{"id":346379,"date":"2023-11-01T01:16:37","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T06:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=346379"},"modified":"2023-11-02T01:43:18","modified_gmt":"2023-11-02T07:13:18","slug":"gaza-why-have-world-leaders-not-stepped-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/gaza-why-have-world-leaders-not-stepped-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaza: Why have world leaders not stepped in?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is difficult to describe the tragedies hitting the Palestinians. When all they want is to live on their own homeland, which was robbed from them, and were made to sit like refugees on their own land.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can\u2019t believe we humans are living in a developed civilized world, amidst all the propaganda of peace forums and platforms!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is happening in Gaza is sheer genocide! Yet none of the so-called world leaders have shown any urgency for a ceasefire or even for truce talks. Tell me, how many more Palestinians will have to perish in targeted attacks before these ongoing killings can be halted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is difficult to describe the tragedies hitting the Palestinians. When all they want is to live on their own homeland, which was robbed from them, and with that they were made to sit like hapless refugees on their own land. Today, even that basic right to survive seems ripped off, snatched from them, as hundreds are dying, if not already dead!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One is left asking: Where are the superpowers? Can\u2019t they hear human cries! Can\u2019t they see dead forms of babies and adults and the elderly? Can\u2019t they see entire buildings and homes and hearths destroyed? Can\u2019t they visualize the offshoots of this genocide? Can\u2019t they grasp the far-reaching consequences of these ongoing killings of hapless people?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s just too shocking to see the balancing acts of the rulers of the day. Several heads of State have even sided with Israel; perhaps, because of the rather too obvious political motives and expansionist plans. But in their synthetic speeches, these rulers should confine their preferences to themselves and to their governments. Why drag the masses? After all, the masses are not na\u00efve and are mature enough to see the brutalities and killings spreading out. They are also well aware of the just and legitimate demand of the Palestinians. Yet, there is complete bypassing of the human tragedy of this level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each time I see  television shots of  hundreds  killed in explosions, homes and buildings bombarded, dying  children and  fleeing  families, entire settlements  razed to the  ground,  I have  been asking myself:  Who is behind these mass scale killings! Who all are in the collective lot, destroying humans in every possible way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as Noam Chomsky had said during the\u00a0 course of an interview\u00a0 with me \u2013 \u201cIn\u00a0 the\u00a0 Reagan\u00a0 years\u00a0 alone,\u00a0 the\u00a0 US-sponsored\u00a0 state\u00a0 terrorists \u00a0in Central America left\u00a0 hundreds\u00a0 of thousands\u00a0 of tortured and mutilated corpses, millions orphaned\u00a0 and four countries\u00a0 in ruins. In the same year, Western-backed South\u00a0 African depredations\u00a0 killed 1.5 million\u00a0 people. I need not speak of\u00a0 West Asia or much else \u2026All of \u00a0this, however, is barred from\u00a0 the annals of terrorism by a simple device, the term \u2018terrorism\u2019 like\u00a0 most\u00a0 terms\u00a0 of\u00a0 political\u00a0\u00a0 discourse\u00a0 has two\u00a0 meanings — a\u00a0 literal one and a propagandistic one. Needless to add that the propagandistic version is preferred and\u00a0 pursued\u00a0 by the US. Terrorism is terrorism that is directed against the US and its friends and\u00a0 allies.\u201d Chomksy had also drawn parallels between the US\u00a0 and the Nazis, \u201cThe\u00a0 Nazis, for\u00a0\u00a0 example,\u00a0 bitterly\u00a0 condemned\u00a0 terrorism\u00a0 and conducted what they called\u00a0 counter\u00a0 terrorism against terrorist\u00a0 partisans. The US basically agreed and\u00a0 it organized and conducted\u00a0 similar\u00a0 counter\u00a0 terrorism in the post war years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Asfandyar Wali Khan<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And during  the  course of an earlier interview with me, Khan Abdul Ghaffar  Khan\u2019s  grandson, Asfandyar Wali Khan, had  come up with this rather simplistic explanation to the growing turmoil in today\u2019s world:  \u201cIf you have  two  badmashes <\/em>(bad guys) in a  village it\u2019s okay, because the two will be busy settling scores with each other. But there will be chaos and confusion if there is only one badmash <\/em>left! That\u2019s the trouble in today\u2019s world. There is only one badmash<\/em> left! Also, where\u2019s the leadership of calibre in today\u2019s Muslim world. Religion was  used by Americans  in Afghanistan to create their  base, otherwise Afghan  struggles  had  been  based  on  nationalism and not religion. Also, the  ongoing atrocities  against the Palestinians are  hurting  the Muslims  the  world over. Post 9\/11, the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan are being looked at as if they are similar, which is not the case. The true  essence and  meaning of Islam is being  overshadowed  in this  chaos which is  unfortunate, for  Islam stands for  justice and   peace. \u2026 it\u2019s a  known fact that way back in early  90s, madrasas and other religious institutions under the  various  camouflages,  had been set  up  by the  CIA, along the Afghan- Pakistan  borders!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And  if  we  were   to  focus  on Latin  American countries, it\u2019s best to hear what  the  well-known Mexican writer and columnist Juan Miguel De Mora had to tell me during  the course of an interview whilst  he was  visiting  New  Delhi  in 2004. When  I had  queried about the US,  he began  by quoting two former Mexican  presidents: \u201cMexican  president   General  Porfirio  Diaz had  said  way back  ( he was  president till 1910 ) \u2018Poor  Mexico so far from God and so  close to the  US.\u2019 Then another  Mexican  President  – Adolfo Lopez  Mateos  –had  said that  the  biggest problem faced  by  Mexico is  \u2018the   US.\u2019 Together  with that  Mora   came  up  with  his own comments: \u201cBut  in  my  opinion  both Mexican presidents  were too diplomatic. President\u2019s Bush\u2018s democracy  is  like Stalin\u2019s and I have  been writing  in  my columns that Bush\u2019s policies are a  danger to  humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in 2001, when I had  interviewed  Libya\u2019s erstwhile ruler Colonel Muammar Gaddafi\u2019s son,  Saif – EL Islam, I  had  asked  him to comment on the  \u2018terror tags\u2019 heaped by the Western  Powers on his  father and  on his   government, along the strain that they  are  funding  terror groups. He had told me, \u201cIt all depends on your  perception. Many liberation leaders were viewed as being terrorists but later they became heroes. In the sense when Nelson Mandela was in trouble we helped him out, when Mugabe was having problems we helped him too, so does that mean we helped terrorist outfits!  Mind you, both these men  fought  liberation wars and later emerged as  heroes. In fact, in my own  country\u2019s war for  liberation from the Italians we had lost about  three-quarters of our population, so  realize the  problems involved \u2026it\u2019s all a matter of  perception and  image.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

******<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting back to the people of Palestine, there ought to be an urgent call for ceasefire, truce talks, and together with that a lasting solution to the  demands of the Palestinians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaving you with this verse of the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The war will end\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leaders will shake hands\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The old woman will keep waiting for her martyred\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

son\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The girl will wait for  her  beloved  husband\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And those children will wait for their  hero father\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know who sold our homeland\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I saw who paid the price.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is difficult to describe the tragedies hitting the Palestinians. When all they want is to live on their own homeland, which was robbed from them, and were made to sit like refugees on their own land. Can\u2019t believe we humans are living in a developed civilized world, amidst all the propaganda of peace forums […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346382,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,2205],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346379"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":346383,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346379\/revisions\/346383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/346382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}