The Blog Papers of Dr. Michael
Sakbani; Economics, Finance and Politics
Michael Sakbani, Ph.D., is a
former professor of Economics and Finance at the Geneva campuses of Webster and
Thunderbird. He is a senior international consultant to the UN system, European
Union and Swiss banks. His career began at the State university of NY at Stoney
Brook, then the Federal Reserve Bank of New York followed by UNCTAD where he
was Director of the divisions of Economic Cooperation, Poverty Alleviation, and
Special Programs. Dr.Sakbani has published over 140 professional
paper and coauthored 6 books.
in 2020,2021and 2023, the "Inteligent Economist" voted michaelsakbani. blogspot .com as one of the top 100 blogs in the world.Brill aynd Kodus distributes his papers to researc h instiutions throughout the world.
Contributors
The Horror of Gaza and Israel; A Tragedy Pre-Told
By
Dr.
Michael Sakbani
Michael Sakbani,
Ph.D. is a former professor of economics and Finance at the
Geneva campuses of Webster-Europe and Thunderbird-Europe. He is a senior
international consultant to the UN system, European Union and Swiss banks. His
career began at the State university of NY at Stoney Brook, then the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York followed by UNCTAD where he was Director of
the divisions of Economic Cooperation, Poverty Alleviation, and Special
Programs. Published over 140 professional papers and co-authored six
books. The Intelligent Economist voted in 2020, 2021 and 2023
michaelsakbani.blogspot.com as one of the top hundred blogs in the world. Dr.
Sakbani is a research contributor to Brill and Kudos who disseminates his
publications to research institutions throughout the world.
Dr. Sakbani won numerous awards
and prizes for scholarly distinction.
The Horror of Gaza and Israel; A Tragedy Pre-Told
By
Dr.
Michael Sakbani
The events
of October 7 th and subsequent events are shocking in their brutality and
dehumanization. Both parties are guilty of war crimes and bestial behaviour : Hamas
for what it did and the Israeli Government for its relentless bombardment of
Gaza inflicting collective punishment on the innocent civilian population. Mr.
Netanyahu expressed his wish to exact a biblical vengeance in his first press reaction
to Hamas` action. His Government cut off the supply of food,
medicine, fuel, electricity and even water to the 2.3 million Gazans, an act of collective punishment and a crime of war.
The Israeli Army spokesmen have repeatedly
stated that their action does not aim at the civilians and they are doing their
best to avoid collateral damage. That is belied by the facts on the ground. In the event, the war minister said that the Israeli narmy has no restrictions on its operations in Gaza. The civilian casualties up till now are 10 times larger
than the Israelis casualties. More than two thirds of the casualties are
women, children and old people. At the rate of casualties so far, Israel is killing about 2000 perweek. A war that might lasst sevderal months, would be an unmitigated holocoust.
The UN Secretary General told Fareed Zakaria on
CNN on 12 November that the UN had lost 100 members of its staff[i] [1]. The head of WHO said three days before that,
that 120 health workers had been killed and a child is killed every 10
minutes These numbers speak for careless regard for the consequences of
military actions and the absence of proportionality in Israel military
response.
Hamas apparently came to the
realization that the train of recognition and normalization with Israel had
sped along among some Arab states and that the Palestinian
question is absent in Israeli politics. Thus, it sought to
re-put their quest on the agenda by their brutal act. Mr.
Netanyahu`s policy of making peace with the Arab states without offering
any solution to the Palestinian problem seemed to them as a liquidation of
their cause.
Hamas`s October 7th attack has
also three other major consequences. First, it vitiated the omnipotence
of Israel army and intelligence services and their deterrence reputation.
