- Mikhael Marzuqa
Al-Quds Day is an annual event celebrated initially in Iran, before it spread to other countries around the world as an expression of solidarity with the Palestinian people and opposition to Israeli control of Al-Quds.
The city has been recognized as a holy city and sacred land as the Al Aqsa Mosque, Wailing Wall, Dome of the Rock, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, sacred sites for the three monotheistic religions, are located there.
Jerusalem has been destroyed 12 times, besieged 20 times, and captured 50 times.
Its foundation is attributed to the Jebusites, one of the pre-Islamic Arab cultures. According to biblical texts, they were descendants of the third son of Canaan, who was the grandson of Noah and one of the sons of Cam.
The Jebusites lived in Jerusalem, also called Jebus, before their land was conquered by the Israelites. According to the story, some were able to become strong and recovered much of their land later. The Jebusites appear in biblical texts as inhabitants of Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Arabs are descendants of the Jebusites, which argues that the Palestinians have a historical claim to Jerusalem that predates the Zionist one, if some kind of foundation based on ancient history is to be relied on. According to that source, the Palestinian Arabs are descendants of the Canaanites.
Thus, in 1978 Al-Mawsu'at Al-Filastinniya (Palestinian encyclopedia) stated: "The Palestinians are the descendants of the Jebusites, who are of Arab origin", and described Jerusalem as "an Arab city because its first builders were the Jebusite Canaanites, whose descendants are the Palestinians." This runs counter to what Zionist-influenced and/or financed historians and archaeologists want to twist history by pointing out that modern Palestinians are "more closely related to the Arabs of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan and other countries", an argument that has no scientific support.
Al-Quds Day ("Jerusalem Day", from the Arabic name of the city) or World Al-Quds Day in official literature, is an annual event celebrated initially in Iran and then spread to other countries around the world since its institution by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, after the Iranian revolution, for the expression of solidarity with the Palestinian people and opposition to Zionism and Israeli control of Jerusalem. The day is celebrated on the last Friday of the month of Ramadan.
The president of Iran, Seyed Ebrahim Raisi, called this week for massive participation in the World Al-Quds Day demonstrations, next Friday, April 29.
Raisi stressed that "the fate of the Palestinian nation is not determined at the negotiating table, but is defined by the fighters of the Resistance groups in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip."
But what does Jerusalem really symbolize?
The Palestinian people today represent the crucified Christ, who was precisely in that region of Palestine for his message of peaceful coexistence, confronted at that time with the culture of invasions, destruction and outrages with their consequences for that stage of humanity, which even so it extends to our times.
Meanwhile, the conquest of Saladin in the year 1187 reflects the firm determination to safeguard the sacred temples from the brutality and abuse of the Western colonizer. Beyond the question of faith, their safeguarding does not occur because these were or were not holy places, but rather reflects the deep respect for the rights of worship, culture and life systems of the different cultures that inhabited Palestine at the time.
Any association of the reader´s ideas with the events of our contemporary history will not hurt.
That is the flag we fly whenever we proclaim Jerusalem as the historical, eternal and indivisible capital of Palestine. The liberation of Palestine passes through the emancipation of Al-Quds; the freedom for Jerusalem will be the independence of historical Palestine, despite all the machinations, and the despicable kisses of Judas Iscariot incarnated in the promoters of the fraudulent negotiations called "for Peace".
But beyond our questioning of the abuses and insults against life and freedoms committed by Zionism and “Israel”, let's review a little what we can see in our own eyes, what mistakes we usually make and how much we must evolve in the political struggle for Palestine as the main way to unmask Israeli apartheid, highlight the colonial nature of the Zionist regime's settlements, promoting internal mobilization against the fragmentation of the territory and its people used by “Israel” as a tool of domination, the action of the Palestinian diaspora and that of states and international organizations.
Let's make a story
Political education at all levels within Palestinian society remains an important task. Knowing how to distinguish the main contradiction is essential to avoid confusion and internal disputes to divide the Palestinians that the apartheid regime seeks, which unfortunately has generated some dividends.
The unity of the liberation movement is a priority, although this does not stop denouncing collaborationism, betrayal and internal repression. However, always calling for unity and, if necessary, for the disobedience of authority by the personnel of the police apparatus of the Palestinian Authority.
Anticipation is another important tool. Except for the time of the armed organized resistance, the prospective analysis and unified Palestinian strategy have been totally excluded from the different Palestinian organizations. The Palestinian Authority does not have them or does not use them because of its reactive vocation on the one hand, and its nature as a simple administrator of the occupation on the other.
The enemy's encirclement of Palestinian cities, isolating them from each other, their wall of shame, must be faced with the strengthening of Palestinian citizen organizations, their capacity for organization and communication.
The Palestinian diaspora has an important role to play in supporting this process, especially in bringing to light what is hidden by western social media. Social networks must come to occupy a leading role with messages disseminated institutionally from the Palestinian popular movements and their friends. Nevertheless, the Palestinian communities abroad, particularly in the west, need to realize that they must play an important role in educating their own members, developing the awareness of younger people, being active in outreach and in relationships with their respective governments and support networks for Palestine, since decisions are made in international organizations where those represented are the states.
