Poised between the dying year and the one about to be born, the mind looks back and forward with mixed feelings. Looking back wouldn’t have been so painful had it not been for the terrorist attack on Mumbai on 26th November. The hangover of 26/11 clouds the anticipation of the New Year. The inane rhetoric from the South Block gives no cause for cheer. One would have felt much better if there had been a visible beefing up of internal security. Instead, we have the senseless needling of Pakistan, and indulging in blame game to detract attention from the Home Ministry’s lapses. If a house in not in order, the enemy will creep in. Is something being done? Will the plans for internal security never leave the anvil and get operationalised? The citizens wonder and worry while Ministers churn out plans and schemes. We, the people, need to be assured of our safety if we are to welcome the New Year with hope and without fear.
Further west, in the Middle East, Israel has started pounding Gaza strip. The human casualty has crossed 300 hundred. The Israeli Govt. has promised more. I’d always had a soft corner for the Jews. But now the questions which my mind had refused to entertain earlier, break through the barricades and challenge me. Why should the Palestinians bear the brunt of Hitler’s crime? Why didn’t the world community carve out a state in Germany to house the Jews? Aren’t Palestinians entitled to a homeland?
Guess it’s the cumulative anger against this injustice that is symptomatic of the defective worldview of the NATO, and is at the root of the Middle East trouble, that caused the American president to be the target of the footwear missiles recently. What a telling statement that was! Strangely enough, no one seems to be outraged! Isn’t that significant? That’s one image that I’ll always associate with 2008.
There is yet a world gearing itself for December 31st midnight. Fireworks will brighten up the midnight air. Church bells will ring announcing the arrival of the New Year. Bottles will be opened and Champaign sprayed over the big and small gatherings as TV screens flash live images of the hands of the Time Square clock joining to greet the New Year. The world will celebrate the arrival of the New Year. Yes. It calls for a celebration. Life is to be celebrated. But then, something nags at the back of the mind, and I pause and search my mind in order to put my finger on what’s bothering me. Suddenly it surfaces. I remember the images I saw in the news channels a couple of hours ago - of corpses of Palestinians who too must have looked forward to celebrate the birth of the new year, of the agonized women of Palestine, weeping and angry and protesting against the merciless Israeli attack.
And Israel says it has only begun!
Wonder why I have become so sensitive. Palestine is so far away.
Wish you all a Happy New Year!
Cause you are a good human being. Happy New Year KT! May '09 be filled with better things to remember.
ReplyDeleteHappy new year teacher :)
ReplyDeleteHope the world will become a better place sooner...
ReplyDeleteHappy new year to u
Hi KPJ :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent post! Lovely thoughts!
I am an ardent admirers of Israel. If you read O JERUSALEM by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapiere every thing will become crystal clear. There is also another well researched book EXODUS by Leon Uris. I am resisting the temptation to elaborate.
Let me take this opportunity to wish you and your family a wonderful new year full of joy, happiness, peace, prosperity, health and success:)
@ Joseph Pulikotil
ReplyDeletei have read both books. Guess they started the fascination in me for jews and their lot. Older and wiser(:_)) now, i realise that it's only one side of the story. besides, with the backing of uncle sam, israel is getting to be terribly arrogant and totally impervious to human rights of those other than themselves.
The arab israeli conflict with all its ramifications is the root cause of terrorism in today's world.
besides, i dont know if it is fair to think that the whole world can be sacrificed for israel to do perform the survival act their way and only their way. Time they got that 'chosen people' concept out of their heads. All the people of the world are equally dear to the Almighty.let them not tribalise God.
cris, deepak,ursjina, joseph pulikotil
ReplyDeletemay 2009 be a wonderful, productive and peace and joy filled year for you.
Happy new year
Nice Post.Yes, seeing those images from Gaza made me really angry and sad. Wanted to do something but...can only post in my blog.As you rightly said gross injustice taking place in Palestine is one of the major destabilising factor of the World.
