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Stop Jewish colonization: Seminar
A British Islamic scholar on Thursday called on all countries to stop being silent over "Jewish colonization" in Palestine, saying that the Middle East conflict has deprived Palestinians of their rights
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A British Islamic scholar on Thursday called on all countries to stop being silent over "Jewish colonization" in Palestine, saying that the Middle East conflict has deprived Palestinians of their rights.
Massoud Shadjareh of the United Kingdom-based Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) told a forum that the world must unite to put pressure on Israel to stop its atrocities against Palestinian people.
The two-day forum was organized to mark the six decades of Palestinian suffering.
"It is a shame on either Muslim or non-Muslim countries to keep silent and even establish relationships with countries supporting Zionism. We should put those countries under boycott in order to further press Israel to stop committing violations," said the IHRC chairman.
The University of Indonesia and the Voice of Palestine organization jointly organized the international seminar to commemorate 60 years since the expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians during the 1948 war, after the United Nations decided on the partition of the land into two separate states.
The conference, themed Freedom and Return: Sixty Years of Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians, was addressed by a number of scholars, senior politicians and world religious leaders, including from Christians who discussed Zionism.
Reverend Stephen Sizer of the Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism in the UK said Wednesday the return of Jews to Palestine was not only supported by biblical texts but also "coincided with the strategic interests of Britain foreign policy".
He said Britain wanted a greater presence in Palestine by sponsoring a Jewish homeland on both religious and political grounds. He was citing influential Lord Shaftesbury's (1801-1885) arguments for a British presence in Palestine, that it would provide better access to India via a direct land route and open up new commercial markets for British products.
Sizer said Christian leaders and organizations that have all taken a pro-Zionist stance in their writings or broadcasts formed a broad and immensely powerful coalition that was both shaping and driving U.S. foreign policy on the Middle East, as well as Christian support for Israel.
Hasyim Muzadi, a leader of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), said the Palestinian conflict should not be addressed with a religious approach, which would only divide supporting nations into two extremes of Muslims and Christians.
"The Palestinian dispute is not merely a religious conflict, as it was also triggered by political and economic interests from those supporting Zionism.
"If you start to perceive that Palestinian misery is a misery of a nation under colonization of Israel, there should be no arguments which country should support whom because no nations or religions approve the colonization of a country," he said.
Muhammad Luthfi Zuhdi, director of University of Indonesia's center for Middle East and Islamic Studies, said other global communities should step in amid the role played by Western countries as Palestine-Israel peace-brokers, because they only promote peace as long as it does not bring adverse impacts to their energy interests in Middle Eastern countries.
"The United States only supports UN resolutions favoring Israel while turning down others that would benefit both Palestine and Israel, such as UN Resolution No. 242," he said.
UN Resolution 242 rules says Palestine is entitled to the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem, and Israel is entitled to areas they seized in the 1948 war.
