Gaza: A Battle Ground to Create another World
Mohammad Ajmal
Israel is engaged in changing the political demography and socio-cultural makeup of occupied West Bank while continuing the Gaza genocide. The entire West Bank is under siege and more than 600 people have been killed in military operations so far. The number of those arrested is more than 10 thousand. Shops, factories and commercial centers were demolished due to which economic activities in the area were destroyed. Bulldozers were turned on agricultural lands. The Israeli army and the occupiers took away the livestock. Thousands of displaced Palestinians were pushed like sheep and goats towards the Jordanian border, these people are lying under the open sky in the scorching sun. At some places, the United Nations has arranged tents for them.
Extremist finance minister in the Israeli government, Bezalel Smotrich took advantage of the opportunity to start building new settlements. Last year, the US president said that the Israeli government had agreed not to establish more settlements. Confirming this, Mr. Netanyahu vaguely stated that the Israeli government would not approve any more settlements “currently.” In the word “currently” the Israelite tradition of trickery was present in all its insidious glory!!
The method of the incident is something like that, in the name of anti-terrorism, the army establishes checkpoints on the edge of the Palestinian population. These checkpoints are not just a few square yards of area, but hundreds of acres of Palestinian land were ‘rented’ for each checkpoint. Most of the landlords were shot on charges of terrorism to extract rent. Residential quarters were constructed on the occupied land for the soldiers and administrative personnel posted at the checkpoints. Shops and markets were established there for essential goods. After some time, a Synagogue was also built there, around which more people settled. The checkpoints that become ‘locality’ are called ‘Posts’. A post is actually an Israeli settlement that does not have legal protection, in municipal terms it is a slum.
This week, the Israeli government announced the “legalization” of four posts in the West Bank and one in Ashkelon. That is, now the ownership rights provide to the people already occupying sites and after getting the map approved by the municipality, more land grabbed here for parks, commercial centers, roads and schools through court order. To protect these settlements from Palestinians, a new series of occupation begin by building checkpoints.
Last week, the New York Times published the text of a private audio clip of Finance Minister Smotrich, according to which the minister was congratulating his colleagues that the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had approved the establishment of these five settlements. The Prime Minister’s Office did not deny or confirm the news, but on June 28, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs announced that the emergency cabinet had approved the settlement of five checkpoints. The Cabinet Secretary explained that these are not new settlements, and that the Israeli government is only establishing its ownership of military posts. Explaining the Cabinet’s decision, the Finance Minister said that permission has also been given to construct several thousand new houses in these five settlements.
The political crisis in Israel and the United States has further increased the difficulties of the Palestinians. The Israeli crisis began on June 24, when the Israeli High Court ruled that the exemption of seminary students from mandatory military training was unconstitutional. Compulsory military mobilization will now also apply to the ultra-conservative Haredi sect (an ultra orthodox Jews community), which mandates Torah education for every child. Torah memorization seminaries or Yeshiva students are exempt from mandatory military training so that memorization is not affected by the two years of mandatory military training. There was a strong backlash against the judgment from the ruling Unity Torah Party (UTJ) or Shas party (is a Haredi religious political party in Israel). Shas chief Aryeh Makhlouf Deri said in a statement that the Torah is the main weapon of the Jewish state and no force in the world can stop us from learning it. The spiritual leader of the Haredi sect, Rabbi Moshe Maya, opposed military training for seminary students, and forbade non- seminary youths from enlisting in the Israeli army.
In a radio interview, he said that disrupting Torah learning is no less serious than breaking the Sabbath. Moshe Maya said that the army is safe only with the blessing of the Torah, otherwise there will be a big disaster. At the direction of the rabbis (Jewish religious leaders), on June 29 (Sabbath), a collective curse was made against the Israeli judiciary in front of the Wailing Wall. While giving a Sabbath sermon on this occasion, Chief Rabbi of Sephardic Jews, Isaac Yusuf, said that ignorant judges who cannot read a few lines of Talmud (Jewish jurisprudence) are issuing orders about seminary. What do these ignorant people know about Torah and the importance of its knowledge?
