Malik M. Ashraf
The dilemma with the powerful nations and their leaders is that they have an irresistible propensity to find solutions to complex and intractable problems through coercion, force, and even by starting wars to have their way and refusing to learn from history. A history that invariably brought humiliation owing to the failure of the strategies premised on use of force to subjugate or brow-beat smaller nations into submission. In case of USA the failure of military adventures in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan are quintessential of this irrefutable reality. Peace in the world remains elusive because of the fact that USA as a superpower is either responsible for starting wars and conflicts in different parts of the world or involved in one way or other in supporting them to achieve its strategic objectives.
The US support to Israel in carrying out genocide of the people of Palestine and the establishment of settlements on the captured Palestine land is indeed a shameless chapter of the American history which represents strongest negation of her much trumpeted credentials of civility, love for humanitarian causes, human rights and commitment to world peace. The demolition of all structures in Gaza by Israeli forces and killing of more than fifty thousand Palestinians while US leaders allowed Israel to accomplish its mission of annihilating the entire population notwithstanding world-wide condemnation of Israeli actions knows no parallels of callousness in the modern history.
The newly elected US President Donald Trump contrary to his pre-election pledges to stop wars and conflicts around the world seems hell-bent to foist his own perceived solution to the Palestinian problem instead of helping implement the two-state agreement. In the back-drop of the ceasefire in Gaza he has come up with a very bizarre and dangerous proposition of taking over GAZA and developing it into a ‘Riviera’ while its people are settled in the neighbouring Arab countries. He outlined this vision at a joint press conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu.
As the hostages are being swapped following the ceasefire Trump has threatened that if all the hostages held in Gaza were not returned by Saturday he would propose cancelling Israel-Hamas ceasefire and letting all hell break loose. He has further threatened that if Jordan and Egypt do not take Palestinian refugees relocated from Gaza he might withhold aid to them.
He seems absolutely indifferent to the condemnation of his suggestion by his European allies, Arab nations, the Muslim World and even disapproval of the envisaged solution by the UN Secretary General. It is a mindless and the most callous recipe. Instead of bringing peace in the Middle East and resolving the Palestinian issue he is creating conditions for an un-ending mayhem in that part of the world. Regrettably he is acting like a bull in the china shop.
It is pertinent to mention that the international Criminal Court had declared Israeli actions in Gaza as ‘genocide’ and even issued arrest warrants of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu. President Trump is so incensed by the ICC action that through an executive order he has imposed asset freezes and travel bans against officials of ICC in protest against arrest warrants of Natanyahu. He called the court ‘illegitimate’ and placed financial and visa restriction on ICC Staff and any one assisting ICC investigations against the US and its allies.
What Trump has said and is doing sounds colonial-era like fantasies of conquest exhibiting complete disregard for fundamental Human Rights. He fails to understand and foresee that Gaza is home to generations of Palestinians and their forced displacement would amount to second ‘Nakaba’ and ethnic cleansing. That would be totally unacceptable to them. They love their land and have stuck to their stance since 1948 by enduring war, blockade and genocide. Gaza is land owned by the people of Palestine and not a real estate project. The conflict is also not an economic venture but political struggle rooted in history and identity. Trump has taken a very simplistic and extremely flawed view of the conflict which he and his allies would find difficult to defend and justify in the long run.
The fact that the people of Gaza and Hamas have also out-rightly rejected the proposition any attempt to implement the Trump plan would spark more violence across Middle East. The support of US for Israeli oppression and land-grabbing is going to have disastrous consequences for the entire region. Israel also might not emerge un-scathed from the flare-up in the conflict. Trump’s vision is a very dangerous proposition. He is actually making a case for forced displacement which not only disregards the aspirations of the Palestinian people but also constitutes an affront to the principles enshrined in the UN Charter.
The US needs to understand that its high-handedness and unjustified efforts to fulfill Israeli ambitions will never succeed. No oppression will be able to subdue the aspirations of the Palestinian people as is evident from their historic struggle. Further, the US will find itself abandoned even by its European allies if it tries to go ahead with its perceived plan. It is a highly risky adventure likely to destroy any prospects of peace returning to Middle East.
President Trump is better advised to revisit his stance, feel the pulse of the changed times, and focus his energies on two-state solution already agreed in the US-backed Oslo Accords which was signed by Yasser Arafat of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1993.The global community overwhelmingly supports this solution. Secretary General of UN while addressing the Security Council in January 2024 had unequivocally stated that a lasting end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could only come through a two-State solution. Any refusal to accept the two-State solution by any party must be firmly rejected. He stressed that Israeli leaders’ recent, clear and repeated rejection of a two-State solution is unacceptable. The only way to address the legitimate aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians is through the two-State formula.
The writer is a freelance columnist. He can be reached at ashpak10@gmail.com.