Second, it stopped for some time the train of recognition and
normalization of Saudi Arabia with Israel. Finally, it threw into sharp
relief the dual character and functionality of Israel in the eyes of the West as a solution to the Jewish question on the expense of
the Palestinians and as a military base for perpetuating the Western
Imperialist control of the Middle East after their armies evacuated at the
end of WWII. The almost involuntary pilgrimage of Western heads of government
to Israel to support Mr. Netanyahu and the movements of their naval and
military forces into the region shows the West in its imperialist garbs of the
first half of the twentieth century. President Biden best expressed this
functionalist character of Israel in the careless wording of his Open Ad
article in the Washington Post “that Israel would have to be created if it did
not exist”(Wahington Post) [2]
The United States and many of the Europeans officials have furnished striking
examples of double standard and hypocrisy. The
US is against occupation of Ukrainian land by Russia but for doing that by
Israel, it is against changing borders by force but for that in the
Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, the US
calls on Israel to respect humanitarian standards, but says nothing about the
war crime of demanding of 1 million Palestinians to evacuate their homes within
24 hours.(Spain`s & Belgian foreign Ministers) [3]
Since December 2022, the right wing extremist
government of Mr. Netanyahu has armed the settlers
and encouraged their violence against Palestinian civilians with
the tacit protection and complicity of the Israeli army, It has expanded and
increased the number of settlements on their territory and gave the
Palestinians, in the words of the Finance Minister, the choice of: leaving, dying or accepting subjugation to the Jewish state. To these messianic
Jews, the Palestinians do not exist and the land was given to them by God!!! In the book of Jushua, the believers are comanded to anhjilate those on the land and replace them!!!. Besides all that, Mr. Netanyahu has the political principle of putting
his personal interests above everything else to escape jail. And staying in power, guarantees his blocking the two state
solution wich has lied at the heart of his convictions and is indeed the cause of the current events.
The continued occupation of Palestinian land
for the last 56 years, the spread of Jewish settlers on Palestinian land
confiscated by Israel with the protection and financing by the government, made
normalcy simply impossible in the daily Palestinian life. Gazans have had to
endure a total blockade of the strip for 17 years. The Palestinians of the West
Bank have had to pass 492 check points, blocked roads and forbidden ones manned
by trigger- happy young soldiers (ochpot.org)[4]. Palestinians cannot use roads exclusively built for the
Israelis and collective punishment is their daily visitor (
Nathan Thrall)[5] . Since the beginning of 2023, the number of Palestinian killed by
Israel is higher than the total of the previous three years. In the West Bank,
Israel and the settlers have killed more than 180 Palestinians since the
October 7 and put in jail more than 2000 (by Novenmber 12). When suffering and humiliation is a
daily event, people get dehumanized in the eyes of thgeir tormentorsand the events of October 7 are a clear pèroof of that (6).
The USA`s Blind Support
This would not have been the case if the USA
has not backed Israel unconditionally: militarily, financially and politically.
For the last thirty years alone, the US has pumped into Israel $3.8
billion of official aid per year, plus $2 billion of tax exempt private aid
every year and occasional supplementary aid in crisis. Israeli firms were let in on all
American military research because they are allowed to bid on procurement for the US armed forces. In effect, this meant the development of
the Israeli military industry on US financed and developed technology. In
this conflict, the US has provided Israel intelligence and target information
on daily basis and opened its arm stores to Israel. All of that has
removed the incentives for peace in the Israeli politics. It permitted Israel
to ignore international law and decisions, because of the USA `s backing.
President Biden position on the October 7th events
was emotional, lacking in statesmanship and politically unhelpful in placing
rail-guards on Israeli vengeance. It produced the amazing comments by the
President of Israel that “there are no innocent civilians in Gaza”, of the defence
minister that” the Palestinians are human animals and we `ll act accordingly”, and the minister of
heritage that “Israel should drop a nuclear bomb on Gaza”. These raw and
primitive emotions are the stuff of fanaticism of a state that feels it is
beyond reach and exempt of punishment.
Hamas As a Political Idea
The question arises why has Hamas done
what it has with support from many Palestinians; recent polls show considerable popular support for Hamas, especially in the West-Bank. Is
it barbarity and animalistic instincts as many Israeli leaders have said reflecting the prevailing views of the Palestionians in the Israeli public opinion as subhumans, or are there daily suffering inflicted upon Palestinians by Israel, magnified by the incredible injustice felt every day of their diminished lives that renders them
violent with no hope of a different future( David Schulman )[7].
