Palestinians and Israelis must determine their own destiny

Middle-East violence : Innocent victims of wider geo-political agenda

It was a rare moment at the recently conveyed special session of the parliament when our parliamentarians from the ruling and opposition parties close ranks, put aside their differences and united to condemn the Israeli atrocities. It may be a testimony of the increasing maturity of our wakil rakyat who if necessary can rise above the political divide to overcome any problems that we may encounter.

We hope in future they will with similar enthusiasm and vigor condemn such atrocities wherever and whenever it occurs regardless of who commits them, both outside and within the country. Violence and breach of human rights wherever it occurs is wrong and we must condemn them in the strongest terms and not disregard such misbehavior as internal affairs of the country.

The Israeli aggression, which it claims is for self defense, is unwarranted and a gross violation of human rights that totally disregards international law and order. The indiscriminate killing of innocent people, children and women must stop immediately and the warring parties must be brought to the negotiating table. This is not the time to see who is at wrong as the killing must stop immediately before further negotiations can be planned.

The conflict in the Middle East is not a religious conflict between Jews, Muslims and Christians as it has been wrongly made out to be. It is a territorial dispute between two neighbors who are unable to see eye to eye over the terms of their very existence. The involvement of the international community in their dispute has only worsened this enmity between them. In fact many nations have taken advantage of this conflict for their own political gains. It is sad that innocent Palestinians and to a certain extent Israelis have been made the victims of a wider international geo-political agenda by many concerned parties.

If only the Israelis and Palestinians had been were left alone to handle their problems by themselves, they would have stopped fighting long time ago as neither of them benefits from this long drawn-out war between them, which has killed thousands of innocent and defenseless people. All it has brought is misery, pain and uncertainties for so many generations. I am sure the ordinary people in both Palestine and Israel are aware of the political maneuverings over their fate but they are unable to take control of their own destiny as it is being dictated by outside powers.

Numerous attempts to broker peace by the international community, particularly the United States, have repeatedly met with failure as the most important criteria were lacking. Firstly there must be a genuine intention by all parties for lasting peace in the region and secondly the acceptance by both parties to live with each other as neighbors and face each other directly in negotiations without the involvement of third parties who have their own vested interests.

A hostility between the Palestine and Israel with repeated escalations and brutal wars from time to time dates back for generations. Although the ordinary civilians on both sides may want peace but many powers in and outside the region appear to be bent on continuing the dispute for their own selfish reasons. They repeatedly quote history and blame one party or the other for perpetrating the violence.

Who is right or wrong is not the issue now. The real issue is that the violence must stop at all costs and the sooner the Israelis and Palestinians realize that the better for their people. It is important for both parties to put history behind as to who is right or wrong but to realize that they must adopt the mindset that they have no option but to live side by side peacefully as two separate nations, respecting each other’s sovereignty.

The Israel-Palestine conflict is not a religious one and Malaysians of all religions should be united to support a peaceful solution to resolve the conflict. In order for any peace initiative to succeed all outside parties must stop taking sides and allow the affected parties to take full control of deciding their destiny.

Nations all over must unite to stop the age old barbaric means to solve disputes that confront mankind – war, which instead of overcoming the problems only multiplies them as it always brings death and misery to ordinary innocent people.

Dr.Chris Anthony