Monday, May 17, 2021

Self-Proclaimed Islamic Countries Shy Away From Their Responsibility Towards Palestine

 OIC Member Countries Are A Pack Of Jokers Or Paper Tigers Not Able To Help Palestinians

Main Points:

1. Saudi Arabia and other Sunni countries do not want to defeat Israel at the cost of strengthening Iran in the Middle East

2. Hamas is an ally of Iran and so strengthening Hamas will harm the interests of Arab countries

3. Sudan, UAE, Morocco and Bahrain have established diplomatic ties with Israel

4. Sectarian divide among OIC countries is the cause disunity on Palestine issue.

5. Self-proclaimed Khalifa of the Islamic world, Erdogan finds himself helpless.

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New Age Islam Correspondent

17 May 2021

The recent Israeli aggression against Palestinians has once again exposed the insensitivity and cowardice of Arab and other Muslim majority countries which claim to be Islamic countries on the basis that their constitution is based on the Quran and Hadith. During the last ten days when the clashes turned into undeclared war between the Palestinians and Israel, more than 150 Palestinians have been killed, including 40 children, the so-called Islamic countries have been doing only lip service to the hapless Palestinians. Some of them like Pakistan and Iran are nuclear countries. Pakistan time and again flexes its muscles against India and vows to destroy it with its nuclear bomb but its Prime Minister Imran Khan does nothing more than issuing a statement condemning Israeli aggression against Palestine and expressing solidarity with Palestinians. He also quotes…….. a poetry by Noam Chomsky:

"You take my water, burn my olive trees, destroy my house, take my job, steal my land, imprison.my father, kill my mother, bombard my country, starve us all but I am to blame. I shot a rocket back."

 

Protesters attend a rally in London to express solidarity with Palestinians on Saturday.Chris J Ratcliffe / Getty Images

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This was all, that is, hollow rhetoric, was all the head of a nuclear armed self-proclaimed Islamic country of Pakistan could offer the Palestinians who are fighting the war of survival with limited resources available to them.

Iran, another nuclear country that all too often threatens to obliterate Israel has not been able to openly support Palestinians apart from supplying missiles to Hamas covertly. Iran's foreign minister Javad Zareef visited Syria to meet Bashar al Assad but nothing concrete came out. Saudi Arabia's foreign minister discussed the situation in Palestine with his Egyptian counterpart but could not do anything to help Palestinians. Turkey's Erdogan who had sent 4000 ISIS fighters to Azerbaijan to defeat Armenia also could not muster courage to take any solid action against Israel.

All these countries claim that they follow the injunctions of the Quran and Hadiths and run their government according to Sharia. So let's find out what the Quran instructs Muslims and Muslim countries in a situation in which the Palestinians find today.

The land of the Palestinians have been usurped by Israel and the Israeli forces have been attacking them, evicting them from their homes and rendering them into refugees in their own homeland. During the last 70 years the Zionists have captured 95 percent of Palestine. Now they are forcefully evicting them from a 35 acre plot called Sheikh Jarrah. Palestinians have been confined to Gaza Strip and West Bank. In these situations Quran says to them:

" While taking the souls of those who were engaged in wronging themselves, the angels asked, "In what circumstances were you"? They replied, "We were too weak and helpless in the land. The angels said, “Was not the earth of Allah wide enough for you to emigrate in it?" For such men their refuge is hell. Except the men, women and children who were indeed too feeble to be able to seek the means of escape and did not know where to go. May be Allah shall pardon these for Allah is All-pardoning, All-forgiving." ( Al Nisa:97-99)

The above quoted verses says that people like Palestinians should leave a place where they are constantly persecuted and are not allowed to observe their religious duties and are denied other human rights and the right to life and dignity is not guaranteed to them. If they have the option to leave the place but do not leave it and subject themselves to a life of humiliation, they are cursed by God. But if they are trapped and cannot leave the place despite the will to do that, God will pardon them.

