From The River to The Sea

Since October 7th at least 36,000 Palestinians have been ruthlessly murdered, around 15,000 of which were children. Gaza has been the target of Israeli vicious bombardment for decades, but today the Zionist regime has reached a new peak of wickedness and devastation. As I write this, innocent Palestinians are burning alive after the horrific and unjust attack on Rafah's refugee camps. Sheltering in tents as they endured one of the worst famines and humanitarian crises in modern history was not enough, living on 245 calories a day with no access to clean water or medicine was not enough, and constantly being displaced, dispossessed, and terrorized by IDF soldiers was not enough for the Israeli occupier. Instead, they proceeded to strike defenseless refugees in their sleep and watch them burn. The Zionist entity's goal is clear as day, to ethnically cleanse Palestine of its rightful citizens and rival the holocaust in its death toll and destruction. Now, more than ever we must be their voice and show relentless support in both exposure and aid. But how did we get here? could we as Arab nations prevent this?

After the collapse of the Osslo-accords and the failure of the Israeli leadership to follow through with any peace plan brokered by world leaders, the situation seemed helpless. It seemed to the average Palestinian that not even the most powerful arbiters in the world could stop the continuous illegal expansion of Zionism and the feeling of betrayal, anger, and resentment started building across the Gaza Strip. it drove The Palestinian resistance to a breaking point culminating in the second intifada in the early 2000s. Since then, the illegal settlements continued their expansion, and a moronic decision by Donald Trump in 2018 to move the US embassy to Jerusalem was yet another blow to Palestine's sovereignty and a massive betrayal to its people. Slowly, Palestinians were pushed further and further into a corner. Fast forward to 2020 and the international community seems even less inclined to empathize with the Palestinian cause, evidenced by a third betrayal that took place on September 15th of that year, this time by our own Arab leaders. The Abraham-accords was a bilateral agreement signed by both UAE and Bahrain's respective foreign ministers mediated by Washington. It marked a significant step toward normalizing relations between Israel and Arab nations. The accord's goal was to strengthen Israel's objective of being a strategic American vessel in the Middle East by legitimizing the sovereignty of the occupation. Not long after, Morocco and Sudan both entered the deal, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman stated in an interview with Fox News that normalizing Saudi-Israel relations is becoming 'closer' to reality. It became clear that diplomatic relations between Arab nations and Israel seemed inevitable. All of these actions by world leaders were blatant steps to erase Palestinian sovereignty and self-determination, to ignore their cries for help, and to sweep the cause we've been fighting for years under the rug, hoping it will just all go away. Unsurprisingly, it didn't. And on October 7th, 2023, the resistance group and the political entity in Palestine known as Hamas orchestrated an attack on Israeli soil. The world's callousness led us to this breaking point, resulting in a shock to the international community.

The tide is changing. The world's public opinion is starting to skew in the resistance's favor. It started when Amnesty International, a global non-governmental organization focused on human rights and has a strong global presence, recognized Israel as an apartheid state. Writing extensively and conclusively, highlighting the evidence for such a claim by citing the 2021 forcible evictions that occurred in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, and how it relates to a series of expansions that pushed Palestinians further and further away from their homes since 1948. Later releasing a short and emotional 3-minute film conveying the hardships of displacement. More recently The Columbia University protests based in NY, and organized by its students are a prime example of the global and Western paradigm shift, especially among young people. The students' demands were simple, calling their institutions to suspend any further investments with the apartheid state going as far as to risk their future prospects. Many students were suspended and hundreds got arrested. This call for boycott and divestment of Israel reached unprecedented proportions on the Internet too, sites like TikTok where the majority of its demographic is between the ages of 10 and 30 offer trending pro-Palestinian educational content and videos calling for people to join the BDS ( Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement. On a chart made by AxioMediaTrends in October of last year, Hashtags like #freepalestine always appeared on the trending page with at least 280 million weekly views, compared to the most trending pro-Israel hashtag #standwithisrael which only managed to achieve 64 million weekly. Additionally and from a legal standpoint, a historic move by the International Criminal Court (ICC). A request for an arrest warrant has been issued by the prosecutor Karim Khan to Benjiman Netneyahu for using starvation as a method to achieve his administration's goals among other war crimes. Lastly, as of writing this and since October 7th, eight countries have recognized the state of Palestine three of which are European countries. Spain, Norway, and Ireland, and more are estimated to join in the coming months. These recognitions, public outcries, and legal prosecutions in conjunction with the UN call for a ceasefire are making the US more isolated in its blind support for the Zionist regime and putting much-needed pressure on the Biden administration to reach a ceasefire agreement and to halt arming the genocidal regime.

