Editor,
To get to the bottom truth of the 76th year of simmering Israel-Palestine conflict, the best document is none other than the Deuteronomy, the book of Mosaic Law or the law of Moses written around 10th Century BCE, much before the era of Abraham and his wife, Sarah.
It is a marvel that Deuteronomy could foresee what would happen to the two grandsons of Abraham, one the grandsons of Ishmael born of Hagar the maid servant of the Abraham-Sarah family, and the other grandsons of Isaac born belatedly when chance of pregnancy of Sarah are gone forever. And for ordinary believers, no question will be asked if Sarah was at fault to order Abraham to have an offspring from their maid servants and this blunder caused the Palestinians to suffer for 76 long years and 76 long years affected by World War-1. These English, French and Dutch colonisers had spoiled the wretched earth. Even Christopher Columbus, the experienced navigator, had caused Red Indians to exit from the map.
The Chapter 21 verse 15 of Deuteronomy reads “If a man has two wives, one beloved and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and the first born and the son be born of the hated; 16)Then it shall be when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved first born before the son of the hated, which is indeed the first born.17) But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated, for the first born by giving him a double portion of all that he hath; which is indeed the first born.”
It is very unfortunate that the UNO then in 1947 was ignorant of the Law of Moses. Abraham by the law should give double the land to Ishmael. Instead, UNO in its resolution 187(ii) of 1947 had solved the matter by adopting the two states formula with Jerusalem as the common capital to be monitored by international bodies.
It was sad and unfortunate that the Israelis wanted to claim whole Palestine and began to resort to occupational tactics. And with Joe Biden behind the Israelis, more fire was added. Old documents, especially from the Holy Books, serve as the best impartial solution to any boundary dispute.
And the Israelis began to suppress the rights of the Palestinians who bore the pains and the pangs of life for 76 long years. Yaser Arafat who longed for peace died and it is good for him not to see 2023. And in this process they forgot those days of the Holocaust of Adolf Hitler with his Final Solution the liquidation of Jewry. And the excesses of Adolf Hitler can never be pardoned at all.
And saddest is the character of this UN Security Council with that funny veto power. Veto means ‘I forbid’ meaning in the meeting of the five countries if one says ‘I forbid’ that meeting ends in smoke and where is that democratic process? The morality of countries like the USA, UK, Germany, Brazil smacks all senses of peace but adds more salt to injury. Even Ukraine, badly hit by Russia since February 2022 sided with the Israelis the aggressor. If so, could Russia then be the aggressor?
The Genesis of the Bible has its prophecy that ultimately predicts the last days of this earth as found in the Holy Book. When Hagar was carrying the baby (Ishmael), Sarah got wild with Abraham whom she had consented in the beginning to produce a child through the maid servant. Sarah expelled Hagar who went to the wilderness and an angel went to console her. He commanded that Hagar should name the child Ishmael. And Genesis 16 verse 12 says, “And he (descendants of Ishmael) will be a wild man; his hands will be against every man and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of his brethren.”
2023 saw the world military polarised into two with the G-7 and the BRICS versus the rest. And with missiles directed 360 with nervous fingers on the nuke button, all will perish even the fence sitters around. Robert Julius Oppenheimer, the left wing Jew who made atom bombs – Little Boy and Fat Man – dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, after the Test at Nevada desert proclaimed “I am the destroyer of World”. He wrote “We may be likened to two scorpions in a bottle (opened as no need to close as scorpions like humans tend to pull down back in the bottle), each capable of killing each other but only at the cost of both killing each other”.
James Carey Wahlang
Nongthymmai