Gaza War, Horrific, But Does Not Yet Measure Up To Genocide – Professor Mimiko
By Imefv Efuda
The former Vice-Chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, in Ondo State, Professor Femi Mimiko, mni, has argued that while the ongoing military campaign by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in Gaza is horrific, indefensible, and totally condemnable, it had not yet measured up to the status of a genocide.
In a presentation, titled “The Dynamics of the ongoing war in Gaza and implications for Nigeria,” at the 16th edition of The NPSA Webinar Platform, hosted by the Nigerian Political Science Association (NPSA), on November 21, 2023, the Professor of Comparative Political Economy and International Relations argued that the Arab-Israeli conflict is basically a clash of two nationalisms, one Arab, the other Jewish; and not so much about religion, given the high level of religious fluidity in the entire Middle East, and in particular, Palestine. He expressed doubt over the narrative on the existence of a filial relationship between the Arabs and Jews; as the Jews are Caucasians and basically a European community, while the overwhelming majority of Arabs are not.
Defining genocide as an act predicated upon the intent to destroy or exterminate an ethnic, racial, national, or religious group, either in whole or in part, the guest lecturer argued that what Israel is after in its war on Hamas, is the expulsion of Gazans from northern Gaza, with a view to making the territory available for permanent occupation by Israeli settlers. He, however, noted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been quoted equating the Palestinian Arabs with the Amalekites in the Bible, whom God instructed King Saul to completely wipe out; a reference he considered as quite worrisome.
Citing copiously from the Bible, Professor Mimiko contended that while the Zionist claim to divine right over Palestine derives from the Biblical account of the ceding of the land to the children of Israel by God, the later actually made it clear that some other peoples had populated the same land before instructing Abraham to move in there from ‘Ur, the land of the Chaldeans.’ Thus, he argued that the conflicting interpretation of the Biblical accounts may not be of any help in figuring out how to resolve the lingering conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Israel.
Criticisms of the acts of the State of Israel, Professor Mimiko noted, do not necessarily equate anti-Semitism, as widely and deliberately promoted by the country, in what he said amounts to a blackmail of sort. For him, these types of deliberate skewing of the narratives make it quite challenging to find a lasting solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. He noted specifically the similarity between Israeli treatment of Arabs in the occupied territories and apartheid South Africa; and that drawing such conclusions is not in any way anti-Semitic.
While condemning the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the professor argued that the organisation may actually not have blossomed if Israel had acted in a manner that accorded legitimacy to Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Chairman Yasser Arafat’s 1988 recognition of its right to exist within secured borders, as enunciated in UN Security Council Resolution 242 of 1967. According to Professor Mimiko, ‘If Israel had moved in the same direction, in 1988, and accepted the inevitability of a Palestinian state – a tangible payoff to the Palestinians – Hamas would not have happened. But Israel was completely averse to the idea of an independent Palestinian state, side by side with Israel. This, it referenced as akin to a dagger in the heart for the Jewish state. It was, therefore, not until after the Oslo Accord in 1993 that Israel allowed the Palestinian Authority to be formed. Even so, the PLO had only a very limited control over West Bank, and was soon to lose control over Gaza, to the more radical and popular Hamas.’
The guest lecturer argued that stopping the ongoing violence inflicted on Gaza by the Israeli military, in which more than 11,000 people had reportedly been killed, may require some form of ‘eye-ball-to-eye-ball diplomacy, under which one or more regional powers with compelling presence would issue an ultimatum on Israel to halt the carnage it is inflicting upon Gaza.’ Professor Mimiko said it was regrettable that trained soldiers would come on television and try to justify the bombing of hospitals and schools, just so to hunt down Hamas combatants. The complete liquidation of Hamas as a group, but more importantly, as an idea predicated upon resistance to the injustice underscoring the Middle East conflict, he argued, is a military objective that has no chance of being accomplished.
In a review of the possible ways out of the conflict, which included the two-state solution, and the idea of a single, ‘de-Zionized state’ for both Jews and Arabs; among others, the guest speaker identified the two-state solution as the most practicable. He expressed the hope that the United States, Israel’s main ally, would be able to persuade the Jewish state ‘to not only stop the bombardment of Gaza, but make the types of concessions requisite for resolving the conflict.’ He, however, considered the 2024 US election a hindrance, as the Biden Administration may not be inclined to overtly pressuring Israel to accept some compromises.
In his remarks, Prof Alade Fawole of the Department of International Relations, Obafemi Awolowo University wondered why Israel seemed determined to punish the Arabs, even when it was Europeans and not Arabs that were responsible for the Holocaust and anti-Semitism. He concluded that there may not be a solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, given the complexity of the issues and the lack of political will on the part of the United States of America political establishment, made so by the powerful Jewish lobby in the country.
The National President of NPSA, Professor Saliu Hassan, of the University of Ilorin, commended Professor Mimiko for presenting a very balanced, objective and highly analytical paper. He noted that the sheer number of Nigerian pilgrims travelling to the Middle East every year is enough reason why the Nigerian government should be interested in the unfolding drama in the region.
