Ex nihilo nihil fit
Greek philosopher and thinker Parmenides is
best known for the succinct phrase ‘ex nihilo nihil fit.’ It translates roughly
as; nothing comes from nothing. The revulsion felt by decent people at the
slaughter of the innocents on both sides of the Palestine/Israel tragedy, is as
heartfelt as it is deep. The appalling slaughter carried out in southern Israel
and in Gaza is not an aberration which simply happened. It is the latest in a
long series of violent incidents which show no sign of abating because the root
causes of this evil have never been addressed.
Any scholar of history will know that the
great injustice that is the continuing dispossession and humiliation of the Palestinian
people, has incrementally robbed them of their land, their aspirations of
statehood and their dignity. This most
intractable of situations has rumbled on for over a hundred years now and a
solution looks as far away as ever.
After the collapse of the Ottoman empire at
the end of World War One, Britain held a mandate over Palestine which allowed
the UK to police the country and make decisions without so much as consulting
the 90% of the population who were Palestinians. The famous/infamous Balfour declaration
of 1917, named after the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, was
contained in a letter sent to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the Jewish community
in England. The declaration stated with the usual imperial arrogance of the
time…
‘His Majesty’s Government view with favour the
establishment in Palestine of a national home for Jewish people, and will use
their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being
clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and
religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights
and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.’
Thus, the UK had declared that they would
facilitate mass migration of Jewish settlers into Palestine without so much as consulting
the people already living there. They had of course discussed it with Zionists
who, after a series of persecutions and pogroms against Jews in Europe, were
delighted. It should be noted that the British had said that they were
favourable to a Jewish ‘homeland’ and not a Jewish state. With Arab nationalism
rising between the wars, the influx of tens of thousands of Jewish people into
Palestine added to a very volatile mix.
As the number of Jewish settlers grew in
Palestine, conflict with the majority Palestinian population seemed inevitable.
By the mid-1930s, the British were worried about the Palestinians becoming more
strident in their opposition to what was going on in their country and cracked
down hard at any sign of revolt. In time honoured fashion, they did as they had
done in scores of colonial conflicts; they resorted to force. They, along with
Zionist militias they trained and armed, burned Palestinian villages, murdered
unarmed civilians, exiled thousands and used torture and mass imprisonment to
enforce their will. These are verifiable historical truths, not some
anti-British rant. The imperial war museum recorded the voices of British
soldiers who spoke about these things and their testimony was used in the
excellent BBC Radio series ‘The Mandates.’
World War 2 distracted everyone from what was
going on but in the aftermath of that conflict, thousands of Jewish survivors
of Hitler’s genocidal madness arrived in Palestine seeking a new start. Among
Jews the setting up of a state was now a realistic and achievable aim. They turned
their guns on the British with the intention of driving them out. The bombing
of the King David Hotel in 1946 by the Zionist
paramilitary Irgun which killed 91 people at the HQ of British rule in
Palestine was the biggest atrocity of the campaign. However, Irgun, led by
future Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, kidnapped two British sergeants
the following year and hanged them when the British executed three of their
people. The bodies of the two soldiers were booby trapped and the resulting
explosion injured more British soldiers when they were cut down. British public
opinion was outraged and there were anti-Jewish riots in some UK cities. The
British, sickened and not seeing what they had to gain by staying, announced
they were leaving.
Once the British pulled out there was nothing
to stop Ben Gurion declaring the foundation of the state of Israel, whilst
standing under a large portrait of Theodore Hertzl, the father of political
Zionism. As was predictable, the better armed and trained Zionist forces
carried out brutal operations against Palestinians, which today we would call,
ethnic cleansing. It was the time of the Nakba for the Palestinians and that catastrophe
has continued to this day.
Successive wars have brought more and more Palestinians
under the control of the Israeli military, culminating in the occupation of the
Golan heights, Gaza, the Sinai-peninsula and the west bank in the six-day war
of 1967. The cycle of violence has continued since then with few serious
attempts to find a lasting and just peace. The current crises didn’t appear out
of nowhere; it is just the next chapter in a long and blood-stained history.
The murderous attack on Israeli settlements by
Hamas militants a week ago cannot be excused as anything other than an atrocity
which was rightly condemned by the world’s media. Civilians should never be
targeted in this manner in any conflict but much of that same media ignore or
excuse the same murderous treatment of Palestinians. The hypocrisy of the west
is staggering; Russia is condemned for trying to annex Ukraine and Zelensky
armed to the teeth to defend his country. The occupation of Palestinian land
and the building of settlements on it are in contravention of international law
and yet our leaders say nothing. The targeting of civilians and the collective
punishment of people in Gaza is also illegal and yet again there is silence. We
are not children; we know the west sees Israel as a trusted ally in a troubled
and volatile part of the world. We know they will support Israel in any
regional conflict, but that support should not be a blank cheque to behave as
they have done for decades towards the Palestinians.
Some supporters of Celtic Football Club have already
said they will bring Palestinian flags to the Champions League match with
Atletico Madrid in late October. Few, if any of them are in support of the dreadful
things perpetrated by Hamas in the Israeli settlements last week. They would say
that they are showing solidarity with the Palestinian people who will now pay
the price of that violence. UEFA will doubtless fine Celtic for any ‘political’
display at a UEFA match. This is the same UEFA who allowed commemorations at
matches for the late Nelson Mandela, who said following his people’s victory
over apartheid…
‘We know too well that our freedom is
incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.’
Mandela was a believer in a peaceful, two-state
solution and undoubtedly a man who had seen enough of strife and war in his own
land to know the bitterness it leaves behind. A statue of him stands in the
west bank city of Ramallah where he is still revered as a friend of the
Palestinians. Few thought that South Africa would ever find a way out of their
own brutal conflict, but they did. Few could see a way forward for the north of
Ireland at the height of the troubles, yet peace came. The Berlin wall fell and
the cold war ended. History teaches us that change can come but that it needs courageous
leaders prepared to unclench their fists and talk.
The heartbreaking tragedy unfolding before our eyes in Gaza seems just the next page of a long and bloody history. The innocent men, women and children of Israel and Palestine are paying the price of their leaders’ historic and current failures, as a hopelessly compromised and hypocritical world looks on. At the time of writing, it has been reported that 2,200 Palestinians have died in Gaza and a further 8000 have been injured. Most of them are innocent of any crime other than being born in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Half of Gaza’s population is under 18. I hope those young
people live to see a lasting and just peace in their lifetimes. It seems far
away at the moment but we have to hope.
