups that were in the city. The Hamas is a part of an international Islamic movement which does not recognize Israel in any way. This is because the Hamas have for a long time sought to replace Israel with a Palestinian nation and thus have had wars with Israel for decades. The one unique feature of the Hamas as a brotherhood group is that it has their own militant group unlike other brotherhoods. Based on the lack of trust between Israeli and the hams, the two groups have both refused to negotiate with each other hence a small act of provocation has the ability to escalate into something bigger.
Hamas was a democratically elected by the Palestinians and as such they are the fighting force for the Palestinians. The Israelis and the Palestinians have had conflicts over the control of the Gaza strip since 2005 and they have several wars since then. From the beginning of this war, the problem between the Israelis and the Palestinians has become more than a local fight. Their fight for the Gaza strip has appealed to the great powers in the world who are trying to come up with a long lasting solution to the problem. This is because the consequences associated with the war have taken a different turn in the sense that these impacts are affecting other nations besides Israel and Palestine. The primary aim of this paper is to deduce if it is necessary for other powers around the globe to take part in this war.
According to the Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians their war with the Israelis is based on the past humiliations they had during the European colonialism, and that Palestinians are being forced to pay for these humiliations with their land. On the other hand, the Israelis think that the basis of the war is the fact that they had several years of anti-Semitism where they, the Jews, remained outsiders in their homeland. Historically, the war is as a result of the mandate the British government was given to rule Palestine after the First World War (Amidror). There was commitment to the Jewish nation in the mandate where they were to become part of the territory. The Arabs on the other hand came up with a pledge to compete the commitment and this was where there was to be a creation of an Arab state on the same land as that of the Jews. This led to a conflict which was the then Zionist Jews and Arabs who are the present day Israelis and Palestinians.
With relation to the objective of the essay, it is important the role that other countries are playing in the Israeli Palestinian war so as to determine if it is valid for them to take part in the war. The first country of interest in the Gaza war is the United States where there are some accusations made of its association with the war. The United States has been recorded as the strongest and best ally of Israel as well as its political benefactor. As much as Israel is sinking into isolation, its association with the United States remains special with every new day. Even though the Obama administration is considered to be fair of all the American administrations, it has is a stalwart of Israel in the sense that it is sending to the bottom the vision of the country’s security. This biasness is clear as it took part in defending operation protective edge war of the Israelis, which led to the death of many civilians in Gaza.
Israel continues to get undeserved status through its relationship with the United States, and this is shown by the recent congressional bill that declares the strategic cooperation between the United States and Israel among other bills. This military edge is used in the maintenance of the illegal military occupation of the Israelis. From the recent Israeli war in Gaza, most of its victims are civilians who are killed by the weapons from the United States. It is thus clear that the U.S. and Israel are partners in their crimes in Gaza as well as Palestine. This is because of the attitude that the United States has over Israel, that if not changed will not help bring peace in Gaza, hence a question of its credibility as a peace making country (Bassiouni). The United States is hitting headlines DUE to its involvement in the war where more than one thousand United States citizens are taking part in the war. This is only realized by the media, but there is nothing done to stop this even after some of the US-Israeli soldiers are killed in the war., their families only receives messages of condolences.
The United States is just one of the countries that are taking part in the Gaza war since the European Union is also part of the war. The European Union is also conspicuously shown in the media headlines where it shows its hypocrisy in that they are using an approach of double speaking in the middle east particularly Palestine. The European Union government is finding it hard to shower Israel with the same amount of love that it is receiving from the US.
The British government is on the Israeli side, even though the families of civilians in Gaza are being destroyed by weapons from the west the French society through its government is banned from showing its solidarity with the Gaza victims, but it’s the union that rules it that is supplying military technology and weapons to the Israelis. It is further hypocrisy that their citizens are being allowed to enlist in the Israeli defense forces which is killing the Palestinian civilians. The western governments are also providing the Israelis with military experts who are committing crimes against humanity in Gaza. It further irony that the British government is turning a blind eye to criminal acts in the sense that its citizens fighting against the government of Syria are being detained, while on the other hand its citizens are fighting for Israel taking part in the same acts of crime.
