De-escalate conflict in Gaza, US must step in
There is a burgeoning conflict between Israel and the Hamas-administered Gaza Strip that must stop immediately if the entire Middle East region is not to be embroiled in another full-scale war. The Israeli police intervention restricting the right to freedom of worship during the Muslim holy month of Ramzan outside the historic Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem was the trigger for the events which have led Israel to the brink of an invasion of Gaza, with its combat troops massing on the border and preparing for a possible incursion like in 2008-09 and later in 2014. There are two “wars” on at the moment — the unprovoked firing of rockets by Hamas into Israeli population centres and the retaliatory aerial attacks on the Gaza Strip on the one hand and, on the other, the sectarian violence in Israel between Jews and Israeli Arabs.
Amid an already grim scenario, it does not help that US President Joe Biden declares Israel has a right to defend itself, though of course every nation does have the right to defend itself against external aggression, as illustrated in this instance of hundreds of Hamas rockets testing Israel’s fabled Iron Dome defence system with some streaking through to kill civilians, including an Indian housemaid. The Israelis are also facing a new type of challenge in people of the TikTok generation owing no loyalty except to the social media and spreading stray images of individual Arabs attacking Jews, which situation has now worsened into attacks on synagogues and citizens fighting on the streets.
World powers are calling for a cessation of hostilities, while some like Russia and Turkey are egging Hamas on though they may know who will be the likely victor in aggrandising traditional Arab territory. Of course, there can be no end to arguments about whose land it was and who was evicted 2,000 years ago. Such issues, in which 1948 and 1967 were significant dates, are being revisited now with arguments over seven Palestinian families facing eviction from the Sheikh Jarra neighbourhood of East Jerusalem and a court holding back a ruling only due to the outbreak of violence, starting with stone throwers aiming at policing of their congregating near the confluence of some of the holiest shrines of three religions and excessive police retaliation.
The one person who might not find the situation as incommoding of his power and position is Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu, who could be replaced if his rival Yair Lapid’s coalition moves bear fruit. These moves have become complicated amid the bloodshed in the raging conflict, with at least 67 Palestinians and seven Israelis dead. If Mr Netanyahu does cling on for now as he presides over operations in tandem with his nemesis Benny Gantz, the United States would have to play a leading role in bringing about a ceasefire. It is not clear where President Biden’s optimism springs from as he said “we will see this coming to a conclusion sooner than later”, but can there be a more effective peacemaker in this conflict than the US President, if he can exert America's traditional influence on the Jewish state.
The one person who might not find the situation as incommoding of his power and position is the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu who could be replaced if Yair Lapid’s coalition moves bear fruit