Max Weber said that a nation is a
collective sentiment that finds expression in a national state. Zionism has
produced such a collective sentiment among the prosecuted Jews of Europe.
Hertzel`s Zionist slogan” a land without people to a people without land”,
while false in reality as his diary reveals, has laid at the heart of Zionism.
Ethnic cleansing was one of the first acts of the Israeli state (note on ethnic
cleansing )[8]. Extremists still think that Gaza and West Bank Palestinians can be
forced outside to Jordan and Egypt to clear the land of non Jews ; many Israeli
politicians expressed this Zionist desire before and during this crisis. And that is a manifest charecteristioc of Zionist setllers colonialism.
The opposite sentiment of the Palestinians is
to have a state on the land they have lived upon for 3000 years
(Wikipedia, November 2023)[9]. The guilty Europeans wanted to wash out their crimes and antisemitism at the expense of the Palestinians who have done no harm to the Jews but oppose exclusivist Zionism.
When two peoples refuse to coexist
together, and one of them is stronger, better supported and more developed than
the other, the disequilibrium brings out the expediency of aggression
by one and suppressed reaction by the other. As violence flares up, the
stronger feels entitled that its actions should be accepted and the weaker
feels that might is making right in its world. This produces the situation
where the aggressor feels a narcissistic victimhood if the other does
not see things its way. The line from that to the holocaust etched deep in the
Jewish soul, becomes straight regardless of the identity of the other side. Being a victim becomes an obssession that has produced an interaction of violence in Palestine which both
sides have sadly justified.
The Arab States` Lack of Seriousness
The Arab states have time and again made the wrong
political decisions on Palestine. Their rejection of the UN division plan
in 1947, which gave the Palestinians 48 % of historical Palestine was an
emotional response to a perceived injustice of giving ¾ of
the population less than half of the land. However, this lacked a sober assessment of their military and diplomatic
capacities. After their defeat, they ended up with only 22.7 percent of the
land (note on Arab leaders seriousness ) [10]. Thereafter, the Palestinian problem became a central
justification for military dictatorships in so many Arab adjacent states.
Subsequently, every time
the Arabs rejected an offer, they accepted it later. This implanted
in Israel the firm belief that if it sticks to its demands and backs them up
with military deterrence, Israel will get what it wants by creating “faits
accomplis” on the ground..
The Palestinian leadership, despite its
sincerity to the cause, was not different from the Arab leadership.
Mr. Arafat missed opportunities he could have accepted and negotiated
their amelioration. He had no realization of the limits of his possibilities
and chose not to act when he should. His successors in Ramallah have been
negotiating with Israel from unequal power positions producing
nothing in thirty years. They held on to false hopes and nondemocratic power whose mandate
expired 13 years ago. In consequence, the PA descended into
impotence, irrelevance and inevitable corruption.
Netanyahu and the Israeli-Right Complicity
Hamas was a boon for Israel, because it split
the Palestinian ranks and offed the world a non- realistic extreme strategy
which ignores the fact of a nuclear Israel with 7.5 million human beings
whose protection and survival should be a concern for everybody including all
sane Arabs. Further, Hamas advocated a wind-mills strategy totally
beyond its capacities and means.
Mr. Netanyahu and Israeli political figures who
oppose a Palestinian state thought that Hamas is a convenient
political adversary to
the P.A. which undermines the latter`s advocacy of a two state solution. Moreover, with the gap
between its goals and means, they thought that Hamas is a controllable nuisance
and a convenient target for world rejection (Adam Raz )[11].
Hamas, a shoot of political Islam, has no
support in most Arab Governments. This lack of support pushed it to allow
itself to become a tool for Iran`s regional politics. Iran tools, Hamas in Gaza, Hizbullah in Lebanon and the scores of shite militias operating in
Iraq, Yemen and Syria, are proxies used by Iran to destabilize the
region and assert its regional importance. In the case of
Syria, these proxies have waged a war on its people. In rfeality, Iran`s support of the Palestinian
cause while loud in words, is strictly conditioned by
its national interests and national priorities. In the present
conflict, Iran has stood aside and labelled the action
in Gaza as 100 % Palestinian. (Nasrullah speech)[12].
