"CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR." Julius Cesar' Act 3.
The pursuit of innocous pleasures can sometimes be twinned with horror because the blighted cell phone is always with us. So hovering over packages of fresh cranberries my phone buzzes incessantly and I, like most of you, lift it and glance at the screen. The Pre Thanksgiving dinner shopping comes to a screeching halt. The cellophane encased crimson, plump berries transform into streams of human blood.
Somewhere by the shores of the beautiful Mediterranean a War has been declared. A Militia called the Al-Qassim Brigade (abbreviation Hamas)in blockaded Gaza has launched a pre dawn assault on sleeping Israel. The skies are torn by rockets, men paraglide over Security barriers, they land on ground and go on a killing rampage sparing very few. A couple of thousand attendees at a dessert Music Festival are chased, gunned down and some captured as hostages. All this while Israel’s much admired Intelligence Service sleeps.
The resounding yet somewhat delayed chant is that of the immortal William Shakespeare who in his play Julius Cesar, brings this cry from the lips of the General Marc Anthony when he confronts the body of the freshly asassinated Roman Emperor Julius Cesar. Surprise attack in the Senate itself. “ Cry Havoc and let slip the dogs of war.”
The havoc is destruction and ensuing chaos and the dogs of War were actually trained and taken by warriors to war to mangle and tear the enemy apart so the subsequent killing would be easier. The Israeli reprisal came within the blockaded land strip of Gaza within hours. A declaration of War was made and the world shivered with the memory of Wars fought, wars imagined and wars which were unstoppable. Then came the David and Goliath scenario and the price is being paid by innocent civilians.
A heinous form of oral tribalism rents all media outlets. Leaders of countries lined up on opposing sides of the blame game. Journalists, Academics and Activists pontificate till they are blue in the face. The word ‘Siege’ was used by defending Israeli forces. This word has no place in our modern world. This is not the Bronze Age where Sieges killed, starved citizens and levelled entire cities burying their rich cultures forever. But on day Four the Siege is on as The power is turned off, water supply perilously low, delivery of food non existent while the homes of 2 million people and hospitals, Service centers are a pile of rubble and stone.
What made Hamas launch this ill advised surprise assault? The words of the great Winston Churchill come to mind.
“Never never give up. Never yield to the overwhelming might of the enemy. If you are going through hell keep going”
The Palestinians claim Israel is an Aparthied state. There are daily humiliating security checks , land appropriation and a history slowly being rubbed out. The two nation state is still to be organized effectively. The Palestine Liberation Organization is ineffectual. The five year boy in blockaded Gaza has grown up in 16 years and will not accept the status quo. It has been a simmering slow boil with the predictable explosion. More than sixty percent of these young men are unemployed. The devil makes mischief on empty hands. This assault has been called by Hamas as ‘The Al-Aqsa Flood”. Three weeks ago, the worshippers at the legendary Al Aqsa Mosque in Jeruselam were assaulted by Israeli forces, beaten with batons and forced out of the mosque. The reason given was there was a rumour some fire crackers were smuggled into the mosque. There is reason to assume this could have been a flash point. The violation of the most revered Muslim place of worship is intolerable. The storming of the revered Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar, India cost the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi her life. She was assassinated by her two Sikh body guards.
The Israeli perspective is that Palestinians remain a security threat. Their militias are in fact groups of Terrorists. They have killed babies in this skirmish and even decapitated them.
The land which they have made bloom and dotted with neat housing districts is theirs. The old claims no longer exist. It is possible to have a two state nation but trust is something that is yet to be earned.
The hidden hand points at both Iran and Russia. The theories will unfurl in the coming days. There is a call to arms in Lebanon and Syria. The brokers of Peace and reconciliation need to work overtime and the dialogue has to change. History now belongs to the youth of both Palestine and Israel. Despite the UN charters warning that any siege is considered illegal the piles of stones and rubble keep getting larger and the wails of children break the hearts of most compassionate people.
I don’t know about the rest of you but I am devastated that despite our advances in science technology we have to witness any siege or see people being slaughtered in their beds. To hell with the propaganda a lie repeated constantly never becomes the truth.