The Palestinian cause
Ican say for countless of reasons that I have lived through the Palestinian cause for a long time, and this allows me to say that for the first time over half a century, Palestinians are standing alone in facing their enemies. The only way they will be victorious is if they could put a halt to their division and stop relying on their Arab brothers.
Some of those in my generation remember Syrian actress and singer Siham Rifqi, and others will know her as the singer who sang “Ya um Al-Abaya”, Hawwel ya Ghanam”, “Lao lilgharam Hakem,” and “Yabu Al-Zuluf”, and few other songs. She had a long career before she married Salahuddien Al-Aseer who withdrew her records from the market. She died in Spain in 2007 aged 85. Siham has a famous song in which she says “Oh Palestine, to you we came... we are all men, we came... to carry your burdens, we came... around you, men who protect you with souls and blood, and protect the Arabian glory and wipe those who are your enemy... etc.” The lyrics go on in useless rhetoric, as it does not reflect the reality in of tens of setbacks that Palestinians experienced over seven decades since 1948, during which the weak and divided Arab armies fought well-trained Jewish gangs with high fighting spirit.
They are facing a defeat after another, especially after being forced one time after another, and mostly under pressure from “brothers” to reject all solutions, as we are “people who accept no concessions,” “we are either on top or in the grave,” and we remained in our graves lamenting our luck. Nobody, of course, responded to sister Siham’s call, and went to liberate Palestine, even the most extreme clergymen who previously sent thousands of young men to face death in Afghanistan, Kovoso, Chechnya, then in Iraq and Syria. They kept their mouths shut and remained silent; not to mention even the condemnation of the latest events, as if Jerusalem was not the pride of our Arabism, nor the first Qibla or the third haram.
The truth which many do not want to admit is that Palestinians did not only suffer from brutality and terrorism of the Israeli war and media apparatus, but also suffered more by the hands of their ‘brothers.’ Most of their Arab brothers contributed to dividing them into groups, parties, fronts and organizations, and each is loyal to the area that pays for them. During that time, Palestine was torn piece by piece and Arabs forgot about its cause in the past few years, and its tragedy became just a memory in the imagination of only a number of people. What the Palestinians are facing today, regardless of their stand towards Saddam’s invasion of my country, is a tragedy as the entire world unanimously forgot their cause and their sufferings. It is time that Palestinians become aware that their country will only return with their efforts and sacrifices, as there is no ability nor an interest for many in its liberation.
—Translated by Kuwait Times