Dr. Benkin's appeal

Dr. Benkin is indeed a clever man, no doubt aware where and how to appeal in order to get a favourable response. Look how easily he has found a convert in Mr. Azad!! What he has successfully hidden from people like Mr. Azad are the causes of the conflict.

Let me briefly refresh these for him and Dr. Benkin. Israel was created on Arab land by force that resulted in forcible eviction of millions of Palestinians who have been spending the last 50 years or more in pitiable conditions in refugee camps in the West Bank and in other Arab countries. It has extended its 1948 borders by occupying more lands through wars of 1967 and 1973 with its neighbours. It violates UN resolutions like they were dirt fit for garbage and possesses an arsenal of WMDs that made Saddam Hussein (when he was in power) or Kim Jong look saintly. It is building a wall across the national borders in Palestinian land in total violation of international law. It has a professional army that kills innocent people including women and children (calls it collateral damage!!) under the direct orders of its prime minister which led to 27 of its airforce officers to come out publicly against such state-sponsored terrorism in the West Bank. Its prime minister has a case against him as a war criminal in a court in Belgium.

With the policies being pursed by the Sharon government, there is no scope for mediation for Bangladesh or any other country. One does not and cannot mediate between an occupying force and an occupied one except telling the former to end the occupation. The onus to end the conflict rests almost entirely with the Israelis. They have to unilaterally do the following. First, withdraw from Palestinian land and give Palestine the right to be a state with Jerusalem as its capital. Second, abide by all UN resolutions on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Third, allow the Palestinian refugees to return back to their lands. Fourth, stop building the wall on Palestinian land. Fifth, stop construction of settlements and bring down settlements built illegally forthwith. Finally, it has to abandon the idea of finding a military solution to the conflict that Mr. Sharon seems hell bent upon, but one that his own people are now rejecting. Apart from the 27 airforce pilots, 4 former security agency chiefs and the current chief of its armed forces have criticised the policy of aggression of the present Israeli government.

Once Israel takes these corrective steps, the rationale for the Palestinians to fight the Israelis including suicide bombings would cease to exist, automatically leading to peace.

The cancer in the Israel-Palestine conflict is the occupation that can be resolved only by a quick and unequivocal Israeli response . Bangladesh is doing fine, refraining from recognising Israel which is a principled stand and should have no problem recognising it once Israel shows respect for international law and world opinion by giving back the Palestinian people their rights.