The Untold Story behind the Middle East Crisis
By Shaykh A. Ubaid
Baldwin , NY
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Bush Administration introduced a new way to win the heart and minds of the people of the Arab and Muslim world - democracy. It called for free and fair elections to take place throughout countries in the Muslim world. One thing that the American government did not anticipate was that a growing number of people in the Muslim world were moving away from the Pan Arabism movement that was popular among their parents. Instead, these people believed that Islam and Islamic movements were the solution to all their social and economic woes. Islamist groups in various Muslim countries were experiencing victories when they ran in governmental elections. So when America and Israel pushed for free and fair elections in Palestine in 2006, they should have known that Hamas would win a majority of seats in Parliament. And that is exactly what happened.
The Palestinian people had spoken with their votes; they were tired of the Fatah government, seeing it as ineffective, corrupt and incapable of ruling. Fatah had done nothing for the Palestinian people and so the people turned to Hamas, a group which bluntly refused to bend to the pressure of Israel and America and instead worked to help the Palestinian people. While some of the techniques used by Hamas in its wars against Israel are condemned as acts of terrorism, they provided social services and basic day-to-day necessities to the Palestinian people.
After Hamas’s landslide victory in the election, America and Israel backed up Mahmoud Abbas and the Fatah party, funding it with money and weapons. Fatah was instructed to deprive Hamas of the power that democratically belonged to them. For over a year, Hamas had to take a back seat as Fatah refused to share powers with Hamas. Then in June of 2007, clashes broke out in the streets of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Gunmen from both Hamas and Fatah turned their guns on each other and after several weeks of fighting, Hamas gained control of the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Fatah managed to hold on to power in the West Bank and all hopes of a united Palestinian State were lost at that moment. This is exactly what Israel wanted and in an attempt to bolster the Fatah party and further divide the Palestinian people, Israel blockaded the 1.5 million people living inside the Gaza Strip and completely refused to recognize the Hamas government. The whole world turned a blind eye to the inhabitants of the Gaza strip.
On top of the blockade set to starve the population of Gaza, Israel repeatedly raided Gaza, kidnapping some of its inhabitants. As a way to fight back and persuade Israel to lift its blockade, rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel. Hamas repeatedly was willing to negotiate with Israel, saying that in exchange for an easing of the blockade and a halt to the kidnapping of the Palestinian people the rockets fired into Israel would come to a complete stop. Israel kept denying these requests, repeatedly using the excuse that it does not negotiate with terrorists. Finally in June of 2008 both Israel and Hamas agreed to a six-month truce. However, the truce was only in name as its conditions were violated. Israel failed to carry out its end of the deal even though rockets stopped landing into Israel. Israel continued to blockade Gaza and repeatedly raided it, arresting several Palestinians.
Hamas claims that the Palestinian people have a right to defend themselves against such oppressive acts. Rockets again began falling on Israel’s southern most cities. Hamas refused to extend the treaty it had with Israel after the six months of truce had elapsed. Israel used this as an excuse to conduct air raids on Gaza and hold the people of Gaza hostage. In 21 days of fighting they have killed over 1,100 people while injuring more than another 5,200 people and with the current ground incursion that number will increase at an even more rapid rate. The Gaza hospitals suffering from shortages are incapable of taking care of the injured and several people are dying every day simply because they lack the proper medication.
The Bush administration and the American media had blamed Hamas for starting this conflict saying that Israel is only defending itself. Our government had thus basically given the green light to Israel to continue in its massacre of the people of Palestine. Isn’t it the other way around? Aren’t the people of Palestine the victim and Israel with its superior might the aggressor? Aren’t the 1.5 million in Gaza entitled to a safe and healthy life? Former President, Jimmy Carter and the United nations have realized this fact and blamed Israel for starting this whole crisis in the Middle East.
Let’s hope that the new elected Obama administration brings the change that it had promised to America. Mr. Obama had said as a presidential candidate that "if somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop that and I would expect Israelis to do the same thing." Well, Mr. Obama American Muslims pose a question to you: If somebody was starving your daughters, kidnapping your friends and constantly launching air raids on the town that you lived in, wouldn’t you do everything in your power to stop it and don’t the Palestinian people also have that right?
