Tariq A. Al-Maeena
The ongoing Israeli aggression that has increased several notches in recent months has not escaped the attention of the Saudi leadership. The escalation of violence and cold-blooded murder of innocent Palestinian civilians by the Israeli occupation forces has enraged the region. Many of the Palestinian victims have been women and children, and the daily onslaught of violence and abuse of all forms of human rights principles continues unchecked against the defenseless Palestinians, who I may add are the lawful residents of the land.
Speaking to the gathered world leaders during the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Naif was very direct on a number of subjects. He called for the Middle East to be free of nuclear arms and weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and called for launching an international conference to make this objective a reality. He then echoed sentiment in the region by denouncing the Israeli aggression on Palestinians and called for a two-state solution with Jerusalem being the capital of Palestine.
His criticism brought into fore the cold realities that exist in the Arab world today. Yes, there is Daesh (the so-called IS), Syria, Iraq and Yemen but none are more disturbing than the extended and systematic ethnic cleansing of a people right before the eyes of the world and executed by none other than a people who themselves were victims of a similar holocaust during World war II. But this calculated ethnic cleansing, translated to murder of an entire race of Palestinians living in their land, serves a purpose.
Israeli authorities recently approved the construction of 463 homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank despite growing international criticism over such projects. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government "continues to plan and build all over the West Bank, while also giving settlers the message that any construction done without planning will be retroactively legalized," watchdog Peace Now bitterly complained.
The United Nations coordinator for the Middle East peace process Nickolay Mladenov told the UN Security Council last month that Israeli settlement expansion had surged in the past two months since a key report by the diplomatic Quartet — the European Union, Russia, the UN and the United States called for a halt. The report said that construction of illegal Israeli settlements on land earmarked to be part of a future Palestinian state was eroding the possibility of a two-state solution. And as has been standard Israeli policy, such criticism of the illegal settlements was dismissed as "absurd" by the Israeli PM.
What is absurd about the daily cold-blooded murders of Palestinian civilians by your heavily armed soldiers and illegal settlers, Netanyahu? What is absurd about children as young as six being shot in cold blood by your sanctioned killers? Is it that Palestinians are not human beings or have no right to live on their land with peace? Or has Israel learned a lesson from the first holocaust and is today executing a new and improved version of it in their blatant aim of getting rid of all Palestinians. What is absurd about demolishing homes of families, leaving them destitute and with no shelter, only to witness new settlements springing on what was once lawfully theirs? There is no democracy being exercised here. It is apartheid and ethnic cleansing in its basest form.
Indeed, the Saudi Crown Prince reflected the general sentiments of the region when he was direct in his criticism of Israeli policies. And thanks to social media, no amount of spin or propaganda by the Israeli authorities to muzzle hard reality on the ground, Israeli brutality is being captured and recorded and widely distributed. Many of yesterday’s doubters have come to view the Israelis as the evil force in the region.
And indeed, there is nothing absurd about cold blooded murders!
The author can be reached at talmaeena@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @talmaeena
