How Zionism and U.S. Pressure Fail to End the Palestinian Cause
The
United States and the Israeli right-wing forces—alongside American religious (Evangelical)
groups—are attempting to end the Palestinian cause at any cost. The U.S.
decision this week to close the PLO office in Washington, followed by the halt
of American funding to UNRWA, in addition to stopping certain financial
commitments to Arab hospitals in Jerusalem, all express this policy. Trump’s
recognition of a “unified Jerusalem” (including East Jerusalem occupied in
1967) as Israel’s capital is fully aligned with this delusional quest to
liquidate the Palestinian cause.
The Palestinian Cause as a Symbol of Justice
What
these powers fail to understand is that the Palestinian cause represents—today
and tomorrow—a confrontation with occupation and its behavior, and a fight
against injustice and the pursuit of justice. If Zionist forces believe they
can erase memory and the future, or blur the magnitude of injustice in the
Palestinian struggle, they are delusional.
Despite
the negative news reflecting the weakness of the Arab system before external
pressure, the positive fact remains: the Palestinian cause cannot end unless
Zionism fails as a racist movement that seeks to confiscate the rights, lands,
and homes of the native population. Zionism’s behavior toward Palestinians is
the same as its behavior toward Arabs at large—it aims to keep the Arab world
marginalized and subservient to external powers. Zionist ideology
is inherently racist and exclusionary, no different from the ideology of white
supremacists in apartheid South Africa before it transformed into a democracy
through resistance to injustice and racism.
Surrender Creates Chaos
Defusing
chaos and wars in our region will never be possible through surrendering to the
wishes of Trump, the recklessness of Pence, the dreams of Kushner, or the
ambitions of certain Arab officials. Surrender to these pressures and dictates
will only generate further instability, chaos, and wars.
This is
why a sector of Arab politicians—and then Arab intellectuals—have taken it upon
themselves to align with the
ambiguous “Deal of the Century,” without real understanding of Zionism, its
goals, and its ideology. This alignment with power has pushed some Arab
intellectuals to adopt the weak Zionist narrative about “returning to the
Promised Land.” Some have gone even further, claiming that Israel has the right
to the land and to settlement, adopting the logic of the colonizer and
expressing admiration for Israeli power.
But the
Palestinian cause has not changed in its essential status among the peoples of
Arab and Islamic countries, nor among anyone who respects human rights
worldwide. Some Arab intellectuals erased the Palestinian cause from their
vocabulary because they reduced it to Arafat, Abu Mazen, or even Ismail
Haniyeh. Others believe that Palestine is merely Hamas or Fatah and therefore
generalize all their political frustrations onto the Palestinian cause. The
Palestinian cause reflects the struggle of the oppressed on their own land—and
across the entire Arab and Islamic world—to free themselves from unjust control
over their resources and rights.
The Surrender School and Its Hollow Justifications
The Arab
surrender school—aligned with American and Israeli agendas—turns a blind eye to
prisoners of conscience across the Arab world, and ignores torture and death
sentences imposed on dozens of Arab activists, thinkers, politicians, and
religious and cultural figures. It is not surprising that this school accepts
Zionist injustice while hiding behind the rhetoric of confrontation with Iran,
even as it tolerates violations of Arab human rights everywhere. For this
school, alliance with Zionism is easier than engaging with the popular majority
of their own people.
The
Palestinian issue represents—today and tomorrow—a confrontation with occupation
and injustice, and a pursuit of justice.
Justifying
surrender before Israel and Zionism through weak claims such as repeating the
Zionist myth that “Palestinians sold the land” cannot withstand the full truth.
Jews—including Arab Palestinian Jews—owned only 6% of Palestinian land on the
eve of Israel’s creation in 1948. The departure of women, children, the
elderly, and civilians from areas of fighting and massacres is understandable
in any war—but what is unjustifiable is preventing them from returning after
the war ended.
The true
historical narrative confirms the occurrence of ethnic cleansing
and 22 massacres which forced people to flee, in a war that ended with a defeat
of Arab armies. It is unjustifiable under any circumstance to place one people
into the homes and properties of another, then confiscate lands, assets,
endowments, and houses—as happened in 1948. It is equally unjustifiable, under
any condition, to replace one population with another—as continues since 1948
to this day through settlement, confiscation, Judaization, and forced
displacement.
History of Palestinian and Arab Resistance
Throughout
history, Arabs and Palestinians fought Zionism, and tens of thousands of Arabs
and Palestinians fell in battles and resistance wars. The Nakba of
1948—the first Arab-Zionist war—ended with the occupation of most of Palestine
and the displacement of the Palestinian people. Then came the 1956 war, waged
by Israel with Britain and France simply because President Gamal Abdel Nasser
dared to nationalize the Suez Canal. That war revealed to the Arab public the
true regional function of Israel as an enemy to Arab advancement.
The wars
continued. Arab wars with Israel did not stop, nor did Palestinian uprisings
and resistance. We recall the Battle of Karameh led by Fatah in 1968, the 1973
Arab-Israeli war, the 1978 Israeli invasion of South Lebanon, the 1982 invasion
of Beirut, the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, the first Palestinian
Intifada (1987), the second Intifada (2000), the three Gaza wars, and the
various uprisings in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Cause Lives Despite Liquidation Attempts
In 2018,
attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause intensified, yet the cause remains
influential—and at times dormant—for several reasons. On Palestinian land,
there are today far more Palestinians than existed in 1948: around 6 million
Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza, and within the borders of the State
of Israel.
Because
of Palestinian struggle and international and Arab popular solidarity, BDS
movements succeeded in canceling major events in Israel and pressuring global singers
to withdraw from performing there. At the peak of its military and political
power, Israel finds that issues of rights and justice still mobilize
people—including an increasing number of Jews worldwide who view Zionist
policies, Trumpism, and Kushner’s methods toward Arabs as a prelude to a major
crisis and deeper conflicts with Arabs and Muslims everywhere.
Israel’s Internal Contradictions
On the
other side, there are 6 million Jews on the historical land of Palestine. But a
large portion of these 6 million Israeli Jews suffer due to ongoing conflict
with the Palestinians. Their army, police, and agencies chase young men, women,
and children in Palestinian streets. Jewish religious communities inside Israel
are in open conflict with secular Jews. This greatly affects world Jewry, as
the extremism of religious Zionists pushes many Jews away from the very
definition of “Jewish identity.”
The
Jewish Nation-State Law intensifies Israel’s racism and deepens its
contradictions—internally and externally—with Palestinians and non-Jewish
citizens. Jewish nationalism no longer appeals to most Jews worldwide, who have
no desire to migrate to Israel.
A Prison for All
Israel
has become a vast prison for Palestinians—but it fails to recognize that behind
walls, wars, militarization, and oppression, it has also created a massive
prison for Jews themselves, who pay the price for Israel’s policies and its
Zionist ideology.
Also Read:
- Islamic Perspective on Global Zionism
- Zionist Violence in Reality and History
- Western Recognition of Palestine: Victory for Justice or Cause Liquidation?
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