Israel Is The Real Threat To World Peace

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By: Ras Mubarak

Would you have resisted the occupation of our country if you were alive at the time of British colonization? Would have stood up to the humiliation of your brothers and sisters? Would you have marched endlessly until Ghana, then Gold Coast, got independence? Would you?

If you would have, then you are no different from the helpless Palestinians, whose parents are forcibly evicted everyday since 1948 from their own territories to make room for illegal Jewish settlements.

You would have been no different from the Palestinians who, in the face of military tanks, bombs and guns, throw stones and rockets in self defense of being brutalized, humiliated and kept under subjugation by a ruthless regime in Tel Aviv. And you certainly would have been no different from Steve Biko and the several South Africans who marched and got shot at in their struggle for their country’s liberation.

The Palestinian struggle is no different from our own struggle against British rule – to be free to live and travel in one’s own land without restrictions from occupiers and to be in charge of our own affairs.

If you were offended and outraged by the apartheid regime in South Africa in the days of old, which by all standards pale in comparison to what the Palestinians are going through in terms of the scale of the atrocities from the occupier, you clearly cannot be indifferent to the plight of the Palestinians. Injustice anywhere is an injustice against us all.

The Palestinian struggle is about human rights; it’s about Israel’s refusal to recognize Palestine as a country; it’s about Israel’s refusal to respect international law and stop the annexation of Palestinian territory; it is about standing up to oppressors, and just like Ghanaians, South Africans, Zimbabweans and Algerians, Palestinians have an inalienable right to resist the occupation.

The struggle of the Palestinian people is about being able to live freely in one’s own land without some godforsaken Zionist invading your home in broad day light with tanks and bullets and dehumanizing you and your family.

The recent bombing of a building housing the Associated Press (AP) and Aljazeera in Gaza City is another indication of how these hawks in Israel do not want the world to see the scale of the massacre of Palestinians. They are committing crimes in a scale never seen before. More than half of the Israeli targets in Gaza are women and children.

I have said it severally and would repeat it again. Any country that practices apartheid ought to be ostracized, and Israel must be no exception. Israel is a rogue state. It does not respect international law, and does not respect the human rights of its neighbours – the Palestinians.

The real threat to world peace is for the world to continue to oblivious to the plight of the Palestinians; to continue to shield Israel from accountability and reproach; to allow Israel to get away with its disrespect for international law, and to allow Israel to continue with the theft and illegal occupation of Palestinian Territories.

These egregious violations of the rights of Palestinians can be halted if governments around the world, Civil Society Organizations, and the citizens of the world make a firm commitment to boycott, divest and sanction apartheid Israel for its rogue behaviour. Boycotts and sanctions were possible yesterday against the Boers, it should be possible today against apartheid Israel.

(Ras Mubarak is a former Member of Parliament for the Kumbungu Constituency in Ghana)