Saturday 12 July 2014

Can we question Hamas without outrage?

So where do you begin when trying to understand the hostility of the Muslim world towards the state of Israel. There are so many angles to it that one gets muddled in the end and wonder if there is any logic to trying to negotiate peace in that region. But it is a matter of seeing a ray of light in the dark tunnel to save the lives of the civilians and innocent children on both sides which cannot be overlooked and for that purpose alone I will analyse the seething anger in the Muslim world against the Jewish state.

There is less of outpour of anger against Baghdadi the self-proclaimed caliph whose comments sparks fear that he is bent upon annihilating those who would disagree with his ideas of caliphate and he particularly sights his targets towards the Shias and the Jews, which makes him a dangerous character. This is by and large an example of state of amnesia which freezes a sense of liability to be defensive towards those regimes and extremist groups who want domination and control for undemocratic purposes. The condemnation of the US operation Desert Storm in 1992, against the forces of Saddam Hussein was widespread; the outpour of concern to allow the US to send forces in the region could not be matched by the machinations of Saddam Hussein who was a dictator with a reputation of relying on violence against his own people.

The build-up and escalation of the situation in Israel/Palestine has once again unleashed an out-pour of anger, rage and theories of harsh actions to compel Israel to back down. The sentiments of a young Muslim girl living in the suburbs of Connecticut and a boy living in the small town of Pakistan is pure rage and only directed towards Israel who is he aggressor in this conflict. The religious zealots are calling for Muslims to come and offer collective prayers to rid the pain and suffering of the people of Palestinians and some are chanting anti-Jewish sentiments. I found myself speechless when I cam across a young Pakistani boy’s comment on Facebook, stating that it is essential to ‘send Pak forces to Palestine for fight,’ and the greedy politicians wont do it because they are interested in earning dollars for themselves. He was bitter and angry that there is no chance for the soldiers to fight a just war because the state won’t agree to send the forces to Palestine. Today is Malala Yusoufzai’s birthday and to commemorate the occasion in order to highlight the importance of educating young girls can be overlooked, as I gathered from this comment on twitter, ‘Why are you supporting Malala? Why don’t you support children of Palestine?’ I remember three years ago asking a young Pakistani banker his opinion on the situation in Syria and he replied, ‘it is their problem, not ours.’

If Baghdadi is a lone crusader trying to establish a Sharia state in the desert lands of Iraq and the end of the bloodshed of Syria is not an immediate concern than why Palestine/Israel conflict an issue to provoke huge outrage in the Muslim world?  The religious zealots have long ceased to see the insanity of Hamas to create human shields and encourage little children to learn the art of weaponry. They are drawing their conclusions from medieval frame of mind when scriptures determined the purpose to create nations. Hamas is firing rockets on Israeli civilians and the military actions in Gaza are one of retaliation. The Palestinians suffered embargo because they amassed a cache of weapons and never focused on building infrastructure which could lead to a proper state. There can be no state of truce if one cannot see the damage and destruction done with the purpose to avenge and destroy the enemy without trying to analyse ones own wrong doing.

The rage in the Muslim world towards the Israeli retaliation has to be matched by rational debate which makes it visible that the tactics of Hamas to terrorize the people of Israel is also leading to the death of innocent Palestinians. The real question is who is ready to make that debate?






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