“35 days after the start of Israel-Hamas war how should we respond to multiple moral issues and dilemmas that are now literally staring us in the face?... But why in this instance [Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct 7] it is important to recall the fact that it did not happen in a vacuum...?’’ One of world’s highly respected journalist Karan Thapar raised these questions during his recent talk with Prof Ilan Pappe, who is Jewish and was born in Haifa, Israel.
Prof Pappe, whose support for the Palestinians to regain their homeland, according to him, is driven by moral principles, has explained why an historical context to the Oct 7 events is important and legitimate. His answer was: “The context is important because we are dealing here with symptoms of violence, not source of violence.
If we do not deal with source of violence this violence will recur again and again, and you will not have the right answer to terror or violence if you want to prevent it in the future.
This is highly important because otherwise you will fall into the trap of accepting Israeli narrative that this was done out of the blue by people who are not really human beings; they’re savages, subhuman, and this is all part of the anti-Semitic plot to destroy the Jewish people.
Without the context you get the analysis that does not explain correctly the violence and apart from not preventing the next cycle of violence seems to give license to those who are affected by the events of Oct 7 to do even worse things that we can see are unfolding before our eyes to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and one should say also in the West Bank.’’
In my view, responding directly to sensory experience the Oct 7 Hamas attacks on Israel had created for the entire humanity required an immediacy which respects the importance of context.
It is important to note that United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ remark that the deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel “did not happen in vacuum” underlines the importance of context because it is the word “context” that provides meaning and clarity to the intending message.
Therefore, to understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it must first be situated in its historical context.
While thanking Thapar for conducting such a highly informative interview for Wire, I salute both UN Secretary General Guterres and Prof Pappe for demonstrating the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.
Abu Adnan (Karachi)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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