CPM State Secretary MV Govindan’s article ‘With the People of Palestine’ (Desabhimani-February 16) is just a ploy to appease the Muslim votes that are drifting away from the CPM. Their hypocrisy is evident from the CPM’s decision to celebrate Palestine Solidarity Day. Moreover, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is no longer as heated as it once was. What is the relevance of celebrating Palestine Solidarity Day in this context? MV Govindan’s strategy to mislead the Muslim community of Kerala by distorting the real history of the Israel-Palestine conflict is targeted through that article. CPM is deceiving their patronage and cheating them. He is doing a great disservice to history by misrepresenting the true history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
In 1947, the United Nations declared Israel and Palestine, dividing the land lying on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea to the east of Syria and Jordan, to the west, to the north of Egypt, and to the south of Lebanon. 56 percent of that land was allotted to the State of Israel and 44 percent to the State of Palestine. Israel accepted the UN resolution. But Palestine and other Arab countries were not ready to recognize Israel as a country as per the UN declaration. The Arab nations declared war on Israel, rejecting the UN declaration and declaring that they would not allow another state among Muslim nations. Israel’s surrounding countries like Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, etc. came together and attacked Israel. Saudi Arabia and Iraq also joined the prominent Arab countries.
At that stage, when the people scattered in many parts of the world came together, when the Arab countries surrounded and attacked, not even an army actually existed in Israel. The determination of the Jewish people alone made them fight against the Arab countries. Israel captured a small part of the lands of Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Egypt in this war.
Although Israel surrendered in the 1948 war, the Arab states continued to make declarations that they would not recognize the country or allow it to exist. For that purpose, they have occasionally infiltrated Israel and launched attacks. In 1967, the Arab countries started a powerful war with the aim of destroying Israel completely. During this period, Israel increased its military strength. Israel did not only defeat the Arab countries by surprising the whole world. Israel annexed the West Bank and Gaza Strip from Syria, the Golan Heights, and parts of Jordan and Egypt, which were granted by the UN to the State of Palestine. At the beginning of this war, when Russia was preparing to help Israel, the United States jumped in to prevent it and took over Israel’s guardianship, but the United States did not participate in the war. But with that they established an inseparable bond with Israel.
When the 1967 war started by the Arab countries ended, the country of Palestine itself ceased to exist. After the 1967 war, Israel increased its territory from 56 percent to 77 percent of what the UN allowed it to own. The State of Palestine lost the West Bank and Gaza completely. Palestine was reduced to a small piece of land. The Arab countries that stood by withdrew from the war. However, as Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser moved through the peace treaty, Israel ceded the captured Egyptian lands to them. Israel ceded the captured Jordanian territory to Jordan and the lion’s share of the Golan Heights to Syria under the 1978 Camp David Accords. Parts of the Golan Heights are still in Israeli hands today. As other Arab countries withdrew from the war with Israel, Palestine became isolated and reduced to a landmass that lost the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
It was during this period that the Fatah party and Hamas started growing in Palestine. Yasser Arafat became the undisputed leader of Palestine through Fatah Party. Arafat largely abandoned the initial extremism and came forward for negotiations and appealed to the countries of the world to help them regain the land they had lost. World nations supported Arafat’s request. As a result, Israel returned the Gaza Strip to Palestine in 2005. Most Israelis now consider it a folly by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and a betrayal of the Israeli people. The Israeli government resettled about 500,000 Jews in the occupied West Bank.
MV Govindan wrongly writes that Israel settled in the Gaza Strip. After Israel ceded the Gaza Strip to Palestine, the area remains fully part of Palestine. Israel has no dispute about that. The conflict is in the name of the West Bank. This is the real story of the Israel-Palestine conflict. While Hamas invades the West Bank and the rest of Israel and carries out bloodshed, Israel invades Gaza and carries out even more bloodshed. The contemporary reality is that Palestine has not returned, no matter how much conflict it creates over the ceding of the war-captured Gaza Strip and the West Bank becoming part of Israel. Today the West Bank region is an integral part of Israeli politics. It has been accepted by Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE. If Palestine understands and accepts this, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will end there.
With the death of Yasser Arafat, known to the world as the symbol of Palestine, the terrorist organization Hamas has gained strength. Hamas began firing more rockets into Israel. Israel countered these rockets with its missile defense system, but few hit their targets. It is estimated that Hamas has launched more than 12,000 rockets into Israel since 2005. Hamas continues to use young children and women as human bombs. The propaganda of the terrorists is that if you kill the Jews, you will get heaven immediately. Many believe it and become human bombs. Apart from this, women and children are also used as hides. That is why women and children are killed in Israel’s attacks on Hamas. For every attack carried out by Hamas, the Israeli military has been giving Hamas multiple retaliations. Hamas also tries to capitalize on the deaths of Palestinians and children killed by Israeli forces. Hamas is exploiting the emotional levels of other Arab countries by turning every death into a procession. Hamas is growing and buying rockets and weapons with huge financial support from Arab countries.
No problem is going to be solved by killing people. MV Govindan is going to conduct seminars and sermons to celebrate the Palestine Solidarity Day to awaken the Muslim sentiment in Kerala. This is just one of the constant false propaganda being carried out by the CPM.
