Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1509422
13 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 11 OCTOBER 2023 HAMAS'S attack on Israeli communities was nothing but atrocious and deserves to be con- demned without reservation. Entering civilian communities, shooting at will, causing utter mayhem and taking hostages can never be justified. Hamas operatives may describe themselves as freedom fighters but their actions on Saturday exposed them for the terrorists they are. What we witnessed on Saturday was the outcome of Hamas's warped ideology that Israel should be wiped out. It also confirms the militant group's lack of willingness to ever seek a negotiated po- litical solution to the decades-old conflict. Any shard of legitimacy Hamas may have had in advancing the Palestinian cause was lost the moment trigger-happy gunmen raided a music festival, killing almost 300 young people and kidnapping several others. In one fell swoop, Hamas did the biggest disservice to the Pales- tinian cause. Unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas is weak, ineffectual and unable to provide leadership. In this leadership vacuum, it is militant organisations like Hamas that move in to the fill the gap and the tragedy today is that Hamas has become the face of the Palestinian cause. Palestinians, especially those living in Gaza under Hamas, have to understand they are sim- ply undermining their own cause when they support terrorist groups like Hamas. But it would be a grave mistake to view Sat- urday's terrorist actions in isolation. What is happening in Israel and Gaza is a tragedy that did not start now. It is a tragedy that has been decades in the making – a tragedy on loop with shocking flashpoints every now and then and no political progress that materially improves the lives of people on the ground. Palestinians remain without a state to call home and those resident in Gaza live in a per- manent state of economic, cultural and social suffocation as a result of Israel's blockade. In- deed, the Gaza Strip is akin to a large open air prison, where lives are periodically disrupted and where dreams are dashed. The appalling conditions in Gaza and this lack of hope in a brighter future only breeds frustra- tion among Palestinians. And when frustration turns into despair no one should be surprised if people find solace in militant groups that prom- ise resistance to the occupation and satisfy the basic human instinct of retribution through vi- olent means. But lack of political progress on the Palestin- ian issue also leaves Israelis living in a constant state of fear that something bad may happen. The occupation of Palestinian territories shifts Israeli resources and focus away from domestic problems. No one wins from a dead political process just as no one wins from senseless violence. The death of civilians as a result of war is al- ways ugly irrespective if this happens in Kyiv, Ashkelon or Gaza. The slaughter of ordinary people whose only crime is being in the wrong place at the wrong time is always condemnable whether they are Ukrainians, Israelis or Palestinians. It is within this context that Israel must show restraint in its retaliation. While Israel has a right to defend itself, embarking on a relentless bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip can hardly be described as a selective operation targeting militants and terrorists. Residential neighbour- hoods have been flattened and by cutting off electricity, water and food supplies to the terri- tory, Israel is simply applying collective punish- ment to a community already on its knees. Israel is justified in striking back at Hamas and taking measures to degrade and destroy their operational and command infrastructure. But there is a very fine line between targeting terror- ists and their support structures and adopting a strategy that targets everyone indiscriminately. Israel must create humanitarian corridors that allow basic food and medical supplies to reach Gaza's population and every effort must be made to avoid civilian deaths. However, beyond the immediate circumstanc- es, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the US, the EU, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt must strive for a negotiated political solution that ensures a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. Hamas in its current incarnation can play no role in this process but to clip their wings and diminish their allure within Palestinian com- munities there has to be material progress on the ground. Where hope is absent and where humiliation is constant, militants will thrive and the cycle of violence will keep perpetuating itself. Moderate but assertive Palestinian voices will- ing to put an end to decades of violence have to have something to show for their efforts. Pales- tinians need to believe in a leadership that can bring about changes that improve their lives. Palestinians need to see a horizon where they can live in an independent and viable state. A disservice to the Palestinian cause maltatoday MaltaToday, MediaToday Co. Ltd, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN EXECUTIVE EDITOR: KURT SANSONE EDITOR: PAUL COCKS Tel: (356) 21 382741-3, 21 382745-6 Website: www.maltatoday.com.mt E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt the one it's taking now… then, a) how the heck can he still call himself a 'Socialist', and; b) what the heck is he even doing, anywhere in European politics at all'? Simply put: Charles Michel started out his Presidency by promising us a more 'humane' (and less overtly 'right-wing') direction for the EU… … and last week, he ended up parroting Italy's Right-Wing Prime Minister, Giorgia Mel- oni – who, by the way, seems to be single-handedly dictating the terms of Europe's new 'Mi- gration and Asylum Pact' - in her calls to 'criminalise rescue NGOs in the Mediterranean'. In between all that, the same 'Socialist' Council President somehow managed to say ab- solutely nothing at all: as thou- sands of Armenian refugees were violently ousted from their homes, through Azerbai- jan's unauthorised use of mili- tary force. (Why the silence, I wonder? After all, it was Ursula von der Leyen – not Charles Michel – who described Aliyev as 'the EU's most trusted dicta- tor'…) … and he's maintaining that same wall of 'eerie Socialist silence', even now: as Giorgia Meloni's latest crack-down – in a series of increasingly ugly acts of 'proto-Fascist' thuggery – targets what can only be de- scribed as Italy's smallest, and arguably most vulnerable, mi- nority: 'lesbian single-mothers'. And as far as I can see, this forces us all towards two (equally bleak) conclusions, with regard to the political di- rection the EU, as a whole, is currently taking. It's either that all other politi- cal parties - except for the EPP - have actually just 'given up' on the idea that they are supposed to provide OPPOSITION, to the current status quo (so in- stead of trying to shape the EU's political direction, them- selves; they are merely trying to land themselves even 'cushier' EU-jobs, than the ones they al- ready have); Or else – even more discon- certingly, if you ask me - those other parties are no longer in- terested in contesting the EPP's 'corporate take-over' of the EU, because… well, they've become 'conservative' themselves; and as such, they now agree with a policy direction they once de- scribed – just a few short years ago – as 'inhumane'... Either way, however, it doesn't really make all that much difference, in the end. For the ultimate question re- mains: why bother voting for any of them at all, in next year's EP elections… if we're all going to end up being 'governed by the European People's Party' – by default – no matter what happens? European Parliament president Roberta Metsola (left) and EU Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen (right) are being lined up for a second term of office