Olayiwola Oshunrinade
Anthony Kila, a Jean Monnet Professor of Strategy and Development, has said that the crisis in the Middle East was a result of a collection of human flaws, blaming both Israel and Palestine for the crisis.
The Director of the Commonwealth Institute of Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS) charged the Palestinians to do things differently, adding that “there must be one thing that Israel or Saudi Arabia is doing differently that made them every leader’s friends.”
Kila, a celebrated public affairs analyst, who spoke as a member of a panel on “Borderlines Debate” (a Nigeria Info FM diplomatic programme moderated by Ireti Bakare-Yusuf), in Abuja on Thursday, stressed that peace must be achieved in Gaza at all cost.
Speaking on the possible impact of Donald Trump’s presidency on the crisis in the Middle East, Prof Kila said that the US president-elect was unpredictable.
“He’s expected to act the Israel way but he is not a person you can predict,” he said.
He however pointed out that: “We have come to a phase where the leaders of Israel and Palestine come together to ensure that nobody dies again.”
Also speaking, Mr Femi Fani-Kayode, a former Minister of Aviation in Nigeria, called on Israel to end the killing of women, children and civilians in Gaza.
Fani-Kayode said: “The butchering of innocent civilians, women and children should stop.
“Accept the idea that all human beings are the same, get rid of that idea that you are the master race, God’s chosen race.”
While encouraging Israel to accept the two-state proposal by the United Nations, he said people would continue to rise when their children and women are being killed at will.
Similarly, Prof Mukhtar Imam, an expert in International Relations, said that the crisis was raging because Israel failed to obey the UN two-state resolution.
