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Zahid Hussain Published January 8, 2025
THE new year has not brought much hope for an end to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, which has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians since it began in October 2023. The Zionist regime has intensified its bombardment of the enclave, targeting whatever has been left of the health facilities in Gaza and killing scores more amid a renewed push for a ceasefire.
Months of negotiations have failed to end the war, and there is little expectation that the fresh round of talks, mediated by Egypt and Qatar, will succeed. While Hamas has said it is committed to reaching an agreement, a key obstacle to a potential deal has been Israel’s reluctance to a lasting ceasefire.
The surge in Israeli air strikes has only brought more death and misery to the hapless population of Gaza. The relentless bombing has worsened living conditions in the territory, leaving over a million people homeless. With no shelter and medical facilities, children are freezing to death in the biting cold — the Israeli onslaught has restricted the entry of humanitarian aid, including blankets and tents.
The war, which is backed and financed by the outgoing Joe Biden administration in the US, has left some 18,000 children dead. According to UN data, Israeli bombardment has destroyed or damaged over 90 per cent of Gaza’s homes. The sustained attacks on hospitals and medical workers have brought the healthcare system in the enclave to the brink of total collapse, according to a recent report by the UN’s human rights office, which “catalogues the besieging and targeting of hospitals and their immediate grounds with explosive weapons”. The attacks have killed hundreds of medical workers and damaged lifesaving equipment. It says that 80pc of Gaza’s healthcare system has been destroyed. Many preventable deaths have occurred due to lack of care, including of mothers and newborn babies.
For the next US administration, there is no concept of a two-state solution.
The report says that the attacks could “amount to war crimes”. But Israel continues with its atrocities because of US backing and the inaction of the international community. According UN human rights experts, the siege “appears intended to permanently displace the local population as a precursor to Gaza’s annexation in further violation of international law”. Israel has also extended its war to the occupied West Bank.
The escalation comes at a time when a new administration is about to take over in the US. Not that the Biden administration has been any less supportive of Israel’s war of aggression, but the incoming president, Donald Trump, is likely to give carte blanche to the right-wing government in Tel Aviv.
While Trump has vowed to bring peace to the Middle East, many analysts believe that his return to the White House will only bring more death and destruction to Gaza. He has repeatedly declared his blanket support for Israel. During an address to a Republican Jewish convention in 2023, he said he would “defend our friend and ally in the State of Israel like nobody has ever”.
In his first term as president, Trump had recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in a departure from Washington’s original position that had opposed the city as the capital of Israel. His administration had also declared the settlements in the West Bank to be legal.
Moreover, his handpicked cabinet is full of staunch supporters of the Zionist regime, some of whom have publicly called for the complete destruction of the Palestinian resistance.
Last year, Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Senator Marco Rubio, declared that he opposed a ceasefire in Gaza and believed Israel should destroy “every element of Hamas”. “These people are vicious animals who did horrifying crimes,” he said.
Trump’s nominee for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, wants the next administration to “let Israel finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza. An even more fanatical supporter of Zionist expansionism is Trump’s choice of US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor who has consistently backed the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and has described a two-state solution in Palestine as “irrational and unworkable”.
Meanwhile, Trump has picked Congresswoman Elise Stefanik as US ambassador to the UN, which she has labelled a “cesspool of antisemitism”. The views of some other nominated members of the incoming Trump administration on the Palestinian issue are no less vitriolic.
Not surprisingly, the installation of such a supportive administration in Washington has given huge impetus to the Zionist regime to escalate its air and ground attacks in the occupied territory. Close alignment with the incoming US administration seems to have amplified Israel’s sense of impunity, making it more difficult to pressure the Zionist regime into a ceasefire deal in Gaza and stop its oppression in the occupied West Bank.
Israel has made it clear that it would only agree to a ceasefire deal that ensures it maintains its military control of Gaza as it does in the West Bank. The Palestinian resistance groups have said they are committed to accepting a ceasefire and have even approved a list of 34 hostages to be exchanged in a possible deal. But they have also reiterated that any deal is contingent upon a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire. Given Israel’s intransigence, there is no hope of any breakthrough.
Neither is there any likelihood of the incoming Trump administration pressing Israel for concessions. According to some analysts, Trump would most likely allow Israel to annex the West Bank if it ended the Gaza war. For the incoming US administration, there is no concept of a two-state solution with a separate Palestinian state.
Trump would most likely build on his 2020 ‘peace plan’ that would legitimise Israeli annexation and Palestinian subjugation. With his cabinet packed with radical pro-Israel elements, it is hard to imagine that the incoming president would be willing to accommodate Palestinian demands. There is no hope for peace in the region as long as Israel continues its genocidal war with the support of the US.
The writer is an author and journalist.
zhussain100@yahoo.com
X: @hidhussain
Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2025
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Editorial Published January 8, 2025
SOMETHING is afoot in Islamabad, but few seem willing to venture a guess about what is really going on. It is curious that both the PTI and the government seem much more elastic than at any point since the former’s banishment from the corridors of power.
Officially, the two are engaged in negotiations; however, there has been little by way of tangible progress in their talks, with matters still stuck on what the PTI’s formal demands are and the PTI’s insistence on unrestricted access to its incarcerated founder-leader. Meanwhile, there has been a constant cycle of speculation and denial about back-channel talks between the PTI and the military establishment. Whatever the truth of those may be, it is widely understood that no talks can progress unless there is some sort of understanding between the two, especially given the latter’s expanded involvement in running the affairs of the state.
