Khwaja Wajih u Din
The attack on Israel has jolted the world. There are many perceptions of the event in the electronic, print and social media. Hence many pertinent questions irk ones mind emanating from the said coverage. We saw the most advanced Iron Dome air defense system of Israel having failed to intercept and blast out the Hamas rockets in the air. Consequently, 1000s of rockets landed deep inside the state of Israel.
The media pointed out that massive Hamas force managed to break the steel solid border barriers of Israel and intruded quite deep into the state of Israel absolutely un-opposed. Various experts discussed the reasons for the failure of, formidable and time tested, Israel defense system, to evict Hamas fighters from the intruded spots through a quick reactive response and how Hamas managed to import or manufacture and stock such a huge volume of rockets right under the nose of Israel?
Some think that the Israeli PM announced war in haste without cabinet’s approval, as his government was caught unaware.
Others believe that the ranks & files of Hamas have been ingressed by Mossad to twist her arm from within. People also think that Hamas been be-fooled by big powers with big ends in sight e. g pushing the Ukrainian War onto the relegated burner or making ground for final and devastating blow against Palestinians & Hamas in specific and taking the war to Iran.
Without prejudice to the above, but in addition thereto the predominant view is that the Hamas attack emanates from the strategy of the Arabs and Israel to strike a deal without taking into account the Palestine cause. Israel Premier Benjamin Netanyahu has explicitly stated while addressing the session of the General Assembly at the United Nations in New York “…. because they are based on one false idea that unless we first conclude a peace agreement with Palestinians no other Arab state would normalize its relations with Israel. I have long sought to make peace with the Palestinians, but I also believe that we must not give Palestinians a veto over peace treaties with Arab states”
Muhammad Bin Suleman while giving an interview with Fox News, mentioned the Palestine issue, but did not rebut the statement of Israel’s PM in strong words. Rather he said that both countries are coming closer to each other with every passing day.
The Palestine people who have been facing relentless atrocities of Israeli forces since long sensed the planned pulse to isolate them. The Prime Minister of Israel and his address to the United Nations also said that “See, the Palestinians are only 2% of the Arab world. As long as they believe that the other 98% will remain in a war-like state with Israel, that larger mass, that larger Arab world could eventually choke, dissolve, destroy the Jewish state. So when the Palestinians see that most of the Arab world has reconciled itself to the Jewish state, they too will be more likely to abandon the fantasy of destroying Israel and finally embrace a path of genuine peace with it.”
The planning to put the issue of Palestinian peace on the back burner was reacted to. If the strategic objective of this attack was to thwart this Arab-Israel agreement and by this attack, Hamas has achieved the objective to a larger extent.
The second perspective of this attack can be that Israel has trapped Hamas by the attack. It has paved the way for Israel to declare a state of war on Hamas and legitimize its attack on the Gaza Strip. It is evident from the statement of Israel PM after the attack. He warned the inhabitants of Gaza to leave the city as he intended to rubble the city for destroying the hideouts of Hamas. If that was the planning relentless bombing is continuing in Gaza to achieve that objective and hundreds have been reported dead and injured.
The third view regarding the war is that external and/or internal conspiracy is involved in the attack to teach a lesson to the government of Israel for crossing the limits. It would be too early to comment on this view.
Be as it may the Abraham Accords were signed by the UAE, Morocco, Sudan, and Bahrain as a result of President Trump’s effort. Now it is the essential element of Biden’s foreign policy to persuade the crown prince of Saudi Arabia to sign the accord as it will be a great achievement for his government.
While sitting in the space, the developed world can count the feathers of a bird during flight in the dark but they failed to detect and pre-empt Hamas offensive. Isn’t it strange? There are no simple answers. But things are not as simple as they seem to be. There is definitely is a bigger picture which we fail to see at the moment.
(The writer is former Registrar of Peshawar High Court)
Israel areal strikes on Palestinians
