A crime in the name of Zionism

Three quarter century of Palestinian sufferings: Damning indictment of Western supporters and their Arab collaborators

The endless sufferings of Palestinians and the grabbing of their lands, which began with the advent of Zionist Jews in the 1930s, continue unabated even today, due to the blind support of the West and the indifference of the Arab regimes.

Unprecedented in known history, a nation of people, Palestinian Arabs — both Muslims and Christians — were uprooted at gun point from their traditional homes and lands and dumped in refugee camps to create a country for European and Middle Eastern Jews who had not even seen this soil.

Western colonial powers led by Britain and followed by the United States, France and the Soviet Union were responsible for planting this alien Jewish entity of Israel in the heart of the Arab World, in violation of every known norm and principle they preach to the world.

The idea of a separate state for Jews was first mooted in 1895 by Austrian Jewish journalist Theodore Herzl. Two years later, the first World Zionist Congress in Geneva decided to act on this plan to create this first ever religious-racist state.

Palestine then was a province of Turkey's Ottoman Empire and more than 96 percent of the population were Arabs while the remaining four percent were Jews. They all lived in peace and harmony. It was such a peaceful place, before the arrival of Zionists, that one cannot even hear a bad word leave alone people talking loud. Violence, unknown to people there, came with the arrival of Zionists.

In the aftermath of the World War 1 Palestine was brought under the mandatory power of the British who betrayed the Arabs, and ruthlessly helped the Jews to realise their goal of a separate state.

The Jews adopted both deception and crime. They first started buying prime property in Palestine offering attractive prices which many Palestinians, unaware of the conspiracy, couldn't resist. Hand in hand they trained and armed Jewish terror gangs to kill, frighten and drive away unarmed and innocent Palestinians at gun point from their land.

Some of the most notorious Jewish terror gangs were Haganah, Irgun and Stern. Two of their main leaders were Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, godfathers of terrorism, who were later elected prime ministers of Israel.

Hitler's Nazi laws were cleverly exploited by the Jewish propaganda machine to hoodwink the world and win sympathy to colonise Palestine. Britain helped prepare the ground work for the Zionist state of Israel which was proclaimed on 14 May 1948.

The UN handed much of Palestine to the Jews on a platter. Within minutes came the recognition from Washington followed by Moscow. Thus Palestine was wiped off the map of the world and Israel came into existence in its place. Even at this point the Arabs were in a majority.

Unarmed Palestinians ended up in refugee camps in neighbouring countries. By 1948 there were more than 800,000 Palestinian refugees. They continue to languish there to date in appalling conditions though they still have the keys of their houses and the title deeds for their lands.

Israel, served as the outpost of the Western colonial powers since its birth, never had any intention to live in peace with its Arab neighbours. In 1956, Israel joined Britain and France to invade Egypt to take back the Suez Canal nationalised by Egypt. In June 1967, Israel attacked Egypt, Syria and Jordan and captured Sinai, Gaza strip, West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

It was at this point that the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) came into existence.

In 1982 terrorist turned Prime Minister Menachem Begin invaded Lebanon and killed nearly 18,000, mostly Palestinians. His defence Minister Ariel Sharon supervised the slaughter of more than 2,200 Palestinian men, women, children and the elderly at Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps. The silence on the part of US and Europe only demonstrated their blessings to this crime against humanity.

President George Bush, now a lame duck and claiming to be fighting a war on terrorism, rolled out the red carpet to receive this very same Ariel Sharon at the White House "as a man of peace". So did British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the then Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, the so called friend of Palestinians.

Unfortunately for the Palestinians even the PLO was neutralised by Arab rulers to please their Western masters placing the Palestinians in a hopeless situation.

This gave rise to the ideologically-oriented organisation Hamas which is committed to end the injustice to Palestinians with dignity. Hamas won the hearts and minds of grassroots Palestinians.

In a spotless democratic election held under the supervision of former US President Jimmy Carter in January this year, Hamas was elected to office with an overwhelming majority. But for Israel and its Western collaborators, Hamas was a terrorist group because it believes in peace with dignity.

