As sorrowful events transpire in Gaza wrapping the entire world in darkness without distinction between day and night, those living in peace and safety away from the events with their daily food secured, yet they cannot be separated from the events however they attempt to seclude themselves from the world. Yet, a single human soul stripped from the right to life without guilt or crime is akin to a black cloud that rains agony, grief, sorrow and melancholy on the whole world.
However, there is a glimmer of hope when we see the entire world, east and west, reacting with Gaza as all of them have agreed on the sanctity of blood, the status of humans, ending the war and protecting civilians and the vulnerable in Gaza. This is similar to when the world and its free peoples were gathered in Gaza which now represents the entire world rather than a limited geographical piece of ground.
Nowadays, there are hundreds of people rallying in support of the Palestinian cause across the globe and not only in the Arab and Islamic countries. The demonstrations have taken a human shape and are taking place in countries that support the Israeli occupation and criminalise all forms of anti-Semitism. We have seen thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators in the USA, London, Manchester, Glasgow, Paris, Berlin, Toronto, Sydney, Madrid, Bilbao, Barcelona, Valencia, Vienna, Helsinki, Hassleholm, Mostar, Pristina, Hamilton, Auckland and many more.
The demonstrators are not only Muslims or Arab immigrants but also non-Muslims and even Jews rejecting the genocides committed by Zionism in Gaza and injustice in Palestine. Among them are also Protestant Christians who reject injustice, genocide, and brutality against the people of Palestine and the Gaza. There are also non-Arab advocates of freedom and human rights as well as international humanitarian organisations.
The Palestinian cause is no longer an Arab or Islamic one but rather a humanitarian cause. What is going on in Gaza and Palestine in general is overtly known to the entire world. Previously the media was directed towards certain political goals particularly those wanted by the West. The Western media has, for long years, instilled into the Western mindset, false ideas portraying the Arabs, including Palestinians, as brutal barbarians. It has propagated that the Jews were subjected to oppression by anti-Semitists despite the fact that Arabs and Muslims had nothing to do with the oppression suffered by the Jews in the middle ages onwards as stated by the Jewish historian Uri Avnery (died 2018) in his Gush Shalom (Peace Bloc): “Every straightforward Jewish who knows the history of his people feels nothing more than gratitude towards Islam which protected the Jews for fifty generations at a time when they were chased by the Christians world who tried many times to force them to alter their faith by the sword.” To present day the Jews coexist in Islamic countries. The Jews maintained a political and scientific standing in eras as early as the Abbasid, Ottoman and others.
If Christians had a negative ideological vision vis-à-vis the Jews, on allegation of the assassination of the Christ, then the situation changed particularly for the Protestant Anglican Christianity some of them opined that accelerating the establishment of the Jewish state was a preamble of the coming of Christ, and also a preparation to the fulfillment of the prophecies of the holy book. This idea was taken from them by the Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses who see that the establishment of a state for the Jews is the fulfillment of the prophecies of glad tidings of the earthly government which is the land of Paradise as God will, after a short time, replace all human governments by His own government and the subjects of this government will enjoy peace. The presence of a heavenly government presided over by Christ followed by the realisation of the glad tidings of an earthly government coupled with the heavenly one along with the overthrow of earthly governments”. This prophecy will be fulfilled in Palestine through the establishment of the Jewish state.
I once wrote an elaborate article in Oman Arabic newspaper about the same topic under the title ‘Zionism and the State Question from Scientism to Religious Fundamentalism.’ The readers can refer to it in order to avoid repetition. Then, when religion was exploited by politicians, secularism disguised itself in a religious attire or vice versa. The Western Catholic Church was dominated by Western political hegemony with a fanatical Protestant orientation in contrast to the Eastern Orthodox Church in general, many of which remained autonomous like the Coptic and Eastern Churches in general.
