In war against Coronavirus or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, technological might always wins

Israel’s devotion to science and military strength has given it an advantage both in the fight against the coronavirus and in the latest conflict with the Palestinians

Andrew Sheng

Published: 1:30am, 22 May 2021

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Is the coronavirus racist? Of course not. Covid-19 and its variants do not discriminate between race, creed and jurisdiction. The only real defences are social distancing and vaccines.

But the handling of the pandemic has become intensely political along racial, class and national lines. To debate whether it should be called a Chinese virus or an Indian variant is racist by implication. What matters urgently is how each individual, community or nation handles the pandemic. To distribute vaccines to the rich and powerful before the poor and weak is discriminatory, but that is exactly what has happened.

The virus transmits through people. Epidemiologists suggest minimising travel and contact to slow transmission. Those who care more about money object to shutting down the economy. Asia reacted more quickly by adopting masks and staying at home. The West cared more about individualism and objected to masks, allowing the pandemic to get out of control.

Money and vaccines have begun to bring matters under control, except that if coronavirus continues to spread in countries that cannot afford vaccines or get enough supplies, no one is safe.

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Thus, a virus has turned inequality into a life-and-death matter. It is clear that the pandemic can be addressed with science and technology, competent organisation and mass cooperation. But this approach would have to be based on the fundamental principle that everyone should be equally protected.

As it is, those governments which preach democracy, equality and a rules-based order seem to have been practising something rather different. Why is it that in the United States, Indigenous, Pacific Islander, Latino and black Americans have double the Covid-19 death rate of white and Asian Americans?

Israel is leading the world in Covid-19 vaccinations, and yet Palestinians are hardly getting any doses. The UN human rights body has called Israel’s differential treatment of Palestinians “morally and legally unacceptable”.

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Israel has occupied the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem since the 1967 war. On May 10, a new conflict between Israel and Palestinians was sparked in the middle of the pandemic; a ceasefire was agreed on Friday.

This was not an equal fight. At least 230 Palestinians were killed in the 11-day conflict, including more than 60 children, while 12 Israelis died. More than 58,000 Palestinians in Gaza were rendered homeless, and the only lab in the territory that processes Covid-19 test results was knocked out in an Israeli air strike.

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The humanitarian crisis in Palestine is beyond a tragedy. The crisis also shows how science and technology play a role as the victims of the Holocaust become perpetrators of an occupation.

As geopolitical forecaster George Friedman says in a new article, “Gaza: Morality and Reality”, the moral argument here is complex because both Israelis and Palestinians see themselves as victims. In his view, as long as Israel is militarily superior and enjoys the backing of the military superpower, the US, the crisis cannot be resolved by anyone else.

This point is fully understood by the Israelis, who were a scattered and not particularly powerful people until 1947. It was their deep application of science and technology that then allowed them to overcome the Arabs’ numerical superiority.

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What are the ways out of the Israel-Palestine situation? Logic suggests that perhaps a two-country solution – separate states of Palestine and Israel – is possible.

Yet, while there is support for this option, Palestinians themselves are divided between Fatah, the faction controlling the West Bank, and Hamas, the militant group controlling Gaza. Does this point to a three-state solution then?

Well, the greater the division between its enemies and their supporters, the more secure Israel’s position. This is a textbook example of the “divide and rule” logic of the imperial colonial powers.

Back in 2011, Egyptian economist Samir Amin saw the Arab spring as a chance for the Arab world to “go beyond imperialist capitalism on the world scale”. But failure would “keep the Arab world in its current status as a submissive periphery, prohibiting its elevation to the rank of an active participant in shaping the world”.

As Amin sees it, the US, Europe and Japan are the current imperialist capitalist powers lording it over the rest of the world. Together, they have effectively monopolised five advantages: technologies; monetary and financial systems; access to natural resources; mass communication systems, and; weapons of mass destruction. The Israelis understand this perfectly though, and have played the same game to succeed and survive.

Hence the Israeli devotion to science and technology, military strength and communications. Hence their lobbying power: their ability to put the West on a guilt trip, thus ensuring their advantage over their Palestinian and Arab opponents.

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As with the coronavirus pandemic, it is through science, technology and organisational power – not faith or ideology alone – that one side gains and maintains the upper hand, and the other side continues to be weak and oppressed.

The Arab world may have physical control over much of the world’s fossil fuel resources, but as long as it remains divided and technologically inferior, it will never win.

Friedman is right. Might – whether military or technological – does decide geopolitical reality. Morality is a platform for victims to complain and victors to preach. Those who do not learn from history will remain victims.

Andrew Sheng comments on global affairs from an Asian perspective. The views expressed here are his own