The world was greatly relieved last week when both Israel and Hamas, the main Palestinian group in Gaza Strip, announced a ceasefire to the hostilities between them over the unresolved issue of access to the worship site of the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and Palestine in general.
During the about 10 days the hostilities lasted, the relentless bombing campaign carried out by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) on Palestinian targets resulted in over 200 deaths and scores more injured – many of them women and children – in addition to destruction of hospitals, schools and other critical infrastructure.
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On the Israeli side, thousands of rockets fired by the Palestinians also led to the deaths of about 20 persons with several injured, as well as destruction of buildings.
As the humanitarian toll mounted, world leaders, alarmed at the horror of the carnage, scrambled to get the two sides to cease the hostilities and for relief materials to be delivered to the needy and most vulnerable.
The immediate challenge following the ceasefire is to tackle the humanitarian issues, especially on the side of the Palestinians, hundreds of who have been rendered homeless, and the restoration of services destroyed and disrupted by the disproportionate action of the Israelis.
It is unfortunate that after a period of relative peace and calm when recent encouraging developments between Israel and some Arab countries were beginning to manifest, giving hope that the seemingly intractable Israeli/Palestinian conflict will be back to the negotiating table, we were once again jolted by the underlying fragile and combustible nature of the recent conflict.
Although the casus belli for the latest hostilities between the two countries could be attributed to the denial of access to worshipping rights and sites in East Jerusalem to the Palestinians by the Israeli authorities, the background has to do with the lack of progress on the issue of implementing the United Nation’s (UN) resolution on the two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 on the strength of that resolution, successive Israeli governments have paradoxically refused and thwarted attempts to implement the part of the resolution which provides for the establishment of a similar state for Palestine.
In this, Israel, with the support of mainly the United States of America (USA) and some Western countries, have defied the world and proceeded to seize and annex Palestinian lands for its benefit.
Palestinians have thus endured the Israeli occupation of their lands and denial of basic freedom and rights to self-determination guaranteed under the UN charter.
In the latest conflict, we have seen once again that the US which approved about a billion dollars worth of arms to Israel in the heat of the hostilities, cannot play the role expected of it as an honest broker. America’s clearly partisan interest and attachment to Israel does not encourage the latter to agree to the implementation of the UN resolution which seeks to bring an end to the lingering impasse between Israel and Palestinian.
In the light of this, it is time for the UN to step up and ensure the credibility of its resolution on the issue of Palestine. The UN’s resolution on the Israeli/Palestinian issue represents the overwhelming opinion of people of the world, which were overwhelmingly reiterated during the latest conflict. The continuing intransigence by Israel is thus an affront on public opinion, which has consistently favoured the creation of a Palestinian state in order to give the Palestinians a sense of belonging in the comity of nations.
On this issue, the UN should show great resolve as it did in dismantling the apartheid regime of white-dominated South Africa thereby resulting in black majority rule in that country despite the misgivings of the US and its Western allies.
This is the only way in which the perennial conflict and humanitarian issues between Israel and Palestinian such as the one recently witnessed can be addressed and resolved permanently.
