By Justice Markandey Katju–
(Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge, Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman, Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own)
In view of the hostilities going on presently, it may be pertinent to examine what is Israel. In my opinion Israel is an illegitimate, artificially created, theocratic entity, like Pakistan, created by a fraudulent partition. Let me explain.
It is said that because of the horrible atrocities committed on Jews by the Nazis during World War II, the community needed a homeland, and that is why Israel had to be created to give Jews a homeland.
But those atrocities were committed by Germans and their collaborators in several European countries, not by Arabs. So why should Arabs be punished for what Europeans did? Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven out of their homeland to create Israel, and numerous atrocities committed on them.
It is then said that Jews wanted to return to their homeland, which was in Palestine. This is laughable.
I am a Kashmiri, but my ancestors had left Kashmir 200 years ago, and had settled in the plains of India. I grew up in UP, and have friends and relatives, and know the culture there. I would be miserable if made to settle today in Kashmir. I do not know the Kashmiri language (I know only Hindi and English), I do not know anyone in Kashmir, and am not acquainted with its culture.
The Jewish diaspora developed 2000 years ago, and many settled in Europe and were Europeanized. Whence this sudden desire to emigrate to a country which they know nothing about except in the Bible?
The truth was that a huge amount of oil was discovered in the Middle East in the first half of the 20th century, which was needed by western industry. To ensure and control the oil supply, a western military garrison and armed outpost was needed in the region, which is the State of Israel.
Almost all its heavy weapons are supplied to it by western countries, and almost all its citizens are soldiers (apart from doing their civilian work), for which compulsory military training is given.
What is the solution? I submit it can only be by creating a secular, reunited state of Palestine, including Israel, Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights, in which Jews, Arabs, Christians, etc, can live peacefully and in harmony together.
But this solution will not be easy to achieve.
