Category Archives: Middle East

Aid, Foreign Policy, Gaza, Israel, Middle East, Palestine

Decisive action is needed in Gaza if it is to be saved

ISRAEL-GAZA WAR

Intro: Palestinians need deeds, not words

THE UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher has signalled his fears that thousands of babies are at imminent risk of death in Gaza unless aid reaches them. Inconceivable, is that Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister, is concerned that foreign politicians could now see too many graphic pictures of Palestinian children in dire need of aid and is doing everything in his power to censor and suppress such images.

Two months after all supplies were cut off, the Israeli government denies the obvious truth: that Gaza is on the brink of famine. A few days ago, Netanyahu announced that “minimal” aid deliveries would restart, adding that his country’s “greatest friends in the world” had told him that they could not “accept images of… mass hunger”. His entirely cynical response saw a handful of aid trucks permitted to cross into Gaza. Reportedly, 100 aid deliveries a day will now be permitted, but even if that happens that is still grotesquely inadequate given the vast scale of need. Reaching the most vulnerable will be perilous and extremely dangerous anyway amid Israel’s intensified offensive. Netanyahu vowed that Israel would “take control” of all of Gaza.

His words show both that Western allies can shift Israel’s behaviour, and that they are insufficiently willing to do so. The trickle of supplies is meant to ensure the continuation of a war that enables his political survival, but has killed almost 54,000 Palestinians. That death toll may be a grave underestimate, say many researchers.

Foreign leaders are finally stirring as Palestinians starve and the enormity of Israel’s plan sinks in. Britain, France, and Canada have described conditions in Gaza as intolerable and have threatened further “concrete” actions if Israel’s “egregious” campaign continues and aid restrictions are not lifted. An unrepentant Netanyahu accused the trio of “offering a huge prize” for the murderous Hamas attack of 7 October 2023, which triggered Israel’s assault. In a separate statement, 23 other countries including Australia and New Zealand, condemned the aid blockade and ongoing military offensive. And, the European Commission has launched a review of trade ties with Israel. Relatives of Israeli hostages continue to press for a ceasefire and release deal. Outrage has also broken through in mainstream domestic politics in Israel, with Yair Golan, opposition leader of the Democrats, saying that his country was “on the path to becoming a pariah state”.

The growing condemnation is spurred not only by the grotesque suffering in Gaza and ministers’ explicit calls for ethnic cleansing but also by a growing new gap between Netanyahu and the Trump administration. On his recent Middle East tour, Donald Trump didn’t bother stopping in Israel and repeatedly overrode its interests – on Syria, on the Houthis, and on Iran. He has emboldened the Israeli government’s annihilationist approach and would be happy to see a Gaza without Palestinians, but seems now to be tiring of the conflict. Nonetheless, any perceived shift in approach should not be overstated. Support for Israel endures in Washington even as other governments think again.

Others must match rhetoric with action. The UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, condemned the “repellent” words of the extremist minister Bezalel Smotrich. But suspending trade talks is barely a start. The same goes for the sanctioning of settler activists: imposing sanctions on Mr Smotrich and his colleague Itamar Ben-Gvir should have happened some time ago. The UK should follow the example of France, which has said it is “determined” to recognise a Palestinian state. Most of all, it should ensure that no arms, including parts for F-35 fighter jets, continue to reach Israel. Until it does so, it will be complicit in these war crimes.

The US has the ability to stop the slaughter and achieve a desperately needed ceasefire. But pressure from other allies can make a difference. If they care about saving lives – and not just their own optics – it really is time for decisive action.

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Britain, Government, Middle East, Politics, Society, Syria

A moment of danger as well as opportunity

SYRIA

ON paper, the fall of a brutal tyrant, especially one who tortured and gassed his own people, should be a cause for unqualified celebration in the free world.

In practice, we know from bitter experience that when such despots are deposed, fresh chaos and tyranny all too often follow in the immediate aftermath. Elation over the horror of Saddam Hussein and Colonel Gaddafi quickly turned to intense fear as Iraq and Libya were consumed by anarchy and civil war.

So, following the abrupt fall of Bashar al-Assad, the world is asking with some trepidation: What comes next for Syria, the wider Middle East, and the West?

Not for the first time in this volatile and unpredictable region, Western intelligence agencies were blindsided by the speed and intensity of the Islamist rebel offensive.

After capturing Damascus, and forcing Assad into exile, the insurgents declared total victory. Most prominent among the militias is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

Its leaders may be preaching moderation right now, but they have their roots in ISIS and Al-Qaeda. Extremism and vengeance lurk behind the façade.

The various rebel factions have little in common except their hatred of Assad. Will they manage to unite to form a government – or plunge into a bloody power struggle?

