Stoking The Fires In The Middle East (Is Saudi Arabia Bullying Qatar?)

Once again the Middle East and the Arabian Gulf area is boiling as usual and several countries are involved in the proxy wars going on in the region. The Syrian civil war has been dragging on for about six years with no signs of an end to the conflict. Thousands of innocent civilians both women and children have been killed as a result of the various factions inability to resolve their differences. Then to add more fuel to the tension in the Middle East and the Gulf region, the Saudis, Emiratis, Egyptians and Bahrainis are accusing Qatar of sponsoring terrorism in the region. Most of the trumped up charges against Qatar are either demonstrably thin, false or totally fake.

Are the Americans not aware they asked the Qataris to open an office for the Taliban in Doha so as to facilitate peace talks? Qatar has also been accused of supporting some of the rebel groups in Syria, but a number of the Gulf States are equally guilty of this. Qatar is also being accused of allowing Hamas a political presence in the capital, Doha. Qatar is also being accused of punching above her weight, that’s politically. The last accusation is that, Qatar has been financing the Aljazeera News network and providing platforms for persons and groups hostile to the US and Israel, and at the same time hosting the biggest US military base in the region. All these allegations being leveled against Qatar are the most ridiculous allegations being leveled against another sovereign country by a group of so called spotless countries. The most interesting thing about this whole saga is that, these allegations surfaced just after the visit of the US President, Donald John Trump to the region. I hope you are reading some meanings into this. Was he bribed by the Saudis with the billions of dollars which were exchanged for arms and military hardware? Who does not know that Saudi Arabia is one of the worst abusers of human rights in the Middle East and the world? The world is mute about that, and have even allowed the Saudis to chair the Human Rights Council at the United Nations.

The whole world knows that the Egyptians clandestinely supported Hamas, but Israel did nothing to counter that. Saudi Arabia has also been supporting so called moderate opposition elements in the Syrian civil war and have also been conducting a series of bombings in Yemen against the Houthi rebels and this has led to the death of many innocent civilians with women and children being the worst affected. As usual, the Qataris have refused to kowtow to the demands of the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia. Turkey has deployed thousands of troops and military hardware in Qatar to shore up the confidence and the strength of the Qataris. The Iranians are also sending food supplies and military hardware to support Doha. The Qataris have been given an ultimatum to stop supporting terrorists, to shut down the AlJazeera News network, close down the Turkish military base and other demands from Saudi Arabia and her allies made up of Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE. We all know that it is just a matter of time for the Russians and the Chinese to jump in. Saudi Arabia and her allies should not think of attacking Qatar, because they will forever regret doing that. There is too much hypocrisy being perpetuated in the region. “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.”  

The Palestinian Question (When Innocent People Suffer)

Once again the Middle East is in a sort of turmoil due to the conflict that has started between the Hamas militants in Gaza and the Israeli Government. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have resolved to bomb the Hamas rocket launch sites in Gaza. The Hamas militants who are regarded as terrorists by both the US, Britain and the Israelis have also made up their mind never to relent in their efforts to resist the Israeli occupation of their land. Both parties are claiming ownership of several territories in Palestine. It seems the one with so much power and the ability to defeat the other party always emerges the winner. For the past one week or so, both Hamas and the IDF have been firing rockets and bombs at each other with the IDF causing more harm and damage to Hamas held areas of Gaza. When at all will these senseless killings end?  Why can't these two parties sit down and dialogue and reach an amicable peace settlement?

More innocent women and children are being killed as the bombs and rockets rain down on both Gaza and the Israeli cities. It seems the UN Security Council have totally lost its voice and it is in mute mode. Both sides have to be condemned as the death toll keeps on rising. As usual, the hypocrisy of the world powers is being seen clearly. So when will the innocent women and children in Palestine stop suffering and also live in a land where they can move around without fear of being killed by an Israeli bomb or a Hamas rocket attack. Both sides must be held accountable for these senseless death. Will the so called world powers call the two parties to order or bring them to the peace table for the world is fed up with the Palestinian Question which sees no end in sight? Posterity will judge us all, for an eye for an eye will make the whole world go blind.

Palestinian Statehood.

Why should a people's legitimate right to form a state be met with so much opposition by some countries. The Palestinian  Authority President, Mamood Abbas recently presented his people's bid for Statehood to the United Nations and countries like the US had forwarned him that they will veto that move. The Palestinians want to have a state with East Jerusalem as their capital, but the Israelis will have none of it. They see this bid as a threat to their security. More illegal Israeli settlements have sprung up on Palesinian land and the Israelis fear this will be a threat to the lives of their citizens living on those lands. The US President, Barrack Obama warned the Palestinian Authority that they will use their veto power against any move by the Palestinians to achieve their ambition of statehood. The politicians in Washington will not sit down for the Palestinians to have their state on a silver platter. This is because the Jewish community in the US is a very influential factor in American politics. They wield a lot of financial clout and also control the American defense strategy. This is just to say that the Jewish factor control's American foreign policy in the Middle East and if that is brought down America will be on its knees. How can a giant be subdued, you hit its weak spot and it is immobilised. When Israel was created in the years after the Second World War, that was seen as very legitimate and no major objection was raised against that initiative. The Americans and their allies made sure that the state of Israel after its creation was strong enough to defend itself against attacks from the so called "Rogue States" surrounding her. Why cant the Palestinians also be allowed to have a state of their own. As we all saw at the UN General Assembly, the world was claerly divided over the issue of Palestinian statehood. Dialogue must be used to resolve this issue amicably otherwise it might degenerate into something nasty and always the Palestinians are always at the receiving end. I am praying for a time when the Hamas movement will tone down on its radical activities against Israel and Israel to will review its "Gunboat Diplomacy" and resort to peaceful means of resolving disputes with the Palestinian people. I hope a time will come where both the state of Israel and the state of Palestine will both exist side by side, God help us all.