Bangla Blogs: Praying For Peace In Gaza

“What's happening in Gaza is impossible to tolerate,” writes blogger Aprio, encapsulating in those few words the Bangla blogosphere's sentiments towards what most of them see as ‘Israeli aggression against Palestinian civilians’. Rakib says that the current situation in Gaza is a ‘terrible humanitarian crisis’ .

Ahmed Munir writes:

ফিলিস্তিন জাতিকে ধ্বংস করতে বদ্ধ পরিকর ইসরাইল এবার আঘাত হেনেছে গাজা উপত্যকায়। স্ব-দেশে পরবাসীতে পরিণত হওয়া ফিলিস্তিনী জনগণ অসহায়ের মত গত সাতদিনের টানা ইসরাইলি হামলায় তাদের শত শত স্বদেশীর মৃত্যু প্রত্যক্ষ করছে…তথাকথিত হামাস দমনের নামে ফিলিস্তিনি জনগণের বিরুদ্ধে জাতিগত শুদ্ধি অভিযান চালিয়ে যাচ্ছে ইসরাইল। বিশ্বের সবচেয়ে অসম ও সবচেয়ে নৃশংস এই যুদ্ধ।

Determined to annihilate the Palestinian race, Israel has now attacked the Gaza region. Turned into refugees in their own land, the Palestinians can only watch helplessly as the incessant Israeli attacks on Gaza over the last week continued to kill hundreds of their fellow people… In the name of curbing Hamas, Israel is carrying on a calculated program of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian population. This is the most unequal and violent of conflicts.

Farukh Wasif feels that this is a carefully planned program launched by Israel to rid the Gaza strip of Palestinians. He writes:

এবারের হামলার উদ্দেশ্য শুধু হামাস বা ফিলিস্তিনি প্রতিরোধ-আন্দোলন নয়, বরং গোটা ফিলিস্তিনিদের মনোবল এমনভাবে ভেঙে ফেলা যাতে তারা হাঁটু গেড়ে বসে প্রাণভিক্ষা চায়। তাদের সম্পদ ও সাংস্কৃতিক কেন্দ্রগুলোর সর্বোচ্চ ধ্বংস ঘটিয়ে, তাদের দৈনন্দিন জীবনযাত্রাকে অসহনীয় করে তুলে তাদের গণহারে দেশত্যাগে বাধ্য করাই আসল ল্ক্ষ্য। তার জন্যই ফিলিস্তিনীদের শহর-গ্রাম অবরুদ্ধ করে তাদের বিদ্যালয়, হাসপাতাল ও কর্মস্থল অকেজো করা হয়

This time the attack is not against the Hamas or the Palestinian resistance but against all Palestinians, to destroy their mental strength and courage so that they are reduced to kneeling and begging for their lives. By destroying their property, cultural centers, by making their lives intolerable, the plan is is to drive them out of the land en masse. That is why the attack has been targeted on their habitats, schools and hospitals.

What then is the role of the Hamas in the ongoing conflict? Is any amount of blame for the current situation to be laid at their door? Some of the bloggers, while not actively supporting the Hamas’ philosophy or ideals, express empathy towards their ‘rebellion against oppression’. Aprio says :

আমি হামাসের সমর্থক নই কিন্ত আমি মনে করি ‘রোগ’ টি হামাস নয়, হামাস তার সিম্পটম মাত্র… যে কোন জাতিকে দীর্ঘদিন অবরুদ্ধ করে রাখলে, সামরিক নিয়ন্ত্রণ এবং মৃত্যুভয়ে সন্ত্রস্ত রাখলে সেখানে কোন না কোন ‘হামাসের’ জন্ম হবেই।

I am not a supporter of Hamas but I feel that Hamas is not the disease, it is only a symptom of a disease… any nation or people, if they are oppressed for a long period of time, if they are kept in constant fear of death by military power, then in that situation there is bound to be birth of a ‘Hamas’ sooner or later.

Ahmed Munir cannot but feel the irony in Israel's role of the ‘aggressor’. He writes :

পরিহাসের বিষয় হচ্ছে ইসরাইল ইতিহাস ভুলে গেছে। নিজেদের উপর দ্বিতীয় মহাযুদ্ধের সময় নাৎসি হলোকাস্টের স্মৃতি তো তাদের ভুলবার কথা নয়। গণহত্যার মাধ্যমে যে কোনও জনগোষ্ঠীকে ধ্বংস করা যায় না, আজকের শক্তিশালী ইসরাইল রাষ্ট্রই তো তার প্রমাণ। সুতরাং ইতিহাস বলে ফিলিস্তিনিরা এমন মৃত্যুর প্রত্যাঘাত দেবেই। এ মৃত্যুর প্রতিধ্বনি শোনা যাবে গোটা মধ্যপ্রাচ্য এমন কী পৃথিবীব্যাপী। এখন যেটা প্রথমত প্রয়োজন তা হলো শান্তি, কেবলমাত্র শান্তি।

The funny thing is that Israel has forgotten history. They should have been the last people to forget the memory of the holocaust, the attempted cleansing of their race by the Nazis during the 2nd World War. The powerful Israeli state is itself the proof that it is not possible to annihilate a race by committing mass murder. Thus history tells us that the Palestinians will come back with a stronger response to these deaths of their people. The echoes of these killings will be heard across the Middle East and the world. Now what is needed urgently is peace, only peace.

