The Fresh Israel-Gaza Strife Is A New And Revamped Dimension For Geopolitical Ties!

The ceaseless Israeli-Palestinian wrangling that commenced in the mid-20th century amidst the Arab-Israel conflict has captivated the eyes of world leaders, geopolitical buffs, geostrategists, scholars, public intellectuals, academicians, polymaths, think tanks, and many other stakeholders of the global policies for over a century now. The hotbed of this barbarous conflict has been Jerusalem, the holy city of the three Abrahamic religions- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which reckon Abraham as their common forefather or patriarch, a figure who finds his mention in the Torah, Bible, and Quran, the holy books of the three religions, respectively. It is a city withstanding the havoc wreaked by incursions and intruders for more than 4,440 years. The Old City's Western Wall forms part of the holiest site in Judaism- the Temple Mount. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre (according to traditions, it contains the two holiest sites in Christianity: the site where Jesus was crucified, at a place known as Calvary or Golgotha; and Jesus's empty tomb, where he is conjectured by Christians to have been buried and resurrected) for Christians and the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims. Throughout the course of its thrilling history (for historians indeed!), doused with precariousness, despondency, religious imbroglio, carnages, and military conflicts, Jerusalem has been extirpated at least twice, besieged 23 times, captured, and recaptured 44 times, bombarded, recouped, and annexed 52 times, and traded hands innumerable times. Albeit, historians, as usual, are somewhat dubious about the impeccability of the numbers. But what is explicit, is that it has persevered the gruesome scars of history and is the sole representative of the historically subdued Jews, who have been the victims of anti-Semitism, emanating from the Russian genocide of around 1881 ensuing the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, known as the Pogrom, a barbarous chapter in humanity's history. The assassin wasn't a Jew, and only one Jew was associated with him, spurious rumors aroused Russian rabbles in more than 200 cities and towns to liquidate Jews and obliterate their properties and other assets. The European Jews, in company with other ethnic minorities, were smothered to death in gas chambers in the concentration camps during the notorious Holocaust, during World War 2 by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. The death toll virtually stands at six million, a horrendous tally. Therefore Adolf Hitler and his confidantes like Adolf Eichmann and Joseph Goebbels remain the most contentious, vicious, despotic, genocider, sectarian, over-virile, jingoistic, fascist, racist, chauvinist, supremacist, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, theocratic, Muslim-appeaser, and cold-blooded dictator and leaders in mankind's history; in a nutshell, they were a paragon of the far-right on the world's political spectrum. Akin to India and Nepal, which are the only two homelands of the polytheist Hindus, Israel is the only homeland of the worldwide persecuted monotheist Jews. The sovereignty and integrity of religion-bounded nations like India, Nepal, and Israel lie within their religious ethics. Since November last year, sporadic protests erupted throughout Nepal to restore the monarchy and establish a Hindu Rashtra, which certainly exhibits the mindset of the Hindus in the Hindu-majority states across the Indian Subcontinent. Just like various sects of Christianity expounds the Western nations and Nordic countries, and Islam as an umbrella expounds the so-called Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and other Islamic states, a religious and ethnic nationalism should expound the standalone nations of Israel, India, and Nepal. Also, the cardinal concept of Hindu nationalism which aims to establish a Hindu Rashtra, is of inclusion and harmony. Unabashedly and unapologetically, each minuscule segment of India-Nepal and Israel's land, water, and air belongs to Hindus and Jews, respectively, be it historically, geographically, culturally, or morally.

The ongoing clashes and confrontations (as of 11th and 12th May) between the arson-driven Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police over a planned Israeli Supreme Court verdict regarding evictions of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem has flared up a political, geopolitical, and religious brawl across the globe, with pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Jordan and London. The Western media, known to intellectuals as propagandist, imbecile, ignorant, unenlightened, oblivious, fake news peddler, and radical Left Wing-driven, has lashed out at Israel's savagery by its armed forces and police to strangle the voices (or separatist cacophony?!) of Palestinians. When the Israeli police forces stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the morning of 9 May, the third holiest site in Islam, ahead of a flag march by Jewish nationalists, it drew worldwide admonishments and condemnations. The 57-membered Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), convened an emergency meeting of Permanent Representatives to discuss the escalating conflict on 11th of May. Tunisia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Jordan, and UAE denunciated Israel's relentless deeds against Palestinian protestors. But no one aspires to unfold the pages of history, the buried past enfolded occasionally by historians and researchers, to make everything explicit in an unbiased way. After all, history is eternal, and no one's version of verity. It only discloses why we and our contemporary affairs stand at the very juncture. It is the solitary answer to every cluttered, bewildering, and unanswered question, which is ordinarily virgin to the public domain.

