Daily Times

Israel’s brutality against unarmed Palestinian protestors continues unabatedly. Israel has used brute force against unarmed Palestinians protesting against Israel’s violent rule as part of “The Great March of Return” — an eight weeks old Palestinian Movement with the stated objective to return back to the Palestinian lands occupied illegally by Israel.

More than hundred Palestinians, women and children included, have been killed so far by Israeli army which is using the massacre as a deterrent against Palestinians holding peaceful protest rallies near its ‘border’. Several journalists covering the Palestinian protest have also been intentionally killed by Israel.

Palestinians mark 14th May, the day the state of Israel was created by forcibly expelling Palestinians from their ancestral land, as ‘Nakba Day’ or ‘The Catastrophe’. This year, the day adds more to the Palestinian plight as the US moved its embassy to Jerusalem, illegally occupied and declared capital by Israel.

The history would never forget when Ivanka Trump was inaugurating the new US embassy; Israelis were massacring the unarmed innocent Palestinian protestors. More than fifty eight breathed their last on the day, while thousands got injured as the US delegation and rejoiced Israelis celebrated the embassy move in Jerusalem. The US finds itself, once more, on the wrong side of the history as it supports a usurper against people fighting to reclaim their occupied land.

If Turkey and other Muslim countries really intend to support Palestinian cause, they must join hands with Iran and Syria to use diplomatic and political means for the liberation of Palestine

The US forefathers who fought against a colonial power for independence must be ashamed of the US supporting an apartheid and occupier involved in the systematic genocide of the Palestinians. The US has exercised its veto power fifty times in favour of Israel, allowing it to exterminate thousands of Palestinian children and hundreds of thousands of Palestinian men and women. Doesn’t the US have Palestinian blood on their hands? Does the US have any justification for supporting Israeli acts of terrorism?

The world can only do a lip service through hollow condemnations of Israeli brutality. The UNSC is nothing more than an impotent and ineffective world body, at least when it comes to political issues involving Muslims. There is complete failure on part of the UNSC to resolve world disputes. It passes resolutions under chapter seven to legitimize imperialist occupation of Muslim countries but when it comes to Palestine, Kashmir, or Rohingya plight, it passes nonbinding resolutions and implores the usurpers and oppressors to make peace. Should it manage to pass a resolution against Israel, the US vetoes it to save her blue-eyed boy. It manages to separate East Taimur from Indonesia in no time but fails to resolve the issues of Palestine and Kashmir for the last seventy years. It is more realistic for Palestinians and all the oppressed of the world to hope for less from the UN.

Muslim countries under the clutches of neocolonialism have nothing more to offer to Palestinians except hollow words. As internal pressure mounts, their rulers take a few typical ceremonial ‘actions’: issuing statements to condemn Israeli aggression, calling in an emergency session of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) or a few calling back their ambassadors from Tel Aviv.

A few Muslim countries like Turkey, Egypt, and Jordon who enjoy cordial diplomatic relations with Israel also condemn Israeli aggression. Nobody in the Muslim world asks them do they have the moral justification to condemn Israel since they recognize the illegal occupier?

Turkey’s Erdogan has called for an emergency meeting of the OIC. Turkey has also called back her ambassador to Israel. May I ask Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan — the honourable president of Turkey — when would Turkey end its diplomatic relations with Israel once and for all to record an emphatic and real protest against Israeli brutality?

A few among the condemners of Israeli acts are the Saudis, the Qataris, and the Emiratis, the Egyptians, and the Jordanians. The aforementioned and many more Muslim countries have covert cordial ties with Israel, yet they are very vocal condemning Israel for domestic consumption. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself has said several times that Israel has never before come closer to the Arabs as now as they all have a common enemy — Iran. According to Associated Press, just recently, ‘Israeli prime minister held an impromptu meeting with the Emirati and Bahraini ambassadors to the US’.

The Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman (MBS) was just recently reported asking the Palestinians either to negotiate with Israel on its terms or ‘shut-up’. Jared Kushner — a Jewish, senior advisor and the son-in-law of Donald Trump — is in close coordination with MBS with regards to a new Middle East peace plan- a proposed plan Jared is believed to be working on-that would stamp Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, purge Palestinian demand for ‘the right of return’ and recognize some village as the capital of future Palestinian state.

With Zionists collaborates at the helm, not much is expected from the Muslim World to do anything substantial or practical to support Palestinian Cause.

Since the Arabs abandoned Palestinians, Iran and Syria joined hands to support the Palestinian cause, and therefore, have been targeted by civil war, terrorism, sectarianism and economic sanctions. Pakistan always extends its moral and diplomatic support to Palestinians. Iran, Syria and their strategic allies in the form of Lebanese Hezbollah, Palestinian militant organisations like Hamas, and Jihad-e-Islami pose a real threat to Israeli occupation, especially when Israeli proxies like Islamic State have been defeated forcing Israel to come forward and fight a war its proxies were fighting earlier.

Should Turkey and other Muslim countries intend to support Palestinian Cause practically, they must join hands with Iran and Syria to use diplomatic and political means for the liberation of Palestine and foil Zionist attempts to sow sectarian or ethnic discord in Muslim countries.

The writer is a journalist and an analyst based in Islamabad. He tweets at @kashifaliraza and can be reached at meetkashi514@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, May 20^th 2018.