International Quds day, global support for Palestine
Israeli crackdowns on Palestinians are nothing new, this time, however, it was the holy mosque of Al-Aqsa that was desecrated in the attacks, causing thousands across the globe to come out in solidarity with the Palestinians.
Pro-Palestine rallies are nothing new in Iran. But this year after 2 years of cancellations due to COVID, the annual Quds Day turnout was a matter of excited anticipation.
International Quds Day falls on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, during which rallies are held to keep alive the notion of resistance till the freedom of Palestine from the clutches of Zionist usurpers. Originally introduced by Iran, this year the day falls on April the 29th.
The plight of Palestine and how it started is no longer a secret to the world. It had nothing to do with the Arabs selling their land off to Europeans, who were, for all intents and purposes, Russian non Semitic Jews, as part of an old conspiracy to find European Jews a land of their own, which would serve as a Western base in the middle-east.
Towards the end of the 19th-century the creation of the Zionist movement resulted in many European Jews immigrating to Palestine.
Jewish land purchase began as early as the1880s and continued until the establishment of what’s largely recognized as the State of Israel in 1948.
By 1944, the Zionists had acquired only 6% of the land in Palestine; although that’s beside the point, as private land ownership doesn’t warrant taking over the country you own land in.
Despite this being a commonly held principle, this awareness hasn’t made things any better for Palestinians.
This could be put down to several factors: an increase in the US’s unjust and unfounded support for Israel, the KSA stepping in and facilitating US policy, other Arab states openly aligning with Israel; and a UN personalized by world powers with veto power.
The support given by some Arab countries, I mean you cannot say that both of these two groups enjoy an authority in this game.
The US’s support can be rooted in many different things while countries such as the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco, which have taken measures to normalize ties with Israel, is rooted in their desperation.
The reason is that these countries are worried that they are going to lose the support of a big power called America because the US has announced that it is going to withdraw from the region.
Now, all these years, these desperate countries, which have always relied on a foreign power to keep their system of government in place, are seeking an alternative power to rely on.
Mahdi Shakibai, Society for the Defense of Palestinian Nation
Palestinians have, of course, had to defend their rights and lives before a power-backed usurping force. And if that’s the actual cause of it, Israel decided to close its only crossing for Palestinian workers coming from the Gaza Strip.
This has been denounced as “collective punishment” of the impoverished territory’s two million residents who have lived under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade for nearly 15 years.
It is needless to say that every now and then we hear in the news that one or two Palestinians have been killed or injured by Israeli soldiers. It doesn’t surprise anyone anymore.
But why does this killing and this conflict not end? It is because Palestinians have lost their lands to some bullies. The land of the Palestinians has been usurped and they have been deprived of their political and civil rights.
This is the main story which includes all the killings and the demolition of houses. Israel has usurped their homeland and expelled them from their country.
Palestine’s population is 14 million. Fifty percent of this population has been displaced.
Mahdi Ashena, Palestine Affairs Analyst
The move to close the Gaza strip was announced on Saturday Apr 23, after the Israeli army accused Hamas, the group ruling the Gaza Strip, of firing three rockets into Israel a day earlier, as tensions have been mounting in Ramadan with the Muslim holy month coinciding with Jewish Passover, giving Jews an excuse to enter the Al-Aqsa mosque for prayer, which is forbidden for non-Muslims.
The past few years have been an era of provocation, as former US president Trump, in 2017, the year of his election, simply cherry-picked Jerusalem out of the Palestinians’ garden, as the new capital of Israel.
But apparently this wasn’t enough to provoke all regional Muslim states. By 2020, five Arab League countries had established diplomatic relations with Israel, instead.
Because the Western World, or the world itself in general, is conspiring with the Zionist entity completely; the states that created the Zionist entity in our region are Britain, France and other European states, because the creation of it was a Western project in principle, so how are you going to ask the above-mentioned European states to deal with this problem?
Later, the US government took the responsibility of supporting the Zionist entity with all its means and tools; so, today American policies in the region are supporting this entity.
