The world
has been watching the genocide underway at Gaza, already reeling from the
illegal land, air and naval blockade imposed by Israel since 2007. After the
shocking events of October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched the ill – advised
terror strikes against the Jewish communities on the Gaza border which claimed
about 1200 lives and the taking of around 250 hostages, a disproportionately
violent response was elicited from Israel. The unrelenting waves of warfare led
to the deaths of around 45,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians and children,
saw many more injured, much of the Gaza strip reduced to rubble and its entire
populace forcibly displaced from their homes, relegated to refugee status. For
those struggling to grapple with the complex geopolitical realities that have
led to this humanitarian crisis, Stanly Johny’s ‘Original Sin: Israel,
Palestine, and the Revenge of Old West Asia’ is a timely guide that helps one connect
the dots.
Based on
his travels, interviews, research and observations of the ground reality as an
International Affairs Editor with over a decade’s experience, Johny’s book
attempts to trace the roots of this conflict, identify the main players in this
foreign affairs nightmare and outline India’s evolving equation with Israel and
Palestine. With a reporter’s clear-eyed yet empathetic gaze, he takes the
reader back in time to key moments in history when the seeds for the present conflict
were sown. Over a century ago, the Balfour Declaration was signed, with the
British promising the Zionists a country in Palestine where the Arab natives
made up over 90% of the population. This had a seismic effect, the
reverberations of which are felt to the present day, Johny points out.
After
World War II, the United Nations called for the partition of Palestine into
Arab and Jewish states. The Arabs rejected this outright as 55% of Palestine
had been handed over to the Jews along with the fertile coastal region. At the
end of the 1948 war, Israel controlled 75% of Palestine including West
Jerusalem, having defeated four Arab countries. For Palestinians, it was al
Nakba - the catastrophe, as roughly 7,50,000 former inhabitants were violently
dislodged and scattered by Zionist militias. In the Six – Day War of 1967,
Israel captured all of Palestine and never gave it back, despite stiff resistance
and armed conflict over the years.
Johny’s
wry observations acquaint the reader with the political skullduggery and
Machiavellian manoeuvring that resulted in the Ottoman empire (including
Palestine) being carved up between Britain and France after WWII, and the
disgraceful protocol of Sèvres where Israel, Britain, and France colluded
against Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser resulting in the transfer of Western
influence in the region from the Europeans to the Americans. He also exposes
the ‘myth of Arab unity’ with the Palestinian cause making it clear that
nationalistic interests, ambition and sectarian fault lines usually trumps
ideology and brotherhood. It is also apparent that even the so – called
legitimate and recognized official bodies representing the Palestinians may be
corrupt and self – serving, content to make moving speeches in international
forums and pocket funds that keep pouring in from sympathizers, while allowing
the situation to deteriorate.
The
profiles of the heads of state involved in this hot spot as well as key figures
amongst the non – state actors such as Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad etc.
carefully constructed by Johny makes for riveting reading. Yitzhak Rabin’s
transition from a soldier and Defence Minister who endorsed a typically heavy –
handed ‘Break their Bones’ policy to the rare Israeli PM who advocated and
worked hard for peace ultimately, paying for it with his life is a particularly
affecting account.
The roles
played by Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and of course, the United States of
America in this crisis as outlined by Johny is most telling – ‘The United
States which is otherwise very vocal about human rights violations in Asia,
Africa and Latin America, always overlooks allegations of war crimes levelled
against Israel, even when they are backed by UN investigations’. The author can
take a bow because ‘The Original Sin’ is that brave book which emphatically
reports the truth as it is without kowtowing to higher powers seeking to establish
a narrative that actively endorses genocide.
This book review originally appeared in TNIE magazine
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