October 11, 2024
ISTANBUL – Of
all the countless analyses across the lands of Islam about the profound
significance of fateful Al-Toofan (Al-Aqsa Flood) on October 7, 2023, this one
stands out: a cycle of conferences in Istanbul earlier this week, including
October 7, titled Palestine: the Lynchpin of Civilizational Renaissance, linked
to the Kuala Lumpur Forum for Thought and Civilization.
Call it a
Malaysia-Turkiye partnership: Southeast Asia meets West Asia, a graphic
illustration of the multi-nodal world that will be congregating in less than
two weeks in Kazan, capital of Muslim Russia, for the long -awaited BRICS
summit under the Russian presidency. Significantly, the centrality of Gaza was
not debated in Doha, Riyadh, or Abu Dhabi, all of which would have unlimited
funds to host such discussions.
Istanbul was a
unique opportunity to compare insights by Osama Hamdan, representing the whole
Palestinian Resistance; Numan Kurtulmus, the speaker of the Turkish Parliament;
Hamas top diplomat Khaled Meshaal, speaking from Doha on the “strategic
victory” of the Resistance. And all that compounded by a strong message by Dr.
Mahathir Mohammad, former Malaysian Prime Minister and president of the Kuala
Lumpur Forum.
Dr. Mahathir
emphasized that a sound solution would be “a UN peace-keeping force in Gaza
protecting them”. The main problem is the Ummah “not having an alternative to
UN veto powers”. Hence “Muslim countries must team up – as there are no means
of applying pressure to Israel.”
Illustrating
Mahathir’s call, Muslim-majority nations are responsible for only 6% of global
GDP and 6% of investments, while harboring 25% of the world’s population.
Mahathir boldly
proposed, “we can deny our oil to the rest of the world” and “take back funds
invested in dollar bonds, thus forcing the West to take action” in Gaza. Now
try to convince MbS in Riyadh and MbZ in Abu Dhabi about it.
“Focus on
popular organizations. Forget about governments”
The redoubtable
Sami al-Arian, Kuwaiti-born Palestinian, director of the Center for Islam and
Global Affairs (CIGA) at the Sabahattin Zaim University in Istanbul, and whose
astonishing life story includes being persecuted and thrown in solitary
confinement in the U.S. as a “suspected terrorist” summed up the impotence of
Arab political elites when it comes to Palestine: after all the Arab world “is
the weakest link on global terms” – with 63 military bases only in West Asia
controlled by CENTCOM. And still, “what other cause can galvanize the whole
world apart from Palestine?”
Al-Arian
stressed that Al-Aqsa Flood “exposed the Arab world”, as the destruction of
Palestine was “imposed to make Israel the regional hegemon”. There is a glimmer
of hope though: “Look at all those things that divide us. We should focus on
popular organizations. Forget about governments.”
Al-Arian, who
lives and works in Istanbul, tackled head on one of the key running themes of
the conference: the complex relationship between Turkiye and the West: “Turkiye
is with the West, basically. There is no 100% support for Palestinians. Many
are still subject to notions of Orientalism.” He also evoked how 35 then future
nations lived in peace within the borders of the Ottoman Empire, which spanned
35 million square kilometers.
In Palestine,
Al-Arian sees three possible scenarios ahead:
1.The continuity
of “Netanyahu’s delusions”. There is “no evidence” that the U.S. is opposing
any of them. There is “no deterrence apart from the Axis of Resistance.”
2. Denying these
delusions is hard as “Israel has [Arab] regimes on its side. Yet Israel must be
engaged on all fronts.” Palestine “is the symbol of all that is just”, and “not
a symbol only for Palestinians.” It is imperative to “dismantle the Zionist structure,
and Palestine cannot do it on its own.”
3.The third
scenario is not so far-fetched anymore – considering the looming U.S.
presidential elections: “The U.S. may opt to remove Netanyahu”, as in the
Democrats terrified of losing because of the Netanyahu cabinet’s war spiral.
A State of Judea
out of control
A measure of
consensus emerged out of several conversations with scholars and researchers
from Egypt, Sudan, Pakistan, Malaysia, Mauritania, Bosnia.
-When Israel
sees others as “amalek” or inferior, there are no other possible borderlines.
-If Israel goes
down, that will be good for everyone in West Asia: no more instrument to Divide
and Rule.
And then there’s
Israel’s internal divisions. UK-based Israeli historian Ilan Pappé, author of
the seminal The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, offered a startling concise
analysis of the clash between the State of Judea and the State of Israel, as
Palestinians are seen as being in the way of a neo-Zionist messianic coalition
taking a settler colonial ideology to the extreme.
