Tectonic War Tragedy

The Partition Plan of 1947 under Resolution 181 in the General Assembly was immediately followed by the Arab-Israeli War in 1948 and eventually ended with Israel’s establishment and 750,000 Palestinians displacement. It was not the only one but till now the UN has passed more than 300 resolutions on the Israel- Palestine conflict and most of them have been rectified by the nations. Ranging from Camp David Accords (1978) to Oslo I and Oslo II in 1993,1995 respectively, the constant ignorance of the world towards Palestinians Intifadas and the failure of United Nations and Organisations like ICJ, Amnesty International, many others clearly indicates choice of the world as? War over Peace.?

What is Hamas exactly? Some call it the second majority party of the so-called unrecognised state of Palestine and others call it a militant and a terrorist group just like ISIS, Al-Qaida, Jaish-e-Mohammad, etc.

Whatever it is, it deserves a hard time from Israel for sure for the 1000s of missiles it has fired on Israeli territory and Israel is not alone in it, the world stands with it for combatting this terrorism. But for a very small group of terrorist organisation that resides in the region, can the major killings of thousands of other people residing in Gaza be justified? If we do a close analysis of the demography and major killings, Israel with a population of 9.81 Million has lost just 1200+ lives in the conflict while on the other Palestine with a population of 5.48 Million has lost 11,000+ lives since October 7.?

Just one thing, is that wrong to stand for the RIGHT TO SELF DETERMINATION which is very well enshrined in the UNITED NATIONS CHARTER, Article-2 as:

“To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace”.

Additionally, it's not just about the war and destruction going on, the Refugee Crisis is another big issue. By innumerable mediations from Arabic countries and the US, Israel agreed to stop for several hours a day asking the people in Northern Gaza to move out of the war zone, but the question is “Where to go?”, is that referring to the Rafah Pass where Egypt, the only Arab state to share a border with Gaza, and Jordan, which is next to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, have both warned against Palestinians being forced off their land.

Basically, Israel's call to move more than 1 million civilians in northern Gaza in 24 hours was "horrendous" and said the enclave was rapidly becoming a "hell hole".

When it comes to international human rights laws, the fundamental law set under the Geneva Convention of 1949 cannot be violated at any time, which clearly states to distinguish between combatants and civilians.?

When it comes to the world powers attempting to resolve this crisis, the US has mediated and tried resolving this conflict while balancing its support for Israel, the best example being the Abraham Accord (2020). On one hand US provides $3.27 Billion every year to Israel as security aid or if it is with providing $1 Billion for the Iron Dome Defence System in Israel. Being one of the founding members of the UN and the prevailing US Hegemony in the organisation makes people apprehensive of the US's intentions in resolving this conflict. We believe that the pressing priority is to promote de-escalation, enable ceasefire and cessation of violence, protect civilians and avert a humanitarian disaster.

This year, 2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the spirit of building a community with a shared future for mankind, the international community should strengthen solidarity and cooperation, protect common security and promote common development, thus further advancing the international human rights cause.

By

Vaishnavi Verma