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Standing by Palestine

By Kourosh Ziabari - posted Tuesday, 18 May 2010


In a recent interview which I conducted with the brave Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff, he told me that he has never seen a nation as strong and powerful as the Palestinian nation.

I admire his statement. He is right in saying that Palestine is one of the strongest nations of the world. Palestinians are not well-off or as affluent as the people of northern Europe; their annual GDP does not equate with that of Canada and France; they're not equipped with state-of-the-art technology; they don't have the means to send all of their children to school to help them realise their dream of becoming useful and valuable individuals in society; they don't live in large houses or apartments; and they don't earn US$30,000 a year. However, they've achieved much that takes hundreds of years for the other nations to accomplish.

During the past 60 years they've been under the incessant and unrelenting fire of a racist regime which is controlled by people who don't understand logic and reason. They've paid a high cost to preserve their values and morals against this chauvinistic regime.

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Since September 29, 2000, some 6,348 Palestinians have been killed including 1,441 who were children; however, no "human rights" organisation made any mention of sympathy for the nation of Palestine, as if 6,348 killed people were not human beings to be taken into account.

The incarceration of, for example, a Middle Eastern journalist or the death of a Latin American activist in prison provokes calls of condemnation and expressions of concern from around the world yet, unbelievably, the continuous and unremitting massacre of Palestinian people, who have been under the brutal oppression of Israeli apartheid for more than 60 years, does not incite any condemnation from the international community.

So who is this international community? When considering Iran's nuclear program, it is simply comprised of three countries who are opposed to Iran's development of nuclear energy, and excludes 180 other countries who don't seem to be that much concerned about a peaceful country developing energy to meet its electricity needs. Regarding the Palestinian issue, however, the international community seems to be made of no members!

Since 1967, 24,145 Palestinian homes have been destroyed by Israel and, to the international community, this is not considered to be a violation of human rights. Palestinians should construct new homes for themselves, because the expansionistic nature of the Israeli regime is not likely to change! The Palestinians who should adapt themselves to the policies of Tel Aviv. Israel destroys, Palestinians get displaced, and the international community watches on apathetically.

What about the United Nations Security Council?! Well, it's parading as the authorised representative of Israel in the United Nations. Sixty-five UNSC resolutions have been adopted against Israel during the period between 1955 and 1992 but not enforced; the UNSC hasn't taken any steps to hold the occupying regime accountable. So, why should there exist such a body if its resolutions are so ineffective? Why do the member states continue passing resolutions that are ignored?

Why didn't the five permanent members of the UNSC ever object to Israel's disobedience of Resolution 452 which called on Israel to cease building settlements in occupied territories? Why didn't they ever protest about Tel Aviv's defiance against Resolution 456 which deplored the ongoing settlements and asked all the member states not to assist Israel with its settlement program?

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Why didn't Israel's violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention by deporting hundreds of Palestinians from the occupied territories in 1992 ever motivate any objections from the international community? Why was the adoption of UNSC Resolution 799 followed by the international community's silence and inaction?

I stand by the people of Palestine, because they don't breach international regulations; because they stand on their own feet; and because they don't occupy, terrorise and massacre. Nor do they pay the mainstream media to stage psychological warfare.

I stand by the people of Palestine because they haven't been subject to any UNSC resolution; and because they haven't been supported by any of imperialistic powers - so far.

I stand by the people of Palestine, because they don't receive US$7.0 million in military aide from the United States each day; because they don't dream of expanding their frontiers from the Euphrates to Nile; and because they've been, and are, submissive to the laws of morality and laws of humanity.

I stand by the people of Palestine, because they're real human beings.

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About the Author

Kourosh Ziabari is an award-winning Iranian journalist, writer and media correspondent. In 2010, he won the presidential medal of Superior Iranian Youth for his media activities. He has also won the first prize of Iran's 18th Press Festival in the category of political articles. He has interviewed more than 200 public intellectuals, academicians, media personalities, politicians, thinkers and Nobel Prize laureates. His articles and interviews have been published in such media outlets as Press TV, Tehran Times, Iran Review, Global Research, Al-Arabiya, Your Middle East, Counter Currents, On Line Opinion and Voltaire Network and translated in Arabic, French, German, Turkish, Italian and Spanish.

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