Our heads hang in shame and sorrow when many European young men and women, instead of Arab youths, struggle for our cause against Israel. These Europeans are prompted in their actions by their conviction in the justice of the Palestinian demands and hence they are willing to risk their lives for the Palestinian cause. That is much more than we do.
We found these peace activists a couple of months ago serving as human shields to protect Yasser Arafat in his Ramallah headquarters. They were also present in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem when it was sealed off by the Israeli forces. With their death-defying acts, the peace activists have been proving themselves to be symbols of human brotherhood.
How I wished in those days that the peace activists came from some Muslim countries as well. I deliberately omit saying “from the Arab countries” where the governments do not allow citizens to go to the Occupied Territories to join the Palestinian ranks. These Arab countries, on the other hand, do not think twice before opening diplomatic relations with Israel.
It is also unfortunate to learn that a sense of separation has been growing among the people of the Arab and Muslim Ummah. The ruler of each country says: What can I do alone? Can I stand up alone and defeat Israel, knowing it is very powerful and has the total support of the United States? These Muslim leaders unfortunately forget that we all will have to stand one day before Allah. Everyone according to his position will be accountable for what he did or failed to do for the cause of Muslims and Arabs and the liberation of Al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestine.
We should be ashamed of ourselves when we see some Western youths, again conspicuously not Arab or Muslim youths, shouting at the entrance of the Jewish-owned Marks and Spencer outlets in support of the Arab and Muslim issues. Those youths plead with the customers not to buy anything from this company, which has set apart its Saturday’s sale proceeds to support Jewish settlements in the Occupied Palestine. The shop also gives a portion of its income to Israel. These youths carry photos of Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinians in cold blood. They also carry placards with the warning: “Your money is spent to commit these crimes in Palestine.”
Some of the youths shout at the top of their voice or on megaphones: “We request you, particularly Arabs and Muslims, not to buy from this shop.” Policemen or private security guards beat up the young people for taking these actions. These peace activists also note with dismay that many Arab and Muslim customers pass by them, pretending that they do not hear the calls, enter the store, and shop freely. The photos of brutal acts do not kindle in the hearts of those Arabs and Muslims any feeling of pity toward their brethren, let alone any religious or national feeling.
However, the activists exist on hope. They believe if they stop one shopper today, tomorrow it might be two, and thus they continue to hope the number will rise. Their activities also prove that the call by Arab and Muslim countries for a boycott of American goods has been answered even from non-Muslim countries. Those who want to know more about the Marks and Spencer’s Israeli connection should visit the Palestine-related websites on the Internet.
Local newspapers reported recently that the boycott was negatively affecting American exports as the volume of Arab imports from the US registered a decline while it increased from other countries. We Arabs have made it clear that our objective is not to damage the interests of the American people with whom we have no hostility. The boycott only aims to persuade the affected US firms to mount pressure on the US administration to adopt a fair stand in regards to Arab and Muslim issues in general and the Palestinian conflict in particular.
The Arabs have been frustrated by the Bush administration’s blind bias and subservience to Israel in the Middle East conflict. George W. Bush behaves as if he is an official spokesman of Israel. Even some of the US allies mock Bush’s antics such as calling Ariel Sharon a “man of peace.” The Arab and Muslim hatred of the American administration is a logical reaction to Israel’s injustice encouraged by Bush’s unreasonable support of Israel.
The American hostility to the Arabs and Muslims in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks may be explained as a reaction to the perceived role of some Arab and Muslim youths in the attacks — though their involvement is yet to be conclusively established. The Americans should, however, realize that even if the role of Arabs and Muslims in the tragic event is proved, their number is few and they never represented the sentiments of the countries to which they belonged. Both the people and rulers in the Arab and Muslim countries have condemned the acts in unequivocal terms. I also want to draw the attention of the Americans who spawn hatred against the Arabs, that the Americans who were affected by the Oklahoma bombing, never expressed any hostility to the people related to the extremist who carried out the attack.
I demand that the Arabs in general, and the people in the Gulf countries where the branches of Marks & Spencer have been opened in particular, stop buying anything from those stores. Even if the branches are operating under some other names, the company’s history is notoriously pro-Israel. Though the Arab governments do not join in the call for a boycott, they do not ask people to buy from any particular shop.
Modern history attests to the unlimited potency of boycotts as weapons in the fight against colonial powers. Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi successfully used the boycott of British products in his non-violent freedom struggle against the British Empire over half a century ago. I hope that the boycott announced by the Arabs in the past months will gather momentum and be joined by skeptics as well.