Of affection, security and the future of the Middle East

What lies ahead of the people of the world today? The latest Israeli and Lebanon conflict has entered week 3 and yet the world is still watching killings and massacres of innocent men, woman, and children taking place daily.

On July 12th 2006, the Lebanese left wing Hizbollah launched Operation Truthful Promise which was a cross-boarder raid that resulted in the capture of two Israeli soldiers. This was viewed by the Jewish state of Israel as a diversionary tactic and lead Israel to retaliate by enforcing Operation Just Reward (which was later renamed Operation Change of Direction) “The attacks on civilian population centers and infrastructure by both sides have sparked sharp criticism internationally”, yet no immediate actions have been taken till today.

To date Israel has launched massive bombing raids by air and by naval operations in southern Lebanon and Beirut especially. To date the death and injury toll has reached thousands and yet the United Nations (UN) are still unsure of what they are going to do to stop this unjustly war. But can we actually blame the UN for “not doing anything, as oppose to something that it can’t possibly initiate by itself?

The ultimate veto power held by the United Stated in the United Nations Security Council(UNSC) is seen to by many to be the reason why a number of on going issues in the world today will not ever come to closing stages. But then again, can a nation who became a leader by default be blamed for having a “special say” on “worldly” issues if that was how the forefathers of the UN intended it to be?

The Lebanese government has relinquished the actions of Hizbollah and have urgently called for international peacemakers to end this conflict by pleading for immediate ceasefire to be enforced as soon as possible. Yet as I was watching the news this morning, George Bush has responded by stating that certain conditions must first be agreed by both nations before an immediate ceasefire can be called for. More delays yet again.

What more negotiations must take place and what more observations must be done before a peace truce can be enforced? The US are playing god by creating the impression that they are the superheroes of the world. Try getting military tanks and bombs spread all over Israel for 1 hour, and you’ll see Bush calling for an immediate press conference and yelling out slogans like “it is inhumane to attack Israel” “the world must help Israel” “I assure the world that, immediate military and economic sanctions will be enforced against country X if it continues to challenge the sovereign state of Israel”.

The biasness and the sincerity of the Americans has often been doubted by the people in the East, especially by the Muslim world in the Middle East who view the Americans to be the biggest war terror of all times. In fact, the sentiments of the Middle Easterners are shared by a large number of Americans themselves who have labelled their president as a killer and the biggest war terror the world has ever seen.

I can’t deny that it is indeed saddening to see a heavy civilian death toll increasing day by day,the widespread of damage done and also the large magnitude displacement of population of normal life in both Lebanon and Northern Israel. But what I most despise about this conflict and any other conflict for that matter (Afghanistan, Iran, Palestine and Iraq) is just something that leads me to wonder; what’s the point of development and modernity in the world, when clearly in some parts of the world, humans still act like barbarians of the past. Killings and torturing of people should not even exist in the 21st century for crying out loud!!

Why can’t people talk out and express their disagreements in a proper forum? Why must violence and brutality and the use of arms be resorted to when there are better ways in which disputes can be resolved? It’s saddens me to see images of innocent young lives being robbed and massive burials of innocent dead being filmed and broadcasted to the whole world. As an individual, there’s only so much that one can do to express his or her feelings towards the happenings in the world today. No amount of rioting, demonstrations and protest can bring about any changes if the roots of all causes of problems are not being addressed and settled peacefully and democratically.

Why start new wars, when older issues such as a 58 year old problem of creating a sovereign Palestinian is still at a dangle? The US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is back from the Middle East today and has said that the current on going Israeli-Lebanese conflict will perhaps lead to the creation of a “New Middle East” as reported by a Lebanon daily today. How and why? Only the US knows how for sure-sigh!

Be it an old Middle East or a new Middle east, what is definite is that the middle east will continue to be a problem that will not be resolved( if I may say so) in this 21st century for sure.

Who is to be blamed? The Britons who actually started the whole Palestinian conflict by promising the Palestinians independence by allowing the Jews to create Israel or the Americans that have been the closest and greatest ally of the Israelis for years? Or can we actually push the blame to the Middle Easterners themselves who have always been accused of provoking conflicts and wars?

So yes, at the end of the day it becomes a debate within a debate without an ending.

Of affection, security and the future of the Middle East; only time and time alone will determine if it has a future.


Pic courtesy of yahoo images.

-about a girl-