CPM Secretary of State MV Govindan’s article ‘With the People of Palestine’ (Desabhimani-February 16) is just a ploy to appease the Muslim votes that deviate from the CPM. Their hypocrisy is evident from the CPM’s decision to celebrate Palestine Unity Day. Furthermore, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is no longer as hot as it once was. What is the relevance of celebrating Palestinian Unity Day in this context? The strategy of the MV Govindan to mislead the Kerala Muslim community by distorting the true history of the Israel-Palestine conflict has been targeted through that article. CPM cheats their patronage and cheats them. He does a great disservice to history by misrepresenting the true history of the conflict between Palestine and Israel.
In 1947, the United Nations declared Israel and Palestine, dividing the land that lies on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea to the east of Syria and Jordan, to the west, to the north of Egypt , and south of Lebanon. 56 percent of that land was allocated to the State of Israel and 44 percent to the State of Palestine. Israel accepted the UN resolution. But Palestine and other Arab countries were not ready to recognize Israel as a country in accordance with the UN declaration. The Arab nations declared war on Israel, rejecting the UN declaration and declaring that they would not allow another state among Muslim nations. Israel’s neighboring countries such as Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, etc. came together and attacked Israel. Saudi Arabia and Iraq also joined the prominent Arab countries.
At that stage, when the scattered people in many parts of the world came together, when the Arab countries surrounded and attacked, not even an army really existed in Israel. The decision of the Jewish people alone made them fight against the Arab countries. Israel captured a small part of the lands of Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Egypt in this war.
Although Israel surrendered in the 1948 war, the Arab states continued to make statements that they would not recognize the country or allow it to exist. For that purpose, they have occasionally infiltrated Israel and launched attacks. In 1967, the Arab countries started a powerful war with the aim of completely destroying Israel. During this period, Israel increased its military strength. Not only did Israel defeat the Arab countries by surprising the whole world. Israel annexed the West Bank and Gaza Strip from Syria, the Golan Heights, and parts of Jordan and Egypt, which were given by the United Nations to the State of Palestine. At the beginning of this war, when Russia was preparing to help Israel, the United States jumped in to stop it and took over the guardianship of Israel, but the United States did not participate in the war. But with that they established an inseparable connection with Israel.
When the 1967 war started by the Arab countries ended, the country of Palestine itself ended. After the 1967 war, Israel increased its territory from 56 percent to 77 percent of what the United Nations allowed it to own. The State of Palestine lost the West Bank and Gaza completely. Palestine was reduced to a small piece of land. The Arab countries that stood aside withdrew from the war. However, as Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser pushed through the peace agreement, Israel ceded the Egyptian lands it had held. Israel ceded the territory held by Jordan to Jordan and the lion’s share of the Golan Heights to Syria under the Camp David Accords of 1978. Parts of the Golan Heights are still in Israeli hands today. As other Arab countries withdrew from the war against Israel, Palestine was isolated and reduced to land that lost the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
It was during this period that the Fatah and Hamas parties began to grow in Palestine. Yasser Arafat became the undisputed leader of Palestine through Fatah Party. Arafat largely backed away from the initial extremism and came forward for negotiations and appealed to the countries of the world to help them regain the ground they had lost. The nations of the world supported Arafat’s request. As a result, Israel returned the Gaza Strip to Palestine in 2005. Most Israelis now consider it a folly by then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and a betrayal of the Israeli people. The Israeli government resettled approximately 500,000 Jews in the occupied West Bank.
MV Govindan wrongly writes that Israel has settled in the Gaza Strip. After Israel ceded the Gaza Strip to Palestine, the area remains fully part of Palestine. Israel has no dispute about that. The conflict is in the name of the West Bank. This is the real story of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. While Hamas is invading the West Bank and the rest of Israel and committing bloodshed, Israel is invading Gaza and committing even more bloodshed. The contemporary reality is that Palestine has not returned, no matter how much conflict it creates over the surrender of the war-torn Gaza Strip and the West Bank becoming part of Israel. Today the West Bank region is an integral part of Israeli politics. It has been accepted by Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. If Palestine understands and accepts this, the conflict between Palestine and Israel will end there.
With the death of Yasser Arafat, known to the world as the symbol of Palestine, the terrorist organization Hamas has gained strength. Hamas started firing more rockets into Israel. Israel countered these rockets with its missile defense system, but few reached their targets. It is estimated that Hamas has launched more than 12,000 rockets into Israel since 2005. Hamas continues to use young children and women as human bombs. The propaganda of the terrorists is that if you kill the Jews, you will get heaven immediately. Many believe it and become human bombs. Apart from this, women and children are also used as hideouts. That is why women and children are killed in Israel’s attacks on Hamas. For every attack made by Hamas, the Israeli army has been giving Hamas multiple reprisals. Hamas is also trying to capitalize on the deaths of Palestinians and children killed by Israeli forces. Hamas exploits the emotional levels of other Arab countries by turning every death into a parade. Hamas grows and buys rockets and weapons thanks to the huge financial support it receives from Arab countries.
No problem is going to be solved by killing people. The MV Govindan is going to conduct seminars and sermons to celebrate Palestine Unity Day to awaken the Muslim sentiment in Kerala. This is just one of the constant false propaganda being done by the CPM.
