Thousands demonstrated in the Middle East in support of the persecuted Palestinian people by marking the annual “Jerusalem Day,” or “al-Quds Day” in Iran and several Arab countries on April 14, amid a flood of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
At the same time, in Jerusalem, 2,000 members of the Israeli occupier forces were posted up nearby as 130,000 Muslims attended the last Jumu’ah prayer of the holy month of Ramadan at the al-Aqsa mosque.
Earlier in April month Israeli forces savagely beat worshipers there, igniting deadly fighting and cross-border rocket fire between Israel and Arab resistance fighters in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. Since the al-Aqsa attack, pro-Palestinian demonstrations were also held in Chicago, Boston and London.
“This is the brutality of Zionism laid bare,” said Palestinian rights advocate Muhammad Sankari, of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN). The Chicago-based activist said the world is watching as events worsen in the Zionist regime. “It’s a different moment,” he explained. “It’s harder and harder for the world, and particularly the United States to ignore the reality of what’s going on,” said Mr. Sankari.
Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes on a Hamas military camp in Gaza City, April 5. Israeli police stormed into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City early Wednesday, firing stun grenades at Palestinian youths who hurled firecrackers at them in a burst of violence during a sensitive holiday season. Gaza militants responded with rocket fire on southern Israel, prompting repeated Israeli airstrikes. Photo: AP Photo/Adel Hana
He told The Final Call that he is under no illusions that the heightened exposure will drive America to change policy overnight, but it demonstrates a new and different day in the Palestinian struggle for self-determination.
The silver-domed al-Aqsa mosque is the third holiest site of Islam located on a 35-acre compound known as al-Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, by Muslims, and the Temple Mount by Jews. The land is an internationally accepted neutral zone, sacred to Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Some observers say the injustice warrants stronger global condemnation.
“The Muslims from all over the planet should be rising against such hatred, such a demonstration of Satan himself,” said Student Imam Sultan Rahman Muhammad, national Imam for the Nation of Islam, during an April 14 khutbah (sermon) at Mosque Maryam, the group’s national headquarters.
The Chicago-based imam said don’t think the vicious tactics of the Israeli security forces are unique to occupied Palestine. Black people are experiencing identical abuse in America.
“We are suffering the same, right here,” said Student Imam Muhammad. “It is the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) that trains your local police department with the same methodology… used to beat our brothers and sisters in the mosque at Masjid al-Aqsa,” he said. “It’s documented, it’s fact.”
Ever since America, Britain, and the international community imposed European Jews onto Arab land nearly 80 years ago, voices of reason and warning about the resulting bloodshed have gone unheeded. Among that number are the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and his teacher, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad of the Nation of Islam. They are on record warning that America and Israel will lose the Middle East.
In Part 12 of his impactful lecture series called “The Time and What Must Be Done,” delivered in 2013, Minister Farrakhan said all kinds of mischief and trouble are permeating that area of the world.
“The devil has come down unto you having great wrath because he knows he has but a short time,” the Minister said, from the scriptures. The enemy’s wrath, including mischief-making blood-shedding, and meddling in the affairs of other nations, is now being seen in the Middle East the Minister explained.
“Why would the Palestinians not want a ‘separate state’? Why wouldn’t they want their own people that have been made vagabonds in the Earth to have the right of return to their native land?” he asked. “Why would you say you want ‘two nations, side-by-side’ living in peace—but you will never allow the Palestinians to be armed, to protect the sovereignty of a Palestinian state?
You will never allow them the weapons that would allow them to protect their own airspace,” said Minister Farrakhan. “You know that! And I know that.” He said peace will elude Israel because it wants peace on its own terms.
America is Israel’s patron. The European Jews have proven to be disagreeable to live with in peace, while they lie, steal and commit war. Oblivious to the law of justice, the proponents of Zionism have balked against sound reason and acting equitably. On page 211 of his illuminating book: “The Fall of America,” the Honorable Elijah Muhammad explained the wicked mindset.
“For the past four thousand years and more Allah (God) has already given the prophecy through the mouth of His prophets of the doom of the wicked. Now is the time and we cannot do anything but take it, and it is dangerous to add fuel to an unwanted fire. THE FIRE IS THE WAR,” wrote the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
“We do not hope for peace as long as we add to the war that which serves as fuel to a fire,” He wrote. “The fire cannot go out as long as we keep it burning by adding more fuel. A dying, burning fire is increased when more fuel is thrown into it. “How can we expect peace where the method used to bring about peace is the same method that started the war—instead of finding a right solution and then practicing the right solution?” He asked.
