Exploring history of the Israel- Gaza conflict
Patrick Katagata
Israel, or Medinat Yisra’el [Hebrew] conducted dozens of air strikes on the Gaza Strip recently, after Palestinian militants fired barrages of rockets at southern Israeli cities. The two have a long history of conflict for various reason(s). The current conflict is tagged to, “The threat to evict Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah to make way for Israeli settlers,” but the Hamas say their attacks [on Israel] “are a retaliation for Israeli’s ‘ongoing aggression against civilians.’” Israeli military, however, insists the causalities were unintentional—that, its warplanes attacked a tunnel system used by militants, which collapsed, bringing homes down, an explanation the Hamas flatly reject, insisting it was, “pre-meditated killing”! So, what compounds this history?
Israel is the only modern time Jewish nation. Its history precedes biblical times. Israel evolved from the Roman and Byzantine Empires respectively before falling under the fleeing Islamic caliphate in the 7th Century CE. There were military expeditions (crusades) around the 11th Century by Western European Christians against centuries of Muslim wars of expansion, to: check the spread of Islam; retake control of the Holy Land in Eastern Mediterranean; conquer pagan areas; and recapture formerly Christian territories. The contested region, Palestine, remained under the sway of successive Islamic dynasties [Syria, Spain and the Baltic] until the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, when it was placed under British mandate by the League of Nations. Even before the mandate, the desire for a Jewish homeland prompted a small number of Jews to immigrate to Palestine, which grew intensely in the second quarter of the 20th Century, increased worldwide persecution of Jews and subsequent Holocaust perpetuated by Nazi Germany. Jews scattered globally, but at home or abroad, they are peculiar geniuses especially in military technology and business entrepreneurship!
Israel fascinates me! Excluding the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with land area coverage of 8,357 Sq. Miles [compared to Uganda’s 146,675 Sq. Miles], and a population currently about 8,773,000 [compared to Uganda’s 40 million, plus], Israel is, undoubtedly, one of the world’s smallest countries, yet, quite interestingly, also one of the most powerful nations! It fought a series of wars against neighbouring Arab States since time immemorial and won almost all, if not all! Why? Psalms 33:12, says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom He has chosen as His inheritance.” I do not intend to delve much into spiritual matters, but you might agree that foundations—of nations, as for human relations, significantly matter. Most of us know that Israel is God’s elect! Deuteronomy 7:6, NIV, puts it more plainly, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, to be his people, his treasured possession.” Uganda, by divine orchestration, through River Nile and Moses [Exodus 2:3-4:18ff], luckily connects to God’s Salvation Plan for Israelites; from Egyptian slavery!
But one point I should not miss for this article is—Israel’s mandatory national service. I have advocated it before, and recently, Kazo MP, Dan Kimosho, rooted for the same. Let us purge the reasons for its halt. Uganda should urgently reinstate national service—and make it mandatory for all the youth. The advantages thereof range from inculcating nation-focused and personal discipline, ensuring work efficiency, detribalising undertakers towards national unity, and, of course, to enhance national security should need arise. Israel currently enjoys all these. Frantz Fanon, in ‘The Wretched of the Earth’ recommended: “…national service may be civil or military, and in any case it is advisable that every able-bodied citizen at any moment take his place in a fighting unit for the defence of national and social liberties”. Is that something Uganda cannot do?!
Mr Patrick Katagata Jr., is a founding executive, African Potential Forum.
