Settlement expansion in occupied Palestinian territories is against Israel’s own interests

Through the illegal settlements, Israel is contributing to the tumult in region and is also flaring up renewed tensions with Arabs

Although, I am not one of those Pakistani Muslims who consider  lambasting Israel and calling every incident in world a consequence of Yahoodi saazish (Jewish conspiracy) as one of their religious obligations, but sometimes it becomes quite difficult to sustain a positive image of Israel in mind for a secular and not-so religious Pakistani Muslim like me.

This is especially true when it comes to gross human rights violations perpetrated by Israel’s renowned IDF (Israeli Defense Force), which in recent years has become more of an army of professional butchers or of grim death reapers, especially when it comes to butchering civilians in Gaza.

I do realize that violence and bloodshed in the Arab-Israel conflict is not one sided or confined to IDF and is being perpetrated from both sides also from militant groups in Arab world like Hamas and Hezbollah, but the extent of violence which comes from Israel as an act of retaliation against the provocations of her Arab neighbours is usually disproportionate and excessive.

I do realize that Israel deserves the right to protect her citizens from the threats posed by the militants in Palestine and Lebanon, but Israeli retaliations in response to Palestinian and Lebanese rocket attacks and terrorist attacks has caused more civilian causalities than targeting the actual culprits who have often used civilians as human shields in Gaza or Beirut.

The establishment, in 1947, of the state of Israel was perceived by the surrounding newly independent Arab states as an extension of western colonialism, the creation of a western outpost designed to weaken the Arab world and defeat in a succession of Arab-Israeli wars merely deepened the sense of frustration and humiliation across the Arab world.

Israel has always been seen in the Arab or the broader Muslim world as an embodiment of Western influences, which has further augmented a festering sense of resentment in Muslim world against the West.

The United Nations Security Council’s recent resolution against Israel’s illegal settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories has triggered intense reactions from Tel Aviv. In an act of defiance, the Israeli regime has put back on track proposed legislation to award legal status to some 4,000 settler units built on private Palestinian property in the occupied West Bank.

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