A hark back and a timeline of the events that unfolded in the recent weeks

In the wake of steps taken by the Trump administration and Israel to bolster the country's supremacy over the Palestinian enclaves, the optimism for a resolution to the decades-old blazing crisis is at a nadir and seems a mirage. A decision by Mahmoud Abbas, the octogenarian leader of the detested semi-autonomous Palestinian Authority, to postpone planned elections has further enraged and exasperated the Palestinians, whose last parliamentary ballot was in 2006, a year before the consequential Battle of Gaza. Meanwhile, an Israeli election in March has further emboldened Israel's far-right, bringing a party of Jewish ultranationalists allied with PM Benjamin Netanyahu, into the parliament. A month ago, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began, and Palestinian have bewailed of what they deem are unnecessary severe curbs by Israeli police, who impeded them from conglomerating on steps outside the Old City-- an unofficial custom after evening prayers. Amid rising enmity, there was an upsurge in communal ferity. On the 10th of May, the Supreme Court of Israel was expected to deliver an adjudication on whether to uphold the eviction of six Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. Assertions for the proprietorship of Sheikh Jarrah have been a bone of contention between the two ethnic groups for centuries. Two Jewish trusts bought a section of Sheikh Jarrah from Arab landowners in 1876. During the 1948 Arab-Israel War, Jordan (the contiguous neighbor of Israel) annexed the landmass, spurring what became a prolonged conflict and a kernel of all the bugbears of Israel, in particular. With the assistance of the United Nations, Jordan built 28 homes for Palestinians who had taken asylum from the newly formed state of Israel. Here, on the same day, thousands of flag-waving Israeli nationalists were due to march through Muslim neighborhoods in the Old City in a provocative parade that celebrated Jerusalem Day, a national holiday commemorating the reunification of Jerusalem and the establishment of Israeli sovereignty over the Old City in the aftermath of the Six-Day War. By Monday, the Supreme Court ruling was deferred by 30 days as the Attorney General of Israel sought to dwindle the tensions boiling for several days, but the situation had already spiralled.

During the Six-Day War, fought between 5 and 10 June 1967, between Israel and Jordan, Syria, and Egypt, which made Israel the invincible power of the Middle East, Israel annexed the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. Following the triumph of Israel, the ownership of the homes was reinstated to the Jewish trusts. Under Israeli law, Israelis have the legitimate right to reclaim properties in East Jerusalem owned by Jews before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, but no similar law renders Palestinians to claim their lost property inside Israel, making it the root cause of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Now, the Palestinians and Israeli settlers tussled on 6 May and were broken up by the intervention of the Israeli police who apprehended at least 7 people. Further clashes followed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. More lethal clashes occurred on 8 May, the date of the Islamic night of Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Decree or Night of Power). Palestinian throng hurled stones, ignited tires and other kinds of stuff, and chanted 'Strike Tel Aviv' and 'In spirit and in blood, we will redeem Al-Aqsa', which The Times of Israel described as in support of Hamas, the Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist organization, that is the governing authority of the Gaza Strip following the 2007 Battle of Gaza between Fatah and Hamas, during which the Hamas overthrew the Fatah to usurp the jurisdictive and political rein of the Gaza Strip, resulting in the fragmentation of the Palestinian territories into two separate entities: West Bank (held by Palestinian National Authority), and Gaza Strip (held by Hamas). The Hamas is more perilous (possessing local rockets, missiles, and illegally smuggled arsenals) and hence more menacing as juxtaposed with the Palestinians, who usually scramble with their bare hands. The Israeli Police, wearing riot gear and some on horseback, used stun grenades, tear gas, rubber bullets, and water cannons. According to a source, at least 80 people were mildly and seriously bruised.

The Times of Israel reported on Tuesday (the 11th), 'An Arab Israeli man was shot and killed and two others were wounded during protests and riots by local Arab residents overnight Monday-Tuesday (10-11 May) in the central city of Lod. A Jewish suspect in the shooting was arrested; The violent protest, during the Arab participants, raised Palestinian and Hamas flags, called to "liberate Palestine," and attacked a school, a synagogue, a pre-army military academy, and city hall, according to Israel Radio, was one of several large demonstrations in Arab communities; Reports said the victims were part of a mob throwing stones and firebombs at Jewish-owned homes in the mixed Arab-Jewish city in Central Israel and were shot by Jewish residents in what Jewish witnesses said was self-defense. The Arab demonstrators also set fires and tore down street signs.'

