The Israeli operation in Gaza has shown that the Muslim world is still unified by the Palestinian cause. It is worth noting that there is no trace of anti-colonialist rhetoric that prevailed when the Palestinian cause first arose, and now the call for solidarity has extended to not just common Islamic identity, but to the special place that Palestine has in Muslim hearts as the Qibla-i-Awwal. Pakistani politicians have had to pay the operation particular attention, because it has caused a revulsion of public feeling that they have had to address. Two factors have magnified the crisis. First, it has happened during Ramazan, and second, it has occurred at a time when the Pakistan Army is engaged in Zarb-i-Azb, an operation of its own, which has created a flood of IDPs. What has heightened feeling in Pakistan has been the call for assistance from Palestine. This has found a surprising support from Pakistanis, who apparently do not feel any compunction in having their Army fight Israel.
Israel is doing what it does because it has US support. It has that because it is the one true ally of the US in the Middle East, which became really important after World War I, because of its oil. Israel has been a colony in the old sense of the word, and it is powerfully symbolic that the Israeli teenagers whose kidnapping and murder sparked off the operation, were settlers. The very word ‘settler’ implies that the land is empty, even though it had been inhabited or cultivated for centuries. Americans felt an affinity to Israel not just because there were so many Zionists in the US, but because Americans too, had snatched their land, from Native Americans just as Israelis had from Palestinians.
However, the West has got some sections of opinion now which do not accept the Zionist narrative wholly any longer; that of a valiant people merely defending themselves. The present slaughter is too sharp, too brutal. The Israeli refusal to accept the Hamas democratic mandate is given full US backing, with the only discomfort from its politicians being enunciated over excessive Israeli force because of the difficulties it causes them in defending Israel.
Pakistanis not only have to handle sentiment which is directed against Israel, but also has to deal with the fact that Israel enjoys friendly ties with India. This gives a distinct Subcontinental flavour to what is happening to the Palestinians. It is noteworthy that when the Palestinian problem arose, with the creation of Israel back in 1948, Pakistan first faced the problem of Kashmir. At that time, they were both seen as cases of illegal occupation, and were taken to the UN. However, it now seems that at least a section of Palestinian opinion has given up on the UN, and wants Pakistan to intervene through its Army. It is worth noting that the US, reflexively pro-Israeli, has neutralized the three largest armies in the Muslim world; those of Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey, with all three receiving substantial US aid.
Pakistan is not important because of Israel, but Afghanistan, and to an extent Iran. Similarly, Turkey’s importance as the Easternmost European power is irrespective of Israel, even though it was, as the Ottoman Caliphate, very important within the Arab world. However, it was Egypt that had a direct link with Israel, having fought four wars with it, in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973. That making of peace has meant that this time, Egypt’s attempt to arrange a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel has not succeeded. Part of the reason might be the desire of the Sisi government, which came to power after overthrowing Morsi, that Israel pound Hamas as it is doing. After all, Hamas and Morsi share roots in the Ikhwanul Muslimeen, and Sisi looks ill upon the party he overthrew. The inability to turn to Egypt might be an additional reason why Palestinians are looking to Pakistan and its Army. After all, they cannot turn to Egypt, but they must turn somewhere, even if only to a country as reliant on the US as Pakistan.
Israel’s own war aims are not clear. It does not want to remove Hamas, despite all its fulminations against it, for Fear Of “The Alternative.” This is particularly true in what has become a very unstable region, with the Islamic State’s caliphate creating an entity which could swallow Israel. With Syria so unstable, it cannot have escaped notice that Israel is merely a former province of the Ottoman Empire, hived off from Syria. Israel’s desire for the restoration of a status quo in which it can oppose even the two-state solution on which its Camp David Accord with Egypt, and its Daytona Accord with Fatah, was predicated.
However, the myth of plucky little Israel battling the impossible odds offered by the Arab giants is fading even in the West. One effect, visible in Pakistan, has been the almost reflexive readiness to send the Army there, even though it is engaged in an operation in Waziristan.
At one level, it may seem paradoxical that the Pakistan Army is doing the same thing as the Israeli Defence Forces: killing Muslims. However, the big difference is that the Pakistan Army is enforcing the writ of a Muslim state. It should also be noted that the militants being fought by the Pakistan Army have intruded in Waziristan, unlike the citizens of Gaza, who belong there, while many are refugees from Israel itself. Pakistan must guard its own national interests, and if that means being friends with Israel’s main backer, then so be it. The government must resist any pressure it feels it faces for a deployment that involves passing through countries that will resist the passage itself.
The ultimate solution lies in having one force, answering to one government. In short, the sort of government that existed before 1924; a Caliphate. Of course, neither the old Ottoman Caliphate or the new-fangled Islamic State version will work. However, in today’s world, the concept of the Caliphate is beyond the present framework of nation states. Let it be remembered at the very least, that that framework, through the UN, has not helped either the Palestinian or the Kashmiri cause in any way.
The writer is a veteran journalist and founding member as well as executive editor of The Nation.
maniazi@nation.com.pk