A RESPONSE BY AJIT NAIR TO MARY RIDELL’S ARTICLE IN DAILY

TELEGRAPH (REPRINTED IN THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS 11 OCT 2011)

PLEASE READ HER ARTICLE FIRST

“GAZA IS THE SCANDAL THE WORLD FORGOT”

The tragedy of Abdullah Wahdem’s home is a poignant and sad story. But,
putting aside the deep and heartrending emotions the story evokes, can we just
look at the issue dispassionately? Why does Wahdem’s Village receive Israeli
shelling ? Because the Israelis are retaliating. Why ? Because the Hamas fires
rockets randomly at Israeli villages – in this case, at Sderot. Why does the
Hamas fire rockets randomly and without provocation ? Because they know that
Israel WILL retaliate and cause innocent casualties. Then why do they do
continue this seemingly senseless shelling against a much more powerful
neighbour ? Because they want international outrage. Are they succeeding ? To
some extent, but their own shelling causes equal if not more outrage. Then,
will they stop, to end the suffering to their own people and to try and usher in
peace ? Unlikely. Why not ? Because, if there is peace, they will become
IRRELEVANT.

And this is the same story with every quasi-political, militant organisation.
They know how to fight, they know how to gain the support of people who are
impatient with long-drawn out peace processes. But once they achieve a position of
numerical strength or political authority, they haven’t a clue of how to govern or to
bring peace or stability. They consist of rabble rousers and religious
fundamentalists, whose raison-de-etre is fighting, terrorising and spreading
canards to maintain dis-harmony. And they are voted into power by the Abdullah
Wahdems – the common people who do not know how to differentiate between a
militant group and a political party. This is the real tragedy in the Middle East,
especially for the Palestinians.

Its easy to blame the Israelis, but spare a thought for their predicament.
Surrounded by hostile neighbours, sworn to destroy them – their fight for survival
started with their Independence – in 1948. And who were they before they became
Israelis ? Jews, persecuted in Europe and survivors of the Holocaust. In their short
history, they’ve fought three Wars, faced terrorism, rocket attacks and implacable
enmity from all around – except for the Camp David enforced peace accord with
Egypt. With the slow but sure rise of the Islamists in Egypt (witness the recent
persecution of the Copts (Christians) by the ultra conservative elements, supported
by the Army), this Peace Accord too is faltering. It is only the unstinted US
support, coupled with their own tenaciousness, which has kept this fragile Country
surviving and even thriving in the little oasis they have created in this harsh and
desolate land. This is a Country in which every man and woman serves in the
Army and the whole country, especially their border kibbutzes remain in a
permanent state of readiness for offensive defence (remember Entebbe ?) This is a
Country, which has never seen Peace. In this context, Binyamin Netanyahu’s
words ring true “ If the Arabs put down their weapons, there will be no War, if
the Israelis put down their weapons, there will be no Israel”.

While the whole World, especially India, has heartfelt sympathy for the
tragic plight of the Palestinians, displaced from their Homeland and refugees in it –
the solution cannot be at the cost of the destruction of Israel, which is the preferred
option of the Arabs. Whether the 1947 United Nations decision to partition
Palestine and settle displaced Jews and create the State of Israel was right or not
can be argued ad nauseam, but that’s History and a fait accompli. The fact of the
matter is that Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948, a day before the
British Mandate was to end, and is today well entrenched. The only Democracy in
the region, the most powerful militarily and technologically well ahead of all its
neighbours – what Israel wants , it will get (courtesy staunch US support). The
Arabs and the Palestinians will be well advised to keep this reality in mind, while
formulating a plan for the State of Palestine.

On 24 Sept 2011, in a speech in the UN General Assembly, interrupted by

regular applause, the Palestinian President, Mahmud Abbas vowed that
Palestinians were ready to return to peace talks if Israel stopped building
settlements. There was loud applause when he held aloft the official request for
statehood that he'd presented earlier to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Abbas
said “ I do not believe that anyone with a shred of conscience can reject our
application.” He was right, but of course the US will veto it, once it comes up for
a vote. At any rate, this was a bold and positive move and the Israeli PM Binyamin
Netanyahu agreed immediately and said that “lets stop negotiating about the
negotiations. Let's just get on with it. Let's negotiate peace”. The condition that
Abbas placed – that of stopping the construction of settlements by Israel, is
probably acceptable to them. It suits both men to have peace in the region. There is
a new air of hope in the Middle East. Now it only remains for Abbas to make the
Hamas see some sense, to convince them that peace could actually suit them too.

There is too much at stake for the entire world, to lose this golden
opportunity to negotiate a peaceful settlement of one of the root causes of
animosity between Islam and the West. All Countries, including India, who
have a stake must pitch in.