As we celebrate the birth of Jesus and his profound teachings, many of us are wondering if instead of learning how to make peace, we are learning more about the horrors of war.
Our small island is now surrounded and affected by five wars: in the Eastern Mediterranean in 2023, the Israeli –Palestine wars have claimed over 27,000 lives while in Syria 5,860 lives were lost; to the north, the Russia-Ukraine war rages on with over 29,000 killed; in the southern Mediterranean, the Libyan ceasefire is still tenuous; while further south, the Sudanese war claimed 12,785 lives, and the Somalian war 8,849 during this year alone.
We must recognise, I believe, that militarism has become strongly ingrained in most contemporary societies, with the US as the main protagonist. In 2022, US military expenditure was more than the combined military expenditure of the next 10 countries.
The European Union itself, particularly in recent years, has taken on many features of a military bloc, from its increased commitments to the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, to its dual-use infrastructural funding for military and civilian use and its mandatory Situation of Forces Agreements (SOFA).
It is therefore important for us to remind ourselves that Malta’s independence brought us demilitarisation and much more prosperity and security than most other countries that are increasingly enmeshed in military alliances and soaring military expenditures. And it is salutary to recognise that our status as a neutral country is our greatest protection in these turbulent times.
The Israeli ongoing war against Palestine is petrifying in its ferocity and magnitude. As we picture Jesus being born in Bethlehem on Christmas Day, our inner eye sees the devastated and terrified inhabitants of the West Bank who, together with the even more unfortunate Palestinian people of Gaza, are suffering a “totally unprecedented loss of human development” (UNDP assistant director, Abdallah Al Dardari), safety and peace.
As a result of 10 weeks of Israeli military blocs and thousands of checkpoints, relentless raids, destruction, arrests and killings, the West Bank within two months has lost over 40 per cent of its GDP, mainly through the decline of tourism and agricultural activities.
Bethlehem is not rejoicing this Christmas. It is a besieged town whose people are desperate for our solidarity. They call on us to strike to stop Israel’s war on Palestine.
They make this call because Israel is acting with impunity in committing war crimes.
These include the use of burning phosphorous on children; blockades and starvation tactics; relentless strikes on residences, schools and hospitals, journalists, health workers and UN staff; with the resulting displacement of 1.9 million of the 2.2 million residents of Gaza who have no place to go that is safe.
To better understand the ideology of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, you can read the introduction of his 1986 book Terrorism; how the West can win. He and his 35 contributors proceed on the assumption that the world is divided between representatives of the Sons of Light (West) and the Sons of Darkness (East). From this simple reductionism, all Arabs and communists are considered to be potential terrorists.
But we cannot begin to understand Israel’s ongoing war on Palestine without examining Israel’s colonial past and the complicity of the British in the Zionist aim to take Palestine from its people through the use of Jewish settlements, violent expansion and ultimate expulsion.
A critical point where genocide or a third world war are possible- Yana Mintoff
The practice of asymmetric warfare in order to colonise more territory is studied by an American Professor Laleh Khalili in Time in the Shadows.
She challenges not just the way these wars are handled through mass slaughter and carceral techniques, but their very basis in transnational elite politics and ideologies of rule.
Khalili traces the career of a Zionist general, Orde Wingate (1903-1944), employed by the British to advance its empire in Sudan, Ethiopia, Burma and Palestine where he led special night squads of British and Zionist policemen to systematically terrorise and crush the Arab revolt of 1936-39 in Galilee by encircling, humiliating, detaining and indiscriminately killing.
Khalili quotes General Moshe Dayan saying “in some sense, every leader of the Israeli Army even today is a disciple of Wingate. He gave us our technique, he was the inspiration of our tactic, he was our dynamic.” Today, we see this technique enacted on our screens, taken to extremes in the murder of 7,729 children and 5,153 women among the current toll of nearly 20,000 killed and 52,586 injured people in Gaza.
Indeed, this Christmas is heartbreaking. But it is also a time to come closer together in our commitment to help one another and in particular to help people whose fundamental rights are being violated. Peace is our priority, especially for every child in Malta and the Mediterranean.
The peace movement in Malta is growing, led by fearless leaders like Peace Lab Founder Fr Dionysius Mintoff, President Emeritus Louise Coleiro Preca and Sammy Meilaq. Meanwhile, solidarity for the Palestinian people and understanding of their circumstances is increasing and will continue to do so.
In this context, let’s turn to the first article of our constitution that states in item 3: “Malta is a neutral state actively pursuing peace, security and social progress among all nations by adhering to a policy of non-alignment and refusing to participate in any military alliance”.
This policy of active neutrality, of actively pursuing peace, is what we as Maltese people and leaders can do best. It means that where we see violence and war, we take action and do not just look the other way or worse become complicit with the aggressors.
But it also means that we do not condone the United States, Russia, China, Britain, or any state that uses its military might to kill, steal or oppress. Our aim is demilitarisation and an end to all wars.
We are grateful that our leaders are working hard for diplomatic solutions to the terrible asymmetric war against the people of Palestine, at the United Nations and in European fora, but we need to do more. The Israel/US war machine is not heeding diplomatic calls for an immediate end to the war on Gaza and for a long-term peaceful solution. Sanctions must be imposed.
The Middle East is reaching a critical point where genocide or a third world war are both possible. Therefore, multilateral legal, economic, political, or military sanctions against Israel should be considered, and indeed are already being discussed by peacemakers in Europe and around the world.
One recent example is the Malaysian government that has just announced a ban on Israeli ships docking in its country.
Yana Mintoff is a political activist for justice, equality and peace.