US must stop any Gaza escalation

So much violent history has rolled by since the birth of the State of Israel over 60 years ago and its subsequent seizure of Palestinian territories that it makes little sense today to pinpoint where and how a particular provocation began, causing a fresh outburst of airstrikes or rocket attacks leading to large-scale killing of civilians, more so on the Palestinian side.

It is, therefore, surprising that leading powers have done so little since the middle of last week to stop the escalating violence in the Gaza Strip, with the Israelis mercilessly pounding the tiny Palestinian territory to the south of Israel all of a sudden in response to 700-odd stray rocket attacks from the Hamas-controlled area over the past one year. At a time when West Asia is already aflame on account of the grave Syrian crisis, although this has meant in reality a boost to Al Qaeda-related terrorist groups, common sense would have dictated that another flashpoint in the region be avoided.
But such an approach has mattered little to Israel and the United States, which may be said to be the only country to which Israel pays any heed. In the case of Syria too, which is widely perceived to be a not-so-indirect way of getting at Iran by the Western powers and their Arab allies, Israel is an interested party as it desires the destruction of Iran (which, admittedly, has made no secret of its desire to wipe out the Jewish state). With both Syria-Iran and the Palestinian territories under military assault by pro-West forces, Washington (and Israel) appear to be on the wrong side of Shia and Sunni opinion in the volatile region, which has defied a solution for 60 years. For the world as a whole, this is a bad place to be.
If America is to lose credibility with all shades of Muslim opinion, even before the second Obama administration has got into its stride, Washington’s ability to intervene on the side of peace in one of the world’s most violent regions could be impacted. This is particularly undesirable as the much-touted Arab Spring has thrown up new political dispensations in key Arab states, including Egypt, that are Islamist and may seek to exacerbate the long-festering Palestinian problem by pushing for extremist solutions rather than settling for what has come to be known as the two-state solution.
Instead of reading the wind, Washington has sadly allowed Israel to thump its chest by using vastly disproportionate force against civilians in minuscule Palestinian territories, in the process alienating moderate Palestinian opinion as well as world opinion in general. An Israeli ground assault must be averted as a top priority. Only America can ensure this.