Much needed respite

The Egyptian-mediated truce between Israel and Hamas is a giant step forward (“Israel-Hamas truce takes hold after 11 days of fighting,” May 21, Gulf Today)

But one can never really take sides in a war, because war is wrong in itself. Death is never justified, even for the reason of peace. War is never right and the warring people are never right, because nothing good comes out of a war. If anything, war spells huge loss of life and destruction of land, businesses and livelihood.

While US President Joe Biden has pledged to salvage the devastated Gaza Strip and the United Nations has urged renewed Israeli-Palestinian dialogue, the western world has done precious little to ease the tension.

It is easy to sit on a pedestal in a developed country and watch as the warring sides unleash their terror. But to be at the foot of that pedestal and be the victim or the potential victim of that destruction is the worst feeling – the feeling of cold fear is something nobody should have to go through.

Wars are merciless. They begin with a “righteous” cause but then how righteous can a cause be if civilians lose their lives? It’s too big a price to pay.

The trend has been that wars are stoked by the “developed” nations. They loot and plunder and stay safe in their lands while the citizens of the warring nations are left to fight the wars whose fires are stoked by the “developed” nations. The US, analysts say, is responsible for the Syria crises because the then president Bush declared war on Iraq. The conflict with Israel and Palestine can be traced to the British Empire who is responsible for much more loot and plunder around the world. Talk about unfairness.

Caroll Smith
By email