There is no mincing words or gainsaying the facts that the attack carried out by the Hamas group against Israel by cutting down the lives of about 260 innocent youths on October 7, 2023, while at the Supernova music festival, is condemnable in every sense of it for it fits in for description as barbaric and a dastardly act born out of extreme hatred for human beings and lack of the fear of God. The attack only marked the beginning of what we have right now in the loss of more than a thousand lives each of the innocent citizens from both the Israeli and the Palestinian sides.
This disaster and the waste of innocent lives were avoidable. Even though the Hamas attack was provocative in every sense of it, the reprisal attack carried out by Israel on the Hamas which led to the death and killings of innocent Palestinians, also was a negation of the international war rules and this should have been better handled and wisely carried out.
The bombardment of Gaza by Israel was a negation of the charter of the international rules of engagement in war situations. Two wrongs cannot make a right; this is the current situation. Looking beyond the present, what led to the hostilities that have played out in the forms of the invasion of Gaza by the Israeli army and the avoidable destruction of the lives of innocent citizens can be attributed to the failure of the United Nations Organization (UNO), which was established 75 years ago for the purpose of keeping the world in peace.
Recall that several peace meetings were held in the past to find a lasting peace to the Israel-Palestinian problems, some of which include: the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Allon Plan (1967-80), Rogers Plan (1969), Geneva Conference (1973), Camp David Accords (1978), Egypt–Israel peace treaty (1979), Madrid Conference of 1991, Oslo Accords (1993), Israel–Jordan peace treaty (1994), and 2000 Camp David Summit.
In all these peace meetings, the major and only agreement arrived at on the best way of ensuring a lasting and permanent peace between these two neighboring countries is the creation of two independent states of Israel and Palestine. It is noteworthy that the countries that are privileged to be considered the superpowers of today, and who are members of the United Nations Security Council, namely, the United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Russia, and Germany have been paying a lip service and maintaining a hypocritical position about the implementation of the two states solution on Israel and Palestine.
To worsen the situation, Israel has been encroaching on the lands of Palestine and taking them over with impunity. These are a cause of provocation on the part of Palestine and hence the avoidable war between Israel and Palestine that the world has in its hands today as a problem. It is not enough for America to be running about taking sides and paying lip service to the enthronement of democracy all over the globe. Democracy without peace is nothing other than the demonstration of craze and madness. One would have thought that all the natural disasters plaguing the world in the forms of earthquakes, floods, and wildfires are enough for humanity to ponder on and seek a way of escape but here are man-made problems and avoidable disasters.
The wealth of a country can only be measured by the health, especially the mental health of its people and leaders. The world is parading mad leaders who are no different from Vladimir Putin of Russia. Mad leaders in a mad world, where do we go from here? It is time for the implementation of the two states’ solution for Israel and Palestine for peace to reign, for there can be no peace without justice.
May God save the world!
Samuel Tunji Adeyanju
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