However, I do not intend to religionise the topic, otherwise the idea of the Savior, linking him to bloody conflict, and provoking wars and corruption to expedite his appearance, in the same manner as his appearance was linked to Christ and the land of Palestine or to the sacred things, an idea that is present in the mindset of many religions especially the Abrahamic religions. It is crucial to criticise this attitude because of its negative messages that may affect human societies and hamper the desire to achieve peace in the world and to protect man and individual rights most importantly the right to life. However, exploiting some negative religious literature on the one hand and the absolute interpretation of the religious literature, will lead the world towards more violence, bloodshed, and conflicts.
Nevertheless, I do not see any value in mocking religions in social media posts nor in putting the religion’s doctrinal or historical opinions in the wrong context and interpreting them in a negative way with false projections. This way only raises tension and worsens congestion. It expands and transforms the conflict from a political conflict dressed in religious clothing into an unneeded sectarian conflict.
We ought to distinguish between policies and faiths. There are right-wing fanatic policies that employ some religious texts and interpretations to justify their political interests and attitudes. Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky said that Talmudic religious vocabulary has been used and is still being used in Israeli politics and is often cited in the Hebrew-speaking Israeli press by the extreme right-wing party. Yet, there are religious and left-wing denominations that reject such projections utilised by extremist politicians around the world.
This is what we are now seeing in the Gaza cause. With some Western policies siding by the occupation, either for political reasons with religious dimensions or due to the Semitic hegemony therein, some peoples have rejected this bias and stood with the blood-saving humanitarian principle which rejects any form of terrorism by any country or religion. We have seen dozens of examples in the cause under consideration from politicians, thinkers, jurists, military personnel, and others as well as the peoples protesting and rejecting this terrorism on the one hand and a double standard on the other hand.
Absolute hostility towards the West is not in the interest of the Palestinian cause in particular as it is not in our interest in general. Some link this negative bias to the Western civilization thereby rejecting it altogether as if the Western civilisation is wholly confined to this negative political angle with populist discourses that tend to generalization and negative agitation while themselves use Western-produced means and tools to express its opinion. As I mentioned above, what we see today i.e. the awareness of many Westerners of the righteousness of the Palestinian cause is exactly what we should work on as those people have their weight in Western policies whether politically, legally or civilly.
Similarly, it is not in our interest, nor is it in the interest of the Palestinian cause to antagonize religions or different sects within the Islamic religion itself. There are commonalities that we have to stand with and activate. In the past, scholars of purposes agreed that the second purpose of religions and laws was the preservation of the human soul and this lies in the religious literature. Fundamentally, misfortunes and calamities unite the dissimilar and highlight a single picture that should be taken into account. Nowadays we see that many religious figures are aware of the injustice and killing inflicted on the Palestinian people, hence this common circle between all religions must be expanded owing to the religion’s impact on human society which results in the religiosity of peoples and societies.
Likewise, it doesn’t make sense when some people antagonise their governments using hostile language and absolute hatred with some of them symbolising revolutions aimed at changing the regime as if it takes a push of a button to change the situation in Gaza. Today we live in a complicated world, and if those people were in their place, they would do the same. Since the world today is rife with deadly weapons, it is unreasonable to recall historical wars that were fought with just swords and arrows. Such absolute discourse of antagonism benefits the Israeli occupation. It serves the Israeli interest when the conflict shifts to other countries so that they find an opportune climate for genocides and destruction.
Nonetheless, these governments should have a serious attitude, away from the timid condemnation statements, a unified position that encourages the people to empower their rights and humanity, and to protect their blood, soul, property, and honour. This emergent humanitarian situation should also be taken into account without antagonizing others and without exaggerated extravagant ceremonies. We are one nation with feelings and emotions like other human beings and our strength lies in our unified rather than separate self.
What I hope for today and tomorrow, regarding the question: what’s next?, is the exploitation of the global humanitarian attention to the Palestinian cause by peoples, institutions, governments and political, religious and cognitive and cultural figures. It is a very advanced case in favour of the Palestinian cause and other humanitarian causes as the peoples have agreed on the need to pay attention to the Palestinian people and their just and legitimate humanitarian cause.
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