On 10 May, Hamas fired more than 150 rockets into Israel from Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that seven rockets were fired toward Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh and that one was intercepted. An anti-tank missile was also fired at an Israeli civilian vehicle, wounding the driver. Israel retaliated and launched airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on 10 May. 26 Palestinians were killed, nine of whom were children, and 103 more were wounded. A Hamas commander, identified as Mohammad Abdullah Fayyad, as well as two high-ranking Islamic Jihad commanders were also killed in the action. According to the IDF, a number of the Palestinians killed, including three of the children, were killed by errant rockets fired by Hamas, not by airstrikes, and at least fifteen of those killed were members of Hamas who were launching rockets or firing anti-tank missiles at Israel.

On 11 May, Hamas and Islamic Jihad reciprocated the Israeli raids, launching hundreds of rockets at Ashdod and Ashkelon, killing two people and injuring more than 70 others. Hamas claimed that they have fired their largest-ever barrage, firing 137 rockets in just five minutes. As of 12:15 AM (12th May), the Hamas is firing constant rockets towards Tel Aviv and Ashdod. The Iron Dome, a ground-to-air, short-range, air defense system, is successfully intercepting virtually (80%-90%) all the rockets and anti-tank missiles, as per the IDF.

BBC reported, 'Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu defended police action against Palestinian protestors after two nights of clashes in Jerusalem; He said Israel "shall not allow any radical element to undermine the calm" in the city amid growing concerns over the spiralling violence.'

Meanwhile, Israeli officials beseeched the Biden administration not to intervene in the soaring state of affairs. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, issued a statement that the 'brutal storming and assault on worshippers in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and its courtyards is a new challenge to the international community'.

P.S: Joe Biden has sent a letter to Palestinian President Abbas underlining the need to de-escalate the current crisis with Israel, a White House National Security Council spokesman said. This explicitly manifests Biden's abhorrence to Israel and a future slump in the US-Israel ties under the obsolete Democratic rule in the United States, commanded by a senile President, who succeeded a sharp-witted, valiant, and forthright President, who was incessantly vilified by the American media houses, notably by the fake news peddler CNN and its stooges. The vacuum left by the Trump administration in the international ties is literally unfulfillable unless Trump makes a comeback in 2024 accomplishing his 'Art of the Comeback'.

Geopolitical consequences, India-Israel ties, and the USA-Israel ties under the Trump and Biden administrations

Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States (POTUS), from 2017-2021, was censorious of the Obama administration's treatment of Israel, stating that 'Israel has been totally mistreated', in December 2015, he refrained from taking any sides between Israel and Palestine, albeit he added that he was 'totally pro-Israel'; In March 2016, Trump lambasted the Palestinian National Authority for the omission of peace and harmony, saying: 'the Palestinian Authority has to recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state...[and they] have to stop the terror, stop the attacks, stop the teaching of hatred...they have to stop the teaching of children to aspire to grow up as terrorists, which is a real problem. Of course, the recognition of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state is also a major sticking point, with the current Palestinian leadership repeatedly refusing to meet that basic condition.'

In a speech to American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Trump vowed that as President he will veto an UN-imposed Israel-Palestine peace agreement, stating: 'When I'm President, believe me, I will veto any attempt by the U.N. to impose its will on the Jewish state. It will be vetoed 100 percent.' He added that 'The Palestinians must come to the table knowing that the bond between the United States and Israel is absolutely, totally unbreakable.'

In February 2017, Trump said that he could live either a two-state solution or a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This represented a veer from the previous bipartisan foreign policy consensus of support for the two-state approach. On May 22, 2017, Trump was the first U.S. President to visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem, during his first foreign trip. And on December 6, 2017, Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite objections from Palestinian leaders. The PM of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu called it a 'historic' day in the history of Israel citing that Jerusalem has been ruled by Jews for over 3000 years and has been the capital of Israel for more than 70 years. Trump added that he would initiate the process of inception a new embassy in Jerusalem, fulfilling the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which aimed to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel and called for Jerusalem to remain an undivided city. Its raison d’être was to set aside funds for the relocation of the Embassy of the United States in Israel from its location in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, by May 31, 1999. The act was passed by a bipartisan congressional supermajority in 1995, although it remained ineffective. The United States Embassy officially relocated to Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, to concur with the 70th anniversary of the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948.

