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 of 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/2011/09/22/bill-clinton-netanyahu-killed-the-peace-process/).
“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).
