Here
are some recent editorials I wrote for The Gulf Today. (Posted for my records)
Land-grabber
Israel
does
it again
For
years, Israel has been obsessed with one agenda: harass, kill, humiliate or
intimidate innocent Palestinians.
Among the
several means that Israel adopts, land-grabbing is one, and it is now set for
the largest land seizure since August 2014.
In its
latest disgraceful move, Cogat, a unit of Israel's Defence Ministry, has
confirmed in an email purportedly sent to Reuters, that a political decision to
seize the territory has already been taken and the lands are in the final
stages of being declared “state lands.”
UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has rightly denounced the seizure, but what is
demoralising is that such mere condemnations do not have any impact and Israel
has been insulting the international community for too long without being
pulled up.
Settlement
activities are a clear violation of international law and run counter to the
public pronouncements of the government of Israel supporting a two-state
solution.
Senior
member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation Hanan Ashrawi is absolutely
correct when she says Israel is stealing land specially in the Jordan Valley
under the pretext it wants to annex it.
This
should be considered a reason for a real and effective intervention by the
international community to end such a flagrant and grave aggression. Israel
should not be allowed to kill all chances of peace.
To
compound the problems of Palestinians, the Israelis also repeatedly demolish
Palestinian houses. During the year 2015, over 535 Palestinian houses in
several districts of the occupied West Bank and Al Quds were razed ignoring
protests from all peace-loving people across the world.
In
another snub to European peace voices, Israeli forces have demolished six
structures in the West Bank funded by the European Union's humanitarian arm.
The structures were dwellings and latrines for Bedouins living in an area known
as E1 - a particularly sensitive zone between occupied Jerusalem and the Dead
Sea.
Palestinians
feel deep frustration over the occupation that has lasted several decades.
The world
community has, unfortunately, failed to provide the Palestinian people with
protection and to hold the Israeli occupation power accountable for its
violations.
The
continuing expansion of settlements, the demolition of Palestinian homes, the
revocation of residency rights and the eviction and displacement of numerous
Palestinian families from East Jerusalem are in deep contravention of
international law. Such actions do not contribute to peace.
Israeli
atrocities have gone on for too long. It’s time to force Israel to abide by
international law.
Weed
out toxic seeds
of
extremist ideology
Honestly,
there is not much surprise in the research carried out by the Pew Research
Centre that indicates no Muslim-majority country in the world supports Daesh.
It is
known that Muslims across the world hold the terrorist organisation in
contempt, with highly respected Muslim religious leaders denouncing the group
for its crimes against humanity.
A chart
created for The
Independent newspaper by Statista showed only 4 per cent of Indonesians
declared a "favourable view" of the group.
The
figure was put at 0 per cent in some countries.
Thursday
was the first time Daesh had claimed an attack in Indonesia, where previous
bombings had been attributed to an Al Qaeda affiliate called Jemaah Islamiyah.
More than
200 million people identify themselves as Muslim in Indonesia according to 2011
research – that is 87 per cent of the population.
In a
specific reference to the dreaded Daesh group, the UN Security Council recently
mentioned, “By its violent extremist ideology, its terrorist acts, its gross
systematic and widespread attacks directed against civilians, violations of
international humanitarian law, including those driven on religious or ethnic
ground, its eradication of cultural heritage, Daesh constitutes a global threat
to international peace and security.”
Terrorism
is definitely not a phenomenon linked to any particular religion. There can be
no cause or grievance that can justify the horrors that terrorist groups carry
out against innocent people.
Interestingly,
the UAE has identified the fact that terrorism and extremism are interdependent
and hence there is a need to dismantle the relationship.
Right
from the beginning, the UAE has stressed its firm and open stance in countering
extremism, and does not accept the hijacking of the Islamic religion by takfiri
groups.
The war
on terrorism, as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Bin Mohammed
Gargash, stated recently, begins with a fight on both its funding, and
extremist educational and fundamentalist curricula which encourage its growth.
There can
be no doubt that it is its consistent and unwavering stand against terrorism
and extremism in all forms and manifestations that has made the UAE an oasis of
peace and a model for others to emulate.
Terrorism
is a scourge impacting all of humanity and people from all regions and
religions.