It would be wrong for the Arab states to leave
Hamas`followers, as a rersistence idea, to Iranian control; they should wean them
off its false promises. On the other hand, Israel cannot defeat a
political movement and idea by military force no matter how many people it
kills. So both the Arab states and Israel should replace Hamas as advocates of
a just peace and future hope. However, the Arab states have given up in the face of Israeli
intransigence and many of them have sought normalization with Israel without a Palestinian counterpart. In the same vein, Israel has never
accepted doing justice to the Palestinians bercause of its ethnocentric Zionism. This leads straight into the question of what
political settlement will come out of the present tragedy to guarantee no return to the EX-Post Ante
The Two States Solution
Despite 100 years of dispute the
question is simple : there are two peoples claiming the same land. The
issue is not which side is right, but that they both are a fact on the ground;
history is seldom a record of justice and the facts on the ground are the
basis of any pragmatic solution.
There are really only two solutions: either one
democratic secular state based on one person one vote; that
is, a binational state where Jews and Palestinians are equal before the
law, or a separate Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with very minor negotiated modifications and with Easat Jerusalem as its capital. .
After killing more than 11 thousand civilians
up to the present (November12, 2023), maiming 27 thousand others, levelling
off half of Gaza, and losing 1200 Israelis, the stage is not set for co-living
in one state ( note on casualties )[13]. Extremists on both sides see nothing in common. The trauma of
wars breeds hatred and mistrust which take a generation to
heal. A sina qua non for a sigle state is for Israel to accept dezionization which is rooted in settlement colonialiosm; a task herculian in dimention. Thus, the two state solution, despite all
its current obstacles, is the only realistic and achievable one. This
will not be supported by Mr. Netanyahu and other right- wing hawks
like him, for after all that happened, Mr. Netanyhu
(Press interview with ABS on 9 November, CNN and NBC on
12 November )[14], said Israel will establish military control over Gaza
indefinitely. Like the old Bourbones, Mr. Netanyahu seems to have forgotten
nothing and learned nothing. Besides he has built his whole career on opposing a Palestinian state.
The two-state solution will have to
be imposed by the moderates in Israel, the Arab States, the EU. and the US first and foremost. [15], for there is no peace -seeking majority in Israel now. and the recent events have brought out an ugly revengful majority.
The US has never been serious about forcing
Israel to accept the Two-State solution and its policies in that matter
have been justly described as a lawyer for Israel. On the other hand, the present Israeli Government position does indeed harm Israeli long-term
interests and damages the cause of long-run peace for its people. Thus, the US has to use its enormouis leverge on Israel to change the Israeli present government as did Henry Kissinger in 1974 when he ousted Golda Meire and as did Secrwetary James Baker at the time of the Madrid Conference.
The major features of the two state
solution have been known for several years and it is a pity that so much blood
has been spilled unnecessarily. What can be done? The author proposes the
followings.
First,
after the end of the Israeli action, by a permenat cessation of hostilities, an international aadministration under
the aggies of the UN with a force led by neutral and Arab states should
take over Gaza for a short transitory period decided in advance.
Second, this International Administration will run Governmental services in Gaza.
TTthird, the Palestinian Authority needs fundamental reforms and Hamas, as a political idea, cannot be ignored. To handle that, the international Community should first demand of Hasmas to rejoin the PLO and a accept UNSC 442 in return for an eventual Palestinian state. A helpful step is to recognize a plestiniamn state on 1967 border and call on isarel and palestine to workout the detsails within a time period. Experience has shown that the internatioinal Community must participate in these negotiatioin as an initiator of the idea.
