Persecution unbound
Netanyahu is doing everything to not only kill Palestinians, but also UN’s two-state solution for Palestine
PALESTINIANS are besieged. They have been besieged for more than 100 years. The latest being on Tuesday when the Zionist regime of Benjamin Netanyahu completely closed off the Karem Abu Salem crossing, the only route through which two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip get their food and medicines. This is a cruel thing to do, but cruelty has been part of the Israeli regime’s armour since it forcefully acquired Palestinian land, strip by strip. Rights group has called this action of Israel “morally depraved”. We agree. The United Nations has labelled it “collective punishment” of the Palestinian people. We agree, again.
Such morally depraved measures and collective punishments are not unusual for the Israeli regime. Consider the case of the fast vanishing fishing zone in the waters off the Gaza strip, which the persecuted Palestinians use as a source of food. According to Al Jazeera, Netanyahu’s regime has been progressively reducing the marine food source from 12 nautical miles to the current limit of three nautical miles. Neither land, sea nor the air is off limits to the Israeli regime to inflict harm on Palestinians. Bombs are also being dropped on them from the air, sea and land. Israel’s disregard for unarmed civilian lives cannot be clearer.
Netanyahu is not interested in peace. This much is clear: he wants the world to forget UN Resolution 181 of 1947, which called for Palestine to be divided into Arab and Jewish states, with Jerusalem as an entity to be governed by an international body. After killing off the idea of Jerusalem being a capital of Palestine (or so he thinks), Netanyahu is laying his grand plan to turn what remains of Palestine into Israel. Yes, Eretz Yisrael or Greater Israel is slowly becoming a creeping reality.
The international community of nations must not allow Israel to forget UN Resolution 181 and its two-state solution. Because it is the only just solution to peace. A Jews only one-state solution is no solution at all. It will be a tinderbox for an already muddled Middle East. The United States, which is the only nation in the world with enough influence on Netanyahu, must make him toe the UN line. Otherwise, we will have to live with continuous conflicts and conflagrations. This is reason enough for the global community to join forces and persevere for peace in the Middle East. The two-state solution must not be allowed to die. Even if Netanyahu stands in peace’s way.
The News Straits Times celebrated its 173rd anniversary on July 15, and, throughout these long years of journalism, the paper has been calling for people of all hues to live in peace and harmony. Sure, the NST has reported on wars and conflicts, but that is only to point out the foregone opportunities for peace. Yes, when the atom bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki we reported that too. But our point was not the power of the bombs; it was more the pointlessness of war, conflicts and conflagrations by any other name.
A Jews only one-state solution is no solution at all. It will be a tinderbox for an already muddled Middle East.