Yeshiva students protested at military recruitment centers against the decision. Meanwhile, the students took Torah lessons from teachers and recited on the street. The placards carried by the protesters read, “Israel has now become an anti-Semitic country.” Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government stands on the crutches of Shas and UTJ, and if these parties break away from the ruling coalition, the government will dissolve. The Prime Minister wishes to delay the implementation of this decision, but as soon as Yeshiva’s exemption from military recruitment ends, the Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, directs the Ministry of Defense to immediately recruit 3,000 seminary students into the army. At the same time, she also threatened that government aid will be suspended for seminaries who do not cooperate in recruitment. Seminaries started collecting donations in order to be independent of government support, in a few hours the American Haredis collected 100 million dollars. The court decision has increased the difficulties of the Prime Minister.
America’s political crisis is President Biden’s growing unpopularity, that came into light during the presidential debate held on Thursday, June 27, 2024 the US President’s voice was shaky, with a slurred speech and had a hard time answering questions. One analyst said it was a unique debate, with Mr. Trump telling lies and not talking to President Biden. The leadership of the Democratic Party is worried about the very poor performance of US President Biden. Democratic candidates who are trying their luck for Congress are also afraid that they may not be fired with the President, which is called ‘Down the ballot effect’ here, it means, the electorate rejects the entire electoral process of the party as the President. Discussions have begun within his party to award the party’s ticket to someone else instead of Mr. Biden for November elections. Legally, the Democratic Party cannot force Mr. Biden to withdraw; however, he himself has admitted that his performance was poor in the debate.
In the debate, both candidates showed themselves to be the biggest friend and supporter of Israel. President Biden said enthusiastically, “We protected Israel, provided all kinds of assistance.” The power of the Palestinian resistance were broken. The fate of their leaders is the same as that of Osama bin Laden. Responding to this, the former American president Donald Trump said, “President Biden is not a supporter of Israel, he is actually a Palestinian but a useless Palestinian, that’s why the Palestinians don’t like him either.” “If I were in government, the Palestinian resistance would not have been able to attack on October 7, 2023, because the Gaza resistance gets help from Iran and we have bankrupted Iran, Trump added.
President Biden, alarmed by the unpopularity, resumed shipping 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. The supply of these deadly bombs was suspended in April after the attack on Rafah, according to the American online news agency AXIOS, three giant American planes are bringing lethal supplies to the Nawatam military base of Bee’rsheba in the Negev desert every day.
Supplying arms to Israel by the US and Europe is not new, but last week it was revealed that India is also supplying arms to Israel for the Gaza genocide. While giving an interview to the Israeli news agency Ynetnews, the former ambassador of Israel in Delhi, Daniel Carmon, said that India is providing Israel with drones and artillery shells for the Gaza war. Mr. Carman said that according to Indian Security Adviser Ajit Doval, “This is India’s favor return to the Israeli assistance in the 1999 Indo- Pak, Kargil war”.
Obstruction of justice continues with the unabated supply of lethal weapons to Israel for the Gaza genocide. In a request to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on June 2, Great Britain has informed the International Court of Justice that Israel does not recognize the ICC, so its citizens are outside the court’s jurisdiction. Based on this, the Israeli Prime Minister, Defense Minister and the army have been requested to cancel the proposed arrest warrant. The court will now have to deal with the British application before the warrant be issued, which could take several weeks.
Despite worldwide support and military aid and 280 days of uninterrupted bombing, Israel is still far from achieving its military goals. According to reports, the disappointment of the Israeli army spokesman, who believes that the Gaza resistance is more ideological than military, and cannot be eliminated, and on June 28, an Israeli Brigadier General speaking to the Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth on the condition of anonymity, said, that it will take time to weaken the power of the Gaza resistance, even it loses its power, the movement will not end. On the other hand, destroying Gaza’s tunnels is a complex task that could take more than six months. Ms. Joumanna Bercetce, Bloomberg’s senior defense analyst, has a similar analysis. In an interview, she said that the Israeli army appears to be retreating from the intention of eliminating the resistance in Gaza.
