Palestine in Tatters, Again
Life in Gaza and the West Bank is dystopian in nature. Don't take it from me, as I have never been there (or Tibet) to witness the carnage. The media - print and social - provide plenty of ammunition as to the degree of suffering by the folks on the ground there. There has been relative peace in Palestinian until recently when Hamas launched missiles into Israel. Make no mistake, most folks would be fed up with a neighbour stealing from them on a regular basis. Land claims by Israel since the formation of the state of Israel - post WW2, show no sign of pause. What is evident with each intifada is the disproportionate amount of force that Israel exercises to subdue their Palestinian counterparts. Typically, the ratio is approximately, 10 -1 Palestinian casualties to Israel, in recent conflicts. The concepts of Jus Post Bellum (Justice After War) and Jus Ad Bellum (conditions of war) are sorely missing between these protagonists. Israel and Palestine need too broker peace and the starting point is a long desired two - state solution that respects boundaries, so that democracy can be consolidated for Palestinians and Israeli's. But, and rightly so, in a post Holocaust world, Israel has a right to defend itself and would proclaim that it is surrounded by people who hate it and would like it eviscerated from the globe. However, Israel is not making a case to display an understanding caricature to its neighbours, or the international community. Hamas started this latest round and the people that are dying are their own. Given the circumstances, Hamas and its leader, Ismail Haniyeh need to be removed from office to reset their goals. The Biden Administration decision to withdraw from Afghanistan weakens American foreign policy options in the Near East, considerably
The U.S.and allies need to offer more support to Palestine in direct aid. Russia should be generously donating the S - 400 missile defence system to Palestine to shoot down Israeli missiles on the condition of a brokered ceasefire and/ or the installation of a new Palestinian Authority that seeks peace. Vladimir Putin has threatened Israel with war recently "... I mean the escalated Palestinian-Israeli conflict – this is happening in the immediate vicinity of our borders and directly affects our security interests," This would be sure to alarm the U.S. as a supporter of Israel and contributor to the development and maintenance of the Iron Dome MDS. The U.S. Congressional Research Service notes on U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel: "In 2016, the U.S. and Israeli governments signed their third 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on military aid, covering FY2019 to FY2028. Under the terms of the MOU, the United States pledged to provide—subject to congressional appropriation—$38 billion in military aid ($33 billion in Foreign Military Financing grants plus $5 billion in missile defense appropriations) to Israel. This MOU followed a previous $30 billion 10-year agreement, which ran through FY2018."
Furthermore Israel is a good customer and supporter of the F 35t fighter jet program. "Israel is the first international operator of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Department of Defense’s fifth-generation stealth aircraft, considered to be the most technologically advanced fighter jet ever made. To date, Israel has purchased 50 F-35s in three separate contracts, funded with U.S. assistance."
Under the Trump Administration, son in law Jarod Kushner attempted a Peace Plan through the Abraham Accords, which is a hard boiled attempt to reduce the Israeli - Palestinian conflict to a real estate dispute. The nexus of this latest dispute involved an Israeli police raid on the Al Aqsa Mosque during the first night of Ramadan int East Jerusalem that muted its speakers for prayer to allow for an address by Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to be heard. Most notable was a movement by Israeli settlers to remove Palestinian families from their homes from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, according to the New York Times. So, the "Art of the Deal" lives on, except foreign policy is an entirely different dynamic apart from casinos.
For FY2021, the Trump Administration requested $3.3 billion in FMF for Israel and $500 million in missile defense aid to mark the second year of the MOU. The Administration also requested $5 million in Migration and Refugee Assistance humanitarian funding for migrants to Israel.
As the international community remains mired in a Holocaust Memorial chasm, it would do well to remember the Palestinian victims of apparent re-directed aggression by the Israeli states, and Tibetans who are victims of Chinese cultural genocide that has occurred simultaneously with Palestine during the same time - line. The U.N. - the collective security dynamo has failed Palestinians and Tibetans. Both are struggling to find a voice in this modern cheesecloth of international relations. Russia should extend a conditional agreement on its missile defence system for Palestine. That offer would grease the skids for a serious moratorium on the situation in Palestine.
The Palestinian community held a rousing protest here in Kitchener - Waterloo on the weekend to protest the Israeli bombardment of Palestinian territories. Vehicles followed single file constantly honking their horns and waving the Palestinian flag outside open car windows. Around they went circling Victoria Park repeatedly wasting gasoline, creating noise and carbon pollution, hardly endearing anyone to their cause. Suggestion: write or Tweet the Prime Minister or Foreign Affairs Minister. Tibetan's do not engage in suicide bombings or other means in protest. 157 Tibetans have self immolated since 2009, according to the International Campaign for Tibet. It is a single life lost. We can do more for both causes.
Total Casualties Israeli - Arab Conflict
Courtesy of Jewish Virtual Library
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/total-casualties-arab-israeli-conflict
Event | Year(s) | Jews/Israelis | Arabs/Palestinians | ||
Killed° | Wounded^ | Killed°± | Wounded^ | ||
1920 | 6 | 200 | |||
1921 | 43 | ||||
1924 | 133 | 116 | |||
1929 | 135 | 399 | 87 | 91 | |
1936-1939 | 415 | 5,000 | 15,000 | ||
1948 | 6,373 | 15,000 | 10,000 | ||
1956 | 231 | 900 | 3,000 | 4,500 | |
1967 | 776 | 2,586 | 18,300 | ||
1968-1970 | 1,424 | 2,700 | 5,000 | ||
1973 | 2,688 | 19,000 | |||
1982 | 1,216 | 2,383 | 20,825 | 30,000 | |
1987-1993 | 200 | 1,162 | |||
2000-2005 | 1,100 | 8,000 | 4,907 | 8,611 | |
2006 | 164 | 1,489 | 1,954 | 4,400 | |
2008-2009 | 14 | 1,272 | 1,434 | 5,000 | |
2012 | 6 | 240 | 158 | ||
2014 | 73 | 664 | 2,100 | 11,000 | |
/Other | 1860-Present | 9,927 | |||
TOTAL: | 24,969 | 36,260 | 91,105 | 78,038 | |
