A lot has been written about the ever-rising volatile Middle East conflict between the Arab State of Palestine and the State of monstrous Jewish Israel. This piece is to have a glimpse into up till date issues consuming global attention at the heel of Quds day, which is a day of solidarity with Palestinians. To re-echo and refresh the memory of Ayatollah Imam Khomeini’s declaration of Muslims’ support and solidarity worldwide for the Palestinian people in general and Muslims in particular. During Ramadan, Muslims irrespective of their ideological reasoning/sectarian inclination are advised to support Palestinians along their allied militant and such other umbrella bodies dedicated to that cause every last Friday of Ramadan.

The topic of perennial conflict in the Middle East is inexhaustible, especially in the attempt to x-ray the causes, impact of the present and future Middle East and the world at large. It is of congenial climate to consider the genesis of the matter that precipitated the conflict.

The genesis of the war could be traced to the creation of Israel in 1948. Palestine, as the area was then was to be divided into two blocs (East and West) between the Arabs who were the consolidated occupants of the region even prior to the advent of the colonial domination under British mandate and subsequently the return of Jews from Europe and other parts of the world after the Second World War

The so-claimed peaceful division of the territory into the East and West i.e Arabs and Jews was as a result of the double standard stance of the western bloc particularly obliterate the original Arabs of that region with deliberate attempt to create instability in the region. The seeds of the present tragedy were sown then having in mind the mortgage of interest of the Arabs with irrational settlement of the Jews. This professed interest and other UN Charter could not make them consider the re-settlement of the Jews in the territories of the any Western masters. But yet they see every reason for the resettlement of insatiable Jews in another man’s country. There have been flimsy claims and counter-claims that Palestinians war, which culminated into the defeat of Arabs with their sympathizers. The question is; what is defeat in the eyes of right-thinking people of the world?

This has resulted into perennial Arab-Israeli war, which include the 1948 war, 1956 Suez war, 1967 six-day war, 1970 war of Attrition, 1973 Yom Kippur, while other less intense wars permanently going on between Arabs and Jews have equally been defining characteristics of their relations. In all these wars, the Arabs vicariously suffer the misgiving and unjust interference of the Western hypocrisy leading to millions of Arab loss of lives and properties.

Africans, particularly, Zimbabweans who will have been in the position that Palestinian are facing now, will ever be grateful to destiny that diverted the attention of the West from the re-settlement of these wolves (Jews) and their Western masters to shift their re-settlement of Jews to the Middle East when it was first conceived. History has shown that the re-settlement to this particular region was never an accident as their target was to annihilate Islam and Muslims from left, right and centre.

1 The global cries and some conscious Muslims/Arabs across the world had put pressure to drift countless UN Resolutions to declare that peace must return to the Middle East if Israel returns the land it forcefully seized and usurped from Arabs. This had led to the return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, and then in 2000, the Jewish withdrawal amidst all humiliation from heroes of Lebanese Hezbollah militants. The 1993 Oslo Peace Accord provided for Palestinians’ self-government on the Gaza Strip and the city of Jericho in the West Bank through the creation of Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority was created in May 1994 with the late Yasser Arafat as its leader before election was conducted in 1996, which he also won.

The pains mentioned above of Western injustice to support the Jewish-Zionist activities had prompted the founder of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, Ayatollah Imam Khomeini to declare the last Friday of every Ramadan a Solidarity day in support of our Muslim brothers in Palestine. On this day, Muslims are urged to troop out en masse to protest/demonstrate against Zionist regime that honours no right of ownership of Palestine and their outright hatred against Islam and seek to corrupt via propaganda the values of Muslims. Jews are so bedeviled that they shout to attract sympathy even when they perpetrate evil that demands condemnation. This they do to delude the world which Imam Khomeini himself had understood to always prove them negative even in the face of all oppositions and ultimately tried to educate Muslims worldwide to understand their evil and do away with them even in our minute mundane activities with them. It is a day for Muslims and any right-thinking person to declare their support for our Palestinian brothers and Southern Lebanon in their fight against Israel and equally tell Muslims that the superpowers’ aim at creating State of Israel does not end in the occupation of Palestine, but extend the fate of Palestine to all Arab countries and if possible the whole Muslim world.

Hitler, though bad as he was, did not spare his thinking faculty to rightly assume that he hated Jews to extinct them from the face of the earth though destiny deprived him enough time to accomplish the task in the Second World War. This perhaps is not unconnected with the shouts from the West over the holocaust, which only exists in Western fantasy.

On Quds day, the spirit of Imam’s ideology must be revived annually among all freedom fighters. All Muslims know the divine position and important precinct of Masjid-I-Aqsa (Quds):

1. The first Qibla of the Muslims has now slipped to dominant control of Zionist regime determining the code of life and ethics for Muslims inhabiting the area;

2. Not only the Zionist regimes determine their life to live or die, but assassination of Muslims and indigenous Arabs are subjected to miserable life and groaning in abject subjugation.

It is a clarion call by Muslims to fellow Muslims on the responsibilities to add their voices on this holy day against Zionist regime that Quds belongs to Muslims and must return to them in earnest.

The Muslim world should bear in mind that Imam Khomeini (R.A) set this day for Muslims to prepare themselves for the inevitable liberation of Quds. Zionist by their nature do not understand the language of peace as clearly stated in the holy Qur’an “Then, because of their breaking their covenant, we cursed them and made their hearts hard; they pervert words from their meanings, and have forgotten a part of what they were reminded (Chapter 5:13).

We use this medium to herald the uncompromising support to all the liberations in Palestine and other Arab worlds against the Zionist regime, especially the Hamas and other resistant groups and their allies. The persecutions and pains that our brothers experience, the aggressors experience the same even more if only they could confess. “And slacken not in pursuit of the enemy, if ye suffer pain, assuredly they also suffer as ye suffer; but ye hope from God what they hope not; And God is All-knowing and All-wise (Chapter 4:104).

The Imam’s demise leaving a legacy for Muslims to attain their rightful status in the world must not die with his departure, but continue to remain fresh in our memories. Whether this is to be translated into real or mere dream depends on us. Imam did his own part and left; the challenge is now ours. In Allah we trust.