After a week of horror stories from southern Israel and the Gaza Strip, I just do not understand why the underlying problems which spawned this unspeakable violence are not being addressed. I am well aware that this issue goes back to 1903, when the Palestinian protectorate was set up by the United Kingdom. It goes back to the 12th century, when the Crusaders were sent to liberate Jerusalem, in order to cover a temporary political problem for the Pope at the time - Innocent III. It goes back to the time of Jesus Christ, a minor prophet in Islam but a major one in Christianity. And it goes back to 1948, when the state of Israel was established, in the wake of the Holocaust, when 6 million people were killed, mainly because they were Jews, had Jewish ancestry, or were otherwise unfit to be alive according to the sick doctrine by a certain Adolf Hitler.
Let's start in 1948. I remember a quote from a man in what was then Palestine who said: "If one of those people had come to me and explained that he had lost his family in the gas chambers and wanted to start a new life, I would have welcomed him, offered him a chunk of my olive groves and helped him on his feet". That didn't happen. Apparently, the local population was sent packing in order that the Jewish state could be set up on their land. The locals were gathered in refugee camps. And that situation has not changed since. For decades, we have seen explosions of violence emanating from such places, whether it be hijackings of planes, bomb attacks or whatever. Others have in turn hijacked this anger for their own political purposes, such as that preferably forgotten character Osama bin Laden. But the underlying problem has been left to fester for 75 years.
Israel has formidable armed forces and doughty intelligence services. Because it has never properly addressed the issue of the Palestinians. They were latterly cooped up on the West Bank and fenced into the Gaza Strip. Hatred festered in that sprawling conurbation of more than 2 million in an area of barely 50 square kilometres. Israel thought it was safe beyond the fence, the gun emplacement, the Mossad and the army. Well, that illusion is now well and truly shattered.
So here we are, embarking on another iteration of senseless violence and death for innocent civilians. In Israel, in Gaza - and, possibly, beyond. It is going to make it ever more difficult to come to a negotiated settlement, in which Palestinians and Israelis can live together in peace. But a negotiated settlement it'll have to be, at the end of the day. That will deprive extremists like Hamas and Hezbollah of the oxygen of support. It will pull the fuse out of the powder keg that is the Middle East.
I hope it will come to pass.