paradoxically here in the Gulf and neighboring Arab countries, a shift of public opinion is taking place for normalization with the occupier and it did not start nor end with the Abraham-accords. There was a time in the gulf when a clear consensus was held by the public, unequivocal support for Palestine was the dominating narrative in academic and public circles alike. It was part of the Arab identity. Palestinian songs used to be chanted by children on school grounds, mosques echoed prayers for emancipation for our brothers and sisters in Gaza, and an environment that was more welcoming of Palestinian immigrants and their plight. Come today and a split of opinions between Palestinian supporters and another side that questioned that unfitted support by regurgitating talking points from the zionist entity. Questioning Palestine's victimhood at best, throwing racial slurs, and celebrating their suffering at worst. This shift of opinion did not develop in a grassroots manner, but rather it was reflective of Arab leadership actions both domestically and abroad. For instance, Saudi Arabia decided to open its airspace for Israel to use for commercial purposes in 2020 after a ban that lasted decades, saving the Zionist regime millions of dollars annually in the process. this came after the crown prince hinted repeatedly towards the importance of normalization with Israel. These legal changes are not meant to only have an impact economically but to also pave the way for a more malleable domestic environment to shape. Saudi ranked second in having Palestinian nationals incarcerated and only falling behind the Zionist entity itself. The supposed crimes these innocent Palestinians committed were for donating to their families back home or simply praying for their emancipation. In one account, a Palestinian woman was arrested in Makkah for simply holding a Palestinian flag. Unsurprisingly, they've been labeled as terrorists threatening the safety of the country, but of course, it's just a clear example of the Palestinian slander campaign and a reputation purge occurring in the kingdom and should be indicative of the hostile climate brewing within its borders. Only by prolonging such hostility, the regime can proceed with the normalization process, only by winning the minds and hearts of Saudis and Arabs alike can this step be taken. Netanyahu himself said, "Arab nations, not leaders, are obstacles to peace". MBS and his incumbent understand this and are on a quest to win over the public opinion of their people. A more recent example of this crusade by the state is the controversial censorship of AL-Hilal Saudi Football Club's pro-Palestinian posts on their social media accounts. The post was a picture of one of the team players donning the keffiyeh, a piece of cotton symbolizing Palestinian resistance and solidarity. Quickly though, the post was taken down, Saudis on Twitter assumed it was some type of zionist cyber offensive to omit any form of solidarity online, and in retaliation, Saudis reposted the picture to announce to the alleged attackers that we are standing strong with the cause and no mere cyber attack will stop us from doing so. A few days later, the majority of the accounts that reposted the picture deleted it and wrote an apology in its place. The apology read the exact same between every account and went like this: “I apologize for posting tweets related to political matters in our beloved sport.” which naturally led many to believe it was a state-issued apology. The theory was further reinforced when it was confirmed that it wasn't a cyber attack that took down the original post. But it was a strategic censoring effort by the state targeting the Saudi national pastime where the eyeballs of Saudis were glued. This further advances the state's mission to erase Palestine from our collective consciousness.

But if there's anything positive we take from the sad yet comical censorship story, is that the Saudi people are at large, still in support of the Palestinian cause. A recent poll conducted by The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and largely considered to be a pro-zionist research body. Finds that 96% of Saudis still oppose normalization and that Arab countries should halt any diplomatic relations with the occupation. A report by Barron's Magazine shows a decline in McDonald's comparable sales in the Middle East region, the conglomerate fast-food chain has been associated with zionist military action when it famously provided its soldiers with free meals. Indeed, it's going to be difficult for the Saudi government to sway such a big portion of its people, yet it's not gonna stop them from trying. And we too, should not stop our unwavering solidarity for our brothers and sisters and always speak the truth in the face of injustice. I urge the reader to continue boycotting, to continue providing a voice for the voiceless, to continue donating financially, and to continue listening to their demands. Right now communication is crucial and the occupier made sure to silence the resistance by limiting telecommunication and internet services in the Gaza Strip. That's why I'm linking the website https://gazaesims.com/; or you can type 'eSims for Gaza.' in your search engine. Follow the easy steps to purchase and send an eSim for Gazans in need.

Finally, it's essential to emphasize the difference between antizionism and antisemitism. Jewish brothers and sisters are our comrades in this struggle and Jewish Voices for Peace is a prime example, it is the largest progressive antizionist organization in the world with a slogan like "Rising for justice, from the US to Palestine." Antizionist demonstrations by Jewish people can be found in every corner of the globe, even in the occupation itself. Jewish activists historically and in contemporary politics have been always at the forefront of different social and political movements, whether it was emancipation for Palestine, South Africa, or Algeria. And Every Arab should understand that and a lot of us already do. Unfortunately, some do fall into antisemitic rhetoric that comes from ignorance and misplaced anger. If you are one of them or happen to know someone who fell into this conspiratorial hatred. Please educate yourself and your loved ones and understand that antisemitism not only spreads bigotry and hate but also offers ammunition to our enemy who always jumps at the opportunity to delegitimize our rightful fight for peace by claiming that it's rooted in bigotry and despise for our Jewish folk. This fight is international and knows no religion, race, or gender, it is the just and moral struggle for human life in Palestine and everywhere. "Long live the fraternal trust and fighting alliance of the workers of all nations in the struggle to overthrow capital" and fascism.