Associated Press Palestinian Hamas supporters wave green Hamas flags while marching during a protest against Israeli-imposed restrictions on visitors to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, in Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip. Picture: Adel HanaIqbal Jassat writes that the plight of Palestine and the failure to come to terms with its legitimate demands affects the region as a whole and the world at large.
Since the Media Review Network’s advocacy for Palestinian rights became manifest through media and political campaigns more than two decades ago and long before the advent of social media, a recurring set of questions kept cropping up.
One was: why are you guys focused on Palestine and not other worthy causes?
These were posed not only by concerned people, genuinely seeking clarity. They were also raised in hostile ways by pro-Israel lobbyists, whose desire was to tarnish us as anti-Semites by reinforcing the myth that we hate Jews and find Palestine an expedient cause.
While it is not entirely true that we have a straitjacket approach to Palestine to the exclusion of other “hot potatoes”, we certainly and unapologetically expend enormous effort in ensuring Israeli crimes are not papered over.
The reason is simple: the plight of Palestine and the failure to come to terms with its legitimate demands affects the region as a whole and, of course, the world at large.
This sentiment is fortunately being embraced by a group of Western leaders, albeit reluctantly.
Inside and outside Israel, a growing number of Jewish people are courageously affirming this truth.
Whether it’s historians like Ilan Pappe; authors like Max Blumenthal; journalists like Gideon Levy; academics like Uri Davis or international legal experts like Richard Falk; the message is clear: unless Palestinian rights are restored, the entire region will go up in smoke.
That we are sitting on a powder keg is not an exaggeration. Look at Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Bahrain and Egypt to comprehend the gravity of the situation resulting from colonialism, illegal wars, the grabbing of oil reserves and the dispossession of Palestine.
Sixty-six years ago, in came Israel from nowhere to entrench itself as a Jewish colony. It stole land and keeps stealing more. It dispossessed the indigenous Arab inhabitants and keeps doing so.
It occupied Arab territories and maintains its occupation.
Islam’s historic sacred site, Al-Aqsa Mosque, has been occupied since 1967 and remains the target of Israel, which wants to replace it with a Jewish temple. Muslims of the world remain highly agitated, and South African Muslims are no exception. Al-Aqsa Mosque has injected a religious dimension into the conflict, making it impossible for any Muslim in any part of the world to remain immune and untouched.
In addition to Israel being accused of gross violations of human rights stemming from policies that favour Jews over non-Jews, it stands accused of Islamophobia and belligerent anti-Muslim bigotry.
Whether it’s the discredited “war on terror” or the instability in the region resulting from deplorable actions in its pursuit, Israeli-aligned neoconservatives and powerful Likudniks have been fingered as the architects.
Palestine is a casualty of Western atonement for the horror inflicted upon Jews by Europe.
Unfortunately this injustice has had far-reaching consequences. Atonement for the Holocaust extended beyond the dispossession and ethnic cleansing of Palestine. It resulted in what American leaders regularly proclaim: Israel’s security will never be sacrificed.
Palestine is therefore a victim of a range of measures initiated by Israel and its lobby operations, over and above the daily physical oppression.
One such unfair and arbitrary form of punishment is the labelling of legitimate resistance as “terrorism”, making it a criminal offence in the US and most parts of Europe to have ties or links with Hamas.
One can list many such irrational and self-defeating policies that single out Palestine, rendering it a perpetual victim of what South African human rights lawyer and theologian Barney Pityana and others refer to as a “rogue” regime.
It’s not too difficult to understand, then, why advocacy groups such as ours find Palestine to be unique in terms of the power imbalance Israel enjoys, in addition to having America’s “back”, no matter what types of atrocities are committed.
We are pleased, therefore, that more and more South Africans, including major formations, ranging from human rights NGOs to churches and labour movements, have adopted Palestine and are actively engaged in campaigns to promote its cause.
It is not by accident that South Africa during apartheid enjoyed intimate trade and military ties with Israel. Both were viewed as pariah states during the Struggle against Nationalist rule. And, as history records, Palestinian freedom fighters fought in the same trenches alongside ANC and PAC comrades.
The question we usually throw back is: Why haven’t Palestinian demands for freedom, equality and dignity been met yet?
* Jassat is the executive of the Media Review Network in Joburg.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media
Sunday Independent