Wednesday | 15 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
বাংলা
   
Wednesday | 15 January 2025 | Epaper

The Middle Eastern crisis

Published : Monday, 15 July, 2024 at 12:00 AM  Count : 450
ASM Shamsul Arefin
“The United States used 53 times veto power to protect Israel against the resolutions of United Nations Security Council for Palestine”
PART -3

Jerusalem is the core issues of conflict between Palestine and Israeli states. During 1980, the Israeli government declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The international community condemned this Israeli move and did not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The United Nations Security Council declared the Israeli decision is a "violation of international law", and must be rescinded forthwith". On  this issue United Nations passed one Resolution on 20 August 1980.
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a socio-political issue of the Palestine people for self-determination. The people`s desire are also supported by the military and Para- military forces. The key factors of this long conflict are (1) forcefully Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip (2) peaceful status of Jerusalem (3) unauthorized Israeli settlements within the Palestine land (4) return of the Palestinian displaced people to the homeland (5) maintenance of the border security (6) rights on the water.

During June 1976 United Nations Security Council took a resolution to support two- state solution on Palestine-Israel conflicting issues. The resolution was an alternative to one-state solution based on pre-1967 proposal. The United States vetoed the issues. The Israeli leaders also refused the Arab Peace Initiative during 2002. During 2013-14 periods Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations did not find any result. United Nations Security Council again took a resolution against the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem during 2016 and again vetoed by the United States government. In the year of 2017 the United States President Donald Trump took initiative to  recognize  "Jerusalem  as the capital  of  Israel". The  support  of   United 

States towards Israel created more conflicting situation instead of peaceful negotiations.

The first president of Israel David Ben-Gurion declared the State of Israel on 14th May 1948. He said "We hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in the land of Israel". Just after this declaration, United States was the first country to extend recognition to Israel as a nation on 14th May 1948. From this period United States is providing political and military support to the state of Israel.

The United States used 53 times veto power to protect Israel against the resolutions of United Nations Security Council for Palestine. The government of United States is the only permanent member in the United Nations Security Council who has recognized the Golan Heights as the sovereign territory of Israeli and also recognized Jerusalem  as the capital of Israel. With the design and support of the United States, Israel has become a major non-NATO ally.

Israel is the largest recipient of the United States foreign aids till today. From 1972, the United States has extended loan guarantees to assist  the new Jewish immigrants and the economic recovery. United States had provided 150 billion dollar assistance   to Israel during 2022. During the year of 1999 the United States government signed a commitment to provide at least 2.7 billion dollar military aids annually for ten years.  In the year of 2009 the amount did raised to 3 billion dollar; and in 2019 it has further raised to 3.8 billion dollars. United States is the largest trading partner of Israel. The two-way trade was nearly 50 billion dollar by 2023.

After the foundation in 1948, the "State of Israel" was facing many challenges from internal and external forces for survival. At the same time this new country created instability in the Arab region and became a threat for existence to all. The "State of Israel" was founded under a British Mandate of 1917. It was a unitary decision of the British Government and was imposed on the Arabs countries to facilitate the British rule during World War I and World War II. The Jewish population was allowed to migrate from all over the world to get settled in the land of Palestine. One hand it created conflict within Arab nations on the other side it facilitated the British Empire to take control over the Arab land and the Suez Canal. After the World War II the British Government started facing problems with the Jewish community and almost lost control over the State of Palestine. The government of United States came up to support a new Jewish state within the Arab territory considering a long term strategically plans.

There are many reasons for United States to support Israel from the beginning. United States is having the largest Jewish population of 7.6 million outside Israel. It is almost 2.4% of the United States total population. The Jewish community is having major influence over United States economy, technology, media, internal and external politics and national electoral process. As on today, Israel is having the best intelligence gathering network in the world. United States is having the strongest information sharing partnership with Israel. United States is also having joint- development collaboration on the sophisticated technologies including cyber- espionage capabilities with Israel. Israel is a country with sustainable nuclear power capability.

Geopolitically the physical location of Israel is very important to United States for securing Gulf oil and trading route to Asia Pacific. United States could articulate super power dominance on the Middle Eastern countries through Israel. The State of Israel is

 surrounded by Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Mediterranean Sea. Israel is reasonably secured by its geographical landscape. It has open desert from three directions. In the south the Negev desert. The Sinai Peninsula is providing a natural obstacle against the Egyptians. Eliot-Aqaba deserts in the southeast. Any attack from the south east force need to cross a third country, the Saudi Arabian territory. The eastern side is also secured by desert. Israel is having a space of 20 to 30 miles from the Jordan River. Litani River in the north is providing a natural barrier. Israel is capable to protect any attack from the coastal plain. Israel is very concerned regarding the West Bank to gain water security of the Jordan River.

Considering the war capabilities the "State of Israel" does not have sufficient depth to facilitate the defense deployment and maneuvering. Israeli Air Force is one of the powerful and capable Air Power in the world, but how it manages its fighting capabilities need analysis. With a total space of 8,020 sq mile area, how Israeli defense forces fought so many wars and still fighting with the regional countries is a subject of study.

(To be continued) 
The writer is a freedom fighter and a retired army officer. He is now the Chairman of Bangladesh Foundation for Regional Studies



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