Arabian rulers missing in Gaza

Empowering Weak & Oppressed

Hashim Abdullah

Muharram 17, 1434 2012-12-01

Letters To The Editor

by Hashim Abdullah (Letters To The Editor, Crescent International Vol. 41, No. 10, Muharram, 1434)

Why Arabian rulers were not able to offer more than rhetorical support to the Palestinians? Some like the rulers of Saudi Arabia and Jordan did not bother to do even that.

I looked in vain to find any Arabian ruler do anything positive for the besieged people of Gaza. True, foreign ministers of several Arab League countries accompanied by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu went to Gaza to express solidarity with the Palestinian people as the Zionists continued to attack them — but what practical steps did they take? Their visit followed those of Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Qandil and Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalam. At one level the visits enhanced Hamas’ political standing but the people of Gaza need more than symbolic gestures.

Apart from Egypt that brokered the ceasefire, and Islamic Iran, whose practical help was publicly acknowledged by Hamas leader Khaled Mishaal and Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdullah Shallah during their joint press conference in Cairo on November 21, the other rulers simply issued rhetorical statements. Some did not even bother to do that. The Saudis and Jordanians were not heard from. What happened to them and to Saad Hariri, the playboy former Lebanese prime minister?

The ground realities in the Muslim East have changed; Hamas and Islamic Jihad can now retaliate for Israeli crimes. Even if thousands of Palestinians were killed and maimed, Israel will not be able to get away without paying a price in the future.

Hashim Abdullah

Madison, WI, US

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