Two days after the Israel killed 58 Palestinians and wounded more than two thousand during the inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem, the world seems to have already moved on. The US and the Israel have wilfully plied the narrative that Palestinians were themselves responsible for their deaths as they were protesting near the Israeli border and throwing stones. The US blamed Hamas for the massacre even though the latter hadnt called the protests. The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas, a White House spokesman, Raj Shah, said. Similarly Israel has defended the massacre as a response to the Palestinians charging their border.
The massacre has generated a familiar round of shock and grief. United Nations Security Council expressed outrage and sorrow at Israels shooting of Palestinian demonstrators and called for an independent and transparent investigation. But US has since blocked the adoption of the Security Council statement for probe.
Palestinian protest was against the US moving its embassy to Jerusalem which they see as the capital of the future Palestinian state. Status of the city that is sacred to three great religions Islam, Christianity and Judaism has thus remained bitterly contested. And this fact is recognised by the world including by the US until the advent of Donald Trump on the scene. By recognizing Jerusalem as the Israels capital is a major departure from the expected behaviour of the US as the world power.
Biggest loser in the unilateral decision to move embassy to Jerusalem has been the US image itself. The worlds lone superpower which only has the power and influence to broker a peace between Israel and Palestine has dented its credibility to act as an honest mediator, perhaps irreparably so. It has uninhibitedly thrown its lot with Israel by gifting it Jerusalem. Though West Jerusalem has been the Israeli seat of power for decades, the Jewish country occupied East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it. Now the US recognition has legitimized Israeli occupation.
However, while there have been protests all over the Muslim world with the leaders issuing strong statements against the US decision, there is little that Muslims can do about it. If anything, Trumps effortless and wilful announcement yet again highlight the weakness of the Muslim world. All the Muslim countries combined wield little geo-political clout to stall such a move, let alone force a rethink on the decision.
The brutal massacre of Palestinians has only put in sharper relief the Muslim haplessness. And it was starkly clear by the contrast in the media images from Jerusalem and Gaza. While a celebration was on at Jerusalem attended by a US delegation including Donald Trumps daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, Israeli forces were killing and maiming Palestinian protesters including women and children at the border. There is no way this bloodshed will stop if the Palestinians dont get justice. And that is unlikely to happen if the world of Islam remains powerless and undivided. Massacre of Palestinians is one more wake-up call for the Muslim world to reflect over its weakness and seek to address the causes responsible for it.
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