Israel Apartheid Week
All praise is due to Allah and may His choicest salutations continue to descend upon our Master and Leader Muhammed (saw). "Consider not that Allah is unaware of that which the oppressors do, He gives them respite up to a Day when the eyes will stare in horror." [Surat Ibrahim: 42].
The 15th Annual Israeli Apartheid Week takes place all around the world between March 18th and April 8th 2019. Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is an annual international campaign held in over 250 cities across the globe. It is supported in South Africa by more than 85 organizations, trade unions, political parties and other groups. The United Ulama Council of South Africa (UUCSA) has earmarked the 5th of April 2019 for a national bayaan to raise awareness of Israel's apartheid policies towards the Palestinians and to build support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.
It is interesting to note that the adherents of the three major religious communities, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all claim to be “the children of Ibrahim.” The Jews believed that by virtue of their lineage to Ibrahim (as) they are the chosen race. Christians on the other hand believed the Isa (as) was a descendant of Ibrahim who graciously paid for the sins of humanity by giving up his life. The Jews derived from Ibrahim (as) racial superiority. The Quran speaks about their sense of racial superiority in the following words: “we are the sons of Allah and are His loved ones.” (5:18) The Christians on the other hand derive the concept of divine atonement from their association to Nabi Ibrahim (as) What we as Muslim derive from our link to Ibrahim is unreserved submission - “Ibraham was not a Jew, nor a Christian; but he was an upright man who had surrendered (to Allah) and he was not of the idolaters.” (3:67)
If all three faiths connect to single prophet, why then do we have such brutality displayed by the Zionists towards Muslims. To understand this we need to go back into history - Nabi Ibrahim (as) had two sons; Ismail (as) born from Hajira (ra) and Ishaq (as) born from Sara (ra). From Ishaq (as) came the Jews whilst the Arabs are descendants from Nabi Ismail (as) The Zionists believe that Nabi Ibrahim (as) had an illegitimate affair with the slave girl of his wife Sara (ra) called Hajira; Hajira (ra) gave birth to an illegitimate son Ismail (as); the Arabs are thus the offspring of this illegitimate affair and hence worthy of being no more than slaves. The Zionists believe that they have no moral obligation towards the Arabs since they are illegitimate: “And among the followers of earlier revelations are some if you entrust them with a treasure they will faithfully restore it. And among them are those if you entrust them with a single coin they will not return it to you until you keep standing over them. Which is an outcome of their assertion: “No blame can attach to us for anything that we may do with regard to these unlettered folk…” (3:57)
The Zionist claim that they have been exempted from all moral responsibility towards a nation of illegitimate slaves who are lesser beings, not deserving of justice or compassion. The brutality, oppression and repression of Muslims in Palestine stems from the Zionists belief that they have a birth right to persecute and harass Muslims. This supremacist mentality is reflected in the fact that Israel is the only country in the world that distinguishes between nationality and citizenship. Israeli nationality is guaranteed only to those of Jewish faith. Hence only Jews have full rights in the state of Israel. Zionist oppression is characterised by:
• No freedom of speech, assembly or movement
• Detention without trial
• House searches without warrant
• Assassination & extra-judicial murder
• Illegal settlements - The total amount of private and public land confiscated from Palestinian control amounts to about 73 percent of the occupied West Bank
• The wall of apartheid which separates Palestinians from their farmland, from their school, clinics and places of work. Palestinians must pass through military checkpoints, where Israeli soldiers routinely harass and intimidate them or simply delay their passage, including people seeking emergency medical treatment.
• Palestinians are denied the right to vote
• Millions of Palestinians remain refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere, unable to return to their former homes and land in present-day Israel.
Palestinian refugees who remain displaced are also victims of apartheid by laws that remove their property and citizenship rights.
To say the cause of political friction in the Middle East is due to only religious differences is too simplistic as well as unduly inciting. Other things come into play, such as protection of US interests involving energy production, and even control of the water supply by Israel and its neighbouring countries. The close relationship between the U.S. and Israel has been one of the most salient features in U.S. foreign policy for nearly three and a half decades However; the Zionists contempt for Arabs can at the least be understood from their belief that Arabs do not enjoy same human rights as they do.
Israel apartheid week is meant to highlight the racist nature of the state of Israel. It is meant to keep the spirit of struggle alive, to conscientize and to exert pressure through the advocacy of boycott and disinvestment. It is to reassure Palestinians that they are not alone in their fight against apartheid brutality. As South Africans we are readily able to identify with the treatment meted out to second class citizens and as Muslims we know that justice will prevail and that Allah in His wisdom grants respite to the oppressors even though some may interpret the respite as reprieve. "Consider not that Allah is unaware of that which the oppressors do, but He gives them respite up to a Day when the eyes will stare in horror." [Surat Ibrahim: 42]