The Middle East powder keg will impact all of us when that final spark ignites it, Brian Cloughley composes.
There are several powder kegs around the globe, among them the South China Sea where the Pentagon’s surface area warships, surveillance submarines and electronic warfare aircraft try to provoke China to do something about it versus their aggressive operations, to the Baltic and Black Seas in which U.S.-Nato militaries confronting Russia have the very same goal. However in the Middle East, the dripping powder keg that will quickly attract a sparking flash is the State of Israel which enjoys similarly provocative behaviour. In regard to Palestinians and the Iranian nation the government of Naftali Bennett has actually been every bit as inhumane, barbaric and confrontational as any of its predecessors.
The attitude of the western world to Israel’s excesses varies from the mildly critical to the completely tolerant, and there is no question of any action being taken that might modify the Israeli federal government’s deep-seated decision to rid the country of the Palestinians to whom most of it belongs, and to ruin Iran, ideally by having the United States perform another Iraq-style blitzkrieg. In furtherance of its goals, Israel continues to persecute Palestinians and carry out private operations that will encourage U.S. action against Iran.
The voices of such as the UN Unique Planner for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, are lost among the roar of bulldozers as they destroy Palestinian towns and olive tree plantations. His declaration that “I am deeply worried by continued Israeli settlement growth in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. I restate that all settlements are illegal under worldwide law, remain a considerable obstacle to peace, and need to stop immediately” was a call to put in pressure on Tel Aviv to comply with what Mr Biden continually describes as the “rules-based worldwide order.”
But nobody took any action.
A current example of Israel breaking worldwide law with total impunity was the statement that 1,355 brand-new Israeli houses are to be built in 7 settlements in the West Bank area, contributing to the 2,000 systems announced in August. The housing minister, Zeev Elkin, declared that this huge quantity of construction is needed, due to the fact that “reinforcing Jewish existence is necessary to the Zionist vision”.
The “Zionist vision” is alarming, and the Jewish Voice for Peace notes that it, as an organisation, is “assisted by a vision of justice, equality and flexibility for all individuals. We unquestionably oppose Zionism since it is counter to those ideals.” It continues that “Palestinian dispossession and occupation are by style. Zionism has actually suggested profound injury for generations, methodically separating Palestinians from their houses, land, and each other. Zionism, in practice, has resulted in massacres of Palestinian individuals, ancient towns and olive groves damaged, households who live simply a mile away from each other separated by checkpoints and walls …”
On October 29 the European Union voiced disapproval of Zionist settlement expansion, with diplomacy chief Josep Borrell declaring that “settlements are prohibited under worldwide law and constitute a major challenge to the accomplishment of the two-state service and a just, lasting and detailed peace between the parties.” And Tel Aviv’s Zionist prepare for yet more settlements continue as if he had never ever said a word.
Recently there have actually been two incidents that specify the mindset of the western world to Israel and its policies. In the first, as reported by Euronews, “Israeli cops kick Palestinians out of the al-Yusufiye cemetery near the Lion’s Gate entrance to the Aqsa mosque compound in east Jerusalem as construction of the Jewish National forest continues. Many graves in the cemetery have been bulldozed, causing outrage. Palestinian mom Ola Nababteh whose boy is buried in the cemetery says she ‘needed to move bones around so that she could reach her son’s tomb,’ a day after she was dragged away by Israeli authorities as she attempted to cling to her boy’s tomb.” If there had actually been such horrible behaviour by cops in Cuba or Venezuela or China or Russia the headlines of the U.S. mainstream media would have been flashing with righteous indignation. Reports and comment pieces would have reached deluge point.
However a look for ‘Ola Nababteh’ in the New York City Times or the Washington Post comes up with nothing at all. The dragging by Israeli police of a Palestinian mother from her son’s graveside is regarded as a non-event by western news-controllers.
On the other hand the media considered it essential to place on record the reality that Israel’s Energy Minister was not able to attend some procedures at the COP 26 gathering in Glasgow. As the New York Times reported, “Karine Elharrar, who has muscular dystrophy, arrived at among the entrances to the occasion’s compound but her car was not allowed to get in, and the remaining range was too far for her to enter her wheelchair, she told Israeli media. She waited for 2 hours and was eventually offered a shuttle to the website, however the shuttle bus was not wheelchair accessible, she stated.” Anybody who experiences such an impairment deserves our deepest sympathy, but this event was an overall charade, due to the fact that “others in wheelchairs have effectively gotten to the conference facilities, that include elevators, ramps and accessible restrooms, and Ms. Elharrar remained in presence on Tuesday.”
Ms Elharrar told the BBC that “we can discuss availability and the rights of individuals with impairments, however in life we require to execute all the conventions and all the regulations which was an experience that showed that we need to focus on all the details everywhere.” Rather so. It is undoubtedly necessary to take notice of information all over, consisting of the sites of Palestinian graves that are being bulldozed to expand construction of the Jewish National Forest.
The Glasgow photo-operation was widely covered and CNN reported the remark by Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, that “it is difficult to protect our future and deal with the climate crisis, without first and foremost looking after individuals, consisting of ensuring ease of access for people with disabilities.” However while the Israeli federal government and the western media revealed exemplary sympathy for a handicapped abundant Israeli whose motorised wheelchair could not access some ramps and lifts in a conference centre, there was little expression of “look after individuals” following the killing by Israeli soldiers on November 5 of a thirteen year-old Palestinian kid, Mohammad Daadas, who had joined a demonstration versus what the UN declares to be Israel’s illegal building and construction of settlements in the West Bank.
The Times of Israel brought a declaration by Israeli Forces that “throughout the disturbance, rioters threw stones at Israeli soldiers. The soldiers responded with riot dispersal indicates and live fire.” There has actually not been one word of criticism in the western media of the fact that an Israeli soldier who had a stone thrown at him by a thirteen-year-old considered it his task to shoot him in the stomach– and will not stand the furthest possibility of dealing with action for murder.
In this period of illegal building and construction by Israel of yet more settlements on Palestinian land, the growth of the Jewish National Park by bulldozing Palestinian tombs and hauling away the mom of a buried child, the shooting to death of a Palestinian 13-year-old by an Israeli soldier, and a much-publicised problem with wheelchair ramps at a conference in Glasgow, there came news on November 2 in the U.S. military publication Stars and Stripes that a three-week exercise involving U.S. and Israeli military forces had started with the intention of demonstrating the “long-standing relationship with Israel that is so crucial to stability and security in the area.”
The stimulates are moving inexorably towards the Israeli powder keg, encouraged by Washington’s casual approval of atrocities and continuing recommendation of its “long-standing relationship” with the nation that stresses its “Zionist vision”. What is being neglected by the U.S. and Israel is that the refusal by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to talk with Palestinians opens doors to fundamentalist loonies to take direct action in the Middle East and even elsewhere– like New York or Florida or San Francisco. The Middle East powder keg will affect all of us when that final stimulate ignites it.