Don’t Palestinians deserve a life worth living?

The world is going through some cruel times. Not that such inhumanity had not occurred before -- the first and second world wars, and Hitler's holocaust of the Jewish people are among mankind's darkest chapters.

However, the current brutality is a bit different. This time almost the entire world is actively or passively supporting it, which is unprecedented.

Yes, I am talking about the plight of the Palestinians. I am talking about Israeli occupation, murder, and brutality, which is being aided by some of the world's most prominent powers.

Palestinian militant outfit Hamas attacked Israel, resulting in the deaths of around 1,300 people. In retaliation, Israel attacked Gaza. Over the last 10 days, the area has been pounded with thousands of bombs, killing thousands of women, children, and men. Their houses have been destroyed; hospitals, schools, ambulances -- nothing has been spared. Moreover, the remaining residents have been ordered to evacuate.

Once it was the rightful land of Palestinians. Israel waged a six-day war in 1967 to occupy it. For almost 17 years, Gaza has been under a blockade and is deemed the world's largest "open-air prison". Mahmoud Abbas was elected president of Palestine in 2005. After Yasser Arafat's passing in 2004, Mahmoud became the leader of Fatah. However, he lost in the primary election of 2006. In the same year, Fatah was defeated by Hamas in a civil war. Winning the election in 2007, Hamas formed the government in Gaza.

Gaza is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea and Egypt on two sides, while Israel borders it on the remaining two sides.

Gaza strip: a small area of 365 square kilometres, is inhabited by 2.3 to 2.4 million Palestinians. About 70 percent of these people live below the poverty line and 65 percent are unemployed.

Since Hamas came to power in 2007, Egypt and Israel have put Gaza under blockade. These two nations have complete control over what goes in and comes out of Gaza.

Lack of work and food and basic amenities are constants in Gaza.

Undoubtedly, Hamas conducted some brutal acts upon infiltrating Israel. But why did Hamas attack Israel? There could be two reasons.

Firstly, the countries that were on Palestine's side and against Israel are also slowly but surely normalising relations with Israel. The Arab League of Nations as well as the unofficial leader of the region, Saudi Arabia, have taken this path. The Palestinians, as well as Hamas, might have thought that no one was supporting their cause anymore.

By attacking Israel, Hamas sent the message that no peace process can move ahead without taking into account the plight of the Palestinians.

Secondly, Israel has been occupying additional Palestinian land and, almost on a daily basis, setting up Jewish settlements. They have been torturing and killing the Palestinians. Ironically, the government of Israel had promised the citizens that no matter what happened, they would remain safe. Hamas's attack implied that even Israeli citizens are not safe.

The Hamas attack is still going through scrutiny. Almost all the interpretations or analyses are biased. The world's military and economic powerhouses have shown their prejudice and mainstream media is no exception.

They are mostly highlighting the brutal acts of Hamas, but at the same time, the cruel acts from Israel are being justified.

A complete blockade by Israel has made sure there is no water, fuel, or medicine in Gaza. Israeli bombs have decimated at least 15 hospitals. Gaza is suffering from a widespread food crisis, which includes food for babies. Air strikes are relentless. Israel has expressed its intent on intensifying land and naval attacks and ordered the inhabitants of North Gaza to evacuate within an impossible-to-meet deadline.

Everyone knows that, realistically, the Palestinians living in north Gaza cannot evacuate to the south. Gaza is a densely populated area. The south cannot house the 1.1 to 1.2 million northerners. Israel has two main reasons for giving this order.

Firstly, they want to justify killing the civilians. They can claim that they have already asked all civilians to evacuate -- so whoever remains back cannot be called a "civilian", and brought their own demise by failing to understand a specific instruction.

The second and the main reason for the order is so that it can take over the northern part of Gaza. They do not intend to let Palestinians return there.

Everyone is turning a blind eye towards Israel's brutality. The US is the largest supporter of Israel. Europe and Australia also follow the US which has the final say in the Arab nation's policy making. Apart from Iran, almost everyone else is busy establishing and or normalising relations with Tel Aviv. Saudi Arabia has decided to postpone normalisation talks with Israel, and after almost 11 days of brutality, OIC has decided to organise a meeting. Both these moves are merely lip service in the name of actual resistance or reaction.

Thanks to the US's veto power, the UN has mostly become a paper tiger. Apart from the UN, another large, 57-member strong organisation is the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which, so far has failed to play any effective role. They could not stop Israel's merciless bombardment of Gaza; they have mostly stayed silent during the entire ordeal so far.

Since the dawn of Israel as a nation, the Western countries have expressed their commitment to protect it at any cost. Thus, they turn a blind eye towards whatever attack Israel is conducting, or how many civilians, including women and children, they are killing. They are only concerned about who is attacking Israel, and what harm they are causing. Most mainstream media is also following the same strategy.

Human rights and its violation are absolute concepts. The standards cannot vary from country to country. It is preposterous that an incident will be considered as a human rights violation only if the Western world deems it so. It is not justified to term Hamas's attack as an "act of terror" while Israeli occupation and murder becomes an "act of self-defence".

This time around, the only strong voice to protest the Israeli brutality is Iran's.

The US anticipated that Iran might attack Israel directly, or utilise Hezbollah in doing so, and hence, they already deployed two naval aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean. They have also started sending weapons to Israel. The UK is also giving weapons and extending other kinds of assistance. Thus, Israel is continuing to pound Gaza. Hamas's military capabilities cannot be matched with that of Israel. Israel is much stronger. However, the Western world is trying to paint a picture where Israel is waging a war with one of the world's largest military forces -- Hamas. That is why they are helping Israel with warships and weapons.

The very existence of Palestine is now endangered. Whatever remains will be obliterated by Israel. It can be safely assumed that Israel will force the Palestinians of Gaza to move towards Egypt. They will live their remaining days as refugees in Egypt.

Israel is also slowly occupying the West Bank. Although Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas stays there, he has little or no influence. He continues to stay in power with the blessings of the US and Israel. Israel controls Jerusalem and most of the West Bank.

The Palestinians of the West Bank will be forced to evacuate and move towards Jordan, and some will be forced to enter Lebanon. This is how Israel will occupy the entire Palestinian land by forcing its inhabitants to Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon.

Such a thought or analysis is not at all unrealistic, considering the current situation.

In the coming days, one can only wonder: won't the dead bodies of Palestinian children wrapped in white shrouds, or their dying cries wake up the world's conscience? Will this humanitarian disaster, gross human rights violation be justified through this so called self-defence motivated holy war?

Don't the Palestinians deserve to live a life worth living?