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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240815-it-is-time-for-arabs-to-stop-blaming-hamas-for-the-genocide-in-gaza-blame-yourselves-instead/">middleeastmonitor.com</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">It is time for Arabs to stop blaming Hamas for the genocide in Gaza. Blame yourselves, instead</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Middle East Monitor</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">August 15, 2024<br></div>
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<p>The overwhelming majority of ordinary Arabs and Muslims support and
sympathise with the Palestinian people. They usually express this
support and show such sympathy through their use of words in referring
to Hamas and other resistance groups fighting Israel. They commonly call
them heroes, courageous men and, when they want to elevate them into a
higher and more holy status, they borrow the Quranic description of such
people, calling them Mujahedeen.</p>
<p>In doing so, the common man still feels the pain and suffering
inflicted by Israel on the people in Gaza. Millions of Arabs are
traumatised because of the murdering of children and women in the ten
months’ war.</p>
<p>However, this is not the case with the few who consider themselves to
know better and who are always trying to go deeper in analysing the
Israeli war on Gaza, while attempting to make their point. They usually
end up grounding their analysis in one of the imaginary ‘conspiracy
theories’ flying around from the day Hamas launched its incursion into
Israel. Such pundits tend to propagate their own governments’ position
in a more fashionable manner.</p>
<p><b>OPINION: </b><a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240814-sadistic-violence-in-war-the-israeli-aggression-in-gaza/"><b>Sadistic violence in war: The Israeli aggression in Gaza</b></a></p>
<p>The governments of Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco did
not even condemn the Israeli genocide in clear statements and, when they
did, like Bahrain, they condemned Hamas before <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQV4Gc7BPiQ">equating </a> it
with Israel. Their elite supporters went further and accused Hamas of
being in conspiracy with Qatar or some other imaginary country to bring
havoc and destruction on Gaza and the entire Palestinian Territories.
Ask them to back up their views and they would go on ranting about many
things, but not the subject at hand.</p>
<p>Almost all of them refer to the fact that Hamas is an offshoot of the
Muslim Brotherhood organisation and this, to them, is enough to make it
evil by default. This kind of cheap talk contradicts two things:
firstly, even if it is true that the Brotherhood is evil, no one can
deny their role in fighting colonial powers, starting in Egypt itself
where the Movement once flourished. Secondly; Hamas, being Islamic-based
ideology, is totally different from traditional other branches of the
Brotherhood, simply because its very existence and legitimacy stems from
the fact that it is fighting Occupation. Hamas fighters are not
fighting for power and the privileges it brings. All of them know too
well that they are being hunted down and they could die at any time,
just like their top leader, the late Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in
Tehran last month. From Yahya Sinwar, all the way to the last fighter in
Jabalya, they believe death is round the corner but the cause is so
worthy that they cannot flee the fight.</p>
<p>Others blame Hamas and Islamic Jihad for being allies to Iran. They
point out that Iran is Shia and Hamas is nothing but a Tehran proxy—the
most disgusting term to use to describe Hamas. They justify such outrage
by saying that Iran is using Hamas and Islamic Jihad to further its
ambitious agenda in dominating the mostly Sunni Arab world. But they
forget the simple fact: Hamas and Islamic Jihad would welcome any
support they can get from anywhere. As liberation movements, they do not
have the luxury of choosing their allies, as long as such allies agree
with them on the principle: liberation and freedom for Palestine.</p>
<p>Furthermore, and in a religious context, Jihad does not have any
prerequisites other than fighting colonialism, in this case. Nowhere in
the Quran has it said that you have to be a Shia or Sunni to be accepted
as Mujahid, simply because true Islam does not recognise the sectarian
version of Islam revised and being presented to Muslims by the West.
Such ideas are meaningless talk that cannot stand up to scrutiny.</p>
<p>If being Shia means fighting apartheid colonial Israel, I am sure the
majority of Palestinians and Arabs, including myself, would not
hesitate in announcing their allegiance to the Shia! Being a Shia does
not mean you are Iranian or supporter of Iran or being its proxy.</p>
<p>Other analysts and political gurus raise the issue of timing by
asking if it would not be better if Hamas had accumulated more power
before launching its incursion into Israel. The question appears an
honest one but, in fact, it is far from it. It implies that, if Hamas
had delayed its attack, it might have become more powerful to prevent
the amount of losses and destruction in Gaza. But this kind of
discussion ignores the simple fact that timing of any operation against
the Occupation is a complicated issue and only the people on the ground
can decide the best moment to go ahead. Also, operational timing is
determined by, among other factors, what the ultimate goal is of
launching an attack.</p>
<p><b>OPINION: </b><a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240813-from-gaza-to-jenin-international-complicity-with-israel-must-not-be-ignored/"><b>From Gaza to Jenin, international complicity with Israel must not be ignored</b></a></p>
<p>7 October came to prevent the unprecedented wave of selling what
remained of Palestine by some Arab and Muslim states for nothing.
Normalisation of ties between countries like Saudi Arabia and Israel was
almost a done deal and had to be stopped or, at least, delayed. The
Saudi Kingdom is not any other country and having ties with Israel would
have been much more detrimental to the Palestinians than, say, Libya
doing the same. If the Oslo Accords made Palestinian Territories mere
disputed Territories, as the late Palestinian thinker, Edward Said, once
said, then having the Israeli embassy in Riyadh would make the entire
Palestinian people a mere misfortuned nation roaming the planet, begging
for handouts.</p>
<p>Finally, many advocates of defeatism blame Hamas for the huge price
being paid by the Palestinians. This is the most outrageous and silliest
of all arguments to make against Hamas. It is outrageous because it
ignores the entire human history in fighting colonialism and it
completely overlooks the Palestinian fighting history. Even in the
regional Arab context, such an argument is fictitious, to say the least.
Some 1.5 million Algerians were killed before colonial France was
defeated in 1962, some 132 years after it colonised Algeria. Almost
three quarters of Libyans, 83,000, were killed at the hands of Italian
colonialists during nearly three decades of Italian occupation. In the
wider world, Vietnam would serve as a perfect example here. Between
970,000 and three million people, including civilians, lost their lives
before Vietnam became an independent country. I am not calling for the
killing of more Palestinians, but freedom has price to be paid.</p>
<p>If anyone is to be blamed, it is the 22 Arab countries who are
watching helplessly. Palestine is part of the Arab League and a
signatory to the Arab Joint Defence <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/arabjoin.asp">Treaty</a> of 1950, obliging other members to come to its defence. So where are they?</p>
<p>Indeed, the price is huge and the death rate is almost impossible to
even comprehend, but this is how it is and there is no other way. The
entire world is hurting and sad because of what genocidal Israel is
doing in Gaza but what alternatives do Gazans have, other than to stay
put and fight back?</p>
<p><b>OPINION: </b><a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240811-ghassan-kanafanis-letter-from-gaza-a-timeless-testament-of-resistance-amidst-war/"><b>Ghassan Kanafani’s ‘Letter from Gaza’: A timeless testament of resistance amidst war</b></a></p>
<p>The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not
necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.</p>
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