Horrors of six months long atrocious Israeli war on Gaza have further exposed the ugly face of Netanyahu regime.
Unwavering supporters of Israel stand equally exposed and alleged openly of abetting a planned genocide of Palestinians. Hollow calls for peace in Gaza remain unimpactful while Israel repeatedly hinting to invade Rafah after brazen killings of more than 33 thousand Palestinians including patients, kids, pregnant women, displaced food seekers and aid workers.
Ripples in the whole Middle Eastern region triggered with turbulent situation are alarmingly hurting the peace equation. Security risks triggered in Red Sea region with Houthi strikes on international vessels are quite unprecedented. Arrival of naval forces of international players in Red Sea cannot be absorbed as normal development due to obvious harmful impacts on local economic activities reliant on shipping activities. Israeli strikes inside Syria on Irani consulate building was another strong indicator of expansion of conflict beyond Gaza.
These Israeli strikes came almost in continuation of the most condemnable killings of food seeking displaced Gazan victims of atrocities. There was hardly any other option left for Tehran after Israeli provocative aggression other than responding in same coin. Israeli strikes led to the killing of seven persons including two senior Irani military officers.
Iran’s loud expression of intent to hit back the Israel was meaningfully exaggerated by Western quarters with a clear tilt in favor of Tel Aviv. Later on, Iran responded cautiously against Israel with drone and missile strikes without escalating the tensions. Unanimous condemnation of Irani response from the usual backers of Israel clearly reflects the reasons of non-flexible aggressive approach of Netanyahu. Biden’s call for restrain to Iran was objected by the impartial observers as a joke citing the heavy aid packages and arms supplies to Tel Aviv.
How an arms supplier country standing blatantly with a genocidal regime can jump in an intricate situation as a peace preaching party. Israel’s apparently retaliatory strikes on Iranian military targets in Isfahan clearly indicate that fire of aggression is very much alive. There are differing impressions on significant but least destructive exchange of strikes between Iran and Israel. Number of impartial keen observers of the Middle East security issues opine that rift with Iran actually helped Israel to divert the international attention from the plight of Palestinians. Though, Iran had all justified reasons to strike in response to blatant Israeli aggression, however, Tel Aviv’s provocative strikes inside Syria seemed precisely measured to drag Tehran physically in the arena.
Questions on Israeli uncontrollable aggression are still unanswered. For how long Israel can continue the genocide of unarmed Gazan with impunity? New lines are being drawn at regional and global canvases. In clear denial of Israeli backers, Global South is unifying in support of Palestinians. Prominent analyst Dr Ramzy Barud has pointed out this factor in his insightful article titled “Why the Global South is Rising for Gaza”, published in Arab News. Despite being a smaller country, Namibia has taken a great toll of Germany for supporting Israel in genocide of Palestinians. Surprisingly, it was Nicaragua which took the Germany to International Court of Justice for abetting the genocide.
Interestingly, those countries from Global South which suffered colonial human rights violations are now gathering in support of Gaza. Namibia is one such country which encountered the horrors of Genocide inflicted by the Germany. Dr Ramzy Barud wrote “The German genocide of the Nama and Herero people of 1904-1908 is known as the first genocide of the 20th century. The ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza is one of the first genocides of the 21st century. The unity between Palestine and Namibia is now cemented through their mutual suffering”. Keeping in view the track record of US-Israel relationships, immediate end of violence and restoration of peace remains a far cry in the Middle East.
Predicting the future unfolding in Middle East is not easy but growing desperation against the Israel and its backers cannot be ignored. Regional players are now more than ever focused on respective internal stability through economic interconnectivity. Policy of keeping the Middle East region in quagmire of unresolved conflicts might have paid dividends to US, its western allies and genocidal Israeli regime. However, nothing good could ever be reaped by regional stakeholders in the past. Significant normalization between KSA and Iran with Chinese support underscored the major shift from geo-politics to geo-economics. Likewise, positive acceleration of KSA and Iran on joint economic ventures with Pakistan indicates tendency of cementing the regional interdependence without fueling the fire of aggression. Global stakeholders should also alter their questionable policies revolving around exploitation of fault-lines and provision of unconditional support to genocidal regimes like Israel.
