War, Peace, and Everything in Between

A Saga of Hypocrisy-Part II: From a Palestinian Perspective The Israel-Palestine conflict has stretched on for more than 70 years as of today, seemingly with no end in sight. Almost all attempts at achieving peace have failed, which have costed both nations far too many innocent lives. In this series of articles, I shall analyse this conflict from different perspectives, and offer my personal views on how the involved parties can possibly sort out their differences. In this article, I shall underline what the conflict looks like on the ground through a Palestinian's eyes. 1. Human Rights and International Law In the international forum, perhaps no other country is as vocal as the United States when it comes to human rights in a war-zone or in an autocratic nation. The US has frequently voiced its concerns about the violations of human rights in the Syrian conflict, in North Korea, and in areas plagued by the ISIL and al-Qaeda. This is ironic, because the US itself i...

A Saga of Hypocrisy-Part I: The Middle East and the West Ever since the discovery of vast reserves of crude oil in the Middle East, it has become a hotspot for intervention, conflict, and complex geopolitics. The Western Powers, such as UK, France, and especially the US, along with the not-so-western Russia, have been ceaselessly embroiled in Middle Eastern affairs for more than a century today. In the immediate years following the end of the Second World War, the major colonial powers of  UK and France found themselves unable to sustain their colonial ambitions, having drained all their resources and finances in the war. And so began the hasty withdrawal of the British and French from their numerous colonies and protectorates and the creation of numerous independent states. Such was the case in the Middle East as well, where the British and French both had their respective territories. However, despite there being almost no ethnic and cultural diversity in the region, a quag...

Israel-Palestine: Victims of Misunderstanding 14th May 1948. The British Mandate of Palestine was formally terminated by the British government. This was followed by the creation of two independent states- the State of Israel and the State of Palestine, in accordance with the UN Partition plan laid out in Resolution 181 of the UN General Assembly, with the holy city of Jerusalem placed under UN administration. This resolution was vehemently opposed by Arab nations, who instead wished for a single Arab state in Palestine.  As a result, on 15th May 1948, exactly one day after its independence, Israel was attacked on three fronts by five Arab states- Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. Despite the odds, Israel won a phenomenal victory over the Arabs, due in part to good Israeli military planning, and partly to strategic blunders by the Arab states and a lack of coordination between them. As a result of the war, Israel found itself in possession of one-third more terr...

How Pakistan is spiraling towards its doom Greetings readers! This is my first post (of many more to come), and in these I shall be expressing and sharing my various views on the world order, and significant events of the past and present. Do feel free to share your feedback, so I may improve my blog! Also, a note to all readers: I do not wish to hurt the sentiments of any particular nation or social group, and whatever I write is purely, the  rumblings of a wandering mind.  In this article, I wish to explore the path that our neighbor, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, has taken in the spheres of internal governance and foreign policy, and what seems to be its future, judging by its past and present actions.  The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, as we all know, was created on the 14th of August, 1947, following the violent partition of the former British colony of India. Ever since then, the two nations have shared a turbulent history; for the scars and differen...