Although they are very necessary, we should not stay only in the convictions; we must move towards raising awareness of the injustice and suffering of the Palestinians and the need to sanction, isolate and discourage relations with a disruptive and irreverent state with the international legal order as “Israel” is.
BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) is an important tool to promote. The Palestinians and their allies must strategize an effective movement against apartheid through legal means. A strong anti-apartheid movement in colonized Palestine and in exile can help Palestinians take back their political agenda and reaffirm their unity.
It is necessary to appeal to the universality of human rights. Do not exile yourself in political thought. There are also sensitivities for justice, although not in the ideological roots, but between the actors of different political sides.
An effective attack is one that targets an opponent's strengths. In “Israel’s” case, its network of relationships, its logistics, its economic strength and its means of communication. That is why it is important to support the change in the prevailing political and economic order. The struggle for the independence of Jerusalem is the struggle to transform the world order, the current system of organization and distribution of power and property and the exploitation of natural resources.
It is necessary to develop strategies against apartheid through international law. Any effective movement against apartheid in Palestine must be based on the longstanding Palestinian rejection of Zionism as a racist and colonial project of foreign settler settlements. For decades, the Palestinians have focused decolonization on their struggle for liberation, without a story leading to decolonization, which can lead, as in fact has happened, to the apparently democratizing “metamorphosis” of the colonial regime but without changing its nature, nor get it dismantled.
Palestinian society inside and outside its country should not be dazzled by the songs of sirens. Let me explain; although favorable, the recent human rights reports from international and Israeli groups do not consider the long-standing decolonization struggle of the Palestinians as a legacy to humanity and, rather, focus on liberal reasoning of justice and equality. This subsumes the necessary decolonization strategy through legal means. Moreover, although international law prohibits apartheid as racial discrimination, a crime against humanity and a serious violation that gives rise to the responsibility of third states, it does not criminalize colonialism in itself as a violent phenomenon, denaturing territory and culture and usurper of the rights and natural heritage of the peoples.
In any case, international law remains a valuable tool since it prohibits key elements of the Zionist colonial project, including population transfer, apartheid, annexation and the acquisition of territory by force; further enshrines the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
A universal Palestinian anti-apartheid movement must strategically deploy these legal norms to uncover and denounce “Israel’s” criminal statehood and its violations of international law.
Palestinian civil society campaigns have brought about a growing awareness of Israeli apartheid within the UN human rights system, including by increasing the powers of the special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories.
On May 27, 2021, in the context of the Unity Intifada, the Human Rights Council established its first Commission of Inquiry into "all underlying causes" of Palestinian oppression, including "systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity". This investigative body is unprecedented in its mandate and scope; It encompasses all of colonized Palestine and is one of the most important ways for campaigning and advocating against “Israel’s” settler-colonial apartheid regime. The Commission of Inquiry is expected to present its first report to the Human Rights Council in June 2022.
In addition, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has jurisdiction over the crime of apartheid as part of its ongoing investigation into the situation in Palestine. The crime of apartheid has never been prosecuted internationally and although the ICC's jurisdiction in Palestine is limited geographically and temporally, there is strategic value in seeking accountability for “Israel’s” crime of apartheid at the ICC.
To conclude
Among the strategic axes of the decolonization of Palestine and the dismantling of the colonial regime of Israeli Zionist apartheid, the following should be considered:
The popular mobilization of Palestinians throughout colonized Palestine and in exile as a key instance for Palestinian liberation. International law can help advance this effort by creating external pressure and generating tangible consequences for “Israel’s” crimes. The apartheid framework offers a way for accountability and allows the Palestinians to challenge the fragmentation of “Israel” and build a united struggle together, Muslims Christians and anti-Zionist Jews.
In this same line of strategy, the promotion of the fight against the hegemony of the United States and NATO, as well as the changes in the current imbalance of the world "order", challenged by emerging powers, will be a useful external factor to reduce the current strengths of the world financial control that gives special support to Zionism and its enclave “Israel”.
The final purpose: decolonization, regime change, one state
Some key elements in tactical fighting:
Amplify to the maximum and in a short time the magnitude of the actions against the Israeli apartheid regime based on foreign settler settlements, through its isolation, divestment and sanctions
Arouse the support of the states to re-establish the Special Committee against Apartheid in the UN and promote in it the investigation of the crimes of “Israel’s” apartheid.
Expand the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine to include the Palestinian people as a whole, including Palestinians in exile.
Prosecute Israeli perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, including the crimes of apartheid and population transfer.
Get other states to activate mechanisms of universal jurisdiction to prosecute the perpetrators of the crime of apartheid in their courts.
Encourage other states to demand that the current UN Commission of Inquiry recognize that Israeli apartheid and Zionist colonialism are the root causes of Palestinian oppression.
So be it.
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