Again; it is Palestine, Israel, as in Arabs and Jews that are at each other’s throats!

These groups of humans, who are essentially cousins, have managed, yet again to bring the Middle East to a scalding boil! This is more than Palestine and Israel, it is regional.

The perennial animus between Arabs and Jews is apparently approaching a new crescendo. Israel is carpet-bombing Lebanon, the Arabs will be compelled to act.

There is now a high probability that those, in the Arab world, who are in sympathy with the plights and predicaments of Palestinians, would soon join armed Palestinians’ efforts to challenge Israel. So far, Hezbollah in Lebanon have joined the fray. This may in turn elicit the participations of Syria and Iran, whether directly or indirectly.

It is increasingly beginning to look de javu, or the Arabs versus Israel war of 1967, all over again. The gory situations are expanding exponentially. If there is about to be a Third World War, it surely will begin in the Middle East.

The present catalyst is the killing of a Palestinian family by Israeli soldiers, on the beach in Gaza and the subsequent taking of an Israeli soldier as hostage; Additionally, Hezbollah, acting independently, killed 8 Israeli soldiers and took two as hostages, as bargaining chips.

 The crux of the matter therefore, is the holding of thousands of Palestinians without charge or trial.

As I write, there are about 10,000 Palestinians and Lebanese in Israeli detentions and prisons without charge or trial. These 10,000 humans have been in legal limbo for several years. This is surely unacceptable and intolerable. Even as we recognize Israel’s security needs. Israeli’s safety. We must also pause to recognize the humanity of Palestinians/Arabs who are routinely arrested, detained, killed or whose property rights are summarily violated by Israel, without recourse to a semblance of due process or the rule of law. The United States has been criticized for holding terror suspects in Guantanamo for about four years without trial, but Israel has held some Arabs without trial and for much longer periods! And the world seems to ask no questions of Israel?

The issues between Arabs and Jews are intricately complex and complicated, but yet, very simple. Israel needs and deserve the right to exist, Israel demand assurances as such.

The Arabs on the other hand, demand their lands, as defined by the pre-1967 boundaries.

Palestinians needs and deserves their territories, which are currently occupied by Israel.

Palestinians demand a right to return to their lands and their homes.

Antecedents of both Arabs and Israelis, appear to justify their current attitudes. But their fates are linked forever, interminably linked! I would not want to be an Israeli, who is required to worry about violence and suicide bombing from Palestinians. Just as would not like to be a Palestinian, whose life, liberty and property are subject to the seeming arbitrariness of Israelis who are often engaged in targeted killings of “militants” as defined by what process? Israelis whose job it is, to ensure that Palestinians endure daily humiliations and indignities. Israelis, who must decide where Palestinians are born, live, work, die and where Palestinians, even as prominent as the late Yasser Arafat is buried! Israelis, who are liable to destroy Palestinian properties in summary manner; It is, certainly the case that suicide bombers, do not of course resort to due process. Suicide bombings are plausibly acts that are desperation driven.

If Palestinians can justify their actions, so can the Israelis! Hence the endless cycle of violence and retaliations. Arabs and Israelis must realize that meaningful good faith negotiations are the road to peaceful cohabitation and coexistence, side by side in the Middle East. The parties must negotiate, even if they must hold their noses!

The intractable crisis between Israelis and Palestinians, by extension, all Arabs, has escalated in, and during the past couple of weeks and it is getting regrettably worse.

The multiple variables of the Palestinian and Israeli crises have been exemplified in recent times by attempts to undermine, marginalize and subvert the elected government of Hamas, with concerted efforts that have been joined by the US, Europe and Israel. Acting in concert, America, Israel and its allies engaged in aggressively vigorous efforts, as they sought to undermine Hamas, Palestinian Authority, by depriving it of much needed tax revenues and foreign aid. All this, even as Hamas seemed to have imported American style democracy, hook, line and sinker!

Right before that, there were attempts by some, to question whether the people of Palestine had a right to elect members of Hamas as the legitimate representative Palestinian people. Even though it is public knowledge that Hamas has been responsive to the needs of Palestinian people. Hamas provided schools, hospitals and other social services, more than the Palestinian Authority could. Despite all these, there were attempts by outsiders to make ineffective, a legitimate government led by Hamas. But engaging in those sorts of actions, aimed at thwarting Hamas or to dampen its popularity, such actions created the impressions that those engaged in it, were superior to Palestinians and would seek to impose puppets or some sorts of Palestinian “leaders” on Palestine. The “leaders” who have not performed in the past and may not necessarily represent the genuine aspirations of the Palestinian people now, but were preferred by outsiders.

Palestine and Israel must commence some constructive engagements.

Intransigent and belligerent attitudes on both side, have stalled meaningful negotiations.

And meaningful negations will in the end be the solution that endures and stands the test of time. If Israel hopes to carpet bomb the Arabs to submission, it is a forlorn hope.

