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http://www.examiner.ie/opinion/columnists/stephen-king/there-are-70-conflicts-worldwide-so-why-do-we-focus-on-just-one-91585.html
There are 70 conflicts worldwide, so why do we focus on just one?
By Stephen King
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Yes, there is public feeling about the Palestinians and their rotten
deal. I’ve never heard Chechnya being discussed on the DART, whereas I
have heard Israel being trashed on buses as well as at smart dinner
parties. Besides, who’s ever heard of a "Sri Lanka out of Tamil Eelam"
march through Cork or calls for a boycott of Russia?
I OWE Micheál Martin an apology of sorts. I admit that when I read
media reports of his discussions with Ban Ki-moon in New York at the
weekend my eyes rolled up to the heavens.
The country’s most senior representative to the rest of the world has
a rare opportunity to raise Ireland’s issues with the UN secretary-
general and what’s his top priority? Yes, you guessed it – Gaza.
It’s not that Gaza isn’t an important issue facing the world. It is.
What Gaza is not, though, is an issue where Europe, let alone Ireland,
can wield much positive influence. Gaza will only be sorted when the
Arab states, the US and Israel – probably in that order – decide it
should be sorted.
But I was wrong. I had swallowed the media line. Yes, Micheál Martin
and Ban Ki-moon did talk about Gaza, but it was just one subject among
others.
In fact, when you look at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)
press release, the first item of discussion listed was one where
Ireland has a very direct interest, namely Chad.
So what caused my blood pressure to rise? Was Gaza the topic the DFA’s
spindoctors were pushing? Possibly. Was the position on Gaza the most
objectively newsworthy? Again, possibly: the Pope is in the region and
Ireland tends to be at one end of the European spectrum of opinion on
anything to do with Israel.
The third possibility, and the one that seems to me most likely, is
that the media has a fixation on Israel (and its supposed crimes)
which is, for want of a better word, disproportionate. That’s why the
line about Gaza led several media reports of Minister Martin’s
meeting.
If I were Jewish, I would be told I’m paranoid for thinking the world
and its media are out to get me. After all, the fact that Israel is
the world’s one and only Jewish state – amidst a vast ocean of Muslim
states – inevitably makes many Jewish people think it’s them, and not
Israel as such, which is in the media’s sights. But I’m not Jewish.
Besides, just because people are paranoid doesn’t mean others aren’t
out to get them.
A quick scan of the world’s trouble spots makes my point. The well-
respected International Crisis Group is currently tracking 70
conflicts around the world, from Afghanistan and Algeria to Yemen and
Zimbabwe. Yes, 70: we live in a dangerous world.
Some of these are very familiar to us: Northern Ireland, Iraq, the
Basque country, North Korea and, of course, Israel and the Palestinian
territories. Others are not nightly news: Kashmir, Burma, Eritrea and
so on. And then there are the conflicts we have forgotten about, or
never really heard about too much because they are far away or poor,
or both: Armenia versus Azerbaijan, Mindanao in the Philippines,
Morocco/western Sahara and Aceh.
Some of the 70 hotspots are especially deadly. Millions of black
Africans have died in Congo in the past decade, well below most
people’s radar.
Sri Lanka has had a bit of a focus in recent weeks – though hardly the
minute-by-minute wraparound coverage Gaza had in January. How many of
us were really aware of the fact that more than 80,000 people have
died in a quarter of a century of civil war?
Try this. Google "Tamil Tigers" and you will receive 2.3 million
results. Google "Hamas" and you get 10 times as many – and Hamas
hasn’t been around nearly as long. It’s the same if you Google
"Tamils" and "Palestinians". Is the difference that the Tigers might
have killed Rajiv Gandhi but, unlike the Palestinians, have rarely
brought their murderous tactics to Europe directly? The Sri Lankan
conflict, at least in its military phase, looks as though it is coming
to an end. The work of peace-building will last for years to come.
The same could be said about Chechnya. The Russians have just
announced the end of their "counter-terrorism" operation. There are no
solid figures for the number of civilians killed since the second war
began there in late 1999, but estimates range anywhere between 25,000
and 200,000.
Put that in context. Israel might be geographically small – smaller
than Munster – but in population terms Chechnya is absolutely tiny. A
region with a little more than one million inhabitants has seen
anything up to one-fifth of its civilian population killed in two
decades of war. And one school siege aside, we have largely looked the
other way.
By comparison, 6,000 Palestinians – armed and civilian together – out
of a Palestinian population in the territories three to four times
that of Chechnya have died since the second intifada of 2001.
It goes without saying that any civilian death is a tragedy – and,
very often, an outrage – but search for Chechnya on the DFA website
and you only receive one-tenth of the number of hits that you do for
Israel. No-one believes the DFA is somehow in league with the Russians
and supports their quasi-colonial war against Chechnya, but it does go
to show some perspective has been lost somewhere along the line.
Yes, there is public feeling about the Palestinians and their rotten
deal. I’ve never heard Chechnya being discussed on the DART, whereas I
have heard Israel being trashed on buses as well as at smart dinner
parties. Besides, who’s ever heard of a "Sri Lanka out of Tamil Eelam"
march through Cork or calls for a boycott of Russia?
But whose fault is that? Dare I suggest, the media? As a result,
Israel has learned a lesson from the Russians and the Sri Lankans:
impose a media ban and the world leaves you pretty much alone. No one
could condone the ban during the Gaza offensive – and being host to
the world’s second largest press corps, after Washington, means you
pay a high price in terms of stroppy hacks – but it does seem to work.
SO WHY why the obsession with Israel? It’s the only country in the
world whose existence is queried is one reason. It’s the Holy Land to
the world’s two largest faiths is another. That al-Qaeda sometimes
backs the Palestinian cause makes Israel/Palestine strategically
important – but that’s true of Chechnya, too.
Maybe it’s the oil in the Middle East region that makes Arab countries
important in western capitals (while distracting from their own
despotism)?
Could it be some wrongheaded notion of guilt for having set up Israel
after the Holocaust, when actually Israel fought British imperialism
for its independence? Could it be, as many Israelis believe, that we
see Israelis as Jews and, therefore, as bloodthirsty sub-humans in the
latest manifestation of centuries-old anti-semitism?
Or is it just anti-Americanism? Perhaps it’s a little to do with each
of these factors. But could it actually be that we see Israelis as
very much like ourselves – sophisticated, prosperous, well-educated,
fairly pale-skinned democrats? Do we hate ourselves that much? It’s
either that or Israel simply isn’t deadly enough to deter the
journalists too afraid to work in fly-ridden Congo.
Gaza for breakfast, back to the pool at the American Colony Hotel in
time for tea, and pick up an attractive girl or strapping lad at a bar
after dinner. Same again tomorrow, please. Just try doing that in
Darfur.
This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Read more:
http://www.examiner.ie/opinion/columnists/stephen-king/there-are-70-conflicts-worldwide-so-why-do-we-focus-on-just-one-91585.html#ixzz0Fa7uANEA&B

 There are 70 conflicts worldwide, so why do we focus on just one?
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