The distrust between the PTI and the incumbent regime has grown into a chasm over the last few years. Bridging it is, therefore, no simple task. The mere fact that official negotiations were initiated was itself a major accomplishment, given the circumstances. That they have continued for more than two weeks, despite apprehensions on both sides, piques one’s interest. After all, one of the negotiating parties had, till recently, dismissed the other as having no real authority at all; the other still paints the former as a ‘terrorist’ entity involved in ‘anti-state activities’. It has been said that shared concerns over terrorism and the economy have, at least temporarily, helped overcome the mutual contempt both hold for each other. It is unfortunate, however, that whatever rules of engagement are being agreed upon are being decided in secret, without the public given much of a hint about what, precisely, is under discussion.
It would have been much better had the ongoing dialogue been conducted in the public eye. Perhaps a bit of secrecy is still needed given how polarised the country is at the moment and because none of the parties may be comfortable making necessary concessions that may lower their public standing in any way. Still, the public deserves to know what terms are being negotiated so that there is a broader consensus on how matters will proceed thereafter.
The nation’s fate has been decided through secret deals for too long, with the result that the citizenry has become increasingly alienated from the state. It is hoped, therefore, that the final round of dialogue, at least, will be conducted in the public eye so that there is a wider debate on each side’s positions. For there to be closure, all stakeholders, including the citizenry, must be brought on the same page. Once there is consensus, the nation will move forward.
Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2025
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Reuters | Tahir Khan
India will consider engaging in development projects in Afghanistan in the near future, India’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, despite the lack of diplomatic relations.
The statement followed a meeting between Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai, the first publicly acknowledged high-level interaction between the two countries since the Taliban takeover in 2021.
“In response to the request from the Afghan side, India will provide further material support in the first instance to the health sector and for the rehabilitation of refugees,” the statement said.
It said the two sides discussed various issues pertaining to bilateral relations as well as regional developments.
“The Afghan side underlined its sensitivities to India’s security concerns. The two sides agreed to remain in touch and continue regular contacts at various levels.
“Foreign secretary underlined India’s historic friendship with the Afghan people and the strong people-to-people contacts between the two countries. In this context, he conveyed India’s readiness to respond to the urgent developmental needs of the Afghan people,” the statement said.
“The Afghan minister appreciated and thanked the Indian leadership for continuing to engage and support the people of Afghanistan. In view of the current need for development activities, it was decided that India would consider engaging in development projects in the near future, in addition to the ongoing humanitarian assistance programme,” the statement added.
“The two sides also discussed strengthening sports (cricket) cooperation, which is highly valued by the young generation of Afghanistan. It was also agreed to promote the use of Chabahar port for supporting trade and commercial activities, including for the purpose of humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan,” it maintained.
Meanwhile, a statement from the Afghan side said Muttaqi thanked India for its humanitarian assistance and added that according to its balanced and economy-oriented foreign policy, his government wanted to have political and economic relations with India as an important and economic country in the region.
“The foreign minister assured the Indian side that there is no danger to anyone from Afghanistan and expressed the hope of increasing diplomatic relations and creating facilities related to visas for businessmen, patients and students,” according to the statement.
It further said that the Indian foreign secretary “praised the Islamic Emirate’s fight against drugs and corruption in the country” and added that India was willing to expand relations with Afghanistan in the political and economic fields and to promote trade through Chabahar port in Iran.
Both sides agreed to facilitate visas and trade, the Afghan statement concluded.
Talking to Dawn.com, Pakistan’s former ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmad Khan said the development was “very predictable”.
He added: “Whenever differences and tensions appear in Pakistan-Afghanistan relations, India would find an opportunity to increase its space and deter Afghanistan’s fraternal neighbourly relations with Pakistan.”
He said the only way to deal with the situation was to focus on “working out a way of engaging with Afghanistan to resolve our mutual concerns”.
India has so far dispatched several shipments consisting of wheat, medicines, Covid vaccines and winter clothing to Afghanistan.
India does not recognise the Taliban government which seized power in 2021 and closed its own embassy in Kabul after the Taliban took control that year.
Afghanistan’s embassy in New Delhi was closed in November 2023 after diplomats appointed by the Afghan government ousted by the Taliban failed to secure visa extensions from their Indian hosts.
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The Afghan Taliban’s foreign office said they saw India as a “significant regional and economic partner” after meeting with its most senior foreign ministry official, the highest level talks with Delhi since their takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.
India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met acting Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai on Wednesday.
Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that they had discussed expanding relations with Afghanistan and boosting trade through the Chabahar Port in Iran, which India has been developing for goods to bypass the ports of Karachi and Gwadar in its rivalPakistan.
“In line with Afghanistan’s balanced and economy-focused foreign policy, the Islamic Emirate aims to strengthen political and economic ties with India as a significant regional and economic partner,” the statement from Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said late on Wednesday.
India’s foreign ministry said after the Dubai meeting that India was considering engaging in development projects in Afghanistan and looking to boost trade ties.
No foreign government, including India, officially recognises the Taliban administration.
However, India is one of several countries with a small mission in Kabul to facilitate trade, aid and medical support and has sent humanitarian aid to Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Regional players including China and Russia have signalled they are willing to boost trade and investment in Afghanistan.
The Delhi meeting could ruffle Pakistan, which borders both countries and has fought three wars in the past against India.
Pakistan and Afghanistan also have a strained relationship, with Pakistan saying that several terrorist attacks that have occurred in its country have been launched from Afghan soil — a charge the Afghan Taliban denies.
Earlier this week India’s foreign office told journalists they condemned the anti-terrorist airstrikes conducted late last year by Pakistan on Afghan soil targeting the UN-designated terror group Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
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