The Middle East region is boiling, and innocent people on both sides are dying and on both sides are living in fear for their lives again. Israel has killed a top Hamas commander, Ahmad Jabari, the operational commander of Hamas’ armed wing, the Ezzedine Al- Qassam Brigades. The definition of war is an act of violence intended to compel an opponent to fulfill the rival nation’s will. Today the cause of this mess in the Middle East is regional global power. Turkey claims they are the best suited to be the leader of the Muslim world, and, therefore, they should lead the Middle East and Islamic world.
Iran is trying to use the Palestinian issue, so that they become the leader of the Muslim world. Thus, the war in Syria and now in Gaza is trying to draw Syria and Gaza out of Iran’s orbit and to prevent them from getting any support from Iran. Syria and Gaza get their weapons from Iran, and therefore Iran has influenced them. Further, this is not the first time Israel and the Hamas have been fighting, and probably it will not be the last time they fight either. But why did Israel chose to fight with Hamas now? Will Israel achieve its goal by destroying or killing all the Hamas militants? Was this a planned operation? Does this also show that Palestinian will have its own state and thus will be recognized by the UN and the United States? Will Turkish and Egyptian troops be deployed to Gaza to protect Muslims there? Does Turkey have the moral capability to be an honest peace negotiator? Or is this also related to the upcoming election in Israel in January to get nationalists to support Netanyahu? In politics nothing happens without a reason, but instead everything happens for a reason. We all know that not only is the Middle East is going through change but also our global sphere is in search of a new balance of power.
Since Obama took power in 2008, America has been seen as weak in its influence in the region, so all the players are trying to take advantage of this current situation to resolve the problem for their interests. Ironically, Turkey is busy killing Kurds and at the same times giving moral lessons to Israel about not killing. Also, the Prime Minister is calling Israel a “terror state” and accusing Israel of committing ethnic cleansing, yet at the same time is killing Kurdish people and imprisoning thousands of Kurdish leaders, journalists, and students; in other words, what Israel is doing to Palestinians, Turkey is doing to the Kurds. But incredibly, the international community and President Obama still trust the Turkish Prime Minister, and Egypt is leveraging to have Turkey be a peace negotiator between Israel and Palestine. This is almost a joke. If Prime Minister Erdogan is accusing Israel of being a terrorist state and engaging in ethnic cleansing, it is because Turkey has not had a good relation with Israel since 2010. How can it be an honest peace negotiator, and why does President Obama want Turkey and Egypt to be peace negotiators? The whole scenario is like a Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert standup comedy routine. This is enough reason why we have a mess in this world because we have comedians in charge of the whole business.
Turkey has no moral role to play in the efforts to stop Israel from launching a wider–scale military operation into Gaza that could lead to killing more innocent people. Turkey is the cause of the escalating war in Syria by arming one group against other. Turkey is the cause of the escalating tensions between Iraq’s central government and the Autonomous Kurdish Region, by supporting one of the Iraqi Sunni leaders in Turkey who has been wanted by Iraq’s central government on terrorist charges. The Turkish Prime Minister already says he does not trust the U.N.’s structure and that it needs to be reformed. As mentioned, Turkey views Israel as a terrorist state, one that it has not been talking to since 2010 when Israeli soldiers tried to stop the Mavi Marmara ship that was attempting to break through an embargo on Gaza. It is true, though, that before the Arab Spring, Erdogan was very popular in the Arab world, but now he has lost that popularity and is trying to gain it back by using vulgar language against Israel to show Arabs that Turks are concerned about their suffering. However, the public probably realizes it is all about empty words and national interests. At any rate, Egypt has more leverage to talk to Hamas and Fatah than Turkey because the Brotherhood is closer to Hamas than the Turkish Prime Minister. Furthermore, Turkey is killing its own Kurdish citizens. That is why President Obama has committed a grave foreign policy mistake to name Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Egyptian President Mohamad Morsi as the peace negotiators for helping to stop the war between Hamas and Israel. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu arrived in Gaza as part of a diplomatic effort that includes U. N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary Generals of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Arab League and some high level European diplomats.
So why has Israel waited so long and is responding now? Israel was waiting for the results of the U. S elections and knew that If Obama were re-elected, that he would not do anything about Iran’s nuclear weapons. Israel tried to make sure that it cut the relationship of Gaza out of Iran’s orbit of influence and tried to secure the security gap by provoking a conflict to see if Iran would do anything or react to Israel’s action. Then Israel might attack the Iranian nuclear program soon because the whole purpose of Israel in this affair is to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Israel knows that Iran will not stop the enrichment under the Obama administration, and Obama will not do anything about it either, so Israel must do it alone. One day if the world wakes up early in the morning, it should not be surprised if Israel has eradicated the nuclear site.
President Obama’s preferred diplomatic solution to the Iranian problem is a compromise formula for Iran. “There should be a way in which Iran can enjoy a peaceful nuclear program while still meeting its international obligations and providing clear assurance to the international community that Iran does not pursue nuclear weapons.” Hamas also does not accept Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is pushing to become the leader of a recognized state at the United Nations later this month. That would boost the popularity of Fatah over Hamas. Because even if this is not a planned operation, Israel is still opposed to anything demanded by Hamas, and therefore will get rid of all Hamas’ rocket arsenals. The question, however, is will reducing Hamas’ weaponry solve the problem and will it bring any peace? Like Israel’s15-days operation in 2009 did not bring an end to Hamas, this will not do so either, but it could cause more hatred toward each other. However, Israel showed her deterrence because of the Arab Spring and of Syria’s being torn apart by war within. Hezbollah in Lebanon is supporting the Assad regime, and Egypt is economically very weak and dependent on foreign donors. Therefore, Israel is not worried much about the reaction from the other Muslim neighbors. Also, Israel’s well calculated plan knows an attack from Lebanon on Israel could not happen because Lebanon is already divided within because of Hezbollah’s support of Syria and Iran, thus Shia’s sect of Islam. On the other hand, the other half supports the Sunni group.
Hamas and Fatah, the main Palestinian factions, play important roles in this current escalation because Israel considers Hamas a terror organization, and Hamas does not recognize Israel as a Jewish state. However, the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, headed by President Abbas and supported by Israel, suffered a series of setbacks, because of the rise of the Brotherhood in Egypt and the rise of religious parties in other Arab countries. A recent visit of the Emir of Qatar to Gaza and other European leaders’ plans to visit Gaza, including the Turkish Prime Minister ‘s willingness to visit would legitimize Hamas internationally, although it does not recognize the Israeli Jewish state. Hamas insists on liberating all of occupied Palestine while Israel is willing to add East Jerusalem and major settlements in the West Bank. President Obama is waiting to see the result of the Israeli election is to see who wins and then he will come up with his policy toward Israel and Palestine, depending on the results. We all know that Netanyahu and Obama did not have a very good relationship and even President Obama was trying to avoid meeting with him at the White House. Imagine the situation between Israel and Palestine. On both side civilians live in fear, and innocent people are dying. It is such a big mess. Clearly supporters on both Israel’s side and the Palestinians’ side are making an urgent plea for peace that has been desired but elusive for a long time.
Dr. Aland Mizell is with the University of Mindanao School of Social Science, President of the MCI and a regular contributor to The Kurdistan Tribune, Kurdishaspect.com, Mindanao Times and Kurdish Media.You may email the author at:aland_mizell2@hotmail.com