Image: Associated Press

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The situation with the Palestinians is that in modern times when the citizens of a country cannot enter another country without permission and no country will allow the entire population of a particular area to immigrate and settle there, it's not possible for the Palestinians to migrate to some other land. Therefore, they have to fight the Israel for their survival in the country they have been inhabiting since pre-historic times.

Now let's find out what the Quran instructs Islamic countries to do for the people like the Palestinians who have been persecuted by Israel. The Quran says:

"And what is it with you? You do not fight for the cause of Allah and for oppressed men, women and children who cry out, "Our Lord, deliver us from this land of oppressors. Appoint for us a saviour, appoint for us a helper."(Al Nisa:75)

According to this verse, it is the religious duty of Islamic countries to come to the help of the oppressed Palestinian community with all the means needed. The Islamic countries should rescue and help the Palestinians either diplomatically or militarily.

Now the question is: Are the so-called Islamic countries fulfilling this obligation? Are they taking actions to protect and rescue the Palestinians? The answer is: No. When Israel is attacking civilians, press buildings, residential complexes and killing children women and unarmed civilians and openly threatening to continue the attacks in future, only verbal statements of condemnation are not what Quran wants Muslim countries to deliver.

The world community is blamed for showing insensitivity towards the plight of the Palestinians. The UN Security Council belatedly held its meeting on the issue bur failed to issue even a formal press statement on it because of the pressure of the US. The Turkish ambassador to the UNSC Fridiun Sinirlioglu issued a written statement to the UNSC saying, "Failure to adopt even a press statement on an issue that has been on the Council's agenda since almost its inception is simply unacceptable." He also advised the UN to develop an international mechanism to deter Israeli aggression and ensure protection of Palestinian citizens.

The Muslim countries have criticised the UN for not taking any effective measure against Israel but what has their own OIC, an organisation of 57 Muslim countries done against Israel except issuing press statements condemning Israeli aggression? The OIC countries are acting like a pack of jokers or paper tigers. These countries were so active against Syria during the Syrian civil war that Bandar bin Sultan ( Bandar in Urdu means monkey) had gone to meet Russian President and threatened him saying, "We are going to attack Syria. All the terrorist outfits active in Syria are patronised by us. If you do not come to the rescue of Bashar al Assad, we promise to you not to cause any disturbance during Sochi olympics to be held in your country."

This was a direct threat to Putin from Saudi Arabia. Soon after Bandar left, Putin ordered his army to be on 2-minute mode. Putin had clearly said that if the US attacked Syria, Russia would attack Saudi Arabia. This deterred the US and Saudi Arabia from attacking Syria.

Image: Associated Press

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One wonders where are the brave Bandars and Sultans and Khalifas hiding when the Palestinians are crying out for help and the Israeli tanks are ready to roll out in Gaza.

The fact is that some of the OIC members (UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco) have recognised Israel and have established diplomatic ties with it. So they can't say or do anything that harms Israel. The problem of the Sunni countries is that they cannot strengthen Hamas because Hamas is an ally of Iran. If Arab countries back Hamas, it will mean strengthening Shia Iran in the Middle East. They cannot strengthen Iran in the Gulf at the cost of Israel. If Israel is defeated with the help of Hamas, there will be no stopping Iran in the Middle East. So the survival of the Sunni Arab countries depends on the survival of Israel, or so they think.

Palestinians cannot also expect Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey and Iran to use their relations with China and Russia to persuade these superpowers to take effective measures against Israel because the relations of these Muslim countries with the two super powers are not on equal terms but they are only their stooges. Saudi Arabia that defended China on Uyghur issue cannot ask China to even condemn Israel. Pakistan that is dependent on Saudi wealth cannot say anything against Israel because Saudis dont want to antagonise Israel.

In short, the deeply divided Muslim countries are the least expected to deliver concrete help to the Palestinians until situations take unexpected turns.

URL:    https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-society/palestine-gaza-oic-palestinians/d/124835


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