International community negates State of Palestine

It has been a decades-old war whose end looks like a mirage seemingly normalizing an abnormal state of affairs pitting Israel and Palestine in the new world international political order (NWIPO).

Both Islamic states want autonomous authority over the Gaza Strip. The Strip has stayed on the political radar of consequent governments, from both sides, with each leader coming in to spur their ability to wrestle the land that has witnessed thousands of lives lost, euphemistically turning it into a Bloody Strip.

There has been wanton destruction of property and loss of lives even before the turn of the century. According to The Economist magazine 0f May 17, 2021, more than 14,000 people have lost their lives between 1987 and 2021, ninety percent of these casualties, Palestinian.

“The victims in this latest bout join a tragic toll from the decades-old conflict. According to data gathered by B’Tselem, an Israeli human-rights organisation, between December 9th, 1987, and April 30th, 2021, the conflict claimed 13,969 lives. Fully, 87 percent of the dead were Palestinian. The recent violence (2021) brings the total to over 14,000.”

Reporting: “The data from B’Tselem show that in the 15 years between the Second Intifada, which began in September 2000, and the end of the second Gaza war in August 2014, 800 people died each year, on average. Since then, victims have numbered 175 a year. In the same period, Israeli deaths fell from 85 a year to 14.”

 The Economist further reports, “According to data from OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), a UN organisation, by May 17th, 2021, it had claimed the lives of 230 people—mostly Palestinians … .”

A 2023 UN Humanitarian Report shows many more lives have been lost with several injured and multitudes displaced. Several homes and infrastructure are not spared the wrath, making life in the Gaza Strip stand out among the most difficult in human history.

The latest 6 fatalities and 30 more critically injured at a Jenin refugee camp along the Gaza Strip add statistics to the thousands more in a similar predicament.

For ages, yes, long periods of tenure, some thought peace talks would end the war but, all such efforts have proved fruitless.  Different Statesmen have tried to broker a truce. Nonetheless, the end has not eluded more offensive outbursts, breaching the peace currency. That has dashed those peace hopes for a region volatile in relations on tribalism and ethnicity.

Political analysts concur on the heavy scales weighing against the State of Palestine and its disenfranchised people. Research Associate, Centre for the Study of United States Affairs, Wits University, Dr. Gideon Chitanga, profers some insight.

“I think that clearly the response of the international community to the conflict in Palestine compared to its reaction to the war in Ukraine represents two totally separate ways of dealing with conflict. The historical context of these conflicts is totally different. The nature and character also differ.

“There is a war in Ukraine, between Russia and Ukraine, over a conflation of historical and territorial issues. The West has chosen to support Ukraine as an ally for strategic reasons, basically creating a buffer against what they see as Russian threats. Secondly,  they’re protecting Ukrainian territorial integrity by directly supporting Ukraine militarily,” he said.

In the case of Palestinians, Dr. Chitanga says they are claiming their sovereign nation statehood and territorial integrity and are defending that. The West and international community view Israel as an ally and a country they have to historically support because of their historical factors and experiences.

In both cases, Ukraine and Israel are considered allies. In the case of the Palestinian people, who are the victims of Israeli aggression, the West supports Israel and decided to turn a blind eye to the violence and atrocities. It is perpetrated not only on Palestinians but, also on journalists and policymakers.

“In spite of having engaged in a process of dialogue over the years, that has consistently failed, because the West has not managed to push Israel to make critical concessions  that recognize Palestine as a sovereign state.” Dr. Chitanga observes.

Renowned social commentator and political analyst, Rashweat Mukundu weighs in: “The Palestinian question is a sore thumb on the conscience of the world as it remains unresolved. The Palestinians, like the Ukrainians, are suffering from the consequences of a divided global community that looks at human suffering from an ideological and national self-interest perspective.

“While the Ukrainians have support from the West in their struggle for freedom, the same support has not been given to the Palestinians, not only by the West but even by the East including the likes of Russia and China. It appears that Palestinian suffering is of no interest to anyone as all attention by global powers is on Ukraine.

“No doubt, the Ukraine conflict is a high stakes game for global powers but, that in itself tells the story of how humanity is still stuck in the use of violence to resolve issues and how the human suffering by generations of Palestinians they endure daily does not attract attention from all powers. What is needed is to further strengthen the voices of the global south to mitigate the dominance of global issues by strong nations and power games by powerful countries. The global south must promote the post World War 2 (WW2) peace and humanity first ideology which are now pushed back by self-interest and domination by big powers,” reasons Mukundu.

Palestinians are fighting for self rule in what they term their motherland while Israel is seen to encroach and wade them off from the land of their ancestors.

Israel enjoys support from political and economic superpower United States of America to ride roughshod in the region. It is heavily armed and well-resourced to achieve set goals or at least keep opponents at bay.

On the other hand, Palestine is mean in terms of resources, the UN Press notes. The little it has goes towards funding essential services, leaving it heavily exposed in the wake of a war of this magnitude, at the same time sustaining State and Government apparatus.

Palestine Ambassador to Zimbabwe H.E. Dr. Tamer Almassri made a bold statement about disharmony within the international community.

“The current events in Europe have shown blatant double standards against the Palestinian people. Despite the crimes of the Israeli occupation that amounted to ethnic cleansing and racial discrimination, we find no one who is holding Israel responsible for behaving as a state above the law. Successive Israeli Governments rolled out measures forcing more Palestinians from their homes, expanding illegal settlements, and legalizing existing settlements and outposts across the occupied West Bank. Despite this and Israeli forces killing Palestinians, Western nations failed to demand an end to that system of oppression. Western countries are doing nothing more than lip service to the issue of ending the Israeli occupation.

“At the very same time, the same countries that speak of the Palestinian right to be free are financially, militarily, and politically support the Israeli occupiers. The State of Palestine reiterates that there will be no peace with the policy of annexation and apartheid. There will be no peace as long as the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people continues. Palestinian people will continue their national struggle until they win their legitimate rights and establish their independent sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital.”