The media is saturated with coverage of the war between Gaza and Israel. The killing of Israelis and the bombardment of Israeli territory by Hamas, who governs Gaza, has met with horror, terror and disgust, and questions about the future of the Middle East. I was a financial journalist who lived in Dubai for 8.5 years from mid-2005 to 2014 (I was head of a newswire service for the Middle East and Africa (MENA)) so the possibility of a wider war in the region was discussed many times, and how we’d get out. A drive to Oman and a boat to India. Thank goodness I don’t need to work out how to do it now.
The outbreak of war between Gaza and Israel was always going to happen- it was expected to have happened at least 10 years ago- and that such a war will spread across the Middle East. But why did it happen and “what next?” Is it anything to do with the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916? Or the Mandates given by the League of Nations to Britain and France to govern Palestine?
What could happen?
The most likely scenario is that Saudi Arabia will support Gaza and Palestine, in fact all Arab countries, and that Iran will support Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon. So much for the much-heralded “normalisation” of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Such a deal would mean more arms from the US for Saudi Arabia, but it is unlikely to happen now. It would seem that the US’ strategy towards the Middle East (if it had one) is in tatters.
Which country will the United Arab Emirates (UAE) support? It has supported Saudi Arabia in attacking Yemen. But Yemen is not a next-door neighbour. Iran is. It is only 156kms from the UAE to Iran at its closest place- from Ras Al Khaimah to Bandar Abbas. Moreover, there are many trading families in the UAE who are from Southern Iran, and many people speak Farsi too. What we are likely to see is support for the US, and of course Saudi Arabia, in media headlines while negotiations with Tehran, Iran’s capital, happen on the sidelines. In the UAE, and Dubai in particular, marketing matters.
It is a shocking failure of intelligence that led to Hamas rebels killing hundreds of people, many at a music festival in Israel and kidnapping hundreds more and taking them as hostages. Rescuing them will not be straightforward, even for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). Unfortunately, it is civilians, whether Israeli or Palestinian, who pay the price for failed government policies. Perhaps this horrific episode will help to being about peace so that all citizens can live side by side?
How getting to Jerusalem from the West Bank can be difficult: A personal experience
One experience in Israel and Palestine goes like this. I travelled across the Allenby Bridge border crossing from Jordan to Jericho with a group of Palestinians, some of whom were singing about going home. There was a folk band on board. I had flown to Jordan since it was the closest airport that Emirates Airline was permitted to go to at that time. Otherwise, I would have had to fly from Dubai to Istanbul and then to Tel Aviv. I was going to Bethlehem for a conference. Not everyone on the bus would be going to the conference though.
Many of the Palestinians were from Jordan and were happy to be going “home”, meeting mothers and grandmothers they hadn’t met in years. Most had not been back to the West Bank, which, like Gaza, is part of Israeli territory and is controlled by Israel, since becoming a refugee in Jordan many years before. One man I sat next to, a doctor, had not seen his mother for nearly 30 years. Why? He was unable to obtain a visa from the Israelis to enter the West Bank. He could obtain a visa for this conference, which he did, like many others, but used it to visit family members instead. The aridness of the land and all the barbed wire might have been very inviting to me, but most Palestinians didn’t seem to notice.
It took about six hours to travel to Israel, when once it could have taken about 30 minutes. I was told by the organisers that was VIP treatment. I have read online since, that it is likely to take about one hour. Why did it take so long? Simply because the Israelis could take their time. They played ball games and generally mooched around. We sat in a large tent, getting hotter and hotter. I was lucky that I was from New Zealand, although I was carrying an UK passport which had all the Arab stamps in it. Going through immigration I asked to have a separate slip of paper, so I could get back into the UAE. I got one. And when officials learnt I was from New Zealand, and not from Palestine, they were so nice to me. It was uncanny and uncomfortable.
By the time I crossed into Israel it was about 8pm and I still had to wait for a bus so I could go to Bethlehem, about 18 miles. I waited for another hour and then I decided to take a taxi. Thank goodness I did. Evidently, the bus took another two hours before it left.
When I arrived at the small hotel in Bethlehem, there was an English lawyer, based in Abu Dhabi, whom I knew. We talked non-stop. We were stressed. He had flown via Istanbul, Turkey, to Tel Aviv and then took a taxi to Bethlehem. His travelling companion, a Palestinian lawyer from Abu Dhabi, had been detained at Tel Aviv airport and thrown into jail for 24 hours, for no reason. Scary.
While at the hotel, and it was only for three days, there were blackouts and, consequently, cold showers. I was tired of this after a short time so I can only imagine what it must be like for Palestinians who have had to persevere with this degree of control for decades.
I was in Palestine at the time of the Gaza Flotilla Raid at the end of May 2010, so all the Israeli soldiers were on high alert. According to Wikipedia. “three of the six flotilla ships, organized by the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (İHH), were carrying humanitarian aid and construction materials, intending to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israel had warned the flotilla to abort their mission, describing it as a provocation.”
I took a taxi, which was old and the road was full of potholes, to the Old Wall in Jerusalem. Going through security was a nightmare. Initially, I was refused entry on the grounds I didn’t have the “right” visa. A load of rubbish. I argued with 18- year old security officials with a gun pointing at me. I said I had a New Zealand passport, along with a British one. I was asked to say my name. I did. I was told to pass into Jerusalem, where I promptly burst into tears. An Israeli man, sitting next to me on the bus, said that not everyone agrees with what the government is doing. It was Israelis who were protesting against the pulling down of Palestinians homes in the Old City, he said. I’ve always remembered that.
Returning from Jerusalem, I took a taxi, which was a new and large BMW. The highway was wide, pothole free and comfortable to travel on. What a lopsided distribution of aid, I thought.
I also went to Nablus, to Munib al-Masri’s home, a replica of Palladio’s 16th-century Villa La Rotonda for a lunchtime meal, though it was more lavish than that. The house itself was like a palace on the hill and negotiations took place there, whether between different Palestinian factions, such as Hamas and Fatah, or between the Arabs and Israelis, Masri was a friend of Yasser Arafat and owns nearly everything in Palestine, from the telephone company (PALTEL) to a construction company. I walked in on a group of men, from Gaza, who were praying. I was given short shrift. I quickly left.
I soon left Bethlehem, travelling back to Jordan, flying back to the UAE.
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The links some of the stores are: https://www.lcdmedia.net/recent-featured-articles/strong-arab-reactions-continue-to-the-al-aqsa-flood-operation-against-israel
https://www.lcdmedia.net/recent-featured-articles/can-saudi-israeli-peace-be-achieved