It is a massacre. It is a genocide. It is butchery. It is children. It is the new born. It is the unborn. Never has the world witnessed atrocities like these in such a short period. The UNRWA said that more children have been killed in recent months than in conflicts globally in the last four years. 5 children die every hour in Palestine.
Children have been maimed, scarred, scorched by the incessant bombing in the killing fields set on fire by Israeli bombing. This time the oppression has been beyond barbaric. This has made the world cry and protest and demand and do.
The west that normally makes apologetic noises has come out loud and clear in Palestine support. Ireland, Spain, Norway have all recognized Palestine State. There are million marches on the streets of London and New York. Harvard and the Ivy League have never seen such student protests and uproar.
In contrast, with a few exceptions, the Muslim world has almost adopted a deafening silence. Leaders have said all the right things, but done nothing. Islamic organizations like OIC have made statements that we all know mean little. In this moment of crisis when the whole world is uniting to stand behind Palestine, where is the Muslim Ummah? This is a sad reality that is biting the Palestinians as they look desperately for support. This is a moment of history. This is a moment of truth. This is a moment to choose. The most indifferent have become concerned. The most distant have come near. But, for those who claim to be the “brothers of the Palestinians” the step-brotherly indifference is tragic.
This lip service when those who never claimed to care are also caring is due to:
- The West’s Appeasement Policy— The bigger powers in the Muslim world need to lead and show their proclaimed solidarity with Palestine. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are the obvious players who should be flexing their political muscle.
The problem is that their security, technology and economy are dependent on the US and Israel. The Saudi Crown Prince has been in headlines modernizing his country by making it less oil dependent. In this westernization drive the business connect to the US is crucial.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman on 19th May in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, to put the finishing touches on a major US-Saudi deal. The deal proposes enhanced bilateral cooperation on defence, civilian nuclear energy, and future technologies. Though the deal also includes the Israeli agreement on Palestine but as usual that part is just a pen service.
Similarly, the UAE sees huge economic benefits tied to the US and Israel. The UAE became the most prominent Arab state in 30 years to establish formal ties with Israel under a US-brokered agreement in 2020, dubbed the Abraham Accords.
In the wake of the accords, Israeli entrepreneurs began flocking to the Gulf state on direct flights from Tel Aviv, establishing new business ties and expanding existing relationships that were once kept a secret. Deals announced before the war included investments in cyber security, fintech, energy and agri-tech. Last year, trade with Israel grew 17% to reach $2.95 billion, according to data from the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics.
- Regional Power Clashes— Then there is the power struggle within the Muslim countries. In the west America leads due to its superpower capability. In the Islamic world there is no clear superpower. There are countries aligned with American lobby, and there are countries connected to the Russian bloc.
The Saudis and the Emirates are the American lobby, while Iran, Qatar, Syria, etc., are backed by the Russians. These countries have border conflicts, wars and dictatorships. They are too internally consumed, and too openly dependent on external support to really pose as a leader that can unite the Islamic world. Their ability to negotiate on issues with the west is highly limited.
Other countries like Malaysia and Turkey are unable to assert their leadership in this tightly controlled geopolitical conflict area. That is why regional blocs and associations are just annual rituals that make scant political noise.
A state of security and political looseness prevails in the region as a result of the failure of its sub-regional systems, e.g., the OIC, the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council, to build a regional strategy based on a unified identification of threats, their sources, and how to confront them.
Turkey with its economic and military prowess under an aggressive Erdogan has been prominent in its resistance politics. However, the Saudis have never really let them in the region nor has Europe. Rejected by the European Union, resisted by Saudis, Turkey remains the outlier.
Even within these constraints more can be done. With the public sentiments in Europe turning against Israel, the time to negotiate and put political pressure is now. Instead of just relying on a special meeting called for OIC, they should be making a special association specifically for Palestine.
A ‘Joint Islamic Forum For Palestine (JIFP)’ can be formed specifically with the agenda to get justice for the Palestinians. This forum should have a focused agenda of stopping the war, lobbying with UN for legally fair demands of the right of self-determination and two-state solution. The forum needs to have the membership of all prominent Muslim world leaders who are assigned specific responsibilities to influence the resisting stakeholders.
Some say it is a pipe dream. Not so. It just takes one country to take a lead on this. Pakistan made the world accept Islamophobia as a fact that needs recognition like anti-Semitism. In 2019 the UN General Assembly adopted, by consensus, a resolution, introduced by Pakistan on behalf of the OIC, that proclaimed March 15 as International Day to Combat Islamophobia, saying it was aimed at promoting a culture of tolerance ad peace globally.
This was a big achievement by a considerably less clout country. Another heart-warming precedent on it is the smallest of the minnows, Gambia. When Myanmar turned oppressor on the Rohingya Muslims, there was the same lethargy visible in the Islamic world. It took one small country thousands of miles away, Gambia, to take the initiative.
In November 2019, Gambia, with the support of the OIC, filed a genocide case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The case is ongoing, but the evidence of genocide committed by the Myanmar military is overwhelming, and the court has already ruled in favour of Gambia’s request for provisional measures. Gambia is hardly 50 KMs wide yet it did what many giant countries failed to do. Time for one courageous country to stand up and be counted.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
The writer is a columnist, consultant, coach, and an analyst and can be reached at [email protected]
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