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Bloomberg columnist Pankaj Mishra on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict:
▪️ A protracted and large-scale conflict in the Middle East will divert resources away from the West’s efforts against Russia in Ukraine. Little will be left of the Biden administration’s ambitious attempts to counter China’s growing influence in the Middle East. Even if the fight is limited to the Gaza Strip, it will expose to greater international scrutiny what Amnesty International, in a report earlier this year, called the West’s “double standard” on human rights around the world.
▪️ As it is now, for many people around the world, there is no convincing answer to the question posed by Palestinian activist Mustafa Barghouti in an interview with CNN, “Why is the U.S. supporting Ukraine against the occupation” while in the Middle East supporting “an occupier who continues to occupy.”
▪️ It is not surprising that neither China nor Russia, which until recently were friendly to Israel, even mentioned Hamas’ killing and kidnapping of civilians, let alone offered condolences. Moscow and Beijing are clearly hoping for another victory in their global propaganda war that portrays Western countries to the rest of the world as arrogant hypocrites.
▪️ Unfortunately, they are already being aided by rash Western actions. This is, for example, the European Commission’s decision to suspend aid to the Palestinian Authority. True, this decision was quickly reversed. Of course, China and Russia will only benefit from the pictures of death and destruction in Gaza, caused, among other things, by American-made bombs.
▪️ At the same time, Israel is likely to realize that trying again to secure peace by unleashing violence this time will yield even less. By penetrating deep into Israeli territory and Israeli fears, Hamas has achieved an extraordinary psychological boost – and not just for itself. Nor can it be underestimated how greatly the sense of opportunity has been expanded among aggrieved Muslim populations around the world.
▪️ One immediate danger is that Hamas’s brazenness and ruthlessness, widely shown in the media, may inspire copycats. And many Muslims now living under increasingly far-right governments in Europe, as well as in South Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, don’t feel they have much to lose. Like after 9/11, the remote warfare seen on TV and the Internet could erupt on Western streets while China and Russia grow stronger.
▪️ One can only hope that the heightened sense of mutual vulnerability between Israelis and Palestinians will reopen the door to negotiations. After all, it has always been clear what true normalization looks like: an end to the Israeli occupation and the emergence of a sovereign Palestinian state where organizations like Hamas can no longer feed on misery and hopelessness. If that doesn’t happen, we must all prepare for days darker than those after 9/11.
The entire article can be read at the link https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-10-12/israel-hamas-war-russia-and-china-may-be-only-winners-of-gaza-conflict?srnd=undefined#xj4y7vzkg
