Israel, Palestine and Waltz with Bashir

You never expect an animation movie to arouse feelings or emotions in you and certainly don’t expect it to cause an epiphany, but “Waltz with Bashir” stands different from other animations in this case. The movie is filled with emotional scenes and passions run very high towards the end of this movie.
I started watghing this movie in a subconscious state still struggling to get over the adventure I did a day before, and by the time it ended I was completely awake. To be honest here I have always tried to justify Israel’s repeated attacks on Palestine and other neighbouring countries even if it involved civilian casualties. But this Ari Folman’s movie portrayed how dirty Israel plays during wars. Standing as a mute spectator while Christian Phalangists from Lebanon were massacring Palestinian civilians in refugee camps was not expected of the Israeli forces. This makes me believe that not all the hues and cries for stopping civilian casualties, in wars involving Israel, is not without any reason. And since this movie was made by a high profile Israeli director, it further enforces my newly found belief.
But even my previous ideology that war against Palestine (to eliminate extremist groups) is justified, even if it meant civilian deaths, was not without any rationale. Amidst this entire dilemma I decided to pen my thoughts.
Only god could say whether land of Israel belong to Muslims, Jews or Christians for according to Old Testament that land was “Promised land” for the Hebrews and was first inhabited by Mosses along with his followers from Egypt , but was taken over by Muslims in the medieval era and once again transferred to Jews by United Nations. But once settlements were made Muslim nations bordering Israel should have stopped bothering Israel and let her on its own. It was their first act of provocation that turned Israel into a military state. And add to that the frequent attacks on Israeli civilians by Hamas and other extremist groups and one would come to think that Israel’s attacks on its neighbours is as justified and inevitable as it gets. After all not every country has limitations like the one that India faces while dealing with Pakistan.
But having seen “ Waltz with Bashir” and thereafter reading articles on “Sabra and Shatila genocides” , I would say that any attempt to eradicate terrorist outfits must first and foremost ensure the safety of civilians. Perhaps the very reason that Israel fails to isolate civilians from war keeps on increasing the number of muslims resorting to violence against them. Exactly this is the reason US troops are facing stiff resistance from Iraqi people as they were unable to prevent civilian casualty while war and thereafter.