A flood of anger and apprehension sweeps the Middle East

Time-worn questions become more urgent

Within this flood of recollection and realisation come some long-standing questions: Why do millions of Palestinians continue to lack a proper homeland of their own and a passport?

What is the fate of refugees and those expelled from their homes who have been in exile for so long?

The stories of refugee camps have not been consigned to history. While that may have been forgotten, it is a longer-term plight, and we are reminded of it by the distressing images of the impact of war across television screens and the broader media.

It is harder to ignore the past when the news is so bleak and graphic. War does not discriminate along ethnic or religious lines when it claims its latest victims. Images of bloodstained hospital floors, weeping doctors and dead children make our helplessness all the more horrific.

And so other questions form: Who is to blame? Who is the perpetrator?

But amid the horror, such words seem to come from another world – what is blame when human suffering reaches this scale – whatever the sacrifices made, what kind of victory could justify such events?

Can shared humanity be put aside to this extent? Can it be possible that Palestinians and Israelis cannot coexist peacefully, without one side imposing its will and seeking control over the other, subjecting it to death threats?

Can it be that the painful history – including even genocide – cannot be channelled away from violence and into a determination to avoid the repeat of such horrors?

No bolt from the blue, but also time for accountability

After the flood, it is quite peculiar that Western commentators and academics insist on ignoring the context in which events took place, particularly the harsh conditions of the Israeli-imposed blockade for 16 years.

It is truly baffling that those who perceive themselves as heirs of the age of enlightenment and rationality refuse to acknowledge the circumstances that led to the targeting of the horrific events of 7 October.

Dehumanising narratives

Instead, they seem inclined to view it as a bolt from the blue, unconnected to anything that may have led up to it. And this view holds even though it comes from a perspective that dehumanises Palestinians and Arabs. In effect, it endorses the Israeli narrative, portraying the people of Gaza as 'subhuman.'

At the same time, we should not refrain from holding Hamas and those who supported its operation to account for what happened that Saturday and what has since transpired.

Their vision for what should follow the flood they have unleashed should be subjected to the same scrutiny as the toll of suffering continues in its wake.  

Shouldn't we question Hamas about their measures to mitigate the humanitarian catastrophe's impact on the people of Gaza and the heavy toll it exacted on their fellow citizens in the West Bank?

And let's not forget about the 'Axis of Resistance's' interpretation of their motto, 'Unity of the Arenas,' in case the fronts of Lebanon, Syria, or other countries that suffer from endless disasters become on fire.

Who granted them the authority to act as absolute rulers with the power to wage war or negotiate peace? 'Where did they come from?' to borrow the words of the Sudanese writer Tayeb Salih as he lamented his country's military's capriciousness and ineptitude."

The illusions of achieving victories from the current 'flood' of blood and the attempts to chart a "very" new Middle East appear equally strane, especially when the outcome of the new Middle East seems to be even more disastrous than the old one.

In Greek history, there exists a phrase known as a "Pyrrhic victory," where one side attains a costly military triumph that ultimately leads to defeat. The reality is that all the parties entangled in this tragedy seem to be heading toward a significant Pyrrhic victory.