Page 19 - Pakistan Link - October 20, 2023
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COMMENTARY                                                                                                           PAKISTAN  LINK - OCTOBER 20, 2023 - P19
          n By Laura King, Nabih Bulos,                                                                                       at the scene to help were allowed to do.
               Melanie Lidman                'No Words for This Horror.' Israelis and                                            "The  moment  something  like  this
           ven  in  a  place  so  timeless  that  Palestinians Confront a Terrifying New Reality                              happens,” he said, “they start looking at
                                                                                                                              us with suspicion.”
           it  sometimes  seems  the  stones                                                                                     In  Jerusalem’s  Old  City,  the  chimes
       Ethemselves  are  telling  old,  old                                                                                   of church bells mingled with the call to
       stories, a single week can change every-                                                                               Muslim prayer. At the Western Wall, Ju-
       thing.                                                                                                                 daism’s second-holiest site, only a smat-
         On Friday, as the Jewish Sabbath was                                                                                 tering of worshipers could be seen in the
       about  to  fall,  and  as  Muslims  marked                                                                             sun-scorched plaza at midday on Friday,
       their  principal  prayer  day,  Israelis  and                                                                          hours before the start of the Jewish Sab-
       Palestinians alike struggled to come to                                                                                bath.
       terms  with  the  terrifying  new  reality                                                                                The walled Old City is only a third
       created by Saturday’s devastating cross-                                                                               of a square mile in size, and few places
       border strike by the Palestinian militant                                                                              evoke to a greater extent the literal jos-
       group Hamas.                                                                                                           tling of one Abrahamic faith against an-
         “There are no words, no words at all,                                                                                other. And few places are more emblem-
       no  words  for  this  horror,”  said  Eliram                                                                           atic of the fervor with which the faithful
       Kalif, a 36-year-old father of three from                                                                              guard their traditions.
       Nir Am, a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip.                                                                                    For some, the day’s religious rituals
         His  was  one  of  a  string  of  small                                                                              were a reminder of a painful temporal
       southern  Israeli  communities  targeted                                                                               cleaving: the before-times, and the after.
       by  Hamas,  along  with  a  sprawling  all-                                                                            At this same hour last week, the current
       night  dance  party  that,  fatefully,  had  Tensions were high before Friday prayers in Jerusalem's Old City - Yuri Cortez / AFP via Getty Images  confrontation, already the bloodiest yet
       drawn thousands of young Israelis to the                                                                               between Israel and Hamas, had not yet
       desert near Gaza.             have  reduced  entire  neighborhoods  to  many observers say.  a time of war.”           begun.
         In  the  aftermath  of  the  militants’  piles of rubble, filling the air with gritty   “We never imagined this could hap-  Many  Israelis,  however,  cast  the   Nehora  Cohen,  a  rabbi’s  wife  who
       onslaught,  hundreds  of  Israeli  civilians  gray plumes of dust and the ever-stron- pen to us — we thought our army al- blame less on military brass than on the  came to worship at midday, said she had
       — babies and children, the young and  ger smell of death.   ways  protects  us,”  said  Odeya  Harish,  most senior political echelons, including  had a premonition weeks ago that things
       the elderly, entire families — lay dead in   In a part of the world where biblical  a  33-year-old  criminologist  from  Jeru- Netanyahu, saying his efforts to cling to  might  be  about  to  go  horribly  wrong.
       homes and fields and in bullet-pocked  language often finds its way into com- salem.  She  was  part  of  a  friend  group  power had proved a fatal distraction.  She  was  at  the  Wall  on  Saturday,  she
       cars  on  highways;  scores  more  were  mon speech, some people speak of the  attending  one  funeral  after  another   For Palestinians, this war’s political  said, when air-raid sirens heralded the
       dragged  into  Gaza  as  captives,  creat- week’s events in passionate floods of ver- —  some  for  young  soldiers,  some  for  backdrop is also complicated. Hamas,  start of this war, and prayed, as always,
       ing an unprecedented hostage crisis in  biage. Others stutter out a few words and  the young revelers gunned down at the  which  has  denounced  Israel’s  exis- for Israel’s safety.
