Palestine: Staying on the right side of history

PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has taken a unique and insightful approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict. His recent actions and statements, including his diplomatic visits to Arab countries to address the attacks on Gaza and highlight Western hypocrisy and his speech at the recent rally to show Malaysia’s strong support for the Palestinian cause, demonstrate his deep understanding of the complexities of the conflict.

Anwar’s approach has prompted people to reconsider and re-evaluate their stances on this issue. Video footage of the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas has also forced them to rethink the narrative fed to us about the Israel-Palestine conflict.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a remark during the UN Security Council meeting on Oct 24 that Hamas’ action did not take place in a vacuum; the Palestinians have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.

The West’s stance, despite thousands of civilian casualties in Gaza, continues to revolve around Israel’s right to self-defence against Hamas, which is fighting for an independent Palestinian state.

As Malaysians, we learnt about how our local independence fighters were treated by our coloniser in the past. One was Tok Janggut who worked with the locals in Kelantan to fight against the British administration there.

Tok Janggut was killed by British troops in 1915 and his dead body was hung upside down for public display to show the consequences of rebelling against British rule.

The killing of Tok Janggut took place two years before the British issued the Balfour Declaration, which promised the Jewish people a national home in the historic Palestine, thus dispossessing Palestinians of their land.

One challenge Malaysia faces is framing the Israel-Palestine conflict accurately to prevent the misunderstanding of our support as anti-Semitic.

This conflict isn’t a religious or Muslim issue; it’s fundamentally rooted in settler colonialism and an extension of apartheid.

Since the 1917 Balfour Declaration, Palestinians have endured a century of suffering. The establishment of Israel in 1948, resulting from collective foreign policy decisions, inflicted tremendous hardship on Palestinians and contributed to regional instability as well.

The ongoing attacks on Gaza represent just a fraction of Israeli actions against Palestinians. In the West Bank, millions endure daily dehumanisation, discrimination and injustices perpetuated by Western support and international inaction.

MAHAMOOD MUBARAK ALI

Sungai Petani, Kedah

(The writer has conducted in-depth research on the Israel-Palestine topic at Imperial College London.)