Although the people of the Arab world are under attack to comply with the American (and European backed) frightening strategic âvisionâ for a âNew Middle Eastâ, solidarity with the Palestinian people and their struggle against Zionism is still alive. Civil society groups all around Palestine have expressed there opposition to the Apartheid Wall.
Lebanon
The Lebanese coalition of over 150 NGOs held a demonstration in front of the UN-ESCWA offices demanding the UN to put pressure on Israel to immediately implement the ICJ decision and the UN resolutions on Palestine, including the Right of Return. The coalition has firmly backed the Palestinian unified call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel.
Jordan
The Jordanian National Campaign Against the Apartheid Wallâcomprised of political party representatives, professional unions, cultural and environmental bodies, human rights and women groupsâ organized a national conference on the first anniversary of the decision of the International Court of Justice. An appeal was launched and directed to UN General Secretary, Kofi Annan, and the General Secretary of the Arab League.
The appeal highlighted that the ICJ decision calls not only for the dismantling of the Apartheid Wall, but also âpronounced, for the first time, the illegitimacy of a host of positions and resolutions pertaining to the Arab – Israeli conflict beginning with the Balfour Declaration, the Mandate instrument that gave effect to the Declaration, and the Partition Resolution, which was passed by a simple majority in blatant disregard to the wishes and aspirations of the Palestinian people.â
The appeal also emphasized the specific obligations and responsibilities that ought to be exercised immediately and without compromise: âIf the application of Chapter VII of the UN Charter is impossible due to repeated US Vetoes against Arab rights, it becomes incumbent and imperative for each country to take independent measures (unilaterally) to boycott Israel and Israeli products. This builds upon and reiterates the effective strategies used by the international community to bring an end to Afrikaner racist hegemony in Apartheid South Africa.
Finally, The Jordanian National Campaign Against the Apartheid Wall petitioned to the General Secretary of the Arab League to engage in âefforts in diffusing awareness amongst countries of the world through articulating what each country could and should do to give effect to this Advisory Opinion.â
Egypt
The Campaignâs latest publication Do-it-Yourself Apartheid: Israel, the World Bank and the âDevelopmentâ of the Palestinian Ghettos was presented at a press conference in Cairo on July 9th. Dr. Abdelwahab Elmisirsi denounced the Egyptian support to Israel and its racist and colonial policies in Palestine, highlighting in particular the implications of the recent arrangement to export gas from Egypt to Israel. This deal comes only months after Egypt signed the agreement on Egyptian industrial zones that will be sustained through Israeli imports.
Egyptian resistance to this complicity with Israeli crimes develops in the context of growing popular struggle against the liberalization and privatization policies of the ailing Mubarak regime as Israel is trying to take advantage of free trade measures to exploit Egyptian workers and to guarantee Egypt as a hinterland to its war economy.
Mobilization throughout the Arab world is a crucial part of the Palestinian global support movement, yet has been too often undermined by Arab governments.
While anger among populations is growing, the international community is pressuring the Arab governmentsâas part of their colonial project for the Middle Eastâto lend their hand even further to the Israeli plans of colonization and expulsion. Part of the efforts to grant âsustainabilityâ to the Israeli project of ghettoization and expulsion of the Palestinian people are the efforts to ensure a backyard to Israeli economy. As plans are underway for the November 2005 conference in Bahrain that will be a crucial step towards the economic integration of Israel inside the Arab world, renewed popular calls to boycott and isolate Israel are also intensifying in the Arab world. Resistance and solidarity inside the Arab world must continue to strengthen until it is able to stop each respective governmentâs support to apartheid Israel.