One thought that the Israelis who had suffered the worst crimes in the history of mankind in Hitler’s Germany would be more sensitive to Palestinians’ plight, but they aren’t.
Centuries ago, much before many countries suffered the brunt of bloody crusades for the spread of certain religions and human beings used to be sold as commodities in flourishing slave trade in the much heralded Roman Empire, in Yajurveda, Indian rishis were praying for peace in the whole world:
May peace radiate there in the whole sky
as well as in the vast ethereal space everywhere!
May peace reign all over this earth, in water, and
in all herbs, trees, and creepers!
May peace flow over the whole universe!
May peace be in the Supreme Being Brahman!
And may there always exist in all peace and peace alone!
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti to us and all beings!
Indian seers came up with the lofty concept of warmth, bonhomie and inclusiveness: Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (whole world is a family) which was the theme of G-20 Summit held in Delhi in September this year.
Prince Siddharth, while on a morning walk, saw an old and infirm man struggling to walk; an old mother wailing for the son she had lost and a young woman mourning the death of her husband. He was moved by their sorrow and pain and realised that there was no escape from dukh (sorrow); it’s all around us. He sat on his penance to seek answers to his questions, got the enlightenment at Bodhgaya in Bihar and became Lord Buddha. More than 2, 500 years before the birth of the United Nations, he gave a clarion call for non-violence: ahimsa paramo dharma. Had he not felt others’ pain and had others’ sorrow not touched his heart, he wouldn’t have become Buddha.
Fast forward, a lean and thin, brown skinned lawyer, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was thrown out from a whites-only train compartment on a chilly night on 7 June 1894 at Pietermaritzburg in South Africa.
He realised the pain and anguish of the sufferings of black South Africans on account of the policies of racial discrimination and waged a non-violent struggle for their rights and returned to India as Mahatma Gandhi on 9 January in 1915. Alas, the apostle of peace and non-violence fell to the bullets of his own countryman.
Every year, on Gandhi Jayanti on 2 October, millions of Indians all over the country sing one of Mahatma’s favourite bhajans: Vaishnav jan to tene kahiye, je pir parayi jane re (a Vaishnav is one who knows the pain of others). But the manner in which societies have become indifferent to the pain, sorrow, sufferings and anguish of, rather seem to derive visceral pleasure in inflicting pain and sufferings on fellow human beings, suggests that we have been dehumanized, our hearts don’t bleed on witnessing shocking human tragedies, many of us have become zombies; our eyes don’t see the tragedies unfolded before them and our ears don’t hear the cries, sobs and wailing of helpless people who have lost their dear ones with no fault of theirs. What has happened to the milk of human kindness? Where has it gone? Why has it dried up?
On 11 September 2001, Al Qaeda terrorists blew up the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, killing more than 3,400 innocent Americans. The shock, the pain and the sorrow of the victims’ families didn’t matter to the hardened terrorists trained to commit such crimes with no regrets. This unprecedented, horrendous attack understandably provoked the US to undertake its war on terror which hunted down and took out over 200 Al Qaeda leaders in different countries including Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in Pakistan on 2 May 2011.
But this war wasn’t really over; the relentless US mission, at best, met with mixed results. While the elimination of hundreds of terrorists did reduce the terrorist threat a bit and stringent security checks put in place by the US and other Western countries were relaxed, the US’ daring military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan achieved very little. Iraq, a developed country by Arab standards, was invaded on wholly false pretexts and was pushed back by 50 years—not only was its military infrastructure destroyed but extensive damage was caused to civilian utilities such as schools, hospitals, roads, bridges and in its prisons where American military commanders had locked up hundreds of top Baath party leaders and generals of Iraqi army, was born the dreaded ISIS led by Abu Bakr Baghdadi who was one of the prisoners. For a few years, the ISIS operated unchallenged in Iraq and Syria, beheading innocent people, committing the worst kinds of violence and treating hundreds of Yazidi women as slaves. Saddam was deposed and hanged but Iraq was reduced to a huge wasteland like Gaza today with no semblance of democracy, bereft of basic security, law and order and ruled by armed militias. The US, unintentionally, offered Iraq on a platter to Iran. Civilians were the worst sufferers, their pain, sorrow, sufferings were of no consequence. They were just collateral damage.
The US invaded Afghanistan, deposed the Taliban government, created Guantanamo Bay prisons for hundreds of Taliban fighters, but after 20 years, having spent nearly US$2 trillion of American taxpayers’ money and suffering around 4,000 fatalities, withdrew from Afghanistan in most humiliating conditions in August 2021 under an agreement hammered out with the Taliban in Doha. The Taliban, who don’t believe in democracy or women’s rights or freedom of press, are running the country even though their government has not been recognised by most countries.
In Libya, it was a similar story. The NATO forces went beyond their mandate and with the blessings of the US deposed Col Gaddafi (he was tragically shot dead by a Libyan while in custody) and left the country in ruins, run by armed militia for years, in total disregard for human rights and human sufferings; thousands of innocent civilians lost their lives.
In Syria, Bashar al Assad has survived thanks to the backing of Russia and China and Iran, though three US Presidents asked him publicly to step down. In the proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran fought on Syrian soil, many cities have been reduced to rubbles and thousands of civilians have lost their lives caught in the crossfire between the government troops and the rebels backed by their supporters.
As if this dance of death and destruction wasn’t enough, the world was hit by the deadly corona pandemic (2020-2022), which has left nearly 7 million dead in over 200 countries. It was heartbreaking to see people dying for want of oxygen or hospital beds or vaccine and unclaimed bodies piling outside hospitals even in developed countries.
What is happening in Ukraine and Gaza is a reflection of utter callousness and contempt for human life and human dignity; millions are reduced to being refugees, deprived of light, food, water, shelter and medicines, toilets for weeks, they run for cover in ruins where there is no cover, try to dig out the dead bodies/remains of their loved ones with bare hands. Still in the face of such deaths, devastations and human tragedies, the puppeteers refrain from saying ceasefire. One thought that the Israelis who had suffered the worst crimes in the history of mankind in Hitler’s Germany would be more sensitive to Palestinians’ plight, but they aren’t.
Sooner or later, Israel would realise that war isn’t an option and its peace and security is indivisible with the peace and security of the Palestinians; they both will have it or neither of them. A two-state solution was, is and will be the only long-term guarantee for peace and security of both. But that day hasn’t come.
HH the Dalai Lama says nothing can be achieved in life without compassion and kindness. Who can put this in the minds of merchants of death and destruction?
Surendra Kumar is a former ambassador of India.