Britain Cannot Wash its Hands of the Blood Stains in Palestine

The United Kingdom, Canada and Australia have in a connected move announced their decisions to recognise the state of Palestine and called for a two-nation solution to the decades-long problem. They have indicated that the ongoing Israeli violence on Palestinians has been responsible for the rethinking of their policies of wholehearted support to Israel in its racist and adventurist actions in West Asia. Other European countries like France, Portugal, etc., also have announced their decision to recognise the Palestinian state, revising their earlier policies of toeing the United States’ dictates to support Israel in everything it does.

The move initiated by the UK and others is definitely a new stage in global affairs, which some of the international news organizations from the West have described as a seismic shift in global politics. Such claims could be far-fetched and unrealistic, as most Western countries continue to support Israel and take a totally negative view of the plight of the Palestinians who have been subjected to untold miseries for decades now.

It is important to point out that neither Britain, nor its old colonies like Canada or Australia or the other European powers can absolve of their responsibility in creating the Palestinian crisis and the immense human rights violations and genocidal actions that have ensued in the aftermath of the creation of Israel after the Second World War. It was Britain who was the prime mover of the cynical plans to drive out tens of thousands of Palestinians from their homelands and settle the Jews from all parts of the world in those regions at the time when Britain held control over the lands. The Balfour Declaration, made by the British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour in 1917, remains as one of the cornerstones of the Zionist project for a Jewish homeland, as it declared the support of the British Government to the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. It is to be remembered that this declaration was originally made in a letter from the Foreign Secretary to Lord Rothschild, a British banker of Jewish origins, which underlined the financial and capitalist designs in dividing the Arab world and setting up an imperialist stooge in the region in the form of the newly established Zionist state.

Ever since, it was disaster for the Palestinians and the wider Arab world. Most of the countries in the region are under pressure from the United States, and their natural resources like oil deposits are controlled and managed by Western powers, and many countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, etc., have US military forces stationed in their countries. The reality is that the sovereignty of many of these countries is only a mirage, as they cannot raise even a little finger against the US and its stooge in the region.

It is in these circumstances that the UK, Canada and Australia have taken a line divergent to the US policy of total support to Israel. This has evoked a reaction from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said it could “endanger the existence of Israel.” It is interesting to note that even the most rightwing politician in Israel seems to understand that their most cruel and inhuman actions without any concern for international laws or human rights is having a repercussion that might endanger their country. It is fact that Israel is becoming a hated country like the apartheid South Africa, which ultimately faced its nemesis.

This is the truth about global politics. Injustice and sheer force for military power cannot keep any country safe and secure. Israel has gone too far and it will have to face the consequences. It appears that divisions are appearing in the Western power structure which gave birth to Israel in the first place and it could hopefully lead to more aggressive actions to put an end to the ongoing violence on the innocent people of Palestine.

Mohammad Elyas Thumbe General Secretary
Social Democratic Party of India