Double standard of political leadership

So, Donald Trump has made a great discovery, "A lot of people are starving" in the Gaza Strip. This brief remark, notably, comes at a time when the first foreign tour of his second term saw him about to conclude his itinerary in several Gulf countries but not in Israel, a US key ally. Whether he has come up with this observation simply out of his genuine concern for the starving Palestinians or as part of diplomacy hardly leaves much to conjecture. The fact is that the two-month ceasefire collapsed simply because of Israel's imposition of blockade on Gaza and renewal of fresh attacks killing scores of civilians on a daily basis has so far been none of his concern.  

 Well, starvation is a serious matter but when unarmed civilians are being exterminated every day---a clear case of genocide, the US president, like his predecessor Joe Biden, plays deaf and dumb. Mass killing of people day after day is more serious than starvation. In fact, it is a disgrace for human civilisation. On the concluding day of his Gulf tour, Trump even told reporters at Abu Dhabi, "We're looking at Gaza. And we're going to get that taken care of." That was Thursday, May 15. The same day 50 Palestinians were killed by Israeli bombing. Not a single day passes without such attacks which are now carried out in small hours when people are asleep. Israel has, moreover, launched a new offensive codenamed Operation Gideon's Chariot purportedly to intensify airstrikes before launching ground incursions further deeper in Gaza. At least 115 ---146, according to another report---people, most of them women and children, perished in the bombing on Saturday. 

Had the US administration not played to the gallery, Trump would send a clear message for stopping the routine mass massacre first and withdrawal of the blockade that does not allow UN agencies to reach food and medical aid to the starving and suffering people in Gaza. It is quite clear that if the US administration wished, it could stop Israel from restarting the war on the Palestinian people after the two-month truce. It claims to have mediated the ceasefire between India and Pakistan. Trump bragged that he could stop the Russo-Ukraine war within 24 hours. It has not happened; instead an agreement has been signed between the US and Ukraine for sharing profits from future sale of the latter's natural resources including minerals and energy. This shows where his priority lies.

The bone of contention for Israel to carry on the offensive is the non-release of 57 of its citizens still held hostage by Hamas. Now, Jerusalem has all along relied on its military might for its territorial expansion in Gaza and the West Bank. Israeli settlements have continued in violation of the agreement on demarcation of boundaries between it and Palestine. That the Israeli state has been carved out of Palestinian territories is not even admitted by the present Jewish administration and its Western allies including the US and the UK which was responsible for creating a country for the Jewish people from all over the world.  

Israel should have been grateful to Palestine for the gift of land on which their state stands. The Western powers lately led by the US also should be thankful to the Palestinian people for accepting a rogue state in the neighbourhood. To understand why the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, Fatah movement and Hamas came into being, there is no need to be a political thinker. The West should take full responsibility for this mischievous political game.

Hamas may have started the latest conflict by unleashing a deadly attack deep inside Israel in October, 2023 but the militant groups would not even come into existence if the Palestinian right to statehood had been recognised earlier. Although the Oslo Treaty reached between Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin was not perfect but had the potential to be a cornerstone of future peace and coexistence if Israel and its chief patrons in Washington built on it. That Rabin was assassinated shows the right-wing rabid Zionism got the better of moderate and peace-loving leadership in Israel. Thus Netanyahu staged a political comeback to derail the peace process.

Both Biden and Trump, despite their political differences, are leaders of different ilk compared to Jimmy Carter. With such leadership in power, an independent Palestinian state is a remote possibility and peace in the region elusive.     

nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com