Palestinians justify their kidnap of an Israeli Soldier, by pleading the case of over 10,000 Palestinians and other Arabs who have been in Israeli detentions without trial or recourse to due process and the rule of law and unfortunately, the world seems to just look elsewhere or ignore these harsh treatments of Palestinians!

Palestinians have no state or standing army, air force or any form of military force.

Palestinians only recourse, it seems, is the Kamikazees or suicide bombers.

Meanwhile, Israel has the most sophisticated military in all of Middle East region.

The struggle is clearly unequal.

The act of suicide bombing is extreme, in concept and in practice or in thoughts and action. It is fueled and driven by poverty, hardship, frustration, desperation and extreme hopelessness. Therefore, I strongly believe that Israelis and the rest of the world ought to reexamine the conditions and thought processes, that culminates in the final fatal act of a suicide bomber. We all ought to be asking, what exactly motivates a suicide bomber?

Is it the love for violence for its sake? Is it the fabled and simplistic hope for virgins, this of course, reduces and minimizes abject conditions to the desire to fulfill mere vulgar orgies of sex.

Is suicide bombing driven by lust for crude barbarity, I will say not. Or is it actually as a result of abject desperation and hopelessness, indignities, humiliations and deprivations in Palestine? The world ought to reexamine these issues and proffer lasting solutions.

Robot  Villager

# 1 Again; it is Palestine, Israel...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 14.07.2006 20:32

busanga  Villager

# 2 Can't u see? CNN is more concerned with the price of crude oil and the 25 000 americans trapped in Lebanon. Hideous! Personally, I think America is the number one problem of the middle east and her unilateral war in Iraq is what motivates Israel to take this kind of action. The current Israeli move might see the ousting of the pro-western lebanese government and then Israel will do herself in once again. And the cycle continues. Posted by busanga| 14.07.2006 21:04

Naija for life  Villager

# 3 Palestinians have no state or standing army, air force or any form of military force. Thank goodness for that. If they did, they'd probably dispatch some of them to their Arab brothers in the Sudan to murder black people with. Palestinians only recourse, it seems, is the Kamikazees or suicide bombers Ever heard of civil disobedience and peaceful resistance? Blowing up people dining in restaurants and children on school buses, in quest of lands to which you can only make dubious claims, will never fructify your cause. The struggle is clearly unequal. Again, thank goodness. I'd rather live in Isreal than in an Arab country anyday. Frankly, I don't give a tinker's cuss about the Middle East or any other part of the world populated by people who expend none of their precious time pondering Africa's problems. Do they care about us? Remember the congregation of dignitaries in commemoration of the ten year anniversary of the Rwandan holocaust two years ago? No heads of state from any region other than Africa attended the event. Not even Israel, Armenia or Cambodia, countries viscerally acquainted with the ravages of genocide. Why were they absent? Because they deem our affairs inconsequential to them. As long as the middle eastern crises does not impact Nigeria, they can all drown in the red sea for all I care. They don't give a damn about us, I sure as hell ain't losing any sleep over them. Read this chilling report and then ask me why I should give a hoot about the Middle East, or any part of the world other than Africa? http://www.trocaire.org/newsandinformation/lent/irishtimesarticle1.htm Posted by Naija for life| 14.07.2006 21:49

Nkire  Villager

# 4 Paul Adujie: Don't you think that Africa have enough chaos to fill your intellectual rigmarole, such that you don't need to get into the Arab/Isreali conflict? Isreal can take care of herself. Isreal kicked the buts of the combined Arabs in 1967, Isreal can do it again in 2006. The Arabs never learn. What made them think they can sneek into Isreal, kidnap their soldiers and get away scot free? The Arabs are mistaken here. They must have mistaken the Isrealis for the Africans. While the Arabs are crying and shouting for being disposed of "their" land, they are killing women and children in Africa in an effort to steal and occupy their land. What the Arabs are doing in the Darfur region of Sudan is what they have done for centuries, enslaving, killing and in the process, taking over land from Africans. If African countries were not populated by cowards and bottom of the barrel humans, they would have constituted a strong army to fight off the thieving Arabs. While the Africans are foolishly talking peace keeping, the Arabs keeps pushing southwards - soon they will be in Chad and then Nigeria, I wounder what the divided and non-nation giant of Africa would do then. Look, I am too upset by the events in the Darfur region to continue here. So mr. Adujie=ILN, leave Isreal alone. Isreal can and will not hesitate to assert its soverignty over its small but productive territory. Look at what Isreal is able to do with the little strip of land that it occupies. The Arabs have the rest of the middle-east yet, the only thing they are good at is staping on a bomb to blow up old ladies and kids in a bus. If Africans were smart, they will be friends of Isreal. At least Isreal would help us to fight off Arab domination that is growing in depth and breadth every year. Africans, grow up! Arabs are not your friend. Posted by Nkire| 14.07.2006 23:03

