The Plight of Palestinians
We remain unmoved at the atrocities committed by our police against the innocent citizens in Lahore, Karachi and elsewhere. We do not share pictures of torture marks bearing dead bodies of innocent youth over social media who have been picked up by law enforcement agencies in Karachi and Balochistan, yet we manage to flood our timelines with something that's going on thousands of miles away.
We don't urge our friends and family to share posts which condemn the brutalities of Taliban but we certainly consider it our religious duty to do so when it is about Israel and its forces. What is worse ? a Muslim killing a Muslim in the name of the religion or a non-muslim killing a Muslim on territorial cum religious grounds? We fail to see the dead bodies of children killed in suicide bombings by Talibans neither do we see the mosques and shrines ruined by Taliban through senseless bombings but surprisingly unverified images of babies and youth killed by Israeli bombing do manage to catch our attention.
Whenever Israel attacks Gaza, the social media is flooded with demands to boycott all Jewish brands. I wonder why we don't demand boycott of Saudi Arabia when Saudi backed militants attack mosques and other holy places in Syria, Iraq and Pakistan?
Another amazing capability of ours is that whenever someone in Pakistan launches a movement for any cause that results in bloodshed, that person is blamed for the loss of lives. But on the other hand when Hamas keeps picking up fights with Israel which result in bloodshed of Palestinians, we point fingers on Israel only.
I believe, whatever agony is being faced by Muslims of Palestine, has been brought upon by Hamas. Hamas as well as the Palestinians need to do some reality checks, they need to realize that there is no point in opposing the existence of Israel.
Israel is a reality which Palestinians must live with. Not only does Israel posses military might, it enjoys diplomatic clout among leading world powers as well. The decades of conflict with Israel has not yielded anything but devastation in the form of poor economy, dwindling educational standards and poor public infrastructure. Instead of focusing energies on petty fights with Israel which serve no purpose except for killings of innocent Muslims in retaliation, Hamas should focus on public welfare and development in all spheres of life.
The way things have been going on, it seems that Hamas is only concerned with contributing to genocide of Palestinian youth. Interestingly, most of the Pakistanis consider Hamas some heavenly creature, although its past is bloodied with blood of hundreds of fellow Palestinians during its power feud with Al-Fatah. It does not matter who was at fault as both sides, Hamas and Al-Fatah, claim to be right, but the fact is that Hamas in its lust for power indulged in fights with fellow Muslims and caused the loss of lives of women and children as well.
It all started after the conclusion of Oslo Accords in 1993/1995 by Israel and Fatah dominated PLO. While Fatah renounced violent actions against Israel, Hamas continued to follow the confrontation path. Hamas stooped to such lows that in 2007 it had a fight with an Al-Fatah inclined clan just because the clan had a government car in its use.
The bloody clashes between Muslims belonging to Hamas & Al-Fatah which started after Hamas won the election in 2006 continued till as late as 2008-2009. Hamas' continued defiance of Oslo Accord led to the imposition of sanctions by Western world and Arab states.
Had Hamas been sincere with Palestinian Muslims it would have used the opportunity to work for the welfare of the people after winning the elections, instead it continued to exploit religious sentiments to strengthen its hold over power.
With elections scheduled for later this year, the timing of current conflict with Israel also raises many questions.
My point is that we should not blindly indulge in any smear campaign against a country. We should first have our records straight. My point is that Israel alone is not responsible for the plight of Palestinians. Hamas is equally responsible for all the mess, in fact as per independent news reports the current conflict was initiated by Hamas when an Israeli youth was kidnapped.
As long as Hamas is there, I do not see any possibility of peace in Palestine. palestine gaza www.pakpositive.com