By Theodosis Pipis
As war is raging in our neighbouring region, instead of calling for restraint, peace, and most importantly criticising the blatant violations of international law by both the United States and Israel, we are moving towards increased militancy and alignment with the forces that have been waging war.
The United States has actively enabled and supported bombing campaigns in Lebanon and Iran, which are only leading to the amplification of regional instability and the further slaughter of thousands of civilians.
As these events are transpiring, President Nikos Christodoulides is pushing ahead with military procurement, expanding defence cooperation, and investing heavily in upgrading our support for countries that are acting in an imperialistic, expansionist manner. As a militarily occupied country, as a divided country, as a former colony, should we not be criticising instead of aiding and abetting such war-faring policies?
On the contrary, the British bases on the island remain fully operational and involved in regional military operations, deepening our ties with our colonial past.
We are moving further away from offering solutions for a geopolitically healthy region with the increase in military presence on the island. As Christodoulides claims that the increased military presence on the island will bring greater security, what seems to be happening is the expansion of Cyprus’s role as a tool for traditional imperial powers (the UK and the US), as well as nascent imperial powers (Israel), to dominate the region.
Israel has already shown its inhumane hand, and the Cypriot government is further enabling this iron fist to rule.
As I am writing this, Gaza has been annihilated, the West Bank is being annexed, and the death penalty for Palestinians is now the rule of law in Israel. Even Israeli journalists “who cover particular topics must send their material to the censor for review,” according to Haaretz journalist Linda Dayan.
The skies over Beirut are marked with the daily humming of drones. The Israeli intention is to displace and to annex. Even when bombs are not being dropped, drones remain low and loud overhead in the city of 2.5 million, which lies right opposite our own coasts. This is the preferred method of intimidation that the IDF has been using since the 1948 war.
The Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed over 1,530 people since the beginning of March, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. In Iran, over 2,000 people have been killed by the US and Israel. In Gaza, the figures are reaching the hundreds of thousands in over 500 days of war. The West Bank has seen over 1,000 deaths in the same time period.
This is the State of Israel that the Cyprus government has failed to question and criticise, and this is the State of Israel that our elected government is continuously supporting.
