1.     Action against Iran on Nuclear Issue

Roznama Munsif (The Judge Daily), Hyderabad

Editorial, 27 July 2010, Tuesday

It seems that the danger of American imposed war is lingering on Iran as well as North Korea. According to the recent sanctions, Iranian cargo ships and aeroplanes can be stopped and checked. The Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has threatened to act against it. The war of words between the US and Iran is getting worse and reminds of the situation prior to 28 March 2003 (sic) when the US attacked Iraq. There was extremely bitter war of words going on between US President George Bush and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein at that time. This finally ended with the US attack on Iraq. However, the U.S. attitude towards North Korea is not that aggressive. A South Korean naval ship was drowned in March. South Korea and the US accused North Korea for this. The US and South Korea have started joint military exercises in the Yellow Sea. America’s largest naval ship, the USS George Washington, which is a nuclear equipped ship, is taking part.

Earlier also the former US President George Bush had termed Iraq, Iran and North Korea as the axis of evil. But action was taken only against Iraq, which is now under the US occupation. Iran was kept under continuous threat while North Korea was asked to come to the negotiation table. Objective analysis reveals that the US is ready to target Iran immediately after harsh sanctions. On the other hand, there is no chance of action against North Korea even after the drowning of the South Korean Ship. The US does not want a nuclear capable Iran to challenge Israel in the region. That is the reason it rejected even the proposal of Iranian uranium enrichment mediated by a country like Turkey. The US is not considering any efforts to ward off the conflict. In other words, the situation has been brought to a point similar to that existed prior to the attack on Iraq.

The sad part of this situation is that the Arab countries of the region also do not want Iran to be a nuclear power. Almost all the Arab countries are under the US influence. The Iranian stand to protect its interest is laudable, but Iran faces dangerous circumstances. If Iran becomes a nuclear power, it will be a huge loss for Israeli interests in the region, which it enjoys in its role as American police. It will also impact the American interest in the region. The Arab countries should also see that if Iran gains nuclear power, it will act as a restraint for Israel and this may also lead to a just solution for Palestinian problem. The only reason that the Palestinian problem could not be solved since last 60 years is the American support of all Israeli aggressions. The voice of weak Palestinians has been completely ignored.

The whole world, and specially the US, knows very well the kind of fearlessness shown by the Iranians, who had to face the Iraqi invasion in 1980 on the Shatt-al-Arab issue, after the US instigated Saddam Hussein. The US waged war against Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution which had ousted the American-backed Shah, who fled Iran by instigating Saddam Hussein to invade Iran on the Shatt-al-Arab issue.

The recent harsh sanctions on Iran due to the nuclear issue are an indication of American preparation for an invasion of Iran. But it would be doubtful, if not impossible, for the US to attack Iran before it comes out of the mess in Afghanistan. It is high time that the countries in the region put aside individual rulers’ interests and mutual differences and focus on the fact that if Iranian nuclear programme is really peaceful, as Iran claims, then why not support and back Iran. The rise of another nuclear power against Israel could be a guarantee of peace and stability in the region.