Pappé argues
that what came out of the success of the State of Judea in the November 2022
elections, as they aligned with Netanyahu, shattered the myth of Israel as
“progressive occupiers” and “liberal” ethnic cleansers. It’s impossible to
reconcile all that with genocide.
Pappé stressed
how “they want to implement their idea quickly, removing any charade of
legality”, including the creation of a “new ministry for the West Bank to
intensify the ethnic cleansing.”
And it’s bound
to get much worse. Cue to dangerous lunatic and Minister of Finance Bezalel
Smotrich, stating on the Franco-German network ARTE that, “I want a Jewish
state that includes Jordan, Lebanon, and parts of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi
Arabia. According to our greatest sages, Jerusalem is destined to extend all
the way to Damascus.”
The bottom line,
adds Pappé, is that in the Israeli society after al-Aqsa, “the state of Judea
is taking over – army, security services, the police.” Their electoral base
supports a regional war. Pappé is adamant: “The State of Israel is already
gone. And the State of Judea is a suicidal state. More than 500,000 Israelis
have already left, and that could be 700,000. Genocide and ethnic cleansing are
now established facts.”
The “lack of
social cohesion” in a “deeply divided society” ultimately is pointing to the
“violent disintegration” of Israel.
Confronting
Atrocity Inc.
Prof. Mohammad
Marandi of the University of Tehran, in his intervention at the conference and
several private conversations, offered the essential synthesis of all that’s in
play linking Palestine, Lebanon and Iran. These are arguably his key insights.
On resistance
and personal responsibility:
“In a sense
the greatest heroes are the Lebanese, who willingly put themselves at risk.
Then of course we have Ansarallah in Yemen, who shut the doors of trade to the
Israeli regime, and did it at an enormous price. Yemen, Hezbollah were offered
extraordinary concessions by the Americans, but they refused (…) The Israeli
regime simultaneously bombs Syria, regularly, because they support the
Resistance. Is it capable of doing all this on its own? Of course not. It has
the support of the collective West. Whether it’s intelligence gathering,
technology aid, political cover, weapons. Without the West, the Israeli regime
would fail. I’ve encouraged people, as individuals, to stop purchasing any
goods produced in Western countries. As individuals, we also have a
responsibility.”
On Iran’s
strategic patience:
“We are
waiting in Tehran for the Israeli regime to strike. And Iran will strike back
harder. When the regime bombed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, we knew that
without Syria, support for Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah would be very
difficult. And the aftermath of October 7 would be much more serious than what
we see today. After the bombing in Damascus, Iran struck back. Some people said
this was insufficient. Now we all know that the objective of the Iranians was
to gather intelligence about anti-aircraft and missile defense capabilities.
And we saw the result of that last week. If the regime strikes Tehran, it will
see something far worse. I am optimistic about the future although the days
ahead, months ahead, will be painful.”
On the
assassination of Sayyed Nasrallah:
“I went to
Lebanon as soon as the Shock and Awe bombings began. And I was there before
Hassan Nasrallah, the great martyr of the Resistance, was assassinated. I was
literally a thousand meters away when they struck. They killed hundreds of
people and brought down six apartment towers to murder Sayyed Hassan. This is
what the Israeli regime is willing to do. It is brutal, it is illegitimate, we
cannot have dealings with an illegitimate regime. The Western media gives a
story that is so unbelievable, and dishonest.”
Several of the
incandescent themes discussed in the conference were channeled at the Center
for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) at Zaim University, when The Grayzone’s Max
Blumenthal presented his new documentary
Atrocity Inc: How Israel
Sells the Destruction of Gaza: an extended reportage that eviscerates the
leading Israeli-American narrative of post-October 7, the “beheaded babies”
hoax that was essential to manufacture consent in the West for the Gaza
genocide.
The cycle of
conferences in Istanbul made a few things quite clear. It’s impossible to count
on corrupt Arab regimes – the weak link – to stop the Gaza genocide, now being
extended to serial bombings of Lebanon. It’s impossible to have the Talmudic
psychopathological extremists in Tel Aviv to engage in diplomacy – except by
military force.
Yet it may be
possible for a groundswell of public opinion across the Global Majority to
drive the imposition of severe, practical constraints on Atrocity Inc. – for
instance, economic strangulation – and thus ultimately contribute to shape the
advent of a sovereign Palestine into a viable lynchpin of Islamic
civilizational renaissance.
