Why Are Your Dead More Important Than Mine?

The latest attacks in Gaza are as painful to watch as all the previous ones. I don't know if there is such a thing called Israel/Palestine conflict fatigue syndrome, because if it is then it is setting into me. Why is it that every time egoistic and power hungry people from these two over analyzed, over armed and over negotiated territories decide to fight, the world stops in its track - the top leaders make a beeline to the Middle Eastern capitals and fall over themselves to resolve the issue. That they have been all unsuccessful in last 60 years or so does not deter a single one of them. This is followed by habitual shooting up of oil prices, bowing down of stock markets world wide, coupled with warnings of dire consequences for world peace if this issue is not immediately resolved. Fingers are pointed, world wars are whispered, huge protest rallies are taken out, UN and others make 'need for peace' voices and we are told Arab street is getting angrier. Generally speaking all actors play their assigned roles and somehow a truce is arm twisted until the next conflict flares out.

Why does a conflict involving this tiny part of the world cause such a big reaction? It cannot be oil because there is not a drop in either Israel or West Bank. It cannot be fear of immense mass casualties like the ones you hear with India-Pakistan conflict, after all there are only 5 million Palestine Arabs and 6 million Jews. It cannot be fear of Arab street because by now we know nobody cares about them including their own regimes. It cannot be concern for the condition of Muslim brethren because if that were the case there would be rather immense demonstrations in prosperous Muslim lands about the heartbreaking poverty in Bangladesh, about the Muslim ghettos in India, about the feudal empires in rural Pakistan, about injustices in Darfur (from fellow Muslims), about war ravaged Muslim lands of Afghanistan, Somalia or Nigeria. The list is long and we are short on resolve.

The Muslims and liberals who beat their chests and cry foul every time Israel/Palestine conflicts happens are strangely quiet about any of the above atrocities and this is not even the complete list. The Palestinians appear to be well fed, appear to be warm in winters and comfortable in summer, have decent shot at education and have very low population base to develop. On per capita basis they have been recipient of the most aid in the history of aid giving. No the Palestinian situation is not dire. After all they don't have to worry about things like child malnutrition, total abject poverty the kind which puts your head to shame, safety for your daughters, Janjaweed raids ti name a few. Yes they do have to worry about constant violence and its affect on children but that is something they could control.

How about a doing tactical retreat, accepting that Israel is a stronger power for now, building your own society and then in due course fight from position of strength. It is called adapting to reality. The Indians and Chinese have been doing it for centuries and ultimately been able to turn their economies around. This is a basic military tactics 101, you do not fight from your weakness - you open a front when you think you can win. Unless of course the leadership lives in relative luxury of exile of Syria and are backed by Islamists regimes and Oil money of Iran who don not give a damn about silly things like people perishing or a whole generation growing up with hatred. Yes then it is a fight to death and death it is Palestinians are receiving. What can you expect when you let your children grow up with such hatred that all logic fades away and the death becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. But why are your dead more important than mine?