The collapse of the regime is unquestionably a humiliation and a major strategic blow for Iran and Russia, its staunchest allies. Iran, because it uses Syria in funnelling weapons to its proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon; Russia, because it has military bases in Syria that it will wish to protect.

The British PM welcomed the toppling of Assad’s “barbaric regime” and called for peace and stability, but with radical Islamists now in charge he risks looking naïve. Events in Syria represent a profound challenge to the West.

Undoubtedly, the renewed violence and instability in Syria will almost certainly trigger fresh waves of refugees heading for Europe and the UK. Strong political leadership and coordination in the West is now an imperative.

One of the many unanswered questions is what will happen now to the 50,000 former ISIS militants currently held by Kurdish forces in north-east Syria.

If these brutal jihadis are released or fight their way out of the camps, the repercussions could be deadly in Europe as well as the Middle East.

And the warning given by ex-MI6 chief Sir Alex Younger of a “serious spike” in the threat posed this country by foreign and home-grown extremists that could be inspired by a resurgence of Islamic State is deeply alarming. We know from atrocities committed here in the past just how murderous and hard to predict these fanatics can be.

The current UK terror threat is at level 3 – “substantial” – but may well be elevated in the light of unfolding events. Extra-vigilance will now be needed by our security services, police, and the Border Force.

The world also awaits to see what kind of regime the rebels will create in Assad’s place. Whatever Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is saying publicly, the West must remember that it as an offshoot of al-Qaeda, and so its leaders are unlikely to be fans of Western democracy.

The UK has announced £11 million in foreign aid for Syria. We must be very careful where that money goes. As Foreign Secretary David Lammy rightly reminded the House of Commons, HTS remains a proscribed terrorist organisation.

Jubilation over the fall of a dictator should not blind us to the risks of what comes next. As Mr Lammy said: “This is a moment of danger as well as opportunity.”

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Britain, Gaza, Government, Israel, Middle East, Politics, Society, United States

A region in flames

MIDDLE EAST

Intro: One year on from the 7 October attacks, the region is slipping deeper into war. The conflict continues to destroy countless lives. The scenes from Gaza since that fateful day have haunted millions around the world and the crisis is being felt with increasing intensity in Lebanon and the West Bank

THE last twelve months has been a period of slaughter and destruction for the Middle East. Far from any awakening from this nightmare, the region is slipping deeper into war. Israel is planning a “significant and serious” retaliation against Iran for its missile attack. The cycle of retribution is spinning faster, with the conflagration feared growing closer. Once more, civilians are paying the price.

On 7 October 2023, more than 1,200 men, women, and children were killed at a family festival in Israel by Hamas fighters who had crossed from Gaza: the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, in the country built to guarantee their safety. Another 250 – the youngest nine months old – were taken hostage. Though around half were subsequently released, many have yet to return home. Others never will.

The ensuing Israeli onslaught on Gaza has killed almost 43,000 Palestinians; most were women and children, including hundreds of infants. The chilling abbreviation WCNSF – wounded child, no surviving family – has become commonplace. The survivors are displaced, hungry, and desperate, and the humanitarian catastrophe grows as Israel pursues its war in the wasteland. The last year has also been the deadliest for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Already 2,000 people are dead in Lebanon.

Israel was embraced with sympathy in the wake of the Hamas attacks. Its right to defend itself does not permit it to trample the laws of war. Ministers and politicians have openly expressed – in the words of prominent Israelis – “the discourse of annihilation, expulsion, and revenge”. That speaks of the impact of permanent occupation; this story did not begin twelve months ago. Benjamin Netanyahu’s determination to remain prime minister, and the zealotry of his political partners, have prevailed over the lives of Israeli hostages as well as Palestinians.

Hezbollah’s leaders too lie dead. The fear of another 7 October is understandably strengthened when Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praises “a legitimate act”. But Israel’s tactical success to date against Hamas and Hezbollah is not the same as a strategic triumph. Military victory is a mirage. Israeli citizens are under immediate threat from an expanded war and the destruction of other homes and families is no foundation for their long-term, sustainable security.

Israel is now increasingly isolated, not because outsiders did not register the horror of 7 October, but because they cannot ignore the grave suffering of Palestinians. Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, stand accused of crimes against humanity at the international criminal court. The international court of justice has ruled that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories is illegal, calling for immediate withdrawal and reparations, and in January ordered it to ensure no genocidal acts are committed in Gaza. While the US continues to ship arms to an ally that ignores its warnings, others are recoiling.

The release of hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza – and now Lebanon too – become only more urgent as the months pass. Power-hungry men of hatred have pursued a war in which innocent men, women, and children across the region have died. Ending it requires diplomacy addressing not only the immediate crisis but long-term security needs, including a fair settlement for Palestinians.

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