It is the bounden duty of Israel to treat citizens of Palestine with dignity, argues VICTOR C. ARIOLE
Religion is not averse to common sense, hence common sense should be used on moral principles first, it is not possible to have such moral principles separated from religious values
–Anonymous
What is going on between Israel, proclaimed a Jewish State by Benjamin Nethanyahu, and its neighbours is confusingly, universally and parochially religious. The adverbs used here are just to, politically, arouse the interest of the West who seems to see religion as the opium of the people while ignoring the fact that religion had been used in the past by the West to either invade other peoples in other continents or morally urge them to see reason for them to acquiesce to a so-called superior force or the God of Christianity.
The Jewish religion as practiced today is not in consonance with Hebraic tradition as Sigmund Freud once said in complimenting Moses who grew up somewhere in Africa only to come back and went to Mount Sinai close to Gaza in Egypt/Africa and proposed a tablet of 10 commandments for his revolting brothers and sisters who needed to be steadied in their belief of image carving gods. Some of the likes of Sigmund Freud exist as Jews who are either converted to Christianity or agnosticism or even atheism – Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Noam Chomsky, etc., and to some extent Christopher Columbus whose discovery crew were mostly Jew hounded in Spain.
The 1947 “Reconstruction” of the Jewish State supported by the West and the United Nations was a rehabilitation exercise for a people who remain recalcitrant in changing their religious belief system and what they adduce as their common “closed-circuit” sense, since 5800 years ago. Hate them as you like, kill them as you like, chase them away from the land as often as it was done by the Persians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Africans normally stated as Egyptians, Romans, Arabians, they do not budge or bend. Their religion remains their covenant with Yahweh with which they face the rest of the world. Dispersed all over the world, Columbus with his crew of Jewish Marranos/Converses as their inquisition beckon in Spain, found joy in moving out and in moving out and in sighting their likes outside Europe even when unexpressed like Queen Esther in Persia till salvation request of the Jew came from Jewish slave Mordechai, and the Jewish blood in Esther responded. They stand by their religion in a world belief system that has crossed to the worship of materialism and unbridled accumulation of wealth. It is quite a paradox to think that the Jews are not materialistic as good number of rich people are Jews as well as good number of inventors. Here again one of their belief tools, The Talmud, admonishes them to acquire for an end result of assuring justice and knowing that ensuring equality of humans is a process and it works well if acquisition and invention help in reaching out to ensuring that a greater number of humans really feel included in social justice and equal rights.
The question then is, why is the Jewish State dastardly in its military approach to peace in the Middle – East? Like Golda Meir their first and female President said, if Israel disarms, Arabs will erase them from the planet earth but if the Arabs disarm, there will be peace in Middle-East. Before 10th century, Arabs were not in Africa except coming in caravans to take Africans as slaves, but today the whole north of Africa is Arabic. The fear of Arabic expansion grips not only Israel, it grips Africa also as Sudan and movement of Arabic incursions further south is greatly enabled by wars in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, and Mauritania has already dragged its majority black population to join the north as part of Maghreb, Arabic.
One religion unites all the Arabs, and to some extent the Palestines who are mostly mixture of Christians, Jews and Muslims, though they find, ironically, solace in any force that could help them eliminate Israel as they vehemently oppose the Jewish State of Israel that has faced persecution and unsteadiness for almost 5800 years till now.
It is either the whole world sits at a round table like the European sat in 1885 to decide the balkanization of Africa in a Berlin Conference and decide whether to see Israel as an appendix to be surgically removed in the Middle – East or see all the motley of races and religions in the Middle-East parading as holocaust against Israel as appendices to be permanently blended and “local peace anaesthesia” applied on them to allow peace in Israel.
Unfortunately, except Christian religion, not orthodox Christianity, all other religions in that sphere are mostly mosaic, do-me-I-do you localised common sense. Again United Nations’ Organisation (UNO) that ought to enforce a universal common sense based on the common rule guiding the world after the Second World War seems itself unstable with its leading powers making its Secretary General to be making pronouncement that make him keep on clarifying himself as if uncertain of what to do or say. Just like Russia invaded Ukraine, just like Israel was also invaded, hence declaration of war. Unfortunately capacity to repel invasion is tilted against Ukraine, and turns a burden for Israel that must rely on unwavering support of the West and creating collateral damage of innocent civilians occupying statelessly the Gaza. Note, statelessly, hence UN unsupported, but greatly and unexpressedly protected by Israel as a Del Credere Agent. In effect, civilians who are ought to be the WARDS of the Jewish State like Christians are in Mauritania and India and like Muslims are in China. They just must be peaceful to earn the support of a State that has declared itself a theocratic or atheist State.
UN is not a theocratic organization but it regulates for all nations who are its members, Israel inclusive; but not Palestine. And Palestines are humans and must be protected also; and it must also seek the peace of the Jewish State to earn a protective loyalty until United Nations admits it as one of the sovereign nations within its jurisdiction. The Jewish State should be human and still keep humanistic fiduciary responsibility alive by protecting the civilians in the stateless entity called Palestine. And, finally, because some universal facts are not common to multiplicity of religions, moral judgement as insinuated by United Nations’ rules or conventions recognized as binding on its members and stand incontrovertible; especially the right for every human being to be treated with dignity. Here, the burden is on the Jewish State of Israel that is UN member to protect both its citizens and that of Palestine with dignity.
Ariole is
Professor of French and Francophone Studies,
University of Lagos