On August 13, 2020, the Israel-United Arab Emirates normalization agreement was finalized between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the agreement was a momentous step for Middle East stability. A joint statement issued by Trump, Netanyahu, and Abdullah Bin Zayed (the foreign minister of the UAE) read: 'This historic diplomatic breakthrough will advance peace in the Middle East region and is a testament to the bold diplomacy and vision of the three leaders and the courage of the United Arab Emirates and Israel to chart a new path that will unlock the great potential in the region.' The UAE and Israel moved to establish full diplomatic ties after Israel agreed to suspend a plan to annex (Annexation of the West Bank) parts of the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank. The UAE said it would continue to support the Palestinian people and that the agreement would maintain the prospect of a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. But this agreement also bluntly accentuated the dichotomy and diplomatic pliability of Trump and Netanyahu, who once proposed a one-state solution to cease the long-outstanding conflict.

Subsequently, the term 'Abraham Accords' was used to refer collectively to agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, respectively the Bahrain-Israel normalization agreement. Along with the Israel-Sudan normalization agreement and Israel-Morocco normalization agreement, these two agreements have been described and perceived as one of Trump's most phenomenal foreign policy accomplishments. These agreements, in due course, led to Donald Trump's nomination in the nominees of the Nobel Peace Prize awardees in 2020.

A background and prophecy of the Biden's policies on Israel had been published at the news portal Haaretz in 2019, which said: 'Biden's relationship with Israel has been long yet somewhat complex. Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk explained in 2010 that Netanyahu ''humiliated'' Biden when the then-vice president landed in Israel and Netanyahu immediately announced new settlement activities; Obama's eight years in the White House were marked by strained tensions between Israel and the United States, beginning with Obama's Cairo speech to the Muslim world in 2009 and ending with Netanyahu publicly sidestepping Obama and addressing the then-Republican-led Congress in March 2015 to rail against Obama's landmark Iran nuclear deal (which Trump has since pulled out of). However, despite the strain, Biden remained on good terms with both Israel and Netanyahu; A month after Netanyahu's address to Congress, Biden spoke at the annual Israeli Independence Day celebration in D.C. He made light of tensions in his remarks, saying: "Sometimes we drive each other crazy. But we love each other"- at times directly addressing Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer. "And we protect each other. As many of you heard me say before, were there no Israel, America would have to invent one. We'd have to invent one because... you protect our interests like we protect yours".'

Biden delineates himself as a Zionist and states that U.S. aid to Israel is an investment. Biden's UN Ambassador-designate Linda Thomas-Greenfield vowed to 'stand against the unfair singling out of Israel for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, saying that the movement 'verges on antisemitism.'

During his Senate confirmation hearing, Secretary of State Antony John Blinken said that the Biden administration would continue to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to keep the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. In February 2021, the U.S. Senate approved the resolution that affirmed the U.S. intent to keep the embassy in Jerusalem. Along with an intent to seek a two-state solution, the Biden administration has a soft corner for Palestine, as it restored U.S. diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Authority and resumed hundreds of millions of dollars U.S. aid to the Palestinians, two years after Trump had effectively terminated U.S. engagement with the Palestinians.

The Palestinians are elated with the induction of the Biden administration, which is de facto, a puppet of the radical Left Democrats, Senators, Representatives, lawmakers, Congressmen, and Congresswomen, who deem the militant-jihadist-cum-arsonist Palestinians as quote, unquote 'freedom fighters', just like the Kashmiri militants, who savagely ambush and aggress the Indian Army as a part of their endeavor to 'separate' the Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir and incorporate it with their kingpin, the terrorist-sponsor Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The major geopolitical shift would be in the Middle Eastern geopolitics, where the ties invigorated during the audacious and dauntless Trump administration, would be acutely affected and stagnated. Maybe, the past antipathy escalates further, and as Trump said sarcastically but earnestly, 'Nobody could have done this better/other than me!', and genuinely no further attempts would be viable to resolve this long-drawn enmity. And it is undeniable that the Middle East will confront a dearth of a plucky administration like that of Donald John Trump.

And last but not least, this is a crucial time to further stiffen the robust India-Israel bilateral ties. As an archaic proverb goes, 'A friend in need is a friend indeed', this is the apt time to exhibit moral support to the Israeli government and Israeli people. Israel is the regional superpower of the Middle East in every aspect, ranging from intelligence, military, resource, economy, technology, science, and leadership. It is a gateway to the corridors granting power in the flourishing (but hostile!) region of the Middle East. And as Harold Wilson, the two-times Prime Minister of the U.K. said, 'A week is a long time in politics', I think the same political doctrine applies to geopolitics as well. A lot has happened in the recent weeks, which will unequivocally frame, fluctuate, and even revamp the contours of geopolitics and impact the upcoming geopolitical rivalry and camaraderie among nations, particularly the Western, European, Asian, and Middle Eastern.