At one stage, a spokesperson for Hamas appeared on the BBC citing that Gazans
have no need for aid, adding " we do not need to fill our bellies". Well, the
world thinks otherwise. In his astonishing defiance revealed by a casual,
throwaway comment, the spokesperson revealed the prime goal of the Flotilla's
mission, as he perceived it: to run the gauntlet against the blockade, not to
alleviate material needs of his suffering electorate. The Flotilla was a bald
and blatant political move designed to humiliate and provoke.
His remarks reveal the extent to which Palestinians are now objectified
political pawns, rather than a people. While we are comfortable with the
longstanding objectification of Palestinians by Israelis as the 'other'
in the form of a security threat (after all Israel must balance a constant
struggle to determine the needs of a terrorized Israeli citizenship over the
needs of an exploding ever-younger ever impoverished, increasingly radicalized
Gaza population) we fail to encounter our own sinister objectification of the
Palestinians which we accomplish so effectively all by ourselves. This
objectification is not only held by their revolving, corrupt leadership, but
also by an objectifying Muslim world. We the Muslims need the Palestinians to
remain locked in their plight so that they might continue to serve as the
Ummah's scotoma (a blindspot) which literally prevents us from seeing our own
more immediate distresses, distresses which might demand our attention and
perhaps even require societal interventions . We would be lost, disarmed, and
stunned without an external locus for our rage which is so piercingly trained on
Gaza and the West Bank, so piercing in fact that Darfur barely warrants a
sidelong glance.
Does this exonerate Israel? No. Does this implicate Muslims? You bet.
Let me continue the self-flagellation.
During this same period of Flotilla Face-Offs with the IDF, Pakistan, my
nation of matrilineal and patrimonial heritage has witnessed the extraordinary
massacre of 120 moderate, pacifist Muslims, followers of the Ahmadiyyah movement
that subscribes to peaceful, pluralistic Islam. Specifically, they embrace
non-violence, condemning violent jihad. They were massacred, in cold blood, in
worship, by fellow citizens, fellow Pakistanis, fellow Muslims. Most of the
murdered were elderly, and male. Hundreds more were injured, some of whom are
still dying this week. Emergency services did not arrive for over two hours.
Pakistani police stood back, apparently allowing the carnage to occur,
supposedly too afraid to engage. Awaiting special operations commandos to
intervene, in their uncertainty, perhaps their tacit tolerance, Pakistani police
became silent accomplices to the massacre. Many of the pacifist Muslim
worshipers died of uncomplicated hemorrhagic shock within mere minutes of
advanced medical care.
Where has been the subsequent national and international outrage at the death
of these Muslims? Where is the Muslim world now? Where are the Muslims calling
for War Crimes to be investigated within the inert and increasingly fractious
Pakistani 'leadership'? We, the Muslims find ourselves suddenly voiceless,
tongue tied, jaded and unmoved, yet somehow Gaza stokes our bald fury.
So, against this deafening silence, when six passengers on the ship were
regrettably killed during a confrontation with the Israeli Defense Force, this
bloodshed became sufficient to call for investigations of war crimes by an
elected government in charge of their military at work enforcing a public, long
standing naval blockade, one which has been tacitly accepted in the region,
irrespective of the ethics of this blockade. It wasn't just a member of the IDF,
who was thrown overboard in the on board skirmish it would seem, it was
morality.
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