The Hamas offensive against Israel, which has resulted in more than a thousand deaths, and the violent response of Tel Aviv, ready to invade and destroy the Gaza Strip, are fueling a number of fundamental conflicts around the world. Intolerance, violence and clashes in public squares between supporters of opposing groups are increasing worldwide. The start of a new war in the Middle East is proving particularly dangerous in some countries where internal balances are already fragile. This is the case in the Balkans, where the remnants of the wars of the 1990s are still digested and the peaceful coexistence of different ethnic groups, religions and ideas is trying to establish itself as “normality”. Bosnia and Herzegovina represents a special case, where the population of Croatian and Serb origin supports Israel, while Bosnia and Herzegovina is determined to defend the causes of the Palestinian people.
divided city
Bosnia and Herzegovina is actually divided into two regions: the Bosniak-Croat Federation (representing 51% of the territory) and the Republika Srpska, which occupies the remaining 49%. Both areas have their own layout. In particular, the Federation provides a complex system that should guarantee coexistence between the Muslim ethnic group (Bosnjak) and the Croat ethnic group affiliated with Catholicism. As the conflict between Hamas and Israel flares up, politicians and the public are entering into conflict in the region, where ethnic and religious divisions are still hot. The most emblematic example is the city of Mostar, where scars and physical disabilities from the conflicts of the 1990s are still evident. Following the attack by Hamas, which has a Muslim and Bosnian majority in the east of the city, a group of citizens raised the Palestinian flag on the Old Mostar Bridge, while a member of the Mostar Diving Club organized a dive into the Neretva. A sign of support for the Palestinian people.
Flag on Ponte Vecchio
“Mostari” Diving Club president Lorens Listo told the Sarajevo Times that this move represents a kind of message to the whole world that maximum efforts should be made to stop the conflicts and suffering of innocent civilians and at the same time support the peaceful struggle. The Palestinian people have been subjected to suffering for years. Listo said, “We do not support the violence in Israel, but we also do not support the violence that has been carried out against the civilian population in Palestine for years and the violence prepared for them.” The large Palestinian flag on the bridge appeared to “challenge” from afar the western part of the city, where the Croat majority has broader support for Israel. However, it is above all politics that tries to use the serious tensions in the Middle East to fuel internal conflicts.
opposing opinions
While Croatian and Serbian politicians fully supported Israel, Bosnian elected representatives condemned war and violence, choosing to underline the right to two sovereign states for Israelis and Palestinians. On the same day as Hamas’ attack on Israel (Saturday, October 7, ed.), Croatian Chairman of the Bosnian Council of Ministers, Borjana Kristo, wrote an article in English describing Hamas’ opposition to Israel and its citizens. Israel in these difficult times.” This open statement was criticized in a television interview by Croatian MP Željko Komšić, who scolded Kristo for not mentioning the suffering of the Palestinian people. Komšić, despite being of Croatian origin, was always elected by the multi-ethnic party of Bosnian Social Democrats Komšić told the media that he considered Hamas’ actions “a gesture of desperate people who see a way out of the terror of civilians”, words that did not sit well with Israeli Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Galit Peleg.
Parallel between Gaza and Sarajevo
Even the Bosnian mayor of Sarajevo, Benjamina Karić, spoke of X’s “hypocrisy” by privately condemning the Hamas attack on Israel “without condemning everything that happened before and after.” Recalling the situation in Gaza, which was deprived of water and electricity by the Israeli government, the mayor drew parallels with conditions in Sarajevo, which was under siege by Bosnian Serb forces from April 1992 to February 1996. Internal divisions in Bosnia and Herzegovina had already been reawakened following the outbreak of war in Ukraine, with Bosnians and Croats lining up to support Kiev, while Serbs mostly expressed themselves on the side of Russia. In this case, in addition to the ethnic and “civilization” dimension, religion also plays a role; The Bosnian majority, representing more than 70% of the Federation’s population, is Muslim, like the Palestinians. After a long wait, last year Bosnia and Herzegovina managed to obtain “candidate country” status for the European Union. Sarajevo, which expects negotiations with Brussels to start by the end of 2023, wants to prevent the outbreak of internal conflicts that would prevent the country from calmly continuing its accession process to the continental bloc.
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
