Public Forum : Myth and Reality in Occupied Palestine
From left : Hishamudin Rais , Prof Gurdial Singh and Dr Rosli Omar
From left : Farhash Wafa Salvador , Syafiq , Me and Sahrul
From left : Syafiq, Ajex , Me , Fifi and Shahrul
Since my school days, when I was part of Islamic student group, I had always feel sad for the sorry state of Islamic countries around the world. The conflict in Middle East has on annual basis, remind me of the atrocities that innocent people have to endure just because some people in power wants to accumulate more power, land and influence. But it was also not helpful when some quarters of the group thinks that whenever an atrocity befall a Muslim country or community, such tragedy is best be dealt with using religious arguments or moral judgments.
It was a great night. Dr. Farish Noor was arguably the best speaker at the forum. Thankfully he made it on time to reach KL from Singapore to attend the forum.
In summary, Dr. Farish first talked about the Liberal Conscience and how it tends to delay actions. He spoke of how the American so-called global ‘War on Terror’ were being transplanted into the context of Gaza. Another point was that the Palestinians in Gaza are the colonized people, therefore, wouldn’t colonized people fight against their oppressor? Dr Farish then made clear distinguish between ‘fight for victory’ and symbol of defiance by Hamas. From another perspective, he said that history should not and cannot be used to justify the Israeli actions. The ancient Kingdom of David and Solomon have got nothing to do with the modern nation state of Israel. Modern Israel was establish on 1948 and according to Dr. Farish, this is the point of history that should be looked into.
Hishamuddin Rais, too, entertained the crowd well with his firebrand speech. While I may not agree with all the points brought forward by him, I do admire his rhetoric and oratory skills. Isham stressed on the point that the crux of the matter is about American imperialism and he added that the belief of Zionism is not just limited to the Jews but it exists everywhere among all nations of the world, even in Malaysia. Isham also mentioned that Hamas is actually the creation of Israel. I don’t know, but I find this as something enlightening but totally an absurd one. I don’t buy the idea of his so-called “local Zionist” propaganda. I think Isham chose the wrong platform in attacking UMNO. This is not the time to argue on local issues but to stand in solidarity with our Palestinian brothers in Gaza. Even Fatah supporters too demonstrated together with their Hamas brothers in the West Bank against the Israel atrocities.
I also reject totally his repeated statements that the issue in Palestine has got nothing to do with Islam. Yes, the main issue isn’t about god or Islam, but about stolen land, unlawful occupation, oppression and Apartheid rule, restriction of movements and freedom and etc. Yet, I believe it is wrong to outrightly reject the notion that it has nothing to do with Islam.
Occupied Palestine and Jerusalem or Baitulmaqdis in particular obviously does have something to do with Islam and the Muslim ummah in general. He must’ve missed out the fact that Jerusalem was the first qiblah of the Muslims before it was later changed to Makkah. Secondly, Jerusalem is the site of the third holiest mosque for Muslims – the Al-Aqsa mosque. References to Jerusalem and events in it have been made more than seventy times in the Qur’an and many times in the Hadith. And the fact that the whole of Jerusalem, since 1967, is under Israeli occupation is something which every Muslim cannot accept. I believe many Muslims are now waiting for another Salahuddin Al-Ayubbi to liberate Jerusalem from the Tel Aviv regime. To date, Israel is still imposing strict access into Al-Aqsa mosque for Palestinian Muslims from West Bank and Gaza – The rule says that only married males aged 50 and above are allowed to enter the mosque. This, according to them are the people with least possibility to cause any trouble.
Another speaker, Professor Gurdial Singh Nijar, a law expert and former Isham Rais’s lecturer in UM, spoke lengthly of the Palestinian-Israel issue from the viewpoint of international law and all the laws and conventions pertaining to war time. It is interesting to note that while all the international law has made it clear as to what extent actions or conducts during war can be deemed as war crimes, both the USA and Israel – two superpower which have conducted numerous acts of ’state terror’ and war crimes – are not parties to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). So which independent body or tribunal has the political will and strong enough to prosecute these war criminals?
Therein lies the the problem – Total disrespect for international law and human rights from the Israeli and the American side and the weaknesses or the almost non-existence of a strong enforcement agency under the United Nations (UN).
Nota Kaki : Myth and Reality in Occupied Palestine forum, Bar Council Auditorium, was held on 9 January 2009. Such a lazy bump to update my blog..lulz. This article already “sleep” in the draft section since a month ago..oh no..can’t delay anymore..post it now ! lulz ~