There is also a simmering upset among a section of the bloggers who feel that Bush and his Israel appeasement policy is finally responsible for the continuation of this crisis in Gaza. Sawkat Ali writes :

স্বয়ং ইসরাইলে এ হামলা বন্ধ করার জন্য রাস্তায় হাজার হাজার মানুষ বিক্ষোভ করছে। তারপরও আমেরিকা এ হামলাকে বৈধতা দেযার চেষ্টা করছে। ওসামা-বুশ সব একই পথের পথিক।

In Israel itself, thousands of citizens are protesting against this attack on Gaza. Even after that America is trying to justify and vindicate this attack. Osama and Bush seem to be going down the same road.

Blogger Satyanneshi too has the following scathing comment on the role of the US in this crisis. He writes:

বিশ্ব বিবেকের কন্ঠস্বর’ বিশ্বঈশ্বর আমেরিকা বলছে এ গণহত্যা জায়েজ। অথচ মানবতার বিরুদ্ধে অপরাধের ধূয়া তুলে এই ঈশ্বরই সাদ্দামের ইরাক দখল করে নিয়েছে।

The keeper of the world's conscience, the ‘God of the world’ America is saying that this mass murder is necessary. However, this very same ‘God’ coolly used the ruse of “crimes against humanity” against Saddam to enter and capture Iraq.

Ahmed Munir too feels that it is the US which is keeping this conflict alive. He feels that America's future response to the Gaza conflict will make clear to the world if the Obama government is indeed sincere about resolving the conflicts in the Middle East. He says:

নতুন মার্কিন প্রশাসন যুদ্ধবাজ বুশ প্রশাসনের চেয়ে কতটা ভিন্ন সময়ই সেটা বলে দেবে। ইরাক কিংবা ফিলিস্তিনের দিকে নতুন দৃষ্টিতে তাকাতে না পারলে ওবামার পরিবর্তনের বুলি কথার কথাই থেকে যাবে।

Whether or not the new US government under Obama is any different from the Bush government, that only time will tell. If the new government is unable to look at Iraq and Palestine with new eyes, then Obama's promise of change will only remain as empty words.

Bloggers like Aprio are calling for people to unite and stand by the Gaza victims. Others like Trivuz have also launched a protest group on Facebook . Trivuz is also urging people to show their support for the Gaza victims by boycotting Israeli products and brands.

3 comments

  • […] Originally posted here: Global Voices Online » Bangla Blogs: Praying For Peace In Gaza […]

  • Ahsan

    Something has been missed(uncarefully!).Bangla blogsphere is also very much frustrated and angry about the roll of Arab countries(specially Egypt and Saudi Arabia) as well as about the collaboraor Mahmud Abbas.

  • JaY ZeD

    An open letter to US President-elect

    I wish Barack Obama all the best. He is taking over as the most powerful president on earth when we the common middle income people all over the world have been strongly hit by global economic recession, very low quality and barbaric, war-mongering biased US presidency and bloodbath on the inhumane warfront in Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan that goes on unabated without making any dent or impression on the conscience of the US administration.

    When I go through the pictures of death (especially of young Iraqi and Palestinian kids) and destruction I feel empty inside as a fellow human being.

    My country Bangladesh has just reclaimed parliamentary democracy after five years of misrule followed by two years of fascist dictatorship under a self-imposed unelected government. The Awami League, that led Bangladesh to independence under the leadership of the charismatic Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, has won a landslide victory in the December, 2008 elections.

    I would urge Barack Obama to engage VP Biden in foreign affairs. Mrs. Clinton’s remarks during the nomination race echoed many of Bush’s failed policies. With regard to Bangladesh, it may be recalled that Mrs. Clinton’s friend Mohammad Yunus was resolutely behind the fascist military-backed government that treated both the former PMs inhumanely. It is also alleged in Dhaka intellectual circles that Yunus was behind the conspiracy to remove the former two PMs from politics by banishing them from the country. His ulterior motive was to form a national government through which opportunists like him could grab power unconstitutionally. But people have foiled his evil design.

    Finally, I would request Barack Obama to strengthen democracy in Bangladesh by extending full support to the popularly elected government of Sheikh Hasina. She is deeply concerned about the price spiral in commodities like rice, fuel and fertilizer. She has taken measures to subsidize fertilizer and fuel prices for the poor farmers who toil day and night for food crops. There are rumours that Awami League’s pro-people policies may anger the World Bank-IMF coterie and donors who might then try to destabilize the Awami League government. Since the USDA heavily subsidizes American farmers I would request you to look at our scenario of helping out the toiling poverty-ridden farmers of Bangladesh from a humane point of view. Please do so and advise USDA and USAID to comply with our policies without creating hindrances or embarassment for the new populist government. Please extend all out support to Sheikh Hasina.

    Mr. Obama, you should also help the Awami League government nab the still-at-large assassins of the founding father of the nation and her family members who were murdered on 15th of August, 1975.

    Least but not the last, please shake up the US approach to international relations. Unbriddled aggression and unchallenged hegemony will only hurt US interests.

    The Bush-Cheney doctrine of naked aggression and brutal mayhem has been totally discredited. America must realize that in the next decade the world will see the rise of two or three economic and military superpowers that must be befriended by the US administration. Antagonizing them will only flare up new disasters.

    May God bless America! May God bless you! May God bless us all!

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