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August 19, 2006
Lack of sympathy on U.S. part for
Palestinians' plight is lamentable
Siraj I Mufti, Ph.D.
I am a Muslim activist involved with Jews and Christians in Tucson for furthering peace among our people.
As such, the Israeli occupation of Palestinians bothers me. In this day and age, how any people could reconcile occupying other people is beyond me. "Occupation" is another word for slavery.
As Americans, we should understand it, because the United States was once a British colony, and it got rid of the colonialists. We celebrate our Independence Day with great joy.
I am sure the Brits said back then, we want to bring liberty and freedom, while these Yankee terrorists are fighting us. In fact, the Brits said the same to the Iraqis in the 1920s. Thus, Iraqis see the hollowness of the Bush administration's rhetoric of bringing freedom and liberty to them through occupation.
Knowing that Jews were once persecuted and went through the horrible Holocaust, I am also bothered that Israel with its formidable army is persecuting Palestinians in occupied territories and not returning their land or sovereignty agreed to under Oslo accords.
Hamas has rendered great social and humanitarian services to its people, and won fair and clear during elections held in January. It is sincere and honest — intent on wiping out the rampant corruption of the Fatah.
It was Hamas that declared a truce in February last year and suspended all terrorist acts against Israel. And it held its promise, until Israel killed an entire family and children on the beach in Gaza. In late June, Palestinians took Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit as a hostage. This was considered an outrage even though there are 10,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Despite this, a recurrent argument in Israel and the United States is that the Palestinians "started it."
Yes, we must condemn all acts of terrorism by Hamas or other Palestinians. Simultaneously, we must also condemn Israeli state terrorism and its disproportionate response with U.S.-supplied F-16s, helicopter gunships and laser-guided missiles.
The current Israeli army operations are a collective punishment of the 1.4 million Gazans, targeting their infrastructure. Israel's blitz is similar to the one in Lebanon, except that Gazans have nowhere to flee from this humanitarian crisis. About 175 Palestinians have been killed in this violence.
I am appalled by the humanitarian disaster now developing in Palestinian territories, especially in Gaza. This is due to the international sanctions imposed by the United States in concert with Israel after Palestinians elected Hamas. The United Nations and other humanitarian agencies have given alarming reports of the crisis in Gaza and the need for food, health care and medicine.
It is vital that the United States realizes its tarnished image in the Muslim world due to its one-sided support of Israel without a balance towards Palestinians and works for a just and fair solution of this situation.
Siraj Islam Mufti, Ph.D. is a researcher and freelance journalist.
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