Repeated
attempts by Daesh to disturb public order and spread terror among people should
not be allowed to win. The world should stand united and weed out the toxic
seeds of extremist ideology.
Rein
in Iran for
peace
to reign
The fact
that various Arab, Islamic and friendly countries and the UN Security Council
have all categorically rejected the wanton attacks on the Saudi Embassy in
Tehran indicates that the world will no longer tolerate Iranian interference in
the internal affairs of Arab countries under any pretext.
The
attacks on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in the city of Mashhad
and threats received by Saudi diplomats there from Iranian groups that stormed
the two missions are definitely a major violation of diplomatic norms.
What
raises serious concerns about likely official complicity is the utter failure
of the Iranian security authorities to protect diplomats and Saudi diplomatic
missions.
Arab
foreign ministers at an emergency Arab League session on Sunday in Cairo hit
the nail on the head when they blamed Iran for interfering in the affairs of
other Middle Eastern states and undermining regional security.
UAE
Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan also raised a pertinent
point that the attack "took place under the nose and within the earshot of
security forces."
Judicial
rulings implemented recently by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were clearly
against a number of terrorists. The hostile statements by various Iranian
leaders amount to blatant Iranian meddling in the internal affairs of Saudi
Arabia.
The GCC
Ministerial Council has rightly expressed strong condemnation and rejection of
these attacks, holding the Iranian authorities fully responsible for these
terrorist acts in accordance with its commitment to the 1961 and 1963 Vienna
Conventions as well as the international law, which hold the countries
responsible for protecting diplomatic missions.
Going by
the background of the situation, the anger of the Gulf Arab countries is
entirely justified and the various actions initiated by most of these countries
are reasonable reactions to repeated provocation by Tehran.
Tehran
has also obviously failed to recognise that positive relations between states
should be based on mutual respect and the adoption of a clear-cut policy of
non-interference in the internal affairs of others.
The
international community should initiate serious efforts to prevent such attacks
on diplomatic missions in Iran. Iran should realise that meddling will just not
work anymore.
At a time
when some countries in the region are facing turmoil, it is appalling that Iran
keeps itself busy flouting international norms and principles of good
neighbourliness and igniting more crises instead of promoting peace
initiatives.
Cowardly
killings
in
Pakistan
Cold-blooded
terrorists have struck again in Pakistan. The violence at the Bacha Khan
University in Charsadda town in which gunmen killed several people has left the
world shocked and heart-broken.
The
dastardly incident has also brought back grim memories of the horrific December
2014 Peshawar school attack that killed more than 150 people, mostly children.
Only a
cold-blooded mindset can plot the killing of innocent professors and students
at the sacred institutions that shape the future of the country with knowledge
and wisdom.
The fact that these incidents took place in broad
daylight highlights the brutal nature of the perpetrators. Those who engaged in the heinous
crime have no religion and can only be seen as enemies of humanity.
Pakistan’s
struggle against terrorism has now reached a decisive point and it is unlikely
that the momentum would be reversed.
It is believed that the intelligence agencies had
received some kind of clues about these terrorist attacks beforehand. That’s
the reason some schools in Peshawar were abruptly closed last week.
Unfortunately, the authorities were not able to stop the criminals from hitting
their targets this time.
The
attackers had apparently scaled a wall to enter the campus, killing a caretaker
in a school guesthouse before moving on to the boys' hostel.
Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif has rightly vowed to wipe out the menace of terrorism
from the country.
The
latest violence has also highlighted the vulnerability of Pakistani
institutions, which was dramatically exposed in the attack two years ago on
Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani girl shot at by a Taliban gunman outside her
school in Swat Valley.
The idea behind such reprehensible killings by
terrorists is obviously to create fear among the public.
The law enforcement agencies need to act swiftly
and track down the sponsors and planners of such heinous acts.
Last
month, as the country marked the first anniversary of the Peshawar school
attack, the military claimed phenomenal successes in its operation against
militants and said it had killed around 3,500 insurgents.
It would
be foolhardy to think that attacks by terrorists such as the one in Charsadda
may weaken the Pakistan military's resolve. On the contrary, it would only strengthen
its determination to eliminate extremism.
All
peace-loving people across the world stand in total solidarity with the people
of Pakistan.
