By Allieu S. Tunkara
The world watches as the UN searches for a permanent solution to the war between Israel and Palestine in the Middle East.
The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres has called for peace and calm in Gaza. World peace is under threat by the crossfires between the two warring factions. The war is weakening the pillars of world peace and strengthening those of conflict.
War between Middle Eastern nations of Israel and Palestine is dubbed an unequal war by military analysts. The two sides have suffered casualties, but the casualties on the Palestinian side are much heavier in scale.
The scale of destruction shows that Israeli military hardware and technology far surpasses that of Palestine. Israeli military superiority is very much visible in the West Bank. 290 Palestinians have lost their lives through Israeli airstrikes and only 10 Isralis have died so far.
A rolling statistics on the death toll especially on the Palestinian side is expected as the war still rages on. Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Nyetayahun says he would continue to defend his people from harm.
The bombardment on Gaza, the Israeli Prime Minister said, was to deter Hamass and keep his people safe. The Prime Minister’s statement of defending his people has got support from within and outside Israel.
A student in the Institute of Security Studies in Israel says the Israeli government is under moral obligation to defend its people. He argued that Israel would not sit with folded arms and see Israeli’s safety threatened.
President of the United States, Joe Biden is calling both parties to end the conflict. He however does not lose sight of Israel’s right to self- defence.
The war has entered its tenth day, and it is seemingly endless conflict. Signs of cessation of hostilities remain faint, but hopes for a ceasefire run high.
However, no definite timeframe has been slated by the two sides for a peaceful solution. Hamass is a militant group in the Gaza Strip that embarks on sporadic firing of rockets while Israel responded with airstrikes.
But, with an Anti-Missile Defence system in Israel, it was reported that only 10% out of 1,700 rockets fired landed in Israeli territory. Mathematical calculation shows that 170 rockets landed in Israel so far.
The war between Israel and Palestine had a long history dating back to the biblical period. It emanated from control over land at Gaza, a place which for a long time had been co-habited by Israelis and Palestinians.
A full-scale war broke out in 2014 between the two sides leaving behind heavy casualties. After the conflict, Israel has always lived side-by-side but military flare-ups were rife.
But the flare-ups most times were transient owing to interventions by bigger nations notably the US and the UK. International discussions on the on-going conflict apportion partial blame to the former US President, Donald Trump for recently taking sides with Israel.
President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem a year ago as the Israeli capital was widely seen as a move that remotely caused the current flare-up.
Former President Trump moved the American embassy to Jerusalem with the recognition that Jerusalem belongs to Israel. It was a move that generated wide international condemnation.
World leaders made strong arguments that Trump’s move would trigger violent conflicts between Hamass and Israel. The predictions have come to pass.
The two sides are now embroiled in conflict whose outcome might be terrible that what the world is seeing now. Effort to end combat operations between the two sides is being thwarted by rising tension between the United States and Russia.
US’s relation with Russia was recently worsened following the annexation of Crimea Region in 2007. The region is a resource-rich site that the US believes is part of Ukraine.
Prior to the disintegration of the Soviet Union in early days of 1991, Ukraine was part of Russia formerly Union of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
The disintegration made the country to stand on its own. Relationship between US and Russia has been unhealthy for a considerable period since the end of the Second World War.
The end of the war ushered a ‘Cold War’ period (1945-1991) between the two countries. The ‘Cold War’ is about a war of capitalist and socialist ideologies which came to an end after USSR crumbled.
The two countries enjoy the veto powers in the UN Security Council, one of the most important organs in the organisation. Russia and the US have always proved to be strange and incompatible bed fellows on most foreign policy issues.
The disagreements between the two countries derail UN’s effort to intervene in major conflicts, and bring them to an end. The conflict between Israel and Palestine stands as a prominent case in point.
The UN has always find it difficult to intervene and make a difference owing to dissents and disagreements among its key members especially Russia. The dream of the founding fathers of the United Nations is being wiped off by the organisation’s seeming inability to end the war between Israel and Palestine.
In 1945, immediately after World War (Two), 50 countries converged at San Francisco California with the main object of forming a world body that would maintain international peace and security.
The deliberations resulted into the formation of the United Nations which today takes pride in 193 member states.
The UN replaced the League of Nations which came into existence after First World War (1914-1918). It was set up owing to the inability of the League to prevent the Second World War.
Since its formation, the UN has recorded tremendous successes in resolving conflicts in several countries. Sierra Leone is a country where the UN has recorded resounding victory.
Sierra Leone’s consolidation of peace and security is largely credited to the sacrifice of the UN in years gone by. The UN has also intervened in other conflict zones and restored peace.
Countries which show signs of a slide into all-out conflicts have warranted UN interventions. Border disputes, forceful occupation and other forms of revolutions in most parts of the world are clear threats to peace.
The UN, in most cases, has converted those threats into significant opportunities especially in nations ready to embrace peace after lengthy years of conflict.
The promulgation of the Rome Statute, 1998 which created the International Criminal Court was a fundamental step towards consolidating international peace and security. The establishment of the court marked an end to impunity.
It signalled the deathnell of Warlordism, genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. With the existence of the court, those who commit war crimes and serious human rights violations would no longer be beyond the reach of justice.
The Long arm of the law is inescapable. It gets at warlords anywhere and anytime.
Former Presidents Charles Taylor, Slobodan Milosevic, General Pinochet, Fujimori and others have been humbled at the ICC.
Others have met their nemesis. The trials of notorious warlords have significantly deterred warlordism in various parts of the world. The ICC has played a considerable role towards that success.
It is therefore safe to say that the UN’s greatest achievement is the prevention of a ‘Third World War.’
The ‘Greatest Success’ is being whittled down if effort is not made by the UN to supress tensions in the Middle East especially Israel and Palestine. Tension between Russia and the United States must be eased too to enhance UN’s viability to prevent and end conflicts in combat zones.
The two countries are dominant forces in the UN and the Northern Atlantic Treaty Organisation. “Peace is proper; horror is wrong,” says former United President, Bill Clinton.