Translating the call for reformiong the Palestinian authority would rerqujire all that an tnternationally supervised free elections in all the Palestinian territory. This will, in all liklihood, result in a new elected representatives different nrom the present caste in both Gaza and the West bank. This autority will then take over governing functions.in all the Palestinian territory.
fourth, the UN would
call for an International Conference to bring about the two state solution in accordance with the 1948 two state solution but on
the 1967 borders of UNSCV 442 with slight negotiated modifications that can permit the
existence of a connected Palestinian state in Gaza, the West bank and East
Jerusalem. Fixing in advance, the objective without ambiguity and the duration of the
negotiations are what was missing in the Oslo
Accord.
Fifthrth, East
Jerusalem should be the capital of the Palestinian state with open access to
all religious sites and full protection of all communities and inhabitants.
Fifth, the settlers
on Palestinian lands (750, 000) should be given the choice of either returning
to Israel or remaining unarmed under the sovereignty of the Palestinian state
which would respect their legitimate rights on
the principle of equality of all under the law.
Sixth, Israel should
compensate the 1948 refugees for their lost properties and a part of that can
be paid for by the evacuated constructed colonies on the west bank. Israel should also
compensate Palestinians in the West bank whose property was damaged by its wall
and by the settlers.
Seventh, any
Palestinian should have the right to return to the Palestinian state if he/she
wants or accept compensation.
Eighth, slight
modification of the 1967 borders can be negotiated by the Palestinians and the
Israelis to assure a viable connected Palestinian state. The barriers, check
points and the wall , should all be dismantled. this negotiation should have a limited time framework decided in advance.
Ninth, to cement the
peace, the UNSC should decide under Chapter Seven of the charter, the
recognition and guarantee of the agreed established borders.
Tenth, transition periods and
measures to create confidence should be provided.
Upon the
achievement of this peace agreement, the Arab states will in
accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, recognize Israel
and exchange diplomatic, economic and people to people relationships. This means
the return of the Golan Heights to Syria and the return to the 1967
borders with Lebanon.
If the US and behind it some European
governments, do not enforce this settlement on Israel, they will be exposed as
double standard hypocrites in the eyes of most of the world population and even
in the eyes of a significant part of their informed public opinion (Note on
demonstrations )[16].
An acceptable peace settlement
will be a triumph of Israelis and Palestinians over their selves and on
ideology. Hopefully, a peaceful Middle East will finally bring Democracy and
economic well-being to this area, and that is the long term peace protector
( Founex, November 14, 2023)
Notes
[1] Fareed
Zakaria, GPS, CNN, November 12, 2023.
[2] See President Biden`s Open Ad article in the
Washington Post , November, 2023.
[3] Spaine, Norway, Belgiume and Irland registered honourable exceptions to other countries in
the West
[4] https// www.Ochapot.org.org, 2023 movements
[5]. Nathan Thrall,” A day in The
Life of Abed Salama; Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy”, Metropolitan 2022.
[6[ Since 11967, about one million Palestinians have been to jail. Among
them hundred of thousands of women, girls and boys under 18. One of the
notorious means is administrative detention. Under this procedure, any body at
whatever age can be detained without explanation and without allowing the
prisoner, his lawyer or his /her parent to know what is the charge. For the
first initial period the interrogation by military personals takes place
without lawyer or parent and can involve torture and abuse. This is a flagrant
violation of due process and the international law applicable to occupied
territories.
[7] David Schulman, » Heading
Towards a Second Nakbah », in New York Review of Books,
October, 9, 2023.
[8] A Few weeks after the
establishment of Israel, the armed militias of Israel attacked Arab
villages and committed shocking massacres in Dair- Yassine, Kubbia and Nahaleen
and other villages against the villagers. These massacres triggered emigration
of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to neighboring
countries. Five hundred Arab Villages were erased to the
ground and their inhabitants were ethnically cleansed to realize
the Zionist dream of a land without people. These refugees scattered
in camps including those in Gaza.
[9] Wikipedia consulted on 2 November
2023, gave Jewish owned property in Palestine in 1947 at 5.67 percent. In
the 1947 Partition Plan of the UN, the Jewish state was allocated 52
% while the Arab one 48 %. The number of Arabs living in Palestine was more
than two and a half times the number of the Jewish inhabitants but
their share was less than half. See the Jewish Voice for Peace for
more details.
