People around the world are agonized with killing of civilians, women and especially children in Gaza for the last six weeks. Western media (including many news outlets in third world nations) propagate and make us believe that Israel is acting in self defence and brand all Palestinians as Terrorists. Truth is, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) originated from Stern Gang and Haganah, the Zionist paramilitary organisations of early 1930’s. These extremist groups beginning late 1930’s played a major role in preparing ground for the establishing the state of Israel by terrorising villages, killing innocent Palestinians and occupying villages and towns. The truth is Israel was born out of terrorism, and its state terrorism has been massacring of Palestinians for the last several decades.
Israeli historian Ilan Pappé in his book “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” (English edition, 2006) in detail describes the planned massacres of the Arab population or the systematic expulsion of the Palestinians. According to Pappé, exodus Palestinians was not an unfortunate side-effect of the Arab- Israel war, but an act of ethnic cleansing planned long in advance. Beginning in late 1930’s Britain had deliberately encouraged and even trained some of the paramilitary Zionist groups to occupy and make foothold in Palestine. After the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution to partition Palestine in November 1947, Britain announced the termination of its Mandate for Palestine, and left Palestine in May, 1948 without making any security provisions for Palestinians. Explaining the expulsion events of the Palestinians in 1948, he lists various methods used by Israeli military in Arab towns and villages between 1947 and 1949, by bombing, violently terrorising civilians, in some cases killing, expelling the remaining inhabitants, and burning the houses. And even robbing the fleeing women and old people of money and jewellery. As the Briton left, Stern gang and Haganah, the major Zionist paramilitary units with a large manpower (80,000 well-trained armed soldiers) started attacking and terrorising Palestinian villages and towns. Between 1944 and 1948 Stern Gang and Hagnah conducted nearly 20 violent attacks on Palestinian villages, towns and massacred hundreds of civilians.
Taking forward this inherited criminal legacy from Stern gang and Hagnah of late 1940’s, today, IDF has is bombing, killing civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip. The project Ethnic cleansing is ongoing for the last 75 years with tacit support from USA, Britan and other imperialist nations.
The Zionist paramilitary forces- Inghum, Stern gang and Hagnah, in 1930’s were originally trained by British, but later turned against the later. Stern Gang and Irgun, carried out numerous terrorist acts against British governmental installations across Palestine between 1944 and 1947. Not only terrorised te Palestinian population, also blew several trains, bridges, attacked King David hotel, the headquarter of British civilian authority and assassinated Lord Moyne, the British Minister for the Middle East, in 1944. Ben-Gurion, Begin, Sharon, Nitinyahu were ordent supporters of Hagnah, and all of them became Presidents or Prie ministers in later decades. Even today Israel lauds the former members of paramilitary force Hagnah as veterans and honours them as War heroes.
Today anyone criticizing Israeli atrocities in Gaza or West bank are labelled’ anti semitic’ and even supporters of terrorism. This entirely diverts attention from Neo-Nazis, who are actually anti-Semitic. India and other members of nonalignment from 1970 to late 1980 advocated anti colonial stance and naturally supported Palestine and South Africa. Today tentacles of big corporations and neoliberal capitalism have spread so wide and influence the public opinion through print and electronic media. Students in California University and several places staged demonstrations against Ghaza genocide and demanded immediate ceasefire. Sadly, some of these students were denied employment in large corporations, where earlier they were selected oncampus and received employment orders. Three popular Muslim anchors of MSNBC TV channel were sacked for their sympathies to Palestine. Infect these anchors are experts on Middle East politics. Editor of science journal eLife, Mr. Michael Eisen, renown computational Biologist, was sacked for his article on Ghaza deaths, where he declined to condemn Hamas.
Jews for centuries an oppressed minority in Europe and other parts of the world. Horrific mass murders commited by Nazis in Holocaust are unpardonable. But Holocaust as excuse for oppressing innocent Palestinian civilians is not at all acceptable.
What Israel is doing in occupied Palestinian territories is worse than apartheid. Israel and IDF should immediately stop inhuman killing of civilians and especially children and listen to world opinion. World well remembers the fate met by apartheid Pretoria regime in South Africa when it lost moral right to continue when met with boycott by one and all around the world. Better Israel introspects and listens to world public opinion and declare immediate cease-fire in Gaza.
Dr. Soma Marla is a scientist based in Hyderabad, India
