Tichaona Zindoga — Horror. Disgust. Anger. So many words could describe the situation in the Middle East over the past year, since Israel launched its war on Gaza and Palestine because Hamas attacked Israel on this day a year ago, killing a reported 1 200 Israelis and kidnapping some 250 people.
What has since followed is an unremitting and forceful Israeli bombardment of the territory that has killed over 40 000 Palestinians; and counting.
Israel has gone further to expand its war in the Middle East to include Lebanon, Yemen and Syria.
Today, the world's attention - including in Zimbabwe - is focused mostly on Lebanon, where Israel is on another campaign of destruction and killing, accounting for thousands of dead, in the name of destroying Hezbollah resistance movement, the highlight of which was the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah at the end of last month.
Emboldened, Israel has charged that it seeks to reshape the Middle East and cause regime change and power dynamics in the region with the ultimate goal being the destruction of the leaders and political system of Iran, ruled by the Ayatollah Khamenei.
There is an incentive for doing so, following Iran's attack on Israel on October 1.
At the turn of October 7, the world waited with bated breath and foreboding as to what the Israeli response would be, with indications that Israel could attack Iran's nuclear facilities and economic targets whose consequences would not just be felt by Iran, but also inadvertently, other countries of the region and the world, including the US.
There is a feeling that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu using the war as political currency to ensure survival having grown unpopular at home and facing corruption charges.
In Europe, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues, entering its third year. In Africa, the conflicts in Sudan - which for some time accounted for the largest humanitarian disaster - and central Africa are going on with little let up.
All this happened while the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) took place in New York, USA, making this year's edition of the annual showpiece truly forgettable.
As Netanyahu addressed the UN on September 27, he had authorised the killing of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah the following day, despite, the latter having agreed to a ceasefire. Nothing would have stopped his escalatory plan.
Many countries used the UNGA to plead for peace in the Middle East and to find a lasting solution. Most countries in the Global South, which constitute the overwhelming majority, voiced anger and disgust at the actions of the Israeli government. However, Western countries and a few client states were not unequivocal, afraid to upset the real power behind Israel, which is the US.
Once more, the United Nations was exposed for being dis-united and fatally dysfunctional.
The United Nations was established in 1945, following the Second World War, in an attempt to maintain international peace and security and to achieve cooperation among nations on economic, social, and humanitarian problems.
Ironically, 79 years later, Israel literally spat on the principles in both word and deed: "What a joke, "Netanyahu described the UNGA and the consistent censuring of Israel that has been recorded by the outraged world.
He continued: "So, all the speeches you heard today, all the hostility directed at Israel this year - it's not about Gaza; it's about Israel. It's always been about Israel. About Israel's very existence. And I say to you, until Israel, until the Jewish state, is treated like other nations, until this anti-Semitic swamp is drained, the UN will be viewed by fair-minded people everywhere as nothing more than a contemptuous farce."
A few days later, Israel declared the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres a persona non grata, meaning that he can be arrested if he sets foot on Israel. The action follows sanctions on ICC officials by the US.
From 5 principles of peaceful coexistence to global security initiative
To all intents and purposes, the UN is dead, as an effective and acceptable international vehicle for peace, with its Security Council (UNSC) -- comprising of five permanent members, the US, Britain, France, Russia and China -- always divided and unable to execute peace measures because of its divisions and "bloc" mentality that usually pits the former three against the latter two, with each wielding veto power.
The UNSC has failed numerous times on the Middle East and other hotspots where the two blocs have contending interests.
To be fair, when it comes to the Middle East question, and in particular the Israel-Palestine question, a lot of historical and geopolitical issues are at play that are too complex and emotive. This begs, the question, what is to be done?
The tragedy and dysfunctionality lies mostly in the US, which helped found the UN, being severely compromised and lacking moral leadership demanded by the situation -- and will likely remain so.
China's Global Security Initiative could be the basis for the formation of a new global institution to replace the current UN system. China was among the founders of the UN in 1945.
Since then, it has advocated for global peace and multilateralism, which are increasingly deficient in today's system.
In 1954, China proposed the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. The principles are: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. These ideas were first put forward by then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai on December 31, 1953 when he met an Indian delegation.
In 1955 the Asian-African Conference convened in Bandung, Indonesia adopted 10 principles for conducting international relations, inside which the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence were included. Hereafter, in the process of the third world countries seeking for a fairer international political and economic order, the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence have been accepted and adopted by the overwhelming majority of the developing countries.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, China actively participated in the decolonisation process of African countries and contributed to global security, at a cost of blood in some cases, even when it was not as strong as it is today.
Fast forward to 2022, China proposed the Global Security Initiative (GSI), with President Xi Jinping -- informed by long-standing elements of China's security philosophy -- proposing the initiative with humanity's future, security and well-being in mind. The GSI identifies six commitments: common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security; respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries; abiding by the purpose and principles of the UN Charter; taking the security concerns of all countries seriously; peacefully resolving disputes between countries through dialogue; and maintaining security in both traditional and non-traditional fields.
Since 2022, the GSI has been widely welcomed and warmly received by the international community and received support a from more than 100 countries.
For instructive purposes, China has comprehensive and objective solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian question, with President Xi expressing China's principled position on the current Palestinian-Israeli situation on a number of occasions.
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He has stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire and ending the fighting, ensuring that the humanitarian corridors are safe and unimpeded, and preventing the expansion of the conflict. He has pointed out that the fundamental way out of this lies in the two-state solution, building international consensus for peace, and working toward a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian question at an early date.
Pursuant to the Charter of the United Nations, the Security Council shoulders primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, and should thus play an active and constructive role on the question of Palestine.
Elsewhere, China supports peace and security in Africa and the implementation of the "Silencing the Guns in Africa" initiative; has actively carried out mediation diplomacy and efforts to promote political settlement of hotspot issues such as Ukraine and Afghanistan.
The UN was founded on the premise and promise that the world must never again face the scourge of war. However, the ongoing crises in the Middle East and Europe, which have been feared to be able to spark World War III, as former US president Donald Trump has even admitted, have shown that the UN has outlived its usefulness.
Global countries need to unite and make a solid decision to radically change the way the international community conducts its business and affairs, and this should instructively and reasonably include transferring agency from the current dysfunctional UN to a new vehicle, which not just serves the global peace and security demands in a much evolved space and era, but also other imperatives such as social, economic and humanitarian demands.
Tich Zindoga is the director of Ruzivo Media and Resource Centre think tank that analyses global and local issues