George

# 5 I don't think what is happening over there should be a great concern to us, while you meet an Israeli, he would ask you if Nigeria is safe to be traveled to. There should a limit to what you guys write here. This is a Nigerian Village Square and not an Israeli Village Sqaure... These people are just taking for granted the fact that UN recognises anti-Semitism as evil. On that, they should also realise that being Islamophobia nor Christianophobia is a reverberating crime. Israelis should at least watch themselves... Posted by George| 14.07.2006 23:24

ula-lisa  Villager

# 6 N for L Please mind your language on this forum even if you are angry. There are women children and those who still blush blue. Paul, Paul... do not let me call you a third time or I may summon your nemesis, the gentleman with a fiery pen from South America to ban you for life. What justification do you have for the arabs doing what they do? My first experience with the hot blood of civic performance was in Heathrow where I saw these persons demonstrating the lateness of their flight and chanting war songs at the airport!!! The people do not need an excuse to fight. They fight first, then look for the cause later. Read your bible Paul even if you do not believe in it. Just read it. Even those people read it so they can argue. But your name is Paul (as in Paul of Tarsus). Paul wrote: The act of suicide bombing is extreme, in concept and in practice or in thoughts and action. It is fueled and driven by poverty, hardship, frustration, desperation and extreme hopelessness. Therefore, I strongly believe that Israelis and the rest of the world ought to reexamine the conditions and thought processes, that culminates in the final fatal act of a suicide bomber. We all ought to be asking, what exactly motivates a suicide bomber? It definitely is not fueled by 'poverty, hardship, frustration, desperation and extreme helplessness' or the whole of the African continent would have ended the world by suicide bomb in view of our extreme poverty in the midst of plenty. How can you justify the fact that a group of persons who control over 51% of that liquid gold, otherwise called crude oil, would be the most violent? What about middle class Arabs riding plans into tall buildings and causing the rest of us immigrants continuous pain and suffering in suspicious activity? A well adjusted person, when he suffers, tries his/her utmost to prevent others from going through the same pain. He does not seek to hurt the innocent because he is poor. You do not need to be a scholar to know that. Posted by ula-lisa| 14.07.2006 23:44

ithinkbetter  Villager

# 7 hi folks, there's no solution to this problem..! the problem would be there till the end of TIME! Posted by ithinkbetter| 15.07.2006 05:29

Odinaka  Villager

# 8 My problem with the so called Arab league and OIC is that they don't define justice and fairness correctly when others (infidels) are concerned. Just today, the blood-thirsty Omar of Sudan who has presided over the systematic rape, butchering, and dehumanising of Africans whose only offence is that they refused to be "arabanised" and "islamicised", gave his support to the "faithful fighters" in Lebanon and Palestine. Tomorrow, someone who does not see any problem in the periodic blood-letting of infidels in the (far)North will come out to talk, demonstrate or even kill because of events in far away Palestine and Lebanon. The Arab league members and their allies at the UN has consistently made it difficult for the Khartoun government in Sudan to be held accountable, they have also encouraged the push for the "arabanisation" and "islamicisation" of peaceful Africans and their killing if they dare refuse. And now they are talking nonsense (it's not as if they are wholly right and the isrealis are totally wrong in the middle east chaos, please go back to your history book to know better; well, I am not concerned with that aspect now and don't wish to see it discussed on NVS). What about the organisation of Islamic conference (OIC) and their sinister activities in Africa? Any one, including brother Paul, who feels so strongly about the middle east affair (have I ever seen Paul write on the atrocities of Arab/"lslamic brothers" right in your home front, before your very two eyes?), should go join them and fight off the Zionists and crusaders. In the mean time, spare the NVS of such articles, send them somewhere else Posted by Odinaka| 15.07.2006 05:32

demonteufel  Villager

# 9 The Igbos are a terrorized people. The men from the North and West use military power to intimidate the Igbos into going along with the government of Nigeria. Without force holding them down, the Igbos would break away from Nigeria, today. (One may ask whether it is right to terrorize a group of people? Hasn’t human civilization gotten to a point where terrorism is no longer tolerated as instrument of governance? If terrorism is wrong, why does the rest of the world keep quiet while a group of human beings are intimidated with brutal force? Moslem terrorism in Europe and North America is fought by the West. Why does the West permit Moslem terrorism in Nigeria?) - Dr.Osuji methinks, we must first concentrate our efforts solving our problems before going that far discussing middle east...! Posted by demonteufel| 15.07.2006 05:57

Odinaka  Villager

# 10 @ demonteufel, which Dr Osuji are you quoting, Ozodi Thomas Osuji? Wonders may never end Do you mind giving me a link to the full text? Posted by Odinaka| 15.07.2006 06:12

---

The conversation continues in our forum. Click here to read all comments

---