The Peace on The Horizon - 70 Years after The World War 2 in the Middle East41)

(Japanese Version)

(Arabic Version)

Chapter 5: Two calendars (Gregorian & Hijri)

5-5(41)　 Palestinians left behind the history

Before and after Hijri 1400 (i.e. 1980AD), big incidents took place in the Islamic world one after another. They were the Egyptian Israel Peace Treaty in1979, the Iranian Revolution by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980 and the USSR invasion into Afghanistan in 1980. The world history has also been turbulant during the last two decades of the 20th century. In 1980s the socialism regime of the USSR was melt down. The first trigger was shown at the city between the border of the capitalism and the socialism. Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the German reunification in 1990 were the end of the USSR regime. USSR collapsed in 1991. The Soviet Union was defeated by capitalism in European front and by Islamic Jihadist in Central Asian front. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which was born at the Russian Revolution in 1917, asserted that socialism would dominate all over the world in the future. But USSR was dissolved in the history within less than 80 years. The United States as the top runner of capitalism dominated the world.

In the turbulent history of the world and the Middle East, the Palestinian issue was gradually left behind. After the World War II, Palestinian issue was the first one in the Middle East for a long time. But the concern about Palestine was quickly faded out when Egypt and Israel signed Camp David Accords in 1978 and Peace Treaty in 1979. Western countries have got the illusion as if all of the problems were solved permanently by giving Sadat and Beguin the Nobel Peace Prize. However, the occupation of the Palestinian homeland by the Jews was never solved by the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Balfour Declaration of giving Palestinian territory to the Jews had three meanings for UK and other European countries. First, it was a remuneration for Jews who financially supported the UK for the victory of the World War I. In the second, it was an atonement of the Europeans for historical oppression against Jewish people. And thirdly it was the best idea to get rid of troublesome Jews from Europe to distant Palestine. The Balfour Declaration had triple merits for European society.

But for Palestinians it was nothing to do with them that Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty and Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin received the Nobel Peace Prize. It couldn’t solve any problems at all. Jewish people had been shouting the slogan, “People defunct land to landless people”. But it was a selfish idea because the Jews completely ignored the history of Palestinians who had been living in that place for nearly two thousand years after Jewish people had left Palestine and scattered to various areas of Europe as diaspora (great discretion).

After Israeli independence Palestinians fought for construction of the Palestinian state recapturing their own land. The Arab countries actively supported the Palestinians and raised to military action. But the Ramadan War in 1973 was the final one. Egypt left from Arab allies by bilateral peace treaty with Israel. Other Arab countries condemned Egypt, but no country offered assistance physically to Palestine. Palestinians were left behind in the paradigm shift of the world and the Middle East.

It was a matter of course that Palestinians were not silent and did not overlook the situation. Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) based in southern Lebanon persistently attacked Israel. Lebanese government could not control PLO’s military campaign. Israel counterattacked PLO Headquarter in the Palestinian refugee camp in South Lebanon. The PLO could not match Israel in military operations at all. In 1982, the PLO withdrew from Lebanon and fled to Tunisia.

The Palestinians living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip had to be kept in hopeless situation. However, they did not give up the resistance movement against Israel. The Palestinians had nothing but a few weapons and ammunitions. The only one means to show their will of resistance was to throw the stones. They threw the stones toward Israel soldiers and tanks which suppressed the Palestine demonstration. There was no chance of victory. It was no use kicking against the pricks. It began in 1987 for the first time and was called as “intifada”. The photo news that Palestinians resisted tyranny by stone and Israeli confrontation with the latest weapons have attracted sympathy within international public opinion. The criticism against Israel was grown up.

Norway mediated between Israel and PLO. In 1993, both parties signed an Oslo Accords. It was a historical achievement to recognize the Palestinians’ legitimate and political rights. Yasser Arafat, Chairman of PLO, Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister of Israel, and Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. However, Rabin was assassinated by the right-wing Jews next year and the peace accord ended with no fruits after all. It was a reproduction of the nightmare that Anwar Sadat of Egypt was assassinated after he and Menachem Begin of Israel won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978. When talking about peace in the Middle East, the Nobel Peace Prize did not bring permanent peace in the Middle East in any way. It gave only the illusion of the peace of the Middle East for the Western people especially the intellectuals in Europe.

(To be continued ----)

By Areha Kazuya

E-mail: Arehakazuya1@gmail.com

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