It is the result of this frustration within the army that the Israeli leadership is not united about the attack on Lebanon. The Prime Minister of Lebanon and Iran are threatening to test the situation, but in Washington, Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, said that a political and diplomatic solution of the issue is Israel’s priority. Expressing his traditional arrogance in the press conference, Gallant said: “it is not difficult for our bombers to bring Lebanon to the stone age and the desire for a peaceful settlement should not be considered as our weakness.”
On the one hand, the boasting of the Israeli defense minister in the US, on the other hand, Israeli energy expert and CEO of the National Electrical System Management Company, Shai Goldstein, is concerned that the incessant missiles’ attack from Lebanon could paralyze the electricity system. Addressing the press conference, Mr. Goldstein said that the Lebanese resistance has more than 150,000 destructive missiles and can launch 4,000 missiles simultaneously. The US-made Iron Dome defense system can intercept up to 150 spacecraft at a time, missiles that escape will target power grids and high-tension towers. Goldstein thinks it would not be difficult for the Lebanese to do so, given that Iron Dome is not capable of intercepting low-level missiles. The electrical expert said that sea water is sweetened for drinking in Israel and the entire water supply system will be disrupted if the electricity is suspended. Israeli Health experts say that if electricity is cut off for more than 72 hours, the lives of children may be at risk in this summer season. Lebanese missiles can also target gas installations in the Mediterranean. Energy Secretary Eli Cohen called Mr. Goldstein’s analysis irresponsible.
Along with the Israeli extremists, Prime Minister Netanyahu is also facing deep criticism from the intellectuals of the country. Dozens of Israeli politicians, former government officials, professors and scientists, including former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, have requested the cancellation of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of the US Congress. At the invitation of the Congress Speaker, Netanyahu will address the joint session on July 24. The letter states that Netanyahu is fueling tensions in the region and has put the lives of Israeli prisoners at risk in order to extend his power. These leaders say that welcoming an extremist and irresponsible head of government to the US Congress is tantamount to encouraging Netanyahu’s aggressive policy. Among the signatories are Dr. David Harrell, president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Arts, former Mossad chiefs Tamer Pardo, and Tal Sison and Nobel laureate Haron Sheshanor.
Since the beginning of the Gaza offensive, America and Europe have piled weapons in Israel. The issue is not only about artillery but also the work of supplying destroyers with F35 bombers is going on. The United States has built two new landing craft for Israel to land Gaza by sea. Last week, the second ship of this shipment, INS Komemiyut, left the United States for Israel, which had to stop at a port for fuel and food and rest for the crew. Spain refused to allow the ship to dock at its port, saying that its country could not support the aggression against Gaza. The British colony of Gibraltar also apologised, but ironically Morocco not only gave permission, but the crew was treated to “Arab traditions” with refueling at the port of Tangier.
In sum, Gaza is a battle ground to create another world. This war has totally damaged the western model of weaponization and Hamas has invented war of tunnelization where they have patent. This is only the beginning now it has spread in Myanmar and its surrounding areas. Secondly Russian government has also taking help from the technocrats of the tunnel warfare.
Since October 7, 2023 the Army of Israeli occupation has continued its aggression against the Gaza Strip, with American and European support, as its planes bomb the vicinity of hospitals, buildings, towers, and Palestinian civilian homes, destroying them above the heads of their residents, and preventing the entry of water, food, medicine, and fuel. As per the data provided by the UN, and till these lines were penned down, the occupation’s continued aggression against Gaza led to the death of 38,345 deaths and 88,295 injured, leading to the displacement of about 1.9 million people from the Strip.
(The author is Assistant Professor at the Centre of Arabic and African Studies School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, JNU, New Delhi)