       a country that has traditionally gone to  fall suddenly silent.  doomed desert rave near Gaza.  tence, has held control over Gaza for   “People are simply scared,” she said,
       enormous lengths to free even a single   Israel  Attar,  a  50-year-old  Jerusale-  Many have likened the shock to that  more than 15 years, and while few Pal- gesturing around the near-empty plaza,
       Israeli in enemy hands.       mite,  rubbed  his  reddened  eyes  after  of the war in 1973, but with crucial dif- estinians would dare to speak openly  guarded  on  all  sides  by  heavily  armed
         In  the  three-quarters  of  a  century  burying  his  23-year-old  nephew,  an  ferences. Half a century ago, Israel was  against  the  group,  private  conversa- Israeli forces.
       that Israel has existed, the state has never  army  lieutenant  who  was  killed  in  the  caught off-guard by an attack by a coali- tions tend to reflect deep disillusion-  Nearby,  Muslim  worshipers  braved
       suffered such a staggering loss of civilian  first hours of the Hamas assault. Loss “is  tion of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria  ment with its rule.  a ferociously hot sun to reach the Lion’s
       life in so short a time, dwarfing already  something that happens here,” he said,  that also unfolded on a Jewish holiday —   Israel  is  universally  blamed  by  Pal- Gate, leading to the Old City’s Muslim
       grave military losses in the assault.  but  somehow,  this  past  week  felt  very  Yom Kippur, the most sacred day of the  estinians  for  desperate  humanitarian  Quarter.  Israeli  police  enforced  tight
         By  day’s  end  Friday,  the  Israeli  toll  different.   Jewish calendar.             conditions  and  punishing  mass  con- restrictions  on  those  allowed  to  enter
       stood at more than 1,300, the great ma-  “Everything now,” he said, “is black,   “In the Yom Kippur War, we fought  finement  inside  Gaza.  But  as  much  as  Al Aqsa mosque, on the raised plateau
       jority of them civilians.     black.”                       against state armies. The war was along  Hamas is disliked, opinion polls last year  above the Western Wall.
         For Palestinian civilians living in the   Among  Israelis,  the  intelligence  battle  lines,  and  soldiers  fought  to  de- suggested it was gaining ground on the   To  the  surprise  of  many,  including
       crowded confines of sealed-off Gaza, the  and operational failures that led to the  fend civilians at home,” said analyst Kobi  Palestinian Authority, which is scorned  some worshipers, prayers passed peace-
       long-standing  grind  of  daily  hardship  wholesale  slaughter  of  so  many  fellow  Michael of the Institute for National Se- as old and corrupt in its governance of  fully despite calls from Hamas for a “day
       has been overshadowed by an Israeli aer- citizens  produced  an  outpouring  not  curity Studies. “This wasn’t the situation  the West Bank, although other political  of rage” over the conflict.
       ial assault that military observers termed  only of sorrow, but of rage — directed  here — here, the civilians were the front  figures are more popular than either.  Some  worshipers  deplored  Hamas’
       remarkable in scope and scale — bom- at Hamas, of course, but also toward the  line.”       Within  Israel  proper,  Palestinians  targeting of civilians, but said the world
       bardment that is seen as a likely prelude  already embattled government of Prime   With  few  Israeli  families  left  un- and other Arabs make up a full one-fifth  had ignored Gaza’s sufferings.
       to a full-scale Israeli ground invasion of  Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  touched by the carnage — either by hav- of the country’s 10 million citizens, and   “See  this  cat?”  said  mosque-goer
       the narrow coastal enclave.     The prime minister and his far-right  ing friends or relatives dead or missing,  as the crisis has spiraled, many fear be- Khaled Basem, 55. “It has more rights
         "When I look outside now, I can't tell  government have weathered months of  or via their young and middle-aged men  ing  scapegoated  and  attacked,  just  as  than a Palestinian right now.”
       if what I'm looking at was a street, or a  enormous  protests  against  a  plan  that  joining the 360,000-strong callup of re- they have been during past conflicts be-  Inside,  the  imam  called  for  God’s
       building,”  said  Gaza  poet  Mosab  Abu  critics say would hamstring Israel’s in- serves — a wide-ranging reckoning over  tween Israel and Arab foes.  help in defending what he called Gaza’s
       Toha, speaking by phone as heavy blasts  dependent judiciary, among an array of  how Hamas was able to plan and execute   After  Saturday’s  attack  in  the  south  dignity.  As  congregants  shuffled  out,
       echoed in the background. "The entire  other anti-democratic measures.  such a complex assault is undoubtedly  of Israel, a Bedouin tow-truck operator  there was a momentary fracas near Li-
       topography has changed.”        The strength of the Israeli security es- coming.         who was hired to deal with bullet-rid- on's Gate. Then quiet.
