FAUDA
In Arabic, Fauda means “Chaos” which is the human and psychological toll of an ongoing conflict, where both sides are trapped in a cycle of violence that causes inevitable personal destruction.
The total geographic area of the Palestinian territories, including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, is approximately 6,020 square kilometres. Israel has 20,770 km². Put together, it is less than 28,000 sq. km.
Fauda is an OTT platform series that shows how Israel and Palestine are fighting over a small piece of land. The total land is just 28000 square Km. Almost 60% of the land is desert and 40% is fertile.
Both Jewish Israelis and Palestinian Arabs claim historical, cultural, and political ties to the same narrow strip of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. A permanent tug-of-war exists between the two.
The Palestinians believe that Israel was created on land inhabited by Palestinian Arabs for generations. The creation of Israel led to the loss of their home territory, mass displacement, and the denial of national self-determination.
On the contrary, Israelis believe that Israel was established in the ancestral Jewish homeland, where Jews maintained a continuous historical and religious connection. The state was created legally through international recognition -UN Resolution 181.
Constant fear- being on the edge
Most of us are not familiar with the way Palestinians (Arabs) and Israelis or Jews live. They live on the Knife’s edge and don’t know what permanent peace is like.
This series shows how every day there is bloodshed on both sides due to deep hatred and revenge. Israel is a well-developed country with sophisticated electronic monitoring systems and has very advanced weapon systems and full-fledged armed forces. They also have sophisticated small arms, including carbines and pistols. Palestine has Hamas in support and several other proxy groups to keep Israel on tenterhooks.
Fauda is structured as a fast-paced thriller about an elite, undercover Israeli counterterrorism unit (Mista’arvim) operating inside Palestinian territory. Palestine, with the support of Hamas, wants total annihilation of the entire Jewish race, which is something that cannot be allowed to happen by Israel and the rest of the world.
Violence is never isolated; every action generates a, tragic reaction. An assassination or raid by the Israeli team triggers a reprisal from Palestinian militants, which in turn leads to further military escalation. It demonstrates how personal grievances, and honour fuel the larger political conflict, making peace seem almost impossible. The cruelty and bloodshed are in your face and depict families on both sides living in such a tense environment with constant fear of death. No one knows if they will see tomorrow or not.
They are fighting a war every day and can only blame their history for it, which has thrust upon them such a horrible life.
Lessons to be learnt by stable nations
In nations where governance is good and there is peace of mind for every citizen, this is the biggest boon and the biggest gift of God. Some disgruntled people, with support of frustrated politicians who are supported by other nations that want to throw a spanner in the progress of a prosperous nation, want to destabilise such governance by creating a ‘Fauda’-like situation. Confuse and corrode the minds of citizens to ensure a revolt takes place, and under the garb of freedom of speech, democracy and the constitution, they either create new fault lines or exploit the existing ones. The idea is not to let the government function, keep it under constant fear, and force it to remain in firefighting mode in perpetuity and ultimately do a regime change.
Attempts of creating Fauda like situation in India.
In Arabic, fawḍā describes a state of lawlessness, confusion, or a breakdown of order. In the last several years, Indian citizens witnessed upheaval in the name of farmers, minorities, cheating in exams, and attacking even the judiciary. In recent days, the Election Commission of India has also not been spared. The ‘rape of democracy’ is startlingly evident, and this is all happening as we are a secular democratic country that wants to behave maturely.
Blatant lies are told- hit jobs orchestrated by local and foreign media and influencers are used to brainwash the public, especially the youth. Those who are not for the nation are relying on an old saying-
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”
— Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels
Our strength
A government is structured around three layers of governance. The political layer, elected by the people, having a shelf life of a few years- 4 or 5. The second layer which executes the laws framed by the political layer is the bureaucracy – a permanent layer (officers may change, but system continues to work). The third layer is the protective layer of armed forces. If a nation has a strong second and third layer, it can survive any storm. India has these two layers in good health and in good hands.
In Europe, unfortunately, these are not good enough, especially the armed forces, who cannot handle a crisis at a national level and save the situation. We also have a total geographical area of 3,287,263 square kilometres, which cannot be influenced easily.
Don’t let Fauda come upon us.
1.5 billion people are our strength. Every citizen must be alert and ensure he is not only politically aware but also aware of the ‘fraudsters’ who could be the opposition parties and cronies propped up by them. He should be able to identify and call out ‘naraaz phoophas’ who are always unhappy and show the administration in a bad light. They must not get biased or swayed by the propaganda being pushed across social media that has captured our imagination in the last few years.
What should the government do?
Our present governance is strong and well-meaning. It also appears to avoid knee-jerk reactions to the situation; many feel that it should act quickly against ‘fauda-ites’ to nip the problem in the bud. Some feel the trouble creators are being given a long rope.
But at a strategic level, especially in politics, ‘timing matters a lot’.
Ronald Reagan said: –
“A bird on a tether, no matter how long the rope, can always be pulled back.” And that says a lot about command and control.”
Government must keep the rope tightly in its hand and pull it at the right time- to pull the hawks back. To live tomorrow, ensure you stand firm with your government.