Aya
Nashwan
October
10, 2024
“We
are waiting for you to arrive tomorrow!” my sister told me in our call on
Saturday, October 6, 2023. It was midnight, the perfect ending to a beautiful
and calm day. “We will spend such an enjoyable weekend together.”
Then
it was 6 am October 7, and my life turned into an indescribable nightmare.
Rockets
whistled everywhere, and no one understood why. Crying and trembling with fear,
I rushed to pack my personal documents in a small bag. That’s what all Gazans
do when an attack starts. We’ve lived through so many. What we didn’t know,
however, was that this would be the most cruel and brutal war ever launched on
the Gaza Strip.
“Please
take care of yourself and your baby, Aya. Stay calm as much as you can,” Mom
called out to me. My husband Mohammed added: “Fear threatens your baby and
yourself, Aya. You have to help me, yourself and the baby, and stay as stable
as possible.”
It
was 10 am when Mohammed and I left our house where we had been preparing to
celebrate our first wedding anniversary, on October 14. And since that moment,
I haven’t felt safe.
During
the first week of the war, we were displaced three times. Just a day before our
anniversary, the Israeli army warned everyone living in the north of the Gaza
Strip to evacuate. I trembled for an hour after receiving that order, negative
thoughts flooding my mind. I don’t want to lose my baby, I thought. I don’t
want to lose my family. It could be the end!
I
couldn’t control the fear coursing through my veins, so I told Mohammed I
wanted to flee to the south immediately. It was a scene that reminded me of my
grandparents’ Nakba tales.
Long
hours passed as we looked for shelter, with no particular destination in mind.
I was exhausted and I could barely take a deep breath. Before sunset, we were
lucky enough to find a house in Rafah where we could stay — along with 50
others.
Weeks
passed with no bedrooms, no privacy, no clean water, no healthy food. These are
harsh conditions anytime, but when you’re pregnant, the impacts are multiplied.
I became sick with the flu, coughing and vomiting all the time. The doctors
were busy with much more urgent matters, and I kept praying to Allah to keep my
baby safe.
Three
months passed, a blur of fatigue, illness, fear, overthinking, and crying day
and night. “Where and how will I deliver my baby?” This was my daily question,
with no answer. Most hospitals were out of service and how would I reach one
anyway, with bombing and Israeli tanks everywhere?
On
January 13, shortly after midnight, I woke up with sharp pains that lasted
until the crack of dawn. Deciding we could wait no longer, Mohammed rushed out
to the street, where he begged anyone with a car to drive us to the hospital.
He offered to pay whatever was demanded. It was half an hour before he found
someone; fuel is in short supply. Then, it was a two-hour drive. I remember
very little of that journey.
Fortunately,
a doctor examined me as soon as we arrived. “Aya, you are in danger; if we
don’t take action, you will lose your baby and you will be in danger, too. We
must do a caesarean section in three days,” he told me.
I
couldn’t reach my mother, who lives on the other side of Rafah city. There was
no internet connection, and my phone calls dropped. But my mom sensed something
was wrong and sent my father to find me. When she heard I would have surgery
soon, she came running to the hospital.
I
had long fantasized about the birth of my first child; it was a joy I eagerly
anticipated. But everything about this birth was terrifying: Israeli tanks
thundered nearby, and people around me were crying out in pain. Medications of
any kind, including anesthesia, were in short supply. Would I survive this
ordeal and see my baby?
Fortunately,
spinal anesthesia was still available, unlike for many other women in Gaza. But
it seemed weak. The pain was so strong I could barely breathe. There was a
moment when I thought I might die.
And
then I heard his cry. My baby, Kareem! It was a moment of mixed emotions: I was
intensely relieved and happy, while also terrified to be the mother of a
newborn during war. Could I keep him healthy? Malnutrition is rampant in Gaza,
since the Israeli government blocks imports of aid.
I
stayed in the hospital for one night. In the morning, I had to leave, despite
my continuing pain. All they gave me was a discharge paper saying I had
delivered a baby boy by Cesarean section. That’s all. No birth certificate and
no ID for my little Kareem.
Kareem
is now growing up in the midst of a vicious war; he turned 8 months old in the
south of Gaza, far from his house and the room that was to be his nursery. I
cannot give him an innocent childhood, but I pray to Allah to keep him alive
and in good health. And I will assure he knows he is loved.
This
war will end, but what will his future hold? Only Allah knows.
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