The US imposed its policies upon the world in the past, while today is pushing some regional states to normalize their relations with Israel through its policy of carrot and stick. Unfortunately, with the existence of this world order, there is absolutely no chance to achieve any progress in this regard.
Human rights organizations are working very hard while their reports are being sent to the UN but all in vain.
We saw various American Administrations, in particular president Trump’s administration, tried its best to impose the so called the deal of the century, in other words to consolidate the Zionist entity’s position over all the Palestinian territory, in order to turn the Palestinians to grade 10 citizens under the authority of the occupation.
Nasser Abousharif, Palestinian Islamic Jihad
The 5 Arab states who defected are Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Morocco.
Saudi Arabia didn’t have to do so as its very existence is due to secret deals consenting to the birth of Israel. Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 as one of artificially-produced regional states.
As for Egypt, like Jordan, it already had full diplomatic relations with Israel since the signing of peace treaties in 1979 and 1994 respectively.
Since more than 22 years ago, all polls have been asserting that Arab & Muslim stance has not changed, their positions have been very clear, more than 88% of Arab nation are refusing any kind of relationships with the Zionist entity. This is the real and authentic position of Arab nation.
These dictatorial regimes are lacking any popular support, they have been imposed upon their people by force while depending on aliens for their survival, for this reason they do not depend on their peoples’ allegiance and loyalty but on satisfying whoever supports them and consolidate their positions as rulers.
Therefore, peoples’ stance is totally different from their rulers, we as Palestinians understand this situation, but unfortunately peoples’ activities have become less and weak, moreover the internal situation in each country has become dominant over the main issue that is the central issue for Arabs & Muslims.
Nasser Abousharif, Palestinian Islamic Jihad
The UN General Assembly Resolution 3379, issued in 1975, did in actual fact determine that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination, which was opposed by US officials.
In 1991, the General Assembly effectively negated Resolution 3379, by adopting Resolution 4686.
Since 1991 the United States has been the world's dominant military, economic, social, and political power (not to mention hosting the UN Headquarters itself in New York City).
Call it a geographic coincidence if you must, but the United Nations has been a factory of failures ever since. This is hardly surprising since it was not designed for the uni-polar world we were left with after the fall of the Soviet Union.
I think at the moment, the only obstacle that prevents the Palestinians from achieving their right(s) is the oppressive veto power that has been given to five countries at the United Nations.
This discrimination and oppression is not limited to the Palestinian nation only. Any country which acts against the benefits of these five countries will be harasses through this veto power.
Palestinians are, unfortunately, subject to this oppressions and any resolution passed in the UN, which is against the benefits of Israel, is vetoed in the Security Council; hence stopped.
Mahdi Shakibai, Society for the Defense of Palestinian Nation
Thus far there have been plenty of resolutions against Israeli atrocities and illegal settlements on Palestinian land. But they’ve been all too easy to veto.
By May 2021 the United States had vetoed dozens of such United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions, at least 53 since 1972, according to UN data.
With the escalation of violence between Israel and the Palestinians, the US stuck with the trend, and in late May of last year, Washington blocked a joint statement calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The third such US veto reported within the same week.
Yes, of course, these regional projects did affect the Islamic Ummah, for instance, the big Arab revolution in the Arabian Peninsula, they were obliged to cooperate with superpowers at that time, such as Britain, for this reason there was a relation between Sharif Hussein and the British.
The Saudi project cooperated with the British as well, and later with the Americans, in order to consolidate their positions in the region. All these partial projects were like this, the kings of the sects is an ancient historical story, even in Andalusia, in order to consolidate any individual’s position he got to cooperate with the ummah’s enemies not friends.
Today the history repeats itself, in order to install a new king he must obtain the American Administration’s consent, so the most important consent could be obtained from the Americans will be the recognition of Israel and normalizing relations with it.
This is how Mohammed Bin Salman grasped this fact, through Kushner, the Jew and the Zionist who is Trump’s son in law and was his advisor during his presidency; Bin Salman understood that he wouldn’t be able to assume the throne except by wooing the Zionist entity.
Unfortunately, that was a stab in the back of Palestinian people and a betrayal of the nation, religion, humanity and all moral values.
