The Hindu : To Arafat, in anguish

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Tuesday, Apr 09, 2002

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To Arafat, in anguish

By Mushirul Hasan

The erstwhile victims of the Holocaust are today the worst perpetrators of violence and aggression.

ON MAY 23, 1982, Yasser Arafat visited the Jamia Millia Islamia campus in New Delhi. This was at the height of Israel's invasion of Lebanon. And this is how Anwar Jamal Kidwai, the then Vice-Chancellor, addressed him:

"We address you without the ceremonial prefixes of a visiting head of state. We call out to you in the manner in which the early Muslims called out to their prophet and the first Caliphs of Islam in the drab little mosque of Medina fourteen hundred years ago. This is because, Ya Abu Ammar, in your embattled existence the revolutionary traditions of early Islam live again. In the footsteps of Mohammad, you are in Hijrat from your homeland; you are the Head of a State that is still in the hearts of men and not yet a territory... You are in the vanguard of the struggle that began under Gandhi and Nehru to roll up the vast spread of colonial domination from our part of the world. You are the hope and pride of freedom loving peoples after Ho Chi Minh, and Palestine is the second battlefield of the Third World after Vietnam. Therefore, Ya Abu Ammar, you are more precious to us than all the petrodollars in the world. The Jamia Millia Islamia feels deep affinity with you because we were also born in struggle during the great national movement launched by Gandhi in this country against British rule... The memory of that stirring period in our history still lingers in our mind and we feel close to liberation struggles in all lands."

Two decades later, a Palestinian state is no more than a distant dream. Mr. Arafat, the man who has doggedly tread the path of peace, lives in exile in his own homeland. While he is tormented and isolated from his own people, Israeli tanks roll on even in Bethlehem, the sacred site of the birth of Jesus Christ, killing innocent civilians. The erstwhile victims of the Holocaust are today the worst perpetrators of violence and aggression. Travel to Israel to discover the naked face of state-sponsored terrorism.

Indeed, there is no justice in this world for those who demand the right to live in peace in their homeland. There is no concern for the millions of Palestinians who have been living in makeshift camps dotted on West Asia's rugged landscape.

The Palestinians mourn their dead, the victims of Israel's military might, and yet the European community sits tight as Israel's military occupation assumes monstrous proportions.

The United Nations, acting at the behest of the United States, has lost the moral authority to enforce its own resolutions.

Finally, the U.S. endeavours to broker a peace have failed largely because of its axis with the Zionist establishment in Israel. Presumably, the Anglo-Saxon world will wake up only if some tired and angry freedom fighters resort to acts of terrorism.

Ya Abu Ammar, you sent your envoy to New Delhi to elicit the support of our Government. Many of us appreciate your gesture, and hope that our bonding with the brave people of Palestine will be strengthened. Hopefully, many of us who have consciously refrained from stepping on Israeli soil will some day see you in Jerusalem presiding over the destiny of an independent state of Palestine. At the same time you must know that, contrary to our pretensions, my country does not carry much weight in world affairs.

All said and done, we, a nation of one billion plus, are weak pretending to be strong. Our weakness is, furthermore, reflected in our subservient attitude towards the U.S. In a unipolar world, nothing moves in New Delhi without a nod from Uncle Sam. This has slowly but gradually eroded our standing in the comity of nations.

Ya Abu Ammar, the political landscape in India has changed since your last visit to New Delhi. I can assure you that your customary hug, symbolic of your warm and endearing personality, will now be reciprocated with a cold reception.

There was a time when we were barred from visiting South Africa and Israel. Today, those restrictions are gone (South Africa has, of course, dismantled the ugly structures of apartheid and moved towards peace and reconciliation) despite the fact that the Israeli Government is still wedded to Zionism and to the physical extermination of the Palestinians.

We extended diplomatic recognition to Israel, a move that ran contrary to the avowed goals of India's foreign policy, and forged trade, economic and military ties without paying scant attention to its implications on our relations with the Arab countries. It is no exaggeration to say that India is, currently, a part of the Israel and U.S. axis.

What has brought these three countries together is not the (exaggerated?) menace of terrorism, but a shared perception of an imaginary green menace.

On your previous visits you would have noticed the liberal and secular ethos in this country and the tremendous enthusiasm for the Palestinian cause.

Sadly, the India of today is not the same any more. The votaries of Hindutva, a pernicious ideology based on hate and aggression towards the minorities, are steadily undermining the idea of India, exemplified in the leadership of Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru and embodied in the Constitution of the country.

The recent pogrom in the western state of Gujarat, organised and conducted by its Chief Minister and his Home Minister, is a reminder of the deep malaise that afflicts some segments of our society. How can we expect such people to respond to your clarion call? No, Ya Abu Ammar, they will not. Instead, they will celebrate, as their intellectual mentor Guru Golwalkar did years ago, both the Nazi and Zionist methods.

Jawaharlal Nehru, who had prophesied that Arab nationalism would not be crushed, maintained long ago "that Palestine is essentially an Arab country, and must remain so, and the Arabs must not be crushed and suppressed in their own homelands." Gandhi, too, talked about the plight of the Jews in Nazi Germany but argued that a solution to their problems did not lie in founding a homeland in Palestine: that land in his view belonged to the Arabs. "You see I have come out of my shell and begun to speak to Europe," the Mahatma wrote to C.F. Andrews in October 1938.

These were noble men with noble ideals. Today, it is rare to hear these voices except in liberal and left-wing circles.

Nonetheless, regardless of the ambivalent stand of the Indian Government and the brazenly pro-Israel policies of the U.S., you and your brave men will doubtlessly continue your struggle against military occupation.

You have led a purely secular crusade embracing all sections of Palestinian society, Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, and set an example for all the freedom-loving nations of the world. We pray for your ultimate success.

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