Thursday, January 22, 2009

Palestine Issue: History revisited

Tomorrow night, a Hamas representative Br. Sami Abu Zuhri will be one of the main speakers in an event organized by Kelantan State Government, called The Launch of "Tabung Amanah Cakno Palestin" (Palestine Care Fund) in Stadium Sultan Mohamad Ke IV in Kota Bharu.

To give a better perspective of the conflict in Palestine, and in Gaza in particular, let us revisit this nice essay written more than 60 years ago, as the Israeli state was slowly being formed by the world power brokers.

This fascinating essay, written by King Hussein’s grandfather King Abdullah, appeared in the United States six months before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. In the article, King Abdullah disputes the mistaken view that Arab opposition to Zionism (and later the state of Israel) is because of longstanding religious or ethnic hatred. He notes that Jews and Muslims enjoyed a long history of peaceful coexistence in the Middle East, and that Jews have historically suffered far more at the hands of Christian Europe. Pointing to the tragedy of the holocaust that Jews suffered during World War II, the monarch asks why America and Europe are refusing to accept more than a token handful of Jewish immigrants and refugees. It is unfair, he argues, to make Palestine, which is innocent of anti-Semitism, pay for the crimes of Europe. King Abdullah also asks how Jews can claim a historic right to Palestine, when Arabs have been the overwhelming majority there for nearly 1300 uninterrupted years? The essay ends on an ominous note, warning of dire consequences if a peaceful solution cannot be found to protect the rights of the indigenous Arabs of Palestine.

Please continue reading here.

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