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Palestine belongs to the Arabs as England belongs to the English : Mahatma Gandhi

25 November 2007CE | 15 Dhul-Qadah 1428AH

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[ Mahatma Gandhi is against the very soul of Zionist philosophy. The recent moves by the present rightwing Indian government, aroused by its fascist allies, is making a historic mistake by trying to establish links with the Jewish nation. The true Indian heritage has always been whole-hearted support for the Palestinian nation. ‘MeraWatan’ is an attempt to re-enforce such a bond between the two sand dunes and the paddy fields - Jaihoon ]

“My sympathy does not blind me to the requirements of justice. The cry for the national home for the Jews does not make much appeal to me. The sanction for it is sought in the Bible and in the tenacity with which the Jews have hankered after their return to Palestine. Why should they not, like other peoples of the earth, make that country their home where they are born and where they earn their livelihood?”

“Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs…Surely it would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home.”

“I hold that non-violence is not merely a personal virtue. It is also a social virtue to be cultivated like the other virtues. Surely society is largely regulated by the expression of non-violence in its mutual dealing. What I ask for is an extension of it on a larger, national and international scale.”

GH Jansen wrote about the failure of Zionist lobbying with Gandhi:
“His opposition [to Zionism] remained consistent over a period of nearly 20 years and remained firm despite skilful and varied applications to him of that combination of pressure and persuasion known as lobbying, of which the Zionists are past masters.”

“But in my opinion, they [the Jews] have erred grievously in seeking to impose themselves on Palestine with the aid of America and Britain and now with the aid of naked terrorism… Why should they depend on American money or British arms for forcing themselves on an unwelcome land? Why should they resort to terrorism to make good their forcible landing in Palestine?”

A few months before his assassination, Gandhi answered the question “What is the solution to the Palestine problem?” raised by Doon Campbell of Reuters: “It has become a problem which seems almost insoluble. If I were a Jew, I would tell them: ‘Do not be so silly as to resort to terrorism…’ The Jews should meet the Arabs, make friends with them and not depend on British aid or American aid, save what descends from Jehovah.”

Source: Various extracts from the Harijan editorial and others written by Gandhi. Based on paper presented by Dr. Ramakrishnan, a senior lecturer, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India. He presented this paper on June 13, 1998 at a seminar organized by the Institute of Islamic and Arab Studies.

The Palestinian Consul General handing over the invitation to Syed Muhammad Ali Shihab: The Mahatma of Malabar, to visit Al Quds in Palestine.

I know that in your being burns the fire,
Whose heat to this day the world remembers
Your balm lies not in London nor Geneva
The Jewish grasp is tight on Europe’s throat.
But nations throw off bondage, it is told
By cultivating selfhood and zest for living.

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Tags: humanity, islam, jaihoon, Kerala, Palestine, philosophy, Terrorism

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