Nasser Abousharif, Palestinian Islamic Jihad
The US may have bullied and bribed the cousins into turning their backs on Palestine. But to Iran, an atypically non-semitic, or non-Arab state in the region, standing up for Palestine is both a matter of pride and national security.
Iranians both sympathize and realize the depth of the Israeli dream of beginning with Palestine only to end up occupying every inch of land from the Nile to the Euphrates.
Firstly, Iran deals with the Palestinians based on the fact that Palestine belongs to them and is their indisputable right and that there is no right whatsoever for the Zionists who must be punished for their crimes over the years.
Imam Khomeini dubbed this Zionist entity “a cancerous tumor planted at the heart of the Islamic Ummah by force, so it must be removed”, this is the official stance of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and all its policies are founded on this concept.
Of course, there are many aids given to the Palestinians from political, morale, material and military aspects, but the Islamic Republic of Iran has been the only side that never stopped its support for the resistance in Palestine.
We can see the real support during hard times in Palestine, such as Intifada, or the uprising, the most significant one is the day of Al-Quds when millions of Iranian people took to the streets in various Iranian cities to support the Palestinian issue and to confirm the pledge of allegiance with Al-Quds.
Nasser Abousharif, Palestinian Islamic Jihad
And so Quds Day, which was proposed in 1979 by Ayatollah Khomeini, was welcomed by the Islamic world and all nations who see the loss of Palestinian rights as an undeniable fact.
Most importantly, eventually the Iranian resistance movement and Shiite factions in southern Lebanon further consolidated with Palestinian resistance organizations.
That collective resistance may lose its powerful figures such as Iran’s Soleimani and Iraq’s Al-Muhandis, both assassinated by the US to the joy of Israel, but the movement is a crawling but living juggernaut.
[The] Israeli regime knows well that if it wasn’t for Iran’s support the resistance in Palestine wouldn’t last long. The Israelis believe that removing Iran means beheading the Resistance movement.
Israel’s acts of sabotage, enmity and animosity towards Iran are all because Iran, when it comes to the issue of Palestine, respects values that have unfortunately lost their attractiveness for some Arab countries. These values are so significant for Iran that it is ready to pay its costs.
But it is sad to say that the Arab “normalizers” of ties with Israel pay attention only to the benefits they can gain from the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Mahdi Ashena, Palestine Affairs Analyst
How it all began and how it is at present are facts in hand, but the future also seems to be coming to the fore, with extreme measures speeding up historical change.
Voices from Israel have sounded desperate as of late. But the fact on the ground remains: Israeli and Palestinian estimates indicate there are about 650,000 settlers living in 164 settlements and 116 outposts in the West Bank, including in occupied Jerusalem, according to AA.
Is Israel overdoing it and moving toward self-destruction given the fact that the resistance movement continues to stand firm, or will it actually succeed in implementing its dark plans for the Palestinians?
... In light of the current international equation that formed the Zionist entity and still depends on it as an advanced base, it is not possible to find a solution, whatever solution could be.
We saw Oslo agreements in the year 1993 and their outcomes after 30 years, of course, there haven’t been any results except a big decline on the ground, for instance, there have been more and more settlements and confiscation of lands, for all these reasons there is no hope for a political solution.
The only horizon in front of us is resistance which is the feasible solution.
At the end of the day, the Zionist entity does not have roots in this region and no extension, the only extension it has could be seen in its relations with Bahrain & Emirates’ rulers, therefore this entity has no roots and no extensions, any defeat in any upcoming war this Zionist entity will diminish.
Nasser Abousharif, Palestinian Islamic Jihad
Looking at the international law, we realize that Iran’s solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict is very fair and reasonable. But the realities in the international arena and in the region have created a condition that makes it seem impossible to achieve.
But this is not true. The solution suggested by Iran is an ideal which can be fulfilled through long-term planning.
The Islamic Republic of Iran says that the Palestinians who are the real owners of this land but have been expelled from their own country, should return and those who do not belong to this land but have usurped it must leave and then the Palestinian nationals, - Christians, Muslims and Jew – decide for their own destiny via referendum. They should make decision about the type of government they want in their country. This is the most democratic plan.