ReplyDeleteWish you a healthy and peaceful 2009
Hello KPJ :)
ReplyDeleteIsrael is the land of the Jews historically. No one can dispute it.
Israel came into existence with a UN mandate. The HAMAS terrorists have no business to send rockets into Israel. The collective wisdom of a world body cannot be questioned.
Israel cannot let its citizens to be wiped out by dreaded terrorists.Hence the brutal retaliation. It is a matter of survival for Israel.
Since Palestenians are harboring them and supporting them they are paying a heavy penalty. It cann't be helped because the Hamas terroroists are using them as human shield. I feel sorry for Palestenians because they have no brains and as a result innocent civilians are killed.
If Palestinians have a problem, they should take it up in the UN and get the mandate revoked. In the meanwhile they should live peacefully with Israel and get rid of Hamas.
@ joseph Pulikotil
ReplyDeletedid the world body provide for the displaced palestinins? don't they, the palestinians, too have rights? or is it divinely ordained that palestinians give up their rights to allow jewish survuval?
do not forget that the area occupied by israel now is as much the traditional land of the palestinian muslims as that of the jews. what sort of a world body is the UN to arbitrarily decide to dismiss the rights of one people to favour another. aren't palestinians entitled to 'human' rights? Are they sub-human?
'If Palestinians have a problem, they should take it up in the UN and get the mandate revoked'.
do u believe this will ever happen with the unfair distribution of power in the UN? with the veto rights in the hands of people who are in the grip of jewish lobby and money in the USA.
finally, palestinians brainless? dont agree with you, sir. they are the finest brains in the universities now. u can check this out. in fact, it is one such brain who brain washed me - or rather opened my eyes to the realities of the arab-israeli conflict - his name Edward zaid.
Hello KPJ :)
ReplyDeletePalestinians usurped the land of the Jews. The UN has made an equitable distribution of the available land. The Palestinians should be happy. Instead they want to annihilate the Jews. If Palestinians have a right the Jews also have a right !
Simply finding fault with the UN is a mere waste of time. They are eminent people who know the affairs of the world better than us. Just because their collective wisdom is not acceptable to the Palestinians or not palatable to us, it does not mean they have erred. This reminds me of Kerala politicians criticizing the judiciary because the courts did not give a ruling in their favor.
Jews are the best brains in the world. Palestinians cannot produce an Albert Einstein even in their wildest dreams.
Please read The International Jew by Henry Ford. Jews will rule the world one day. No doubt about it.
If Palestinians cannot fight the Jewish army, if they cannot go to the UN and get the mandate revoked, if they have allowed Hamas terrorist outfit to rule them, if they are using innocent civilians as human shield to protect the Hamas terrorists, if they expect the irresponsible Hamas terrorists to destroy Israel, I am more than convinced that they have no brains at all.
Have a good day :)
@ joseph pulikotil
ReplyDeletei can counter you on every point sir, but i wont do it. because, once,i too held your views - more adamantly than you do now - but my perspective has changed. i have managed to set myself free from the dominant discourse, from the master narratives of history.
we can indulge in an endless dialogue on this issue, but believe me, it'll be an exercise in futility.We'll get nowhere.
So, let us agree to disagree.
have a good day.
belated new year greetings...
ReplyDeletemyself being a jew sympathiser I am in a state of confusion regarding the current crisis...however obvious that innocents are suffering it makes me wonder if its collateral damage for a lasting peace.
@ mathew
ReplyDelete"collateral damage"!! the most heartless and callous coinage of the twentieth century!
le's not evolve a language and discouse within which brutal murder can comfortably exist.
hmm..I retract what i said earlier..i have a more clearer view now!!
ReplyDelete@ mathew
ReplyDeletewelcome to our league:D
it was painful for me too, to realise that my jewish Gods too have feet of clay. But once i brought them down to human level, i could take a more realistic approach to th isrel-palestinian cnflict