APD | Core issue of Peace in the Middle-East

Editor's note:

The author is Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan, Sinologist (ex-Diplomat), Editor, Analyst, Non-Resident Fellow of CCG (Center for China and Globalization), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan. (E-mail: [email protected])

Middle-East is a major concern for the rest of the World, as the historic Arab-Israel seems unresolved in the near future. It poses a significant threat to war, not only engulfing the region but may spread over the globe – Third World War (WWIII). Middle-east is Rich in natural resources, especially Oil and Gas, it is on essential trade routes of the World, and hub of divine religions.

Judaism is one of the oldest religions among the three dominant faiths – Islam, Christianity, and Jews. By population, Christianity is the largest religion currently in the World. Islam is the most popular religion in the Middle-East; there are 57 Muslim countries around the World, with 22 Arab countries.

The core of unrest in the Middle-East is the state of Israel. The irrational creation of a Jewish state in the heart of the Muslim World was the root cause of all problems. There are around 8 million Jews all over the World, and out of which 6 million are settled in the state of Israel. Mostly immigrated fro Eastern Europe, Africa, and other parts of the World. They are not the son of the soil and not the indigenous locals and mostly migrated from different parts of the World. The expansionist approach of the State of Israel has been pushing Arabs out of their homeland.

Historically, the Zionist movement of the late 19th century had led by 1917 to the Balfour Declaration, by which Britain promised an eventual homeland for Jews in Palestine. When that former Ottoman province became a British mandate under the League of Nations in 1922, it contained about 700,000 people, of whom only 58,000 were Jews, approximately 11 % only.

Mass migration was witnessed during the period of 1920s, 1930s, 1940s. The wealthy Jews were purchasing the land in Palestine. If some Arabs refuse to sell their property, they face severe consequences like murder, injuries, detention, arrest, hostage, or expelled to exile. The Zionist militias of the Haganah and Irgun killed 5,032 Arabs and wounded 14,760, resulting in over ten percent of the adult male Palestinian Arab population killed, wounded, imprisoned, or exiled. By the end of World War II, the Jewish community of Palestine had increased to 33% of the total population.

Meanwhile, Zionists concentrated on the United States, whose sizeable Jewish voting bloc was believed likely to influence policy. In the 1944 campaign, Roosevelt endorsed the founding of a “free and democratic Jewish Commonwealth,” a visible shift in the US policy.

The General Assembly approved the partition of Palestine on November 29, 1947, granting to Jews some 5,500 square miles, mostly in the arid Negev. Jews state was declared on May 14, 1948. Communal violence erupted, and the UN intervened to stop the bloodshed and called for a cease-fire on May 20, 1948.

A 10-day Israeli offensive in July 1947 destroyed the Arabs, and finally, by October occupied Arab lands in the Lebanese border and the edge of the Golan Heights in the north and to the Gulf of Aqaba and into the Sinai in the south. This illegal occupation was not recognized by any Arab country, nor by the International community

Since then, the unrest in the middle east has started. More than a half-million Palestinian refugees were scattered around the Arab World. The 1948 war thus marked only the beginning of trouble in the region. Then, the Stae of Israel occupied more land in the neighboring Arab countries in the 1967 Arab-Israel war.

The United Nationa Security Council has passed several resolutions in favor of Palestine, for the establishment of the independent, sovereign state, and limiting the state of Israel to originally approved ( 5,500 square miles) only. The international community has a principle stance on Israel. Except for the US, it recognizes all illegitimate occupations and even further expansions too. The US is facing isolation in its position in the UN also.

Pakistan, China, and Russia stand with the UN and international community with the people of Palestine and criticize the Israeli illegal expansions.

The state of Isreal has little recognition in the World. Many countries around the World have not recognized and have not established diplomatic relations with the State of Israel. Especially the Arabs and Muslim countries have not recognized Israel. In 1979, Egypt and Jordan signed a The US-brokered Peace deal with Isreal and established diplomatic relations. As severe anger and reaction, Egypt was expelled from the 22-nations Arab League for more than two decades.

The recent recognition of the state of Israel by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is against the UN resolutions, against the decisions by 57-nations OIC and 22-nations-Arab League, and against the fundamental right os people of Palestine, against the will of the international community. It may be considered the illegitimate occupation of Arb Lands by Isreal as legitimate and may encourage Israel to further expansions.

It is desired that the UN charet may be respected, the UNSC resolutions may be implemented in the true spirit, the right of self-determination of Palestinian people may be respected, the illegal occupation of Arab Lands may be returned, and the state of Israel restored to its original shape. Peaceful coexistence between Arabs and the Jews state may be achieved amicably. Any further bloodshed may be averted.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)