Mahdi Ashena, Palestine Affairs Analyst
What would be favourable results of resistance to the present crisis ought to be the choice of the Palestinians.
In 2020 Iran came up with a logical proposal that Palestinians be allowed, internationally, to hold a referendum to decide the fate of the occupied lands. That would mean a vote by all the original and historical inhabitants of the occupied territories, both those who are still there and those who have been displaced.
This would included Muslims, Christians and Jews and their descendants; all original Palestinians.
Iran even presented its initiative entitled "National Referendum in Palestine" to the United Nations. Iran as a supporter of Palestinian rights and Muslim pride is a nuisance to Israel, given its status as a regional power.
So what has amounted to Iran’s regional influence, and a JCPOA it might have revived with the Vienna talks, has been cause for serious concern for Israel.
It was during the Vienna JCPOA talks that Israel, without a shadow of a doubt, sabotaged Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility among other acts of hostility.
One wonders how effective the reaction and strategy of a Palestinian and Islamic Resistance has been.
The Palestinians’ strategy of resistance has so far proved to be fruitful. Because they have made many achievements through this resistance such as freeing part of their occupied territories, creating a condition of balanced power with Israel and proving to the world that a nation called Palestine exists on earth.
If it were not for their sacrifices, today we wouldn’t have Palestine anymore. Above all, they have been able to establish a government.
In the past, Israel used to do military operations anywhere safely but today before jumping into action, it assesses all the aspects of any operation because it is worried about the reaction of Palestinians.
Mahdi Shakibai, Society for the Defense of Palestinian Nation
To stop further annexation by right-wing-run Israel is going to take a lot more than mere suggestions.
There is an instance when Netanyahu maneuvered on annexation. The annexation of the Jordan Valley was first proposed in the 1967 Allon Plan.
However, in September 2019 it was announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as his plan, subject to the outcome of the September 2019 Israeli legislative election.
Looking at the desperate situation of dead-ends wherever Palestinians turn, it’s no wonder Quds day is seen as a respite for them.
Presently Jerusalem, as Trump’s preferred capital of Israel, is not the only sore spot with the people of the region and Muslim world. The United States recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel through a presidential proclamation signed by Donald Trump on March 25, 2019. This made the United States the first country to recognize Israeli rather than Syrian sovereignty over the Golan Heights region.
In 2020 the US actually embarrassed itself by proposing the notorious, bound-to-fail, deal of the century; what Iran calls “treason of the century”.
This Trump, or better to say Kushner plan, was officially titled "Peace to Prosperity: A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People".
It claimed to be the road to resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, or Israel-imposed conflict with Palestine. Practically the plan would have bought out the Palestinians for miserly comforts; nothing even close to a realistic two-state solution. Comforts for their country!
It was on 22 June 2019, that the Trump administration released the economic portion of the plan, titled "Peace to Prosperity". The political portion was released in late January 2020.
It's no wonder that even those Palestinians who had been considering a two-state solution boycotted Trump’s peace plan and hence had him scrap US funding to pressure the Palestinians into allowing Israel’s expansionism.
The word expansionism used in relation to Israel highlights the fact that Israel is a modern-day invading power which has no business taking anything from, or sharing it with Palestinians. Any west Asian accepting this notion is either doing it to take what he can get or out of sympathy for the fourth generation Israeli usurpers.
Since the 2021 US elections all eyes have been focused on the current US President, Joe Biden, and his role in the peace, or no peace, process. But Israeli right-wing parties, which dominate the political arena, reject the two-state solution and call for the annexation of about a third of the West Bank, having recently moved very close to the west bank.
Even with corona rampaging, there was no respite for Palestinian children detained and kept bars without being charged. By Quds Day 2021 no less than 4500 Palestinians were in Israeli jails. Of the thousands behind bars, 430 were administrative detainees, held without charge or trial, including 180 children, 41 of whom are women and young girls
There were 550 prisoners suffering from various illnesses, including 11 with cancer, seven with kidney failure, and a number with severe heart conditions.
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