2.     People’s Voice

Roznama Urdu Times (The Urdu Times Daily), Mumbai

Editorial, 27 July 2010, Tuesday

Sheikh Yassin Shaheed (Martyr) had predicted several years back that the Zionist state would reach its end in the first quarter of the 21^st century. Now, none other than the CIA has said in one of its reports that ‘there would be no state of Israel in the world after 2020.’ What is the context of this CIA report? A former speaker of Israeli parliament, Avraham ‘Avrum’ Burg, has written in his latest book, ‘Defeating Hitler,’ that ‘the end of Zionist dream is approaching closer. It’s almost turning into a reality that our generation would be the last Zionist generation....the condition in Israel is similar to what it was in Germany before rise of Hitler. The union of imperial and evil power has completely imposed itself on the state (Israeli).’ The Israeli Hebrew daily, Ye'diot Ahronot, wrote in its editorial on 20 June 2010, ‘We are at the peak of war and we are on the verge of defeat. The books that mention the end of Israel deals with three main aspects: (1) Economic War, which includes boycott of Israeli goods, failure of tourism and huge expenses on defence of Israel and peace and security. (2) Political and Psychological War that would take away the Israeli right of existence. The recent naval fleet incidents (Freedom Flotilla, etc.) were part of it. (3) Weakening of Israeli military power. Our enemy is focussing more on first two aspects....the Turks presented the screenplay of the film and we played our part as per the wishes of the Turkish producer. As a result the entire world is in tears expressing its hatred towards us.’ Gideon Levy, a famous columnist has written in the same newspaper on 21 June that, ‘Israel wants the world to give it unconditional and unlimited love. Simultaneously, it wants that Israel continue to laugh at the world, spitting on the face of international organisations, its laws and ideas. It (Israel) wants to sign agreement on tourism with Turkey but does not want to listen to Turkey. It wants to bomb Gaza Strip with white phosphorous and claim to the world that, “Sir! It’s a beautiful white rain, then it wants the world to sing the Israeli lyrics with the same tone.” The same day (21 June) another Israeli Journalist, Aluf Benn, wrote in Ha'aretz, ‘The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan can take credit for his success. The Turkish fleet to Gaza, even though could not reach Gaza, but it achieved its target! It has demolished the wall of blockade built by Israel around Hamasistan (that is, the Gaza Strip)....’ One day before (on 20 June 2010) another columnist, Smadar Peri, wrote in Ye’diot Ahronot, ‘Hamas no doubt succeeded in last battle. The whole world is condemning us...now the situation is that the world is insisting on dialogue with Hamas. No power in the world can succeed against the three mines (ship fleet heading for Gaza after Freedom Flotilla). If someone has gone crazy then, along with dangerous dreams, eruption of wide ranging war in the region should also be considered.’ Famous intellectual, columnist and expert on West Asia, Abdul Ghaffar Aziz, wrote in his column ‘Freedom Flotilla and Future of Israel’ (Tarjuman al-Quran, July 2010), ‘There is noise everywhere, not only the enemies of Zionist state but even its friends are saying that it would be impossible to sustain the Zionist state. Has the so-called state of Israel, established on the land of Palestine after the expulsion of its original population, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to live in small and dark refugee camps and after imprisoning many more in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, begun its journey towards end? The current situation is that even a huge number of Jews have jumped into the fray to save their Jewish brothers from the state of Israel. According to these Jewish scholars, intellectuals and political leaders, the presence of the Jewish state would be the cause of the end of the whole Jewish population. As they say that it is clearly written in their religious books that the final end of Jewish population will be preceded by the collection of all Jews at one place. Israel is a practical picture of that indication. Undoubtedly the phase of suffering for the 1.5 million people of the 35 km long and 7-14 km wide Gaza Strip is nearing an end (God Willing). The national flag of Palestine soaked in the blood of Turkish brothers is announcing to the world, ‘O’ the people of the world, the iron is hot and waiting for the last hammer, if you take one step the Almighty God will take ten steps towards you. If you start he will spread his mercy and benevolence on you and protect you’!

3.     Peace Talks

Dawat Online (Invitation), New Delhi,

Editorial, 28 July 2010, Wednesday

The United States and European countries want the Palestinians to agree to sit down with Israel for talks. They also want them to start the talks without any preconditions. The aim, as stated, is to bring an end to the long standing dispute in the Middle East that has completely destabilised the region. Several rounds of talks have taken place, facilitated by and under intense pressure from the United States. Some neighbouring Arab countries have, with their ‘initiative’, established ‘friendly relations’ with Israel. Egypt was the first to take step in this regard. The two countries established diplomatic relations as a result of the ‘hand’ of friendship extended by Egypt during President Sadat’s period. It was the same, well known, Camp David Agreements that ‘inspired’ another Arab neighbour, Jordan, during the reigns of the late King Hussein, to extend ‘hand’ of friendship towards Israel, leaving behind the ‘old bitterness.’ This resulted into another ‘historic’ agreement like the Egypt-Israel Agreement. So, Jordan became the second Arab and third Muslim country to normalise diplomatic relations with Israel. It is said that the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat decided to end armed struggle, as he lost hope, and recognised the state of Israel. Meanwhile, other Arab and Muslim countries came under pressure to recognise Israel. The Muslim countries have, in fact, accepted the state of Israel indirectly, by accepting the UN resolution that demands Israel to go back to the pre-1967 war position. Israel, however, has always disrespected this resolution. But the situation has been made to look as if the position is different. It is a major deception, which is a big, rather basic, weakness of the Palestinian case.

This is the announced stand of the Muslim world, even though differences have cropped up here as well. However, the Muslim community takes the Middle East issue as neither a political issue nor a regional issue, rather, an issue for the whole community. The basis is that it relates to Islamic holy places and is part of Islamic religious practices. But this stand gradually took backstage and efforts were made to change the nature of the issue. As a result, first it became an Arab issue then it took shape of a regional issue and now it has remained as an Israel-Palestine issue. So it is now a Palestinian issue and now only Palestinians are fighting for it. Even among them, there are differences; some take it as a matter of national freedom while others are fighting for the right to live. This is the reason that the United States and Europe are exerting pressure accordingly. In other words, some other plans that have been presented to resolve the issue have also accepted this perspective, as it emphasises upon peaceful co-existence. The other side of the story is that, it is a clear recognition to the state of Israel, which completely changed the very nature of the issue. On the other hand, Israel is continuously executing its long term plans. There is no question of it going back to the 1967 position. The US and the European community have issued several statements in this regard and the peace roadmap drama has also been played, but the Jewish settlement construction continues as usual. Taking new areas under occupation and forceful dispersion of Arab population continues as well. One should be able to understand the subtext of peace talks in this context.

Md Muddassir Quamar is a research student at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

As part of its editorial policy, the MEI@ND standardizes spelling and date formats to make the text uniformly accessible and stylistically consistent. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views/positions of the MEI@ND.  Editor, MEI@ND: P R Kumaraswamy.