By Zaheer Hassan
Ramdan is a month of blessings for humanity but Isreal does not care to continue aggressive attacks on poor Palestinians. The long standing conflict between Palestine and Israel is still on fire, and this is because of Israel’s hawkish regime in pursuit of Jews supremacy in the region. During last ten days Gaza fears another war, the residents of the Gaza Strip believe they will be the ones to pay the heaviest price. Ramadan has repeatedly been accompanied by war in Gaza, where the two main Palestinian armed resistance movements, Hamas and PIJ, are based. Out of Israel’s four wars on the Gaza Strip, two have erupted in the holy month.
In the last week, Israeli forces expanded their violence in Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday morning, storming the mosque’s courtyards and attacking worshipers, wounding over 150 Palestinians and detaining 400 others. Lot of worshippers were attacked with rubber bullets, batons and tear gas, at Masjid Al Aqsa – the third holiest site in the Muslim world. Yet frustratingly, their suffering gets little airtime on mainstream media. Harrowing videos surfaced on social media showing Israeli forces not even sparing the elderly, women or children. Other videos showed worshippers inside the Al Aqsa Mosque as clouds of tear gas was thrown on them. This was a stark reminder that even in the holy month of Ramadan, Palestinians will continue to undergo oppression and human rights violations by Israeli forces whilst many world leaders continue to undermine their plight. Thousands of worshippers had come to pray the dawn prayers when the violence ensued last week. If this had happened in any other place of worship there would be worldwide outcry, but yet the atrocities against Palestinians are met with deafening silence.
Just last year, Israeli forces raided Al Aqsa in Ramadan resulting in an 11-day assault on the besieged Gaza strip but the West continued to support the Israeli government in its assault. Both the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Jo Biden failed to acknowledge the disproportionate attacks launched by Israel against the Palestinians as one of the world’s leading manufacturers of military weapons. In fact, Jo Biden went as far as sending over $3 billion of military aid to Israel last. This is clearly an asymmetrical struggle between the oppressed and the oppressor as Palestinians do not have the means to defend themselves.
The Israeli apartheid regime is brazenly breaking human rights principles and international law by committing crimes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.During Israel’s bombardment in May 2021, at least 260 Palestinians were killed, including 39 women and 67 children, and more than 1,900 people were wounded. Some 1,800 residential units were demolished, and at least 14,300 others were badly damaged. Over the course of 2021, the Israeli military arrested nearly 8,000 Palestinians, including more than 1,300 minors and 184 women. As of April 10, 2022, there were 4,450 Palestinians held in Israeli jails in Israel and the occupied territory. For Palestinians, they are political prisoners fighting to end Israel’s illegal occupation. Of those:
• 530 are held without charge or trial
• 160 are children
• 32 are women
• 549 are serving life sentences
• 499 are serving a sentence of more than 20 years
Child prisoners – Ahmad Manasra’s case
• Israel is the only country in the world that tries children in military courts, often denying them their basic rights.
• The Israeli army has imprisoned more than 12,000 Palestinian children since 2000, according to Addameer.
• Most of these children were charged with “throwing stones”, a crime punishable under military law by up to 20 years in prison.
• Currently, 160 Palestinian children remain in Israeli prisons, most are in pre-trial detention and have not been convicted of any offence.
• One of the most harrowing child prisoner cases is that of Ahmad Manasra who was arrested at the age of 13, brutally interrogated and then sentenced.
Iran always show unprecedented support for Palentinians and also calls on Muslims to unite in support of Palestinian cause through diplomatic channels and with very articulated vocal stance.
The Israeli regime’s fresh atrocities in Al-Aqsa Mosque, and cautioned against the implications of certain Arab countries’ desire to restore relations with the Tel Aviv regime.
“Deeply outraged by the new atrocities of the Israeli regime. We strongly condemn the desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” Khatibzadeh tweeted.
“Reminder that normalization with the apartheid regime of Israel only encourages the oppressor to double down on its brutality,” the spokesman underscored. “Muslims must stand united behind the Palestinian cause,” he suggested.
On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian blasted the Israeli regime’s attack on al-Aqsa Mosque in a phone conversation with Ismail Haniyeh, chairman of the political bureau of Hamas, saying resistance is alive while the Zionists are desperate.
This Ramadan, we must continue to speak out against Palestinian suffering.
This is shameful that those in power, who have the ability to stand up against such injustice, choose instead to put their political and economic agendas ahead of accountability. Many countries in the West such as the UK and US have allied with Israel and continue to dismiss the suffering of innocent Palestinians who are attacked in their own places of worship.
The Zionists’ “shameless” acts of violence against sacred places in Palestine and against the fasting people and worshipers at mosques. Across the Muslim world, mass protests were staged in support of the oppressed Palestinian people. The Palestinians deserve to worship in peace, to live in peace and have their human rights upheld but sadly their lives are in the hands of those in power who do little for their cause. Will the world wake up in the name of Humanity and save the burning Paradise.
