WAR HYSTERIA is back in the lands of Palestine as Israel prepares for a major offensive. The Jewish entity has already started to retaliate an attack on a synagogue by a couple of Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem, which killed four worshipers. Tel Aviv took no time in razing down a home, which it says allegedly belongs to an attacker who rammed a car into a tram last month. Thus, the Jewish state is out once again to settle scores against the dispossessed Palestinians who have already lost more than 2,100 lives in Gaza in a 50-day blitz, which ruined the entire enclave beyond recognition.
Tension in Jerusalem is a routine affair, and is not necessarily linked to activities of Palestinians. Several of Jewish groups and people from other communities also cross swords over issues that are sensitive from religious point of view. Thus it is unqualified to blame the Palestinians for all the ills in the occupied zone, wherein Israel had enforced a host of restrictions. Thus, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s talk of broadening the ‘war’ is tantamount to eliciting more violence. As a curtain raiser of his draconian policies, Netanyahu has resorted to demolishing the homes of alleged suspects.
Human rights bodies, including Amnesty International, have criticised Israel for bulldozing the homes of Palestinians and termed the strategy of ‘collective punishment’ in violation of international law. But Israel hardly bothers and such pleas had always fallen on deaf ears. That is why Israel had been hoodwinking world opinion by adopting delaying tactics in ‘peace’ talks with the Palestinians and had been changing the goal posts off and on.–KT
