“Voices of integrity, voices filled with conviction are a powerful force for good,” Daisaku Ikeda, the Japanese Buddhist philosopher, and nuclear disarmament advocate said.

The ongoing battle between Palestine and Israel isn’t just a war. It is a war on the mind and soul of every Israeli and Palestinian experiencing it, and the global audience watching it. Some with lament, and others with glee.

It is also destroying our trust in humanity. As much as we are made to believe that the conflict is about perpetual animosities, the truth is, it is all about land. What we are witnessing is an unending shrinking of a piece of land, an ongoing campaign to take it away from the people, and assemble them all in an untenable situation.

It is a war where we are tuned to accept these mass atrocities, corroborated by an irresponsible media that has mobilised every racial trope of savagery that can be built on Islamophobia. The media has failed all these years to show the attacks on Palestinians shelters and refugee camps, ignoring their appeals to survive and somehow live together.

The world is primed into thinking that ‘well, after the barbaric attack by Hamas, what else was Israel supposed to do?’ Then it is easy on our conscience to blame the ‘victims’ and say: ‘You know what? Israel had no choice. It was all YOUR fault. You have made your future.’

This is probably the price the innocent Israelis are also paying for allowing a populist strongman to rule them, trying to divide the nation. Let me reiterate that nothing justifies the attack by Hamas. But we should also question the need for highlighting and underlining it with fake propaganda.

They say Israel is giving the Palestinians a fair warning. Seriously? What warning? The ‘warning’ is rather dark and cynical. For the last 16 years Palestine has been under siege, with no humanitarian corridors for them to take refuge. The only passage to Egypt was also bombed.

The Defence Minister openly says there will be no exit, only a siege. So what warning are we talking about? It is literally impossible to shift 1.1 million people in a 225 square mile enclosed area. And shift them where?

In this mass transfer from the North, there is nowhere for them to go. No South, no East, no West. Without electricity, even their largest hospital, which happens to be in the North, is also on ‘life support’. Where will they be treated? What about the dying patients there?

When asked about the babies in the incubator, because of the power cut, Naftali Bennet, a former Israeli Prime Minister shot back at the reporter, “Are you seriously asking me about the Palestinians?”

The fact that a minister can be upset with a question involving death in incubators, is indicative to us that all Palestinians are expected to die. The babies may not be beheaded, the women may not be raped, the men may not be slaughtered, but if they perish in a slow and torturous manner, it somehow justifies their killing.

These people do not exact the same equality, the same respect, or the rightful decency and freedom to lead a civilian’s life. Even the Defence Minister terms them as ‘Human Animals’. But guess what? Even animals have rights!

Israel is one of the world’s most politically influential and militarily strong countries. It is ranked as the 10th largest International weapons exporter. It is the only country in the Middle East to possess nuclear weapons. If weapons and military strength aren’t needed, then why is the United States still sending them? This is not a failure of security, but a crisis of political will.

It is time to abandon the rhetoric of misinterpretation being fed and start serving people the ugly truth. What the Israelis experienced in a few hours, the Palestinians are experiencing for the past so many years.

Being the occupying force, it makes Israel responsible to provide protection for the people under its occupation. Right now there is no military solution. In fact I’d say Israel has been given a chance to save itself.

And if they stay loyal to the ideals of democracy at home and peace abroad, they will avoid magnifying the unnecessary pain, which could otherwise spiral to other regions, and ultimately to the world. They are the only ones who can keep the space open so that there’s a place for healing.

There are no winners in wars. But the losers are civilians from both sides, who were first badly served by their leadership and are now being battered by bombs.

This is an entirely political conflict where a group of people have been denied their State. In the race for their rights and freedom, this is perhaps a much awaited starting point, so that a sane conclusion can be reached.

So what should be the response of the world? The international community needs to wake up and dismantle the apartheid system, and apply the international rules by the United Nations made after World War 11. They have to make sure that Israel is not the exception as it has been until now; that everybody is above the law and all crimes of law will be held accountable.

As citizens of the world, we not only have to back up for human rights but also decide what we want. Justice or Injustice? Order or disorder? War or Peace? There is only one viable future. We either live together in harmony. Or die together in dissent.

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