12th October, 2023
PRESS
RELEASE:
PALESTINE
WAS PUSHED TO THE WALL - MURIC
An Islamic human
rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has described ongoing
bombardment of Palestine and the blockade of Gaza by Israel as a mere
continuation of Israel's genocidal and apartheid proclivity. MURIC avered that
Hamas’ attack on Israel occurred because Palestine was pushed to the wall.
While calling for ceasefire, the group called on the global community to
address the root of the Palestinian question.
This was contained in
a statement issued on Thursday 12th October, 2023 by the Executive Director of
MURIC, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
The full statement
reads:
“Today marks the sixth
day of the bombardment of Palestine from the air, land and sea. This followed a
surprise attack on Israel launched by the Palestinian liberation group known as
Hamas on Saturday, 7th October, 2023.
“MURIC wishes to put
the crisis in its proper perspective in view of several false and misleading
narratives being pushed to the front burner. This began with the allocation of
a larger portion of Palestinian land to Israel in 1947 by the United Nations
(UN) which was immediately followed by Israel's belligerent, expansionist and
apartheid policies which have left the Palestinians with only a fraction of the
land which belonged to them ab initio.
“The UN failed to
secure autonomy for Palestine. Only Israel is recognized as a state. The
Palestinians have no freedom of movement. Their infrastructure, water,
electricity, etc are controlled by Israel and the latter has the power of life
and death over every Palestinian citizen. Extra-judicial killing at the hands
of Israel is rampant while arbitrary arrests, demolition of Palestinian homes
are the order of the day.
“The desecration if
Al-Aqsa Mosque which is the third holy place of Islam is equally at the root of
the crisis. It was these provocations, the acts of injustice and the constant
violation of Allah-given fundamental human rights that pushed the Palestinians
to the wall.
“Saturday's attack was
therefore mere smoke and since there is no smoke without fire, objective people
must look beyond the smoke and ask for what actually caused it.
“We reject the
notion that Hamas or the Palestinians are terrorists. These are people fighting
for their rights. They are freedom fighters. They are out to liberate their
people. They are seeking for justice, equal rights and a dignifying existence
for every Palestinian. We identify with these noble goals and we assert that
justice is the soul of peace. No one can deny one and still enjoy the other.
“The anatomy of terrorism
has revealed that when deep wounds are inflicted on people by usurpers and the
international community turns a blind eye, the victims more often than not turn
to self-help. We found in Israel all the five evils Chamberlain spoke about:
brute force, bad faith, injustice, oppression and persecution.
“The whole Gaza may be
flattened. All 2.4 million Palestinian population may be slaughtered. It
makes no hero of Israel. Neither does it make the Jewish state super human.
Rather it will only bring forth the brute in Israel. History does not forget.
"We lay the
blame squarely at the feet of America for failing to act as an unbiased umpire.
America and its Western allies find immense pleasure in applying veto to UN
resolutions which were designed to act as checks on belligerent Israel until
the latter began to see itself as not only untouchable but also invincible.
Israel has ignored more than 232 UN resolutions to date.
"Three things
have emerged clearly in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Firstly, the
myth of the invincibility of Israel has been broken. Two, by vouching to stand
by Israel in this crisis, America has proved that it is the biggest threat to
democracy, rule of law, justice and equity in the world. Three, by vowing to
deprive 2.4 million Palestinians living in Gaza of food, water and electricity,
Israel's prime minister Netanyau has exposed himself as the worst tyrant since
Hitler and Mussolini.
“It will be recalled
that one time American president Bill Clinton affirmed in September 2011 that
this same Netanyau killed the idea of two states living side by side. Of
course this means a lot to the discerning mind (https://foreignpolicy.com/
“Meanwhile, more than 1,100 Palestinians including children, pregnant women and
other vulnerable persons have been killed. On the Israeli side, 1,200 have died.
Hundreds have been injured on both sides.
“Considering the
heavy toll on both sides, MURIC calls for immediate ceasefire. We demand the
opening of a humanitarian corridor by Israel in obedience to the United
Nations' call and the appeal made yesterday by the European Union. War
is a monster. It makes beasts of men.
"We appeal to
Hamas not to carry out it's threat to execute one hostage for every attack
carried out by Israel without warning. We call for immediate ceasefire by all
sides. We call on Nigerians to eschew sentiments and face facts in the
Palestinian question. Nobody should fan the embers of bitterness over the war
between Israel and Palestine. Rather we should learn as much lessons there are
in the unfortunate imbroglio.”
#IsraelPalestineCeasefire
Professor
Ishaq Akintola,
Executive
Director,
Muslim
Rights Concern (MURIC).
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