Roads not to be taken…

Jan 9

“Please pray for your brothers in Palastine… They are suffering there, and please do whatever you can. Don’t you have a mobile phone with you? Call any authorities and ask whether Israel is acting right and plead them to do something to stop them!!”

The man was virtually on top of his voice. His speech switched fast between English and Arabic.

I was too taken aback.

Friday.

We were at the second speech (Qutba) before the namaz. The man got into the dais after the first speech and started off in English. The rest was an emotional outbreak. I was surprised. Till today, I have never seen Imams loosing their grip over emotions during Friday speeches. The preachings are always in controlled tones, perfectly modulated and never loosing the gist. If you look at any sermon in any religion, it is done the same way.

That is why I was surprised. On our way back, my husband told me that the person was a Palestine.

Now, that sounds more like it. I could translate the emotion to anguish. The anguish you feel when your brothers are being hunted in flocks. The anguish you feel when your brothers loose their home and live in terror. The voice which automatically raises when you think of your home. The same anguish we felt when Mumbai burnt and bled on 26/11.

Mumbai and Palestine? What are you talking about? While Mumbaikars suffered for no mistake of them, Palestine bleeds because of some of them. Still, history is too different. Only, the emotions of the hunted, remains the same.

The thought is not mine. The discussion came up in CNN-IBN Face the Nation with Sagarika Ghosh. “War on Terror: Israel’s the way to go with Pak?” This was the question put forward to the panelists -former chief of Army Staff General Shankar Roy Choudhary Research Professor, National Security Studies, Bharat Karnad and South Asia Bureau Chief of Al Arabia Dr Wael Awwad. Sagarika raised the question whether we should accept Israel as role model, in the way they burn the homes in Gaza to bring out the rats, the hamas. The shocking fact was, 51% of the sms voted a “yes”!!

Yes, media have acquired the power to manipulate the Indian frustration to jingoism. Whether it is good or bad, they always project the impression that India is being soft on terror.
How can one compare Israel with India as victims of terrorism? Each nation has a root cause embedded in its history, for the terrorist attack it faces. Here, the root cause drastically differs and hence the situation too. India carries a legacy, which each one of us is proud of, which started from Nehur’s era. Even before that, this is the country of a great man, who obtained independence for us without touching a weapon with his hand. That legacy gives prime importance to diplomacy first, then to the extent of aggressive diplomacy, at the same time it has never ruled out the need for a war when the situation demanded.
The whole discussion is here - http://ibnlive.in.com/news/war-on-terror-israels-the-way-to-go-with-pak/82023-3-single.html
I am amused by the fact that a non-Indian, Dr Wael Awwad, reminds us the above legacy of India, which everyone including a major channel and its prime editor forgot while choosing such a topic. Quoting him, “India can never be colonial power, if you support state-sponsored terrorism, you can behave like Israel. “

cnn-ibn, face the nation, Israel-Palestine, war on terror

Comments

manju

January 9th, 2009 at 7:14 AM

I agree, India has a distinct legacy, We cannot just imitate the measures that any other country is taking.

At the same time, I feel that we cannot rule out war. If all other paths- diplomacy, economic sanctions, pressure brought by other nations- fail, then we will have to think of war.

At present, the war is being fought on our soil- through terror attacks- and the resulting casualties are of our civilians.

If needed we should be ready to take the war to their soil, so most of the csualties will not be ours.

I am not advocating war. But we should be prepared, and Pakistan should be shown that we are prepared. Only then perhaps we can avoid war.
chakky

January 9th, 2009 at 1:13 PM

Its a sad thing what happens between Israel and Palestine.. but that is one hot spot the world has never been able to sort out.. Even now when a bunch of terrorists attack Mumbai, they try to target the Jewish settlement there of all the places. Is there any synonimity between being Jewish and being Indian?

Two countries that have protected their people’s lives with revengeful zeal has always been US and Israel. For the rest of the world, the death of their citizen are always deplorable acts of inhumanity….

Anyway lets see where things go to :)
nasrajan

January 10th, 2009 at 5:43 PM

Manju – I too am not ruling out war, though I wish against it, especially in this age of economic recession. Also, whether it is our soil or theirs, if we damage civilians, what difference we have from an Israel or an American attack on Iraq. Hope India sorts it out in a way which suits to our legacy.

Chakky – yes, let us wait and see.
Nasid

January 19th, 2009 at 5:08 PM

Assalamu alaykum sister,

Those poor people in Palestine are also our brothers and sisters , same as Mumbaikars. But most people who cried on Mumbaikars, closed their eyes on Gaza. See http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlcMl3Tpn7Y

And this blog http://meastnews.blogspot.com/ gives a good coverage.

Please include our brothers and sisters in your prayers.
nasrajan

January 19th, 2009 at 5:32 PM

Nasid – Whether it is Mumbai, Palestine, Iraq or anywhere else, mass killing of innocent people is always a heinous crime. Thank you for visiting and thank you for the links.
Nakul

February 26th, 2009 at 11:50 AM

Whether in Palestine, Mumbai, Malegaon.. its all the same.. Jungle Rule. Survival of the fittest. The foreign affairs and stuff are all just face saving gimmicks. The perpetuators of terrorism will sustain, and this world will develop in to a james bond thriller day by day, with all the flavours added on from both the sides.. What US did in Iraq was also terrorism.

There was an article in Madhyamam 2-3 weeks before, where they mentioned an incident. There was a small palestini migrant girl in UAE or so, where the author was teaching in a primary school. The teacher gave all homework to mark countries in the World Map. This other wise intelligent kid had one wrong answer where as whe marked all the other countries correctly. The teacher asked, ” Why didnt you mark Israel?”; She said ballantly, ” No sir, there is no such country in the world”. The teacher was stunned at her guts and clarity of vision. When he met her parents in a parent teacher meeting, he extended his support in words, regretting that this was the maximum he could do. Palestine is not the only Victim of Israel, Lebabon in still suffering the phosepherous contaminated bombs that Israel had shelled in to it during the last war.

We are lucky, that an occassional terror strike is what is bringing us together, But for the palestinis its a day of calm which is a rare visitor to their routine life of bombings across the border..
I guess, the photograph of that kid lying in the debries of one of the schools bombed by israel, still haunts all of us..
nasrajan

March 1st, 2009 at 6:22 AM

Nakul – Yes, true. If killing of innocent lives is terrorism, whoever doing is, not justified. I agree that we are lucky in that aspect too.
Erich Opie

February 22nd, 2010 at 10:09 PM

admirable article. Thiking to translating your copy into spanish for our visitors. Will let you know after I speak to our writers. :).

Miles to go..