The bias of Western media against Palestinians is glaringly obvious.

I wonder what would have happened if they would have shown the same bias against Black South Africans during their struggle for independence from apartheid. The recent flare up in Jerusalem is a good example.

The dispute between Israel and Palestinians is like an onion. What you see on the surface hides what is inside. Israel wants the world to see what is only on the surface.

Let us start from the barrage of rockets aimed at Israel from Gaza and Lebanon. Israel retaliated by bombing targets in Gaza and Lebanon. The media reported that Israel responded in retaliation. The Biden Administration, on a cue, condemned the rocket attacks and stated that Israel has the right to defend itself.

End of the story? Not really.

Let us peel the outer layer to see what triggered the rocket attacks.

On April 5 the Israeli police entered al-Aqsa mosque at dawn and beat up worshipers with rifle butts, rubber bullets, and tear gas and removed worshipers from the mosque by force. The violence and total disregard for the sanctity of the place was documented by some international news outlets including the BBC. Fifty worshipers ended up in the hospital with injuries.

Israelis said the worshippers had barricaded themselves inside the mosque. Yes, they had. But why? Let us peel another layer.

In September, 2022, five red heifers were transported from Texas to Israel. According to the Jerusalem Post it was part the plan by the Orthodox Jews to sacrifice one heifer on the al-Aqsa compound as was the custom during Biblical times. However, the compound is under Jordanian authority, according to a long-standing agreement between Israel and Jordan. Islam’s third holiest shrine al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock sit on the compound.

On the appointed day, expecting Orthodox Jews to come to the compound, the Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the mosque. Israeli police ordered the mosque evacuated, but the worshippers refused. The police then entered the holy place and forcefully removed the worshipers. In the process they trampled on the sanctity of the mosque, damaging the furnishings and windows.

One could keep peeling off the layers to the very inception of the state of Israel in 1948. At the core is the widespread destruction of Palestinian villages at the hands of Jewish paramilitary militias and forced eviction of Palestinians from their homes and their lands, creating a humanitarian disaster.

Recently Israeli finance minister Benzalel Smotrich said there is no such thing as Palestinians. He is not alone. Fifty-four years ago in 1969 Golda Meir, Israeli Prime Minister, had said the same thing. In the intervening years the Israeli government has done everything to make their lives miserable. Palestinians are stubborn. They refuse to leave.

Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank live under a military occupation. This is no different than what the Black population of South Africa endured under the white South African Apartheid regime. Refusal to grant construction permits, demolitions of Palestinian homes because they were built “illegally,” daily humiliation at check points, and frequent raids on Palestinian areas are commonplace.

An aging and ailing Mahmoud Abbas heads the Palestinian Authority, which survives on aid given by the United States and some European nations. The authority is ineffectual in protecting Palestinians from Israeli police.

To add injury to daily pain, the settlers and right-wing Jews ride roughshod in Palestinian areas. Here is an excerpt from a recent issue of the Economist:

“... Moreover, the P.A. has also been unable to protect Palestinians from violence inflicted on them by Israeli settlers, who rampage from time to time through Palestinian towns and fields, beating people and destroying their orchards and vines. This violence has only increased since Binyamin Netanyahu returned to office as Israel’s prime minister in December with the backing of right-wing parties, including those led by Jewish Supremacists. The P.A.’s authority is further undermined when Israel carries out bloody raids in Area A, which largely comprises Palestinian cities under the control of Palestinian security forces.”

Under intense U.S. pressure, several Arab countries have recognized Israel. Saudi Arabia, the custodian of Islam’s two holiest sites, is holding back. It would be a travesty if Saudi Arabia recognizes Israel without making the resolution of Palestinian conflict a condition for recognition.

Israel is ranked as the 4th most happy country in the world (after Finland, Denmark, and Iceland). Obviously 4.7 million Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank were not part of the survey. Neither were the 1.9 million Palestinians in Israel (20 percent of Israel’s population) asked how happy they were as second-class citizens in Israel.

S. Amjad Hussain is an emeritus professor of surgery and humanities at the University of Toledo. His column appears every other week in The Blade.

First Published April 19, 2023, 3:20 p.m.