         Israel has vowed to eradicate Hamas.  tablishment has long been a foundational   But not now, the country’s army chief  dled vehicles abandoned by fleeing civil-  A 40-year-old named Yaqoub said he
       But  the  militants  are  embedded  in  article  of  social  faith,  and  catastrophic  suggested at a briefing this week.  ians  reported  an  unpleasant  encounter  had hoped for calm.
       neighborhoods  where  ordinary  people  vulnerabilities exposed by Hamas attack-  The  Israeli  military  “is  responsible  with Israeli troops securing the area.  “We’re just here to pray,” he said. “You
       live, and civilians are paying the heavi- ers — who blinded electronic surveillance  for the security of the state and its civil-  Although  Hamas  infiltrators  were  want  to  go  fight,  you  know  where  the
       est price.                    with drones, breached a high-tech border  ians, and this past Saturday we did not  suspected to still be active in the area,  fight is.”
         Palestinian officials said at least 1,900  fence  with  construction  equipment  and  achieve this,” said the army chief of staff,  the  driver,  an  Israeli  citizen  named   Times  special  correspondent  Lid-
       people had been killed in Gaza by late  soared  over  the  barrier  on  paragliders  Lt Gen Herzi Halevi. “We will learn and  Zayid, said he was not allowed to carry  man reported from Tel Aviv. - Los An-
       Friday, most by relentless airstrikes that  — are likely to leave a generational scar,  analyze what happened, but now — it is  a weapon, as Jewish Israelis who arrived  geles Times


       Dr Faisal Bari on Leadership, Education  most political parties in their mani- plained.  “It  is  the  industriousness,  their hands and this attitude has to  in all subjects so it becomes a per-
                 in Pakistan         festos,”  Baris  argued.  “For  a  long  the  work,  the  inventiveness  and  be somehow broken. “The worth of  sonality trait and a way of your be-
           (Continued from page 15)  time, everyone says they’ll increase  the  ability  of  people  to  create  new  a human should not be tied to a job  ing.”
         added. “Both the low-fee private  the  expenditure  in  education,  but  things  that  is  going  to  change  the  that they have,” Bari argued. “With-  To  enhance  his  viewpoint,  Bari
       sector and the public sector are fail- none of them do. The solution can  destiny of this country. If it going to  out a change of attitude, no parent  quoted  Immanuel  Kant’s  essay  in
       ing our children. Only two or three  only be a much higher commitment  go  under,  it  is  going  to  be  because  would  want  [a  child]  to  become  a  which  the  18th  century  German
       percent  of  Pakistani  students  at- in terms of resources as well as pri- our  people  are  not  educated  or  plumber…or  an  electrician  even  philosopher  defined  “enlighten-
       tend the expensive for-profit private  ority by the public sector.”  trained enough to even benefit from  though  the  returns  might  be  very  ment”  as  “the  courage  to  use  your
       schools which provide a good edu-  Many other countries, he pointed  any windfall that might come from a  good.”       own reason.” The 21st century skill
       cation at the elite level.”   out, have prioritized education at a  China-Pakistan Economic Corridor   Bari  said  that  Pakistan’s  schools  that needs to be taught is the “abil-
         Presently,  Pakistan  spends  two  time when they were as poor as Pak- (CPEC) or mineral windfall or any- need to start much earlier to teach  ity  to  think  through  critically  and
       percent  of  its  GDP  on  education,  istan, or even poorer, citing Japan in  thing like that.”  students critical thinking. “A lot of  objectively and be the autonomous
       while  the  United  Nations  recom- the  1860s  when  it  was  a  relatively     Since  not  every  student  can  or  students  that  I  have  faced  for  the  person  that  we  want  everyone  to
       mends a minimum of four percent.  poor country and South Korea when  wants  to  attend  university,  there  last  25  or  30  years  in  university  be,” he stated.
       “So  let  the  government  give  a  one  they were poor years ago.  should  be  viable  alternatives  for  don’t have the ability to do indepen-  (Elaine  Pasquini  is  a  freelance
       hundred  percent  increase  to  edu-  “The people of Pakistan are both  vocational  education,  he  said.  But  dent thinking,” he noted. “Teaching  journalist.  Her  reports  appear  in
       cational  expenses  which  has  been  the assets that we have and the goal  there is a long social history of prej- critical thinking needs to start at a  the Washington Report on Middle
       promised  by  most  governments  in  for whom we are working,” Bari ex- udice against people who work with  younger age...and should be taught  East Affairs and Nuze.Ink.)

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