[10] The lack of seriousness of the Arab
leaders was manifest by the reservations of Egypt Prime Minister on getting
involved which was overruled by king Farouk. Moreover in the Bludan
Conference held in Syria before the hostilities, the Arab leaders chose
King Abdullah of Jordan to be the supreme commander. King Abdullah was for
years in touch with the Zionist leaders to reach an arrangement with them that
expands his kingdom. Furthermore, he had been investing his private fortune with
the Rothchild Bank, a big supporter of the Zionist project.
The Arab
armies that showed up were outnumbered by the Israeli armed militias; the Arabs
fielded 36 thousands against 60 thousands by the small Jewish population. Their
best fighting force, the Jordanian army, was led by British officers, the Iraqi
army was under strict orders not to attack while Iraq`s Prime minister Salih
Jabre was negotiating with the UK about Iraq`s independence, Syria had a very
small army and Lebanon none, and the Egyptian Army was badly led and
underequipped.
The
Israelis had more military experience, and after the first seize
-fire, had succeeded in getting big arm shipments from Czechoslovakia at
the time.
11] See Adam Raz, “A Brief Historyy of
the Netayahu- Hamas Alliance”, Haaretz, Israeli
news, October 28,2023.
[12] After one month of silence ,
Hizbullah leader Hasan Nassrulah addressed his supporters in a public rally on
the war in Gaza. He said that the decision of Hamas was a purely Palestinian
decision. He expressed his support of Hamas and threatened that everything is
possible if Israel aggression does not stop. But he did not mention anything
his group will take to support Hamas. It was a message of “we are not
in”. The fear is that Hizballah might fear that if Hamas is eliminated,
then its turn will come and its little credibility in the Arab
World, might force it to action despite Iran`s wishes.
[13] Israel bombardment has killed so far
(November, 12) 11000 civilians of whom 4600 are children. The Israeli
campaign has also injured 27,000 civilians. All hospitals have stopped to
function for lack of fuel, electricity, medicine and supplies. Although
these are numbers provided by Hamas` health authorities, it is likely
that they underestimate the actual casualties, for so many are still missing
under the rubble. In the past four Gaza wars, Hamas authority figures
tallied well with the UN figures.
At the outset of the
hostilities, Israel claimed 1400 Israeli were killed. It was dicovered later
that the number is 1200 and that 200 bodies of Israelis and Palestinians
were killed not by Hamas but by the Israeli army!!!. To hide this, these bodies
were burnt by the Israeli army and Hamas was accused of doing so. Claerly, the charred cars and surrounding carnage could have bneen done only by airoplanes and bombartdment. ccould only have been done by plasnes and bombardement.d burnt. Some of the Israeli claims, namely, the beheding of children and rape of
women, have never been documented or confirmed by independent sources. It would
stretch the imagination that tin the midst of a fast-paced attack on the much
superiorly equipped Israeli army, anybody would take the time to rape women.
[14] Mr. Netanyahu was interviewed by
ABC,(November 9) and twice by CNN and by NBC`s d NBC Meet the
Press (November 12). In all these interviews, he said that Israel
will have to have an overall security control over Gaza. He also
allowed that he does not think that the PA is a suitable authority.
Lastly, his concept of humanitarian relief is to allow a corridor of
safe passage for Palestinian to evacuate Northern Gaza for 3-4
hours a day. He reiterated his opposition to any cease-fire.
[15] It is likely that neither the
current PA nor Hamas will win this election. The elected PA will be quite
different than the current PA.
[16] Demonstrations in New York
,London, Paris, London Madrid and other capitals involved hundred of
thousands who were appalled by the butchery on display by the Media. Twelve
Democrat US senators addressed a letter to President Biden asking him to
intervene to allow humanitarian relief. In recent polls, the youth voters,
including young Jews, and progressive Democrats have signalled their opposition
to the civilian toll of the Israeli operation. The latest polls shows that
Mr. Biden`s handling of the Gaza affair has cost him a drop of his support
among young voters by 30 points.
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