To eliminate Hamas, Israel, the United States and Europe stopped aid and cut off the flow of all money to starve the Palestinians into submission. Unfortunately, some Arab regimes too joined this Zionist-sponsored financial blockade knowing very well the misery they were causing to the Palestinians. But the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority — both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — needed this money to keep body and soul together.

The task of overthrowing the Hamas government was entrusted to President Mahmoud Abbas. He was given arms by Israel and $ 42 million by President Bush to precipitate a civil war, shed more Palestinian blood and crush Palestinian democracy. Israeli premier Ehud Olmert said, "we gave arms because we need Abbas' help". To achieve this end the US began establishing a secret military camp in Jericho at a cost of $ 20 million — part of the cost was met by some Arab regimes.

Already President Abbas held talks with Israeli intelligence Chief Yuval Diskin in Jordan. The meeting was attended by Egypt, Jordan and a Gulf Arab country demanding that Hamas government be toppled at any cost to ensure democracy doesn't flourish in Palestine as it would give food for thought to their own people and threaten their oppressive regimes.

It is an absolute disgrace that some Arab states collaborate with Israel against the Palestinian interest. But unfortunately, this is the reality in the Middle East where some Arab rulers are prepared to go to any length to protect their autocratic regimes.

The tragedy of starving Palestinians worsened since last June when Israel, under the pretext of responding to the alleged kidnapping of an Israeli soldier, bombed and destroyed roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, water and electricity plants, killing 275 Palestinians including 46 children in the process.

Today Palestinians in Gaza, and even in the West Bank, are virtual prisoners in their own homes. Israel has cut off air, sea and land routes to the Gaza Strip preventing basic requirements such as medicine and food from getting in. Supplies of electricity and water are irregular and insignificant. This is a grave war crime and Nazi leaders were sentenced to death for lesser crimes.

The Israeli killing of Palestinian men, women, children and the elderly continues on a daily basis while some Jewish Rabbis openly claim that one thousand Palestinian lives are not worth a finger nail of a Jew. During the first ten days of this month more than 70 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed. More than 10,000 Palestinians languish in Israel jails.

This cruel repression in occupied Palestine, possible only due to the naked support of the US and Europe, is the most scandalous issue in the world today. But who cares?

Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery said, "the message of Jews, the US and Europe to Palestinian is that you will reach the brink of hunger, and even beyond, if you do not surrender. You must remove the Hamas government and elect candidates approved by Israel and the US. You must be satisfied with a Palestinian state consisting of several enclaves, each of which will be utterly dependent on the tender mercies of Israel.”

But despite all the conspiracies and the presence of hundreds of Israeli agents to incite a civil war, they have failed so far. And the resistance, too, has not evaporated.

Disgusted with Israel's inhuman treatment of the Palestinians, prominent Israeli academic Tanya Reinhart decided to quit as professor at the Tel Aviv University and leave the country with great regret stating that "she could no longer live in an Israel which is imprisoning a nation with a wall that cut off villages from their farmland".

She said "the walling of the West Bank will displace up to 400,000 Palestinians and force them to move to the outskirts of the bigger cities. "It's not just a land grab. It's turning the West Bank into a natural open-air prison, just like Gaza. The Palestinians should not have to pay the price of the Holocaust".

Under the circumstance it is not wrong to conclude that "history of Zionism is nothing but history of lies, deception, bloodshed, conspiracy and crime. Yet the West preaching democracy and other cherished values stands fully behind this very same Zionist entity as they all have one goal — destabilise the entire Middle East and plunder its resources

Betrayed and abandoned by all, the Palestinians, the most educated and most politicised people in the world, stand alone today. They have shed enough blood, lost enough loved ones, spent too long years in refugee camps and even lost their basic human rights and dignity.

Yet the West and the Western media portray them as terrorists. But one thing is certain. And that is "it is doubtful that as long as the Palestinians suffer, those who caused this misery and their collaborators, will ever able to be in peace".

Yet everything is not lost. Because right thinking people all over the world, including righteous Jews, openly describe the plight of Palestinians as a damning indictment of Zionist Jews, Western supporters and their Arab collaborators.

This article was written on behalf of Sri Lankan Committee for Solidarity with Palestine to mark the International Solidarity Day with Palestine observed by the United Nations on November 29.