In these circumstances the role of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) becomes all the more important. Bringing together as it does, all Muslim countries in a spirit of goodwill and collaboration, the Jeddah-based OIC has always provided a dynamic complement to the more geographically-focused Arab League.
In the light of the enduring tragedy in Syria, the brutal terrorist assault in Iraq and the fruitless fighting among militias in Libya, OIC foreign ministers could be said to have had enough to concern them at their latest extraordinary meeting in Jeddah. However, head and shoulders above these awful conflicts comes the genocidal Israeli assault on Gaza, the mass-punishment of almost two million luckless people locked into one of the most highly populated places on earth.
The OIC was right to condemn utterly the gross human rights violations that are being perpetrated by Israel which purports to be a civilized state and which has long been sustained by the United States, which itself claims to revere the rule of law.
Addressing his fellow foreign ministers in Jeddah, Prince Saud Al-Faisal gave a trenchant summary of the enormity of what is taking place in Gaza. He asked how primitive rockets fired, largely ineffectively, from Gaza into Israel could be described as “terrorism.” But how could all-too-effective laser-guided bombs and missiles fired by Israelis, killing some 2,000 including hundreds of women and children, while maiming and traumatizing thousands more innocents, be claimed to be “legitimate.”
Were the Nazis “legitimate” when they assaulted the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw? How would Washington be reacting now if Hamas were pouring sophisticated weaponry into Tel Aviv, even if they first telephoned or texted Israelis to warn them what was about to happen?
It is not simply a question, as Prince Saud pointed out, of a total lack of proportionality. There is an unforgivable hypocrisy at work. Washington censures Hamas as criminals and terrorists for its pitiful kickback against Israeli oppression. Yet it vetoes any attempt to censure and punish Israel for perpetrating vastly greater violence and egregious crimes against humanity. Perhaps just as unforgivably, a spineless Europe sits on the fence and abstains from substantive votes in the UN that might just make the Israelis sit up and take some sort of notice.
The key issue, which a watching world insists on ignoring, is that the people of Gaza are simply fighting back against a vastly superior enemy. Palestine has been occupied for nearly 50 years. During this time the occupying power has ignored successive resolutions to WITHDRAW, to respect Palestinian human rights and Palestinian property. It has embarked upon a massive campaign of illegal settlements designed to cripple the economic and political chances of any Palestinian state. The Palestinians have tried to fight back in two heroic intifadas. But Israel and its faithful US ally choose to brand such resistance as terrorism. Were the Americans who fought the British for their independence terrorists? Were the Jews who fought back against Hitler’s despicable Nazis terrorists?
Just as it is said that the Devil has all the best tunes, so the Israelis have all the best propagandists. Genius advertising presents the ravenous Israel wolf as the imperiled Jewish lamb. The reality is that the Zionist ambition for a greater Israel, which includes the Occupied Territories is underpinned by the need for continuing conflict. Yet Prince Saud surely spoke for all the foreign ministers who had come to Jeddah, when he said that peace was the only way that Israel would survive.
But here lies the crux of the Palestinian tragedy. Most Israelis believe precisely the opposite. Their participation in peace talks is only ever a way of extending the conflict while presenting the propaganda lie that they genuinely seek an end to the violence.
Maybe, just maybe, their latest barbarous behavior in Gaza will cause the world, particularly the Europeans, to recognize the fundamental falsehood of their protests for peace. The Israeli argument that they are the real victims of aggression is already threadbare. If world condemnation can be turned into tough world sanctions, then real change can come. Until then the OIC has a crucial role to play, sheltering the bright flame of truth from the icy blasts of Israeli lies.
