India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI—“Palestinians are not aggressors, rather, they are the sufferers but the atrocities inflicted by Israel are not counted.”
Noted International relations expert KK Suhail made this observation in an interview about the Palestine-Israel conflict. He said that half a million Palestinians have been killed in violence unleashed by Israel. Due to Israel’s aggression, seven million Palestinians are refugees. This figure is released by UNRWA (United Nations Refugees and Works Agency).
Suhail, who is a national secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind exerted that the history of Gaza did not start on October 7, 2023, when Hamas made the offensive against Israel. He quoted the noted writer and human rights champion Noam Chomsky and talked about a placard shown by an old Palestinian which read as :
“You take my water,
Burn my olive trees,
Destroy my house,
Take my job,
Imprison my father,
Kill my mother,
Bombard my country,
Starve us all,
Humiliate us all,
But I am to blame,
I shot a rocket back.”
A frequent Middle-east visitor Suhail says that the placard makes the point that the atrocities and aggressions of Israel are not counted. He explains, “If one Israeli is killed in retaliation for a score of Palestinian murders, that will be big news but the sufferings of Palestinians are not counted. This is a truth to understand about Palestine and Israel in the context of the October 7 offensive against Israel.”
Mr. Suhail elaborates. “It is a big lie that Israel defends itself, actually, it is attacking and killing civilians on a day-to-day basis. It is Israel’s terrorism. What is being not counted is wiping out entire families, schools being bombed and buildings being demolished while people sleep there.”
He says that Israelis are so cruel that when they shut down Gaza during the COVID-19 pandemic, they even shut the Corona lab down. “Thus, they make life hell in Gaza on a day-to-day basis. In response to all this when Palestinians make an offensive it is called a terrorist attack, and Israel’s atrocities are not counted. This is settler’s colonialism.”
With a focused eye on geopolitics, Suhail reminds the British rule in India. He says, “We fought against the colonizer British as we were colonised. There were many ways to fight the British. There was non-violence resistance. On the other hand, we had the violent resistance of Subhash Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh. The British used to term this resistance as terrorism and freedom fighters were jailed. The same is being replicated by Israel with the Palestinians.”
He pointed out that in the Russia-Ukraine war, the US and European powers support Ukraine as Russia is the aggressor and occupier but they don’t apply this in Palestine where Israel is the aggressor and occupier.
KK Suhail says that the two cities -Rehovot and Ashkelon- bombed recently were actually made on the ruins of a Palestinian city called Najd. He said that Palestinians were cleansed from Najd and the new two cities were settled. He says that the Israelis live in delusion as if they were living in the two cities for ages. “A genocide took place there and after such huge injustice the retaliation is quite understandable.”
Suhail says that Gaza was not a military zone and people used to go there for their vacation as it is near a seashore. “But the Israelis made a militarized zone near Gaza and took away its beauty. The anger, therefore, is unquestionable. It is not for nothing that Gaza is called the world’s biggest open prison.
Suhail gives the example of Hebron city, which he visited only last month, to show what the Palestinians face there. He says that there is a place called Al Kahlil in Hebron where Ibrahimi mosque exists. He says that Hebron is a place where extreme racist settlers reside, where surveillance is at its top and the Palestinians face violence and humiliation. “When the people go to Ibrahimi mosque, the Israeli settlers throw garbage on them. This is the place to witness the humiliation the Palestinians face.”
He insists that there should be no confusion about the occupier and the occupied as the Arabs of Palestine are occupied and the Israelis are occupier. He declared that the Israelis were worse occupiers than even the British as the Israelis robbed even the houses of the Palestinians.
He discussed whether violence from the Palestinian side was allowed according to International law. He affirms that arms struggle is allowed for Palestinians.
He said that to say that Israel was the promised land for the Jews was absolute nonsense. According to him, that claim was legally and morally baseless. “The question is about exclusivity. Who can claim the land on the basis of exclusivity? What is the evidence to argue for an exclusive Jewish homeland? Nowhere in the Holy Quran or the Bible, the place is mentioned as exclusive for the Jews. This exclusivity is very dangerous.”
He explained that it was false propaganda that Muslims by instinct were anti-Jew. He said that whatever subjugation was faced by the Jewish community was not done by the Muslims. He added that it was always the Christians who were accused of Jewish subjugation, including the holocaust. The Muslims used to give refuge to the Jews when they were subjugated barring the exceptions.
He gives examples of many commonalities between Islam and Judaism, like monotheism. “The Jews never accept idol worship. They believe in judgment day. Both use male circumcision, Halal meat and the lunar calendar etc.” He said that due to politics, society is so divided that these things are ignored.
He clarified that India always remained against the Israeli colonization of Palestine. “India always supported the cause of Palestine. But Modi saying that India stands with Israel, is a perversion. The statement by the External Affairs Ministry is indicative of the contradiction. You can watch the former Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee saying that Israel should leave the occupied land of Palestine.”
He said that those who know the truth should share the correct information as strongly as they can do using all the media.
