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The Suez Canal crisis back in March this year also raised a few eyebrows.
It undoubtedly impinged upon exports as the main route for trading nations was completely blocked.
And the 11-day Israel-Palestine war, which commenced back on May 10th, had both countries catapulted into the limelight overnight.
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The Suez Canal was opened in 1869, after ten years of construction financed by the French and Egyptian governments. The shortest route between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, the Suez Canal instantly became strategically important. European countries have been benefiting the most as the canal eased commerce for trading nations and helped them gain and govern their colonies.
The Suez Canal’s importance as a strategic intersection was again obvious during the First World War, when Britain and France closed the canal to non-Allied shipping. Around 100,000 troops were stationed in that region for the rest of the war.
But, a crisis that struck the canal and nearby countries made headline news this year. Engineers fought tooth and nail to free the vessel that went aground for a week. The vessel blocked ships from going to other places via Suez Canal.
An alternate route is indeed available. It is around the Cape of Good Hope at Africa’s southern tip. However, ships did not make a detour or divert to other places because it would cost ships hundreds of thousands of dollars in fuel and other costs, as the route is much longer.
By March 30, after days of immense effort with an elite salvage team from the Netherlands, the breakthrough finally came. Despite the delicate operation, members of the elite salvage team refloated the vessel by the skin of their teeth. They were very fortunate as their work was buoyed by high tide at dawn on March 30. It made the vessel refloat again. People all over the world were euphoric as ships carrying everything, from oil to daily necessities could move again after being stuck in the canal. Equally euphoric are engineers, as they succeeded in putting an end to the crisis.
Economic data suggests this crisis has already cost Egypt’s fragile economy over $95 million dollars. It took another week to clear the backlog of ships in the crisis, the repercussions of which were serious as the crisis severely impacted countries around the world.
The shutdown cast a spotlight on the vital trade route that carries over 10 percent of global trade, including 7 percent of the world’s oil. This crisis has invited people all over the world to think about if there is another route that connects countries in that region, and if ships can use it to travel from the Middle East to other continents, so as to avert another shutdown.
A war broke out between Israel and Gaza in 2014 saw the international community scrambling for a diplomatic solution, amid the bombardment from Israel and revenge from Gaza.
And after the 2014 war that devastated Palestine and Israel, the world saw the deadliest outbreak of violence in that region on record this year, which was considered the carbon copy of the 2014 war.
The familiar spectre of Israel-Gaza violence reared its ugly head when clashes broke out in Jerusalem in April during the holy month of Ramadan this year, which culminated in a stampede.
The outbreak of violence earlier this year made the first half of the year indeed tumultuous for both Israel and Palestine, being that both sides were completely bogged down with the war.
Rockets streaming out of both sides, and missiles attacks, and so on, became prevalent in the region as the all-out war between Israelis and Palestinians continued.
Gaza was turned into an unkempt place as multi-story apartment buildings collapsed following bombardment from Israel. In the first week of the outbreak of violence, some 130 people were killed in Gaza. Artillery shells were also to blame for the large number of injuries.
The region was besieged for most of the time in May as Israel and Gaza kept launching missile attacks on each other’s territory. Screams and flying debris were all over the region, as people scrambled to leave after many apartment buildings in the region collapsed as a result of the bombardment.
World leaders made all the right noises, with many leaders calling for calm. U.S. President Joe Biden sent his envoy Hady Amr to Israel in an effort to de-escalate tensions, even though regional and international diplomatic efforts still didn’t show any signs of halting hostilities.
Having lasted for 11 days, the Gaza war finally ended on May 21. This came after a ceasefire was enacted on the same day the war was halted.
Celebrations were observed across the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.
But needless to say, the war was costly, and it took a horrifying toll on Palestinians, some of whom lost their loved ones during the war. A gargantuan rehabilitation effort was underway in the rest of May after the war was halted. Faced with a sorry sight - widespread devastation to the impoverished Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, and having gone through what must have been a harrowing ordeal, Palestinians began picking up the pieces and rebuilding the coastal enclave.
Despite being hell-bent on winning the Gaza War, Israel was blown out of the water by Gaza, with whom it has been at loggerheads. After some Arab countries accused Netanyahu of not working day and night to broker a ceasefire, because the ongoing war would thwart efforts to seek entente cordiale between some Arab countries and Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was again inundated with angry accusations from his right-wing base that he had halted the war too soon, and Israel would have defeated Palestine completely had Netanyahu continued fighting. Instead, during a phone call with U.S. President Joe Biden, he agreed to a give-and-take deal by finally halting the war.
The ceasefire was brokered by neighbouring Egypt, who had been working day and night alongside some other countries to come up with a solution.
In all, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 243 Palestinians were killed during the 11-day war, including 66 children, with 1,910 people wounded, many of whom were victims of rocket shrapnel or chunks of masonry from collapsed buildings.
On the Israeli side, 12 people were killed during the war, including a 5-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl.
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Still to come on World Review 2021.
The U.S. state of Texas took a beating by a destructive snowstorm that cut off electricity and water supply.
And the G20 and COP26 summits concerning climate change.
Stay with us.
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