The
message should be loud and clear: Guns will not be allowed to wipe out human
values.
Unprecedented
level
of
suffering in Madaya
It is
good that a UN humanitarian convoy has finally reached the besieged Syrian town
of Madaya with life-saving health and food supplies, but what is also a matter
of huge concern is the condition of about 4.5 million people living in
hard-to-reach areas across Syria, including nearly 400,000 in 15 besieged
locations without access to the aid that they desperately need.
The
42,000 residents of Madaya have been facing desperate times and more than two
dozen people have reportedly starved to death, crippled by a six-month
government siege that has made even bread and water hard to find.
“Crowds
of hungry kids around," Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) representative Sajjad Malik said via text message from the isolated
town as the first four trucks of the 49-truck convoy unloaded in the dark to
help relieve a situation that UN officials last week called “horrendous…
ghastly.”
Food has
been so scarce that people repeatedly mentioned that a kilo of rice would cost
$300, according to Malik. One family had to “sell a motorbike to get five kilos
of rice.”
Residents
told UN staff that a main source of food in recent weeks has been a soup made
of grass boiled with the few available spices. With no access to electricity,
people in Madaya had tried to stay warm by burning cardboard.
Deliberate
starvation of civilians amounts to war crimes under the international human
rights law and international humanitarian law.
Top UN officials
say they have received credible reports of people dying from starvation and
being killed or injured while trying to leave the area, which last received UN
humanitarian aid in October.
Highlighting
the gravity of the situation, a World Health Organisation official stated,
“People gathered in the market place. You could see many were malnourished,
starving. They were skinny, tired, severely distressed. There was no smile on
anybody's face. It is not what you see when you arrive with a convoy. The children
I talked to said they had no strength to play."
Many
malnourished people were too weak to leave their homes.
It is sad
to note that the level of suffering in Madaya has no precedent in Syria’s war.
Ordinary citizens should be protected against the woes of armed conflicts.
All
parties involved in the conflict should facilitate unimpeded access to people
in besieged areas in Syria. The international community should extend every
form of assistance to the victims in such blockaded cities.
Libya
cannot afford
to
remain divided
The
terrorist attack that targeted a police training centre in the Libyan city of
Zliten and left scores dead and injured is a highly condemnable, heinous act
that highlights the urgent need for all stakeholders to press ahead with
forming a recently-agreed national unity government.
The
attack also signifies the pressing need for the activation and rebuilding of
Libyan security forces.
Daesh has
been expanding its foothold in Libya, exploiting the instability that has
gripped the country since the 2011 uprising.
The
turmoil has also led to Libya’s rise as a stepping stone for migrants crossing
the Mediterranean to Europe.
The
continuing attacks by Daesh-affiliates on oil facilities near Sidra, in central
Libya, clearly indicates attempts by extremists to strip these natural
resources from the Libyan people.
Top UN
officials have correctly pointed out that every wasted day in failure to
implement the Libyan Political Agreement is a day of gain for the terrorists.
In a
report to the UN Security Council in November, International Criminal Court
chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that Daesh was responsible for at least 27
car and suicide bombings in the country in 2015.
The
country is dependent on oil, which in 2012 accounted for 95 per cent of
government revenue. As fierce fighting has disabled oil fields and ports,
Libya’s output has dropped.
It is
currently producing less than a fifth of exports prior to 2011.
In
December, UN officials facilitated the final stages of an agreement to form a
Government of National Accord with a presidency council, cabinet, house of
representatives and state council, in talks between the sides in Morocco in a
bid to end four years of factional fighting that has killed many Libyans and
left nearly 2.4 million in desperate need of humanitarian aid.
The UN
Security Council also called on the new Presidency Council to work within the
30 days prescribed by the Agreement to form a Government of National Accord and
finalise interim security arrangements needed to stabilise the North African
country.
The
situation is indeed grave. The crumbling state could be crippled if terrorists
seize control of oil resources.
Libyans
need to remain united in order to confront terrorism in all its forms. All
leaders should strive to create a conducive environment for the government to
assume its responsibilities.
The
international community should also redouble efforts to help the country
overcome the security and economic challenges.
I glanced
at the mirror and instantly realised something was missing.