In general, the western world together with the united states are taking part in the Gaza war where they are providing the Israelis with funds, economic aid, military technology and even actual participation in the killing of civilian Palestinians in Gaza. It evidently shows the United States and the western countries in general are working on the grounds of double standards in the Israeli-Palestinian war. Based on this, it is positively arguable that the war between Israelis and Palestinians should be left to themselves without the help of other countries. This perspective is based on a theoretical situation where these countries should not prevent its citizens from leaving their home countries to take part in the war. Their reduced level of participation will equally reduce the killing of innocent civilians in Gaza with equal measure (Cordesman).
This elucidation is based on the reasoning that there is a difference between stopping crimes of war and defending, financing, and taking active parts in carrying out the crimes of war. The bloodshed in the Gaza war due to the Israeli attacks on the Palestinians is not only a problem caused by the prime minister of Israel, but also the leaders of all other western leaders who should stop taking part in the war. These leaders should also take account of the deaths and bloodshed in Gaza by their citizens who are taking part in the war.
The actions mentioned above are what can be generalized as military intervention for Israel by the western countries. This shows that these countries are in support and favor of Israel, and therefore the Palestinians are considered to be rebels. Based on the support that the Israelis are getting from the western countries, the rebels are forced to retaliate by inclining the war to continue. Any intervention from the military makes the weaker team to retaliate by attacking the civilians as a means of lashing back to the military, and this in more than one way increases the death rate. This is because international intervention by supporting one side of the military makes the rebels to be bold in using dangerous weapons against their opponents and this may include innocent civilians. In this case, the western countries are not encouraged to participate in this way since their main contribution is by helping Israelis which leads the Palestinians to retaliate with the aim of not being humiliated.
On the other hand, as much it has been observed through the hypocrisy of the western countries that other countries should not take part in the Israeli-Palestinian war, it is important that other countries should take part in the war. It has been observed that the western countries have offered funds, technology and economic aid to Israel just as much as they have offered their citizens to help in the fight. Their actions have been seen as actions of hypocrisy where their aid is assisting in causing crimes of humanity in Gaza. This can be changed in the sense that these countries should be involved in the war as mediators.
Other countries should take part in the war by offering medical aid to all victims of the war irrespective of what they said they are from. The attitudes between the Palestinians and the Israelis would be equal in the sense that the mediators should not have a preference for any of the fighting groups so as to make mediation easy. Intervention from other countries is important because it will help in reducing the crimes committed by the Palestinians and the Israelis against each other, and this will further stop if not reducing the number of victims who are affected innocently by the war.
There needs to be international intervention in the Gaza war where other countries, and not necessarily the western countries should take part in intervening to call to an end the war. This is important since most Palestinians as well as Israelis have lost their homes, their identity, and most have lost their lives because of the war. It is also very evident from the media that civilians are living in fear, and this has to be stopped by intervention from other countries. It is the duty and responsibility of all international citizens to bring to an end the bloodshed in Gaza. It is also the most fundamental action of human beings to take any step of action to stop the war before the use of chemical weapons and murder become a norm in Gaza. The lack of participation of other countries paints an image to civilians across the world that the world is made up of incompetent leaders due to lack of competent international diplomacy.
In conclusion, the history of the Gaza war is based on the British colonization of the Arabs and the Jews where they took sides and both parties are fighting against the humiliation they were subjected to by the British. The war has since escalated since 2005 after Ariel Sharon quit Gaza, which had been under the leadership of the Israelis for a long time. The strip since had been under the administration of the Hamas, and the major cause of the war is that the Israelis are claiming the con troll of the Gaza strip. This war has led to a dilemma whether other countries should take part in it or not.
Works cited
Amidror, Ya’akov. Hamas, the Gaza war and accountability under international law. Jerusalem: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 2011.
—. Winning counterinsurgency war : the Israeli experience. Baltimore, MD: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 2008.
Bassiouni, M Cherif. A guide to documents on the Arab-Palestinian/Israeli conflict,1897-2008. Danvers, Mass: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2009.
Cordesman, Antony H. The Israeli-Palestinian War. New York: Praeger Security International, 2005.
El-Hassan, Afif Hassan. Is the two-state solution already dead? : a political and military history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. New York: Algora Pub, 2010.
|
Grammar
D
|
Formatting
D
|
Organization
D
|
Style
D
|