A SOJOURNER’S VIEW: No more war! War never again!

CEBU CITY (MindaNews / 9 Oct) – St. Pope Paul VI spoke these words eloquently during his speech to the delegates at the United Nations Assembly on October 4, 1965. This was the first time a Pope addressed the UN delegates. After 50 years, the Pope’s plea continues to reverberate around the world. But is anyone listening?

A year ago, on October 7, 2023, the Hamas-led attacks in Israel led to one of the deadliest wars which erupted in Gaza. In the aftermath, an estimated 1,200 people were killed and close to 250 others were abducted. As of today, 112 hostages were swapped for prisoners held in Israel, 37 of them did not survive and their remains have been recovered and 97 still remain in captivity in Gaza.

It is the longest war between Israelis and Arabs since the end of the conflict that set the boundaries of the Israeli state in 1949. In the past year, Israel has waged an unprecedented aerial and ground attacks on Gaza. A year later, the war’s toll is staggering. See figures below as of October 1, 2024:

Country	Deaths in Israel	Deaths in Gaza	Deaths in West Bank	Missing/Death under rubble	TOTAL of known deaths
Palestine		41,615	693	10,000	52,308
Israel	1,200	346	33		1,570

[Source of Data: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).]

This brings the total deaths to 53,878. However, deaths on the side of the Palestinians increased in number, including those who died for other reasons: Due to starvation – 67,413, for lack of access to care for chronic diseases – roughly 5,000 and unknown numbers for those who died of infectious diseases and maternal/neonatal deaths. Israel’s attacks on Gaza have already been considered to be a genocide, according to the preliminary ruling of the International Court of Justice as well as by US, a federal court, dozens of UN experts and legal scholars,

Thus far, more than 120,000 human Palestinian and Israeli lives have been lost in this senseless war. And yet, the toll continues to rise by the day as attacks have not ceased, especially on the part of Israel. Against the backdrop of continued fighting, on both sides of the divide there were solemn memorials held on the first anniversary of the war in the past week. Anger and pain dominated these vigils as protests continue to take place around the world. For Palestinians, it was a year of unparalleled loss: homes destroyed, livelihoods upended and loved ones killed.

From Israel’s devastating counteroffensive against Hamas in Gaza a year ago, now the conflict has spread to additional fronts and drawn in allies of the Iranian-backed militant group.

Israel is simultaneously engaged in ground and air offensives against Hezbollah in Lebanon and, once again, Hamas in northern Gaza, five months after its troops left the area. It also is considering a retaliatory strike against Iran, which backs both groups. Meanwhile Tehran launched around 180 missiles at Israel recently.

What is unfolding in the Middle East today is a wider, multi-front war between Israel and Hamas’s regional allies but the core of the conflict remains the original battle between Hamas and Israel. For all the world-wide protests staged around the world (with those in the US universities as the most prominent as well as those that drew thousands in the major capitals in the world) the continuing call of the United Nations and many world leaders for a ceasefire, peace remains elusive. The futility of ending this war recalls the Greek myth of Sisyphus, condemned by the gods for eternity to repeatedly roll a boulder up a hill only to have it roll down again.

The question is: why is this deadly war still raging, claiming more lives, including innocent children? This war rumbles on for various reasons: Israel’s government with its head, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will not stop until the Hamas leadership is destroyed and their war capability dismantled. Many observers of this war claim this is an almost unreachable threshold for victory.

On the other hand, the remaining Hamas commanders led by Yahya Surwar still hope to win the war by just being able to survive Israel’s assault. They continue to fight as a guerilla force, taking advantage of their network of tunnels which had made it difficult for Israel to deal a decisive blow. As much as Israel hopes to free the remaining hostages, this has proven to be a difficult task as the Hamas forces are believed to be hiding along with the hostages, thus making it hard for Israeli forces to kill them and not harm their own citizens.

The unsuccessful attempt to declare a ceasefire is mainly because the Biden administration has been unwilling to exert enough pressure on Israel despite its genocidal war against Palestine that has displaced millions of people mostly in Gaza. If the United States stops sending its war weapons to Israel, Netanyahu cannot sustain Israel’s continuing attacks. But why is the US unwilling to exert the pressure that could successfully broker a truce?

One need only to ask one question: ultimately who mainly benefits from this war? The answer lies in digging into where the war weapons are coming from that continues to fuel Israel’s capacity to sustain their assault against Hamas in Gaza and now against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran! Without the war weapons that Israel secures from the US, Netanhayu would have no choice but engage in a ceasefire. Of the total assistance Israel secures from only three countries to buy war weapons, US provides 65.6%, compared to Germany’s 29.7% and Italy’s 4.7%. In the past year, the US has spent at least $22.76 billion on military aid to Israel and related U.S. operations in the region.