These times were foretold in the scriptures, which say there is no peace for the wicked and the world is in a time of reaping what it has sown. Israel and America have sown trouble and are reaping the whirlwinds of increased trouble. Palestine continues to be the focus of illegal Zionist occupation, unlawful land theft, violent repression, and bloodshed of Palestinian men, women, and children.
Israel and U.S. Errant Foreign Policy
Bloodletting and human rights abuse has been the standard practice of Israeli regimes. Observers say Palestinian blood also stains the hands of America which aids and abets Israel’s systematic repression. Unlike other nations that the U.S. sanctions for rights infractions, multiple billions in aid money continue to flow into Israel, and their “unbreakable bond” remains. Despite Israel’s system of apartheid discrimination against Palestinians, America’s diplomatic cover and “ironclad” commitment to Israel’s security goes unscathed. Uttering “U.S. sanctions” and “Israel” in the same breath is an oxymoron, say critics.
“The State of Israel is really an outpost for U.S. imperialism,” said Abayomi Azikiwe, political commentator and editor of Pan-African News Wire.
Their unholy alliance makes it essential for Washington to maintain economic, military, and diplomatic support for the Zionist state.
“It’s always been like that since 1948,” explained Mr. Azikiwe. “And it’s not going to change until the government in the United States changes fundamentally,” he added.
Israel’s atrocities are not confined to Palestinians, recently it shelled areas of southern Lebanon, and unceasingly in Syria. All with bipartisan support in Washington.
Black and Palestinian solidarity
Mr. Azikiwe told The Final Call that the solidarity of freedom-loving and oppressed people with the Palestinian people is essential. The longtime activist believes there should be total solidarity between the Black people of America with the Palestinians and other revolutionary movements in the Arab world.
“We’ve seen that historically … many organizations have expressed that solidarity and it needs to intensify,” stated Mr. Azikiwe. He says, as conditions worsen for Blacks in the world’s wealthiest nation, the people must follow where the money is going. A lot goes to funding the Pentagon and errant foreign policy initiatives—which takes resources away from Black people in America.
“Those funds that are going to Israel to oppress the Palestinian people … bomb Syria, bomb Lebanon, should be going to pay reparations to African people here in the United States,” said Mr. Azikiwe. He contends the struggle of African people and Palestinian people are inseparable and that harmony and principled stances against the occupier state must increase in the global arena.
As an example, he cited how Sharon Bar-Li, the deputy director of the African Division at the Israeli Foreign Ministry was physically ejected from the African Union Summit, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, earlier this year. The leaders at the summit refused to tolerate the presence of an Israeli diplomat because she was not credentialed to attend.
The move drew a reaction from Israel’s Foreign Ministry, complaining that the decision was unjust and claimed Ms. Bar-Li held observer status. And the ejection was instigated by pro-Palestinian allies, South Africa, and Algeria.
For Mr. Azikiwe, until Israel comes to grip with their domination of Palestinians, there should be no real communication and diplomatic relations with the African Union.
Questions of a third Intifada
As Israel has to come to grips, the spiraling violence against resistance groups is bringing the “established” leaders like the Palestinian Authority (PA) to hard realizations. The PA has a credibility problem amid a growing ‘unbought, unbossed’ militancy among young Palestinians.
The PA is not able to oppress this new generation, although they have tried working hand in hand with the Israelis, who also failed.
“The region as a whole is shifting,” said Mr. Sankari. It’s a sign of changing times.
The fact that Palestinian factions shot 30 rockets into Israel from Lebanon, shows the Israelis what folks in the region have said: “You’re playing with fire” and provocations against something as symbolic, holy, and sacred as al-Aqsa mosque will ignite the entire region.
He anticipates more intensified armed struggle and argues it’s the path the Israelis are choosing to go down. Palestinians respond and fight because it is their “internationally enshrined right” to do so. The Israelis bear the responsibility of death.
“It doesn’t mean that tomorrow there’s going to be a war in the streets,” but what it means is that this generation is no longer taking it,” said Mr. Sankari.
