Israel/Palestine: Gaza Bombings, IDF Violence, Could There Ever Be a Solution?

     

   It was two days until the completion of the Muslim holy month Ramadan, May 10th, which also is the date of an Israeli celebratory holiday, Jerusalem Day. The significance of the day is meant to commemorate the reunification of Jerusalem into Israeli control following the 6 day war in 1967 (theguardian.com). The Al-Aqsa Mosque is one of, if not the most important holy sites in the Muslim religion, but on May 10th it was, more or less, invaded by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) early that morning. Worshippers were attacked with stun grenades, tear gas and a vicious dose of police brutality, only for the fact, Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party seemed to want to incite Hamas to retaliate which they naturally did later that day. After the IDF perpetrated violence occurred, several rockets were launched from Gaza toward Israeli occupied territory. More then likely Israel's state of the art, Iron Dome anti-rocket defense system intercepted those missiles. Naturally, the mainstream media immediately blamed Hamas for their retaliatory attack. Israel responded by closing all roads to and from Gaza and ordered all bombing shelters opened as more rocket attacks were likely to continue. The violence in Jerusalem, which was the worse clashes in the city since 2017 (aljazeera.com), was only a prelude to the insidious actions by the Israel Air Force (IAF) and IDF which were to follow in the coming days.

      Five days after the chaos in and around Jerusalem, the Israeli military decided to inflict their own brand of shock and awe. In broad daylight, in a heavily civilian populated neighborhood, a twelve story building was demolished by an Israeli fired missile. The building in question, was not only a residential complex but also was being used as a hotel for members of the Associated Press and, not surprisingly Al Jazeera (info courtesy of washingtonpost.com). A fifteen minute warning was announced to vacate the establishment immediately, luckily all heeded the message, as the building crumbled a short time later in front of hundreds of international media cameras. The attack was universally condemned, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) demanded "detailed and documented justification" for the attacks. The airstrikes were in violation of international law, though Israel seems to never hesitate in bombing sites all around the Middle East without any declarations. Joe Biden's extremely vague, Pro-Israel, robotic response to the IDF transgressions was disappointing to say the least. Already his hands full with the Iranian nuclear mess, covid-19, the volatile state of the US economy and many other issues, Biden completely bungled his first test on how to respond to the Israel-Palestine fiasco  (Brookings.edu). Biden's refusal to condemn the Israeli governments clear human rights violation in forcing evictions of Palestinians from the West Bank is one thing, but too avoid any criticism of the Israeli government for bombing civilians is not only damaging to his credibility, it sets an extremely dangerous precedence for future events. 

    The previous US administrations radically Pro-Zionist positions were obvious and absolute. Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo and Jared Kushner skirted all international norms by allowing Israel to claim the Golan Heights, Jordan Valley and also move the United States embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trumps foreign policy "team" also celebrated their much publicized "Abraham Accords" which opened relations between Gulf monarchies, UAE and Bahrain, with Israel (theatlantic.com). Sudan and Morocco soon followed suit, upsetting their relations with Palestine in the process. After four years of the US  cow towing to Benjamin Netanyahu, many left-wing US citizens were hoping a change in policy was inevitable. Sadly, Joe Biden and his own Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, have been a major disappointment and seemingly oblivious to the needs of the Palestinian civilian population. One example is the US government removed the Houthi rebel faction in Yemen off the terrorist list, but still Hamas remains. All signs point to this administration being just as Pro-Zionist as Trump's regime was, which is devastating to not only Palestine but any chance at reaching a peaceful climax in that region

   No one is pretending that the overwhelmingly tense situation in Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank can be simply rectified. There have been several wars ( Six Day War, Yom Kippur War) and numerous spates of terrible violence between Israel and Palestine since the UN granted nation status to Israel in 1948 ( history.state.gov). I, for one, have zero confidence that the current US leadership can step up and make a two-state solution a possibility, let alone, a reality. After the recent events, how could anyone expect representatives for Palestine to negotiate in good faith? 63 children have been killed by IDF/IAF rockets, Hamas is being portrayed as the villain and are the obvious scapegoats. Still, after weeks of indiscriminate bombings by the IAF, certain left-wing media outlets began to show more sympathy towards Palestinian plight in their reporting. Many mainstream publications continue to ignore the fact all of Israel's military might was focused on civilian locations in Gaza, instead blaming Hamas for extending the violence.

   A ceasefire was finally reached on May 20th, after 11 days of rockets, civilian casualties and with both sides claiming victory (apnews.com). The political ramifications are still unclear, so far, thankfully, the ceasing of violence have held for the most part. Benjamin Netanyahu, who still faces criminal charges for bribery, among other potential felonies, risks becoming more of an international pariah then he already is. The demonization of Hamas as a "terrorist" org has softened up a bit internationally but is still considered an enemy in many US political circles. For over seven decades a concrete agreement hasn't been reached between Palestine and Israel. The Oslo Accords signed during the Clinton Administration served as a temporary peace agreement, which also allowed self governance by the Palestinian Authority over Gaza and the West Bank. But as long as Zionists continue building illegal occupations in the West Bank, Netanyahu remains Prime Minister and the United States allows Israel to break international laws without any consequence, a peaceful solution will remain an impossibility. Perhaps pressure from the UN and Gulf powers: UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, will be the only way to change Israel's imperialistic ambitions. If not, more violence, political unrest and civilian casualties can be expected.

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