The US has always been the main supplier for Israel’s weapons. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), 69% of Israel’s imports of conventional arms in the period 2018-2023 made Israel the country with the most technologically sophisticated military. SIPRI claims that “the US set aside $500 million every year to fund Israel’s missile defense programs developed by Dome, Arrow and David’s Sling systems,” which provided Israel the defense against rocket, missile and drone attacks of Hamas and other Iran-based armed groups. SIPRI said that thousands of guided bombs and missiles were sent by the US to Israel at the end of 2023. And at the end of 2023, the Biden administration sold to Israel 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition worth $106 million, while the other was for $147 million of components to make 155mm artillery shells.

And yet, this is only the tip of the iceberg. One can google many other sources of information that provide detailed accounts of how the US has continued to provide military aid and weapons to Israel that has sustained Israel’s continuing assault on Gaza and expanded the war to Lebanon and Iran. One detailed report has been issued by the Quaker organization – the American Friends Service Committee (see link – https://afsc.org/gaza-genocide-companies). Part of the report is as follows:

“The scale of destruction and war crimes in Gaza would not be possible without this continued flow of weapons from the US. Despite massive public protests, the Biden administration has been working to give Israel over $14 billion to buy more weapons. This is on top of the $3.8 billion the US already gives to the Israeli military annually. Israel is required to use this money to buy US-made weapons. This is a form of corporate welfare not only for the largest weapons manufacturers, like Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, and General Dynamics, which have seen their stock prices skyrocket, but also for companies that are not typically seen as part of the weapons industry, such as Caterpillar, Ford and Toyota.”

Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine, which erupted on February 24, 2022 when Russia began its invasion, has escalated the Russo-Ukrainian War, which started in 2014. According to The New York Times, based on estimates by US officials, Ukraine’s military losses totaled 70,000 dead and 100,000 to 120,000 injured while on the Russian side, an estimated 120,000 have died and 170,000 to 180,000 injured. With Vladimir Putin’s belligerence, there seems to be no way out of this war. As Ukraine continues to be supported by the West, especially by the US, Russia has also managed to secure the support of its own allies.

In many other parts of the world, there are also all kinds of wars causing loss of lives and property and have proven difficult to be resolved, including those in Sudan, Myanmar, Ethiopia, The Sahel, Haiti, Libya, Syria, Yemen and the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. Even in the Philippines, the communist insurgency is still in place and despite the setting up of BARMM, there are still extremist groups creating violence in some parts of the Moro territory.

Meanwhile, China continues to encroach into the West Philippine Sea, provoking the return of the US bases with the approval of the current Marcos Jr. administration. The 1947 Military Agreement expired in September 1991and the Senate decided against retaining them. However, the present tense geo-politics has led the Philippines to depend on the US. Thus now the US bases are back located in the following: Antonio Bautista Air Base (Palawan), Balabac Island (Palawan), Camp Melchor dela Cruz (Gamu, Isabela), Lal-lo Airport (Cagayan), Basa Air Base (Pampanga), Benito Ebuen Air Base (Cebu), Fort Magsaysay (Nueva Ecija), Lumbia Airport (Cagayan de Oro), and Cesar Basa Air Base.

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What are the long-term consequences of all these global conflagrations and China’s looming power over Southeast Asia for us in the Philippines? There is no question that the US wants to remain a power to reckon with in this part of the globe and will have no hesitation to use the Philippines as one of its proxies to support its war to protect its own interests. So what is the challenge for us Filipinos today?

In a statement issued by the Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KILUSAN) last October 7, 2024, they called for “resisting the US scheme of using the Philippines for its war.” Its statement stated what needs to be done, as follows:

“For the world to realize peace and for the good of humanity, let us join the fight to end US at its allies’ wars and militarism. We Filipinos can actually do this by opposing the utter subservience of the Marcos regime to the US and the unrestrained intervention of the US and its building military bases here at great cost to the Filipino people. Fight US-Marcos regime’s plot turning the Philippines into pawn and starter or provocateur for war with China.

“We should also condemn China for its unreasonable and unjust claim over 90% of South China Sea (SCS), including WPS and its continued harassment of civilian security forces of the Philippines and banning Filipino fishers in WPS.

“Let us demand the government to genuinely uphold the principle of independence, non-alignment, promotion of peace and rejecting war in international relations. Together with the people of ASEAN countries, let us denounce and press China to withdraw its claim over SCS and WPS. Let us advance the international movement to declare SCS as Common Sea for the benefit of the peoples of ASEAN, China and Taiwan. Together let us resist US interference in the region.”

And for the Filipino Catholics, Pope Paul VI’s exhortation at the UN in 1965 – namely, that everyone should become peacemakers – remains a major challenge! He also strongly pushed for the Church to rediscover its non-violent roots. For in the words of Albert Camus: “Peace is the only battle worth waging!”

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Redemptorist Brother Karl Gaspar is Mindanao’s most prolific book author. Gaspar is also a Datu Bago 2018 awardee, the highest honor the Davao City government bestows on its constituents. He is presently based in Cebu City.)