Palestinians to be warned of holocaust by the past victims is obscene to say the least. The same sort of warning, whatever be the provocation, coming from any other country would have met a chorus of virulent condemnation. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, had been condemned severely for calling for liquidation of Israel as a Zionist entity. Yet, the West has so far remained silent on the obnoxious reference to holocaust, Dr Zakir Husain

Rockets fired by firebrand militants of Palestinian militant groups have enraged Israel as the occupying power of the Gaza strip of Palestine Territories. In response, the Israeli defence forces are enraged enough to regularly fire very lethal airborne missiles upon ‘suspicious’ looking targets in and around civilian areas of Gaza. These missiles are state-of-the-art weapons of the very best and latest technology generously given by the only superpower on the planet. Though presumably precision guided these missiles kill and injure militants and civilians alike. Moreover, schoolchildren and women have frequently been killed even though presumably by mistake.

Bizarre it might well be; but a murder mystery movie comes to mind. Have you seen the movie ‘Dial M for Murder?’ You are privileged to witness a repeat of that movie as you watch on TV screen the many murders by ‘dialling missiles’ every single day in Gaza strip. Where? In occupied Palestine Territories, where in the past week alone at least thirty-two Palestinians were killed including nine children against one Israeli civilian.

Fact is: What the missiles do could never be matched by what the homemade ‘Qassam’ rockets fired by Palestinian militants could. These crude rockets annoy and make Israeli civilians of Sderot (south Israel) tense but only occasionally kill or inflict lethal damage.

The bombing raids of the Israeli defence forces from the safety of the sky reflect a gross asymmetry of response. Besides, these raids failed to put an end to resistance and rockets. Though not admitted explicitly, the absurdity and futility of Israel’s missiles campaign is by now clear to all. The silence, not the alleged complicity, of the custodians of world order who also hold the key to settle the uneven equation, is even more painfully absurd – some moral guardians could use a much stronger word to call this silence profane.

When a situation gets this tragically perverse yet persistent, one could be permitted to distract a bit, to lighten the mental anguish, keep sanity but not to be flippant or to make trivial what is otherwise a gross human tragedy, at least for the many victims left without recourse to response.

Old movies of murder mysteries were about psychopathic villains who stalked their victims in dark alleys to kill for thrill. Most were eventually caught, at least in the novels or movies. Sherlock Holmes brilliantly wove the clues together to the delight of readers and viewers. Those were the days before innocence was lost.

Modern day ‘Dialling M: Missiles for Murder’ is far more sanitised and safe at least for the perpetrators. Movie-like images on TV screen could even be spectacular home entertainment brought to the comfort of cosy living rooms. Remember the 2003 Baghdad blitz of ‘shock and awe’ when the skies of Baghdad were illuminated by the fire of firepower of the mightiest military on earth taking revenge upon a third world dictator and his people for crimes unspecified and unproven. What a spectacle that was! The whole world was supposed to stare and be stupefied. And it did. Only a very few obstinate moralists expressed revulsion, but their voice was drowned in the cacophony of applause – ironically the loudest from the apostles of international law and order and custodians of ‘superior’ values.

That by now is history but not without its grisly fallouts. ‘Crime and Punishment’, that epoch novel was written by celebrated Russian Fyodor Dostoevsky long time ago. Then in real world, crime still does not necessarily go unpunished after all.

The world, rich and not so rich, is addicted to technology; more is not enough and where instant gratification of desire – evil or innocent – is the prime motive. Here comes the swift precise aerial route.

Modern army, formally at war or not, dials M (read sends missiles) from the air to strike at target – villain or otherwise – by mere suspicion. How convenient, and worthy of worship for use of precision technology. Precise or not, directed at right target or not, the missiles do not fail to kill. Moreover, they leave the hands of those who murdered ‘clean’ – not stained with blood. And missiles are dialled every day, in the Gaza strip for example, by the Israeli defence forces. Two hundred Palestinians have been victims of missiles in just one week; thousands before the latest blitz.

A psychopath committing murder on the streets anywhere – London, Washington, or Tel Aviv – makes stories for the media, interviews of families of victims, and heart wrenching photographs of victims, and thus evoke wide sympathy matched by utter revulsion of the citizens. But did you see such pictures of dead or mutilated schoolchildren of Palestine who died ‘accidentally’? How many made a documentary of hundreds of murders by missiles? No one, none of the ‘peacemakers’ who staged the Annapolis peace conference, no voice rose from those who pledged ‘permanent peace/settlement’ in Palestine conflict (better call it war on a people under occupation) – a conflict of people under subjugation for five decades still daring to resist. Self-determination is sublime. People under occupation have the right to resist. However, not all people, it seems, are entitled to that. Resistance becomes terrorism depending upon which side you are and who is behind you.

Occupied Palestine, and the Gaza strip within that, has been under siege and aerial banditry for months. The United States and the European Union have been insistent on democracy, as different from the ‘dictatorship’ of Chairman Yasser Arafat, asked for and got free and fair elections in Palestine. But because their chosen party of Mahmoud Abbas lost to the Hamas party they did not like, both the US and the EU, not to speak of Israel (who had earlier hounded Arafat to his demise), boycotted the new Hamas-led democratic government.

As if that was not enough, the same powers not only vilified Hamas for refusing to give unilateral recognition to Israel, but also strangulated Gaza by stopping flow of economic aid committed to Palestine; to add insult to injury, even delivery of humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza was suspended by Israel. Gaza turned into a vast prison and its people faced grave humanitarian crisis.

Did it serve democracy in the Middle East? If Gaza situation had been written as a movie script, could it have earned an Oscar 2008? Unthinkable indeed! Not because the human story is any less tragic or moving than several others filmed before. Only because it happens to be Palestinians of Gaza.

Let no one forget that a very senior Israeli official with impeccable pedigree had glibly said he wanted to put the people of that territory ‘on a diet’ but not kill outright.

Now, the deputy defence minister of Israel, Matan Vilnai, ominously warned of a holocaust upon Palestinians if rocket attacks continued. The term holocaust had been used to describe Nazi atrocities upon the Jewish people during the Second World War (1939-1945). Holocaust has been the whip to lash the conscience of the European perpetrators. However, the compensation was forced upon the Palestine people who lost their land and homes to the creation of Israel.

Palestinians to be warned of holocaust by the past victims is obscene to say the least. The same sort of warning, whatever be the provocation, coming from any other country would have met a chorus of virulent condemnation. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, had been condemned severely for calling for liquidation of Israel as a Zionist entity. Yet, the West has so far remained silent on the obnoxious reference to holocaust. The same West never missed an opportunity to condemn the militancy of Hamas.

Movies are more often made out of fiction than facts. Yet, facts when politically inconvenient do not make bestsellers or award-winning movies. However, in an earlier time, ‘Dial M for Murder’ made good money – at least as I recall. I would wonder if any celebrated Hollywood movie producer would try his immaculate hands on ‘Dial Missiles for Murder’ in the Palestinian context. Who knows, it might earn good money but only if one dares.

Today in the worship of technology, murder by clean technology seems to absolve the culprit not only of culpability but also of responsibility. If one has the right connection one need not worry of getting booked let alone being punished. If this is new international order then to ‘Dial M for Murder’ has become eminently respectable, unlike in those olden days. That would be the appropriate celebration of Annapolis and its predecessor ‘peace’ conferences, because they result in ‘peace’ of the graveyard of justice. No further comment is called for.