The dimensions of the Palestinian Conflict

-

The Palestinian Israel conflict is in the news again. It can be said to be the single crisis that initiated the clash of civilizations and was the seed for all the dissatisfaction and unrest in the Muslim world. Yet, few people tend to understand that the conflict has multiple dimensions which is what has made a resolution so elusive.




The first dimension is territorial. Due to the Balfour Declaration of 1917, an Israeli state was created for the Jews in the heart of the Muslim world. The proponents of this argued that this is where an ancient Jewish civilization used to live but then none of the modern states geography has been carved keeping mind where ancient ancestors lived. Judaism came before Christianity and Islam so its current followers cant have the right to choose territory base don their initial place of inhabitance simply because their religion preceded others. With that logic followers of all ancient religions should be given their original place of dwelling as their country in today's world. This territorial aspect was further violated by Israel when it started expanding its population and settlements in areas that even the Balfour Declaration had declared out of bounds for the Jewish State. Almost all the countries of the world recognize this violation by Israel and condemn it. However, since Israel controls US Foreign Policy owing the clout of AIPAC and AJC in US politics, it managed to get US to veto any resolutions that the UN ever tried to pass until 2016 when the Obama administration decided to abstain from resolution 2334 to the dismay of Israel. As it has turned out, Israeli expansion has constantly marginalized Muslims living in Palestine. Israel either controls Palestinian terrorist or it exerts complete control over it as a consequence of which Palestinians live under some of the worst conditions around the globe.





The second dimension of the conflict is religious. Jerusalem, over which the controversy has just erupted after US said it would recognize it as Israel's capital, is home to the 3rd holiest site in Islam, Mosque Al-Aqsa which itself is located in a compound called Temple Mount which is not just a very important religious site for the Muslims, it is also the holiest site for Jews. It is Temple Mount that fuels religious fire in Muslims hearts as its under Israeli occupation.


The third layer of the conflict is actually a religious-conspiratorial one. According to this, Temple Mount used to be the site for Solomon's Temple. King Solomon was A Prophet in around 1000 BCE and Is recognized in Judaism, Islam as well as Christianity. Solomon, or Sulayman as he is known by in Islam, had various gifts bestowed upon him including the ability to speak to Jinns or supernatural genies. Jinns are said to have free will like humans and can either be good or evil. During this time, legend holds that humans had acquired incantations and texts, black magic in other words, that could control and summon the evil jinns. Solomon, to prevent misuse of this black magic ordered all the books to get acquired and then got them buried them deep under his throne so that no one could misuse it. The conspiracy theory holds that the "Zionists" are still trying to conduct excavations in Temple Mount to try and reach this archive of black magic so that they could then summon the evil jinns and then create the grounds for the arrival of the Antichrist! This is one reason why some hard-line conservative religious quarters in Islam are so hell bent upon countering Israel and liberating Jerusalem alongside Palestine.


With so much at stake for both parties involved, it is not surprising that the issue has evaded resolution for decades despite it being on the top of the agenda for world rulers and the United Nations. Israel has just played the International Power Game too well and has the US and as a result the world order in its grip. Unfortunately it seems safe to conclude that there will be no solution to the Palestine Israel problem ever and Palestinians will always live in the torment that has engulfed them since 1948.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The evasive & baffling A&P ROI

-
Image
Investment in a brand is like any other investment. An organization either has enough cash in its kitty to be able to invest it in building the brand quity or the organization borrows from the bank. The ultimate objective of any investment is to generate return. How much the required rate of return is varies from market to market and form environment to environment. These are times of economic recession. Even the BRICs are now coming to around 7% GDP growth (with the exception of Russia which itself is heavily dependent on International Gas prices). Recessionary times are the true litmus test of marketers. Getting growth and developing market and categories are not easy. These are times of high interest rates in Pakistan with the discount rate being 10.5% and 1 year KIBOR at 12%. This means that an organization investing in the brand could alternatively invest in the risk free Banking sector and obtain a 12% return with the principal intact. So the investment in the brand should resul...
Read more

Child Mortality Rates in Pakistan

-
Image
INFANT MORTALITY RATE Infant mortality is a commonly used statistical measure that is defined as the ratio of infant deaths to live births . The most widely used definition of Infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of deaths of babies under one year of age per 1,000 live births. Traditionally, the most common cause worldwide was dehydration from diarrhea , however a variety of programs combating this problem have decreased the rate of children dying from dehydration. As a result, the most common cause is now pneumonia . Other major causes of infant mortality include: malnutrition , malaria , congenital malformation , infection and SIDS . IMR was, and remains, higher in LDCs. In 2001, the Infant Mortality Rate for Less Developed Countries (91) was about 10 times as large as it was for More Developed Countries (8). Infant mortality in Pakistan Infant mortality in Pakistan is highest among SAARC countries, which at present stands at 70 deaths per 1,000 live births . Pakist...
Read more

A case for more provinces

-
There have been talks in the country for quite some time for forming a seraiki province in south of Punjab and a Hazara province in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. There exists a strong case for more provinces in the country if we look around at the world around us. Although Pakistan is the 6 th most populous country and the 36th largest in terms of geographic area, it would rank 56th in a list of countries with most provinces (& im considering FATA as the 5 th province). These countries include all of the most developed ones. On the other hand, ours is obviously the epitome of national mismanagement. There are many reasons why there should be more provinces. One, as per the general rule of management, it is easier to administer if the whole is divided into homogenous parts which share the same characteristics. In large administrative units, it is more probable that an area of the province may get neglected in terms of its economic and development needs. Moreover, having more provinc...
Read more