The Israeli government initiated its attacks against innocent Palestinian civilians for more than a year. It clearly violated the main principles of international law and committed many types of crimes, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Unfortunately, it still continues its atrocities against not only Palestinians but also the Lebanese people, including the Maronite Christians. No power can stop the Israeli government from its aggressive policies and mass killing of innocent civilians in different Middle Eastern countries.
First of all, it is expected from the United Nations, which is known as the world government and the primary international organization responsible for global peace and stability, to stop Israel. The U.N. has been repeatedly calling on Israel to abide by international law and the decisions of related international organizations. However, Israeli authorities do not take any principle of international law or any decisions of the U.N. into consideration.
Israeli authorities have been targeting U.N. facilities and buildings and criticizing U.N. high-level officials. For instance, Israeli security forces attacked and destroyed most U.N. buildings in Palestine. Israel bombed the U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) buildings and U.N. schools in the Gaza Strip. In addition, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz declared the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as persona non-grata and banned him from entering the country. Recently, Israel has attacked U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon, which is also a clear breach of international law.
The U.N. could neither take any action against the violations of the Israeli government nor defend the rights of its institutions and officials. As a matter of fact, Israel has never taken the U.N. resolutions, which describe the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip as occupied territories, into consideration since the very beginning. Therefore, it is clear that the U.N. cannot influence the Israeli state, at least as long as the United States and other Western countries, the founders of the U.N. system, support Israel’s brutality.
Second, there are two related international organizations, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League, that can take action against Israel. The raison d’etre of the OIC is the liberalization and protection of Jerusalem. The first step for the establishment of the OIC was taken in 1969 as a reaction to the burning of Masjid Al-Aqsa in Al-Quds. For many different reasons, the 57 members of OIC cannot agree on the response to be given to Israel. As a matter of fact, most OIC members expect the Arab states to take the first step. When they see the reaction from the Arab states, they do not think about taking the initiative and face potential political and economic costs.
The other related regional organization that is expected to react against the most recent developments in Palestine is the Arab League, whose main responsibility is the protection of the interests of the Arab people and states. Considering the stance of the Arab states, there is no intention of the Arab League to protest the Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people. Since most Arab regimes are heavily dependent on the Western global powers, they cannot criticize the Israeli attacks against Arab peoples and states. Most Arab regimes know well that they cannot survive without the support of the Western global powers.
On the one hand, some Arab governments directly or indirectly support the Israeli attacks against the regional peoples and states. Many Arab governments want Israel to get rid of Hamas, one of the rare Islamic movements in the Arab world. On the other hand, other Arab governments have no capacity and, therefore, remain indifferent to the most recent developments in Palestine and the wider region. Not only do the Arab governments mostly abandon the Palestinian cause, but they also remain indifferent to the Palestinian problem.
The Jewish people, both those who live in Israel and outside of Israel, can stand up against the mass killings of the Palestinians and now the Lebanese. Unfortunately, most of the Israeli population supports the atrocities of the Benjamin Netanyahu government. On the other hand, many Jews, who are citizens of different countries, went to Israel to join the Israeli outrages. The Jews who raise their voices against the Israeli attacks and chant “not in my name” worldwide also face severe criticism and oppression by the Zionist circles. At this point, anti-Israeli Jews are not effective enough to force Israel to change its policies. However, their persistent and prolonged objection may influence the policies of other countries in the midterm.
More importantly, the Western Zionist front can be the most influential actor that can prevent the Israeli attacks. If the Western governments, most of which are part or captives of the global Zionist lobby, stop their support to Israel, the Israeli government cannot continue its attacks against the Middle Eastern peoples and states. The unconditional and unlimited military, political, diplomatic and economic support of the Zionist Western governments enables Israel to commit their crimes. Therefore, all these Western states are complicit in all these crimes committed by Israel. People in most Western countries raise their voices against their respective governments, but so far, these reactions have not been converted into foreign policies.
Non-Western global actors and middle powers can put pressure on the Western states to cease their support of the Israeli government. However, most global actors and middle powers are directly or indirectly dependent on the global Zionist circles. Therefore, they abstain from following an anti-Israeli policy due to economic and political costs associated with the anti-Israeli policies.
All in all, it is clear that the Palestinian-Israeli question is not a local or regional conflict but a global one. It has clearly divided the world into two political fronts: the oppressor's colonial mentality and the oppressed's humanity. While the actions of the first group depend completely on power and material calculations, the second group’s actions rely on humanitarian values. While the first group is represented by the political elites in most states, world public opinion largely supports the oppressed Palestinian people and joins the global intifada.
I am sure that sooner or later, the power and will of the people will overcome. Although the victory will go to the strong in the short term, the weak and value-oriented group will prevail in the long term. A Turkish proverb says that oppression cannot be sustained for long and the end of those who prosper through oppression is misery.
