RE: 【Middle East Eye】Ilan Pappe warns that Israel's plans for Gaza risk prolonging Palestinian suffering through potential expulsions and annexation, urging international intervention to prevent further atrocities
"Countries in Asia and Africa have backed our cause for a long time, especially during the fight against colonialism in the 20th century. Places like Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa, etc"
Could you please provide me with evidence of such support before the 1960s?
Some screenshots of newspapers from before that period. Documents like proclamations from these countries.
After the Arabs lost 4 wars, they knew that they could not eliminate the Jews from the Middle East so they started a campaign of lies and disinformation. Particularly siding with Marxist communists in the West, and Soviet Union, as they both had the same target - the elimination of the imagined imperialist and capitalist enemy - the collective West. Many Western, communist terrorists were tried by PLO and other similar "Palestinian" organisations. For example, the Red Army Faction.
They won this war of disinformation.
You are an example.
This conflict between Arabs/Palestinians has nothing to do with the land. It is a religious conflict. Having a Jewish state in the Middle East is seen as an insult to Islam and Allah.
For example, back in 1947, while gearing up for the Bandung Conference in 1955, Indonesia's leaders showed they had Palestine’s back, along with the broader Arab fight against colonialism. Later on, Sukarno, the country’s first president, openly voiced his support for Palestinian independence.
And Mahatma Gandhi may had mixed feelings about Zionism but emphasized the rights of Arabs in Palestine while it was under British control. After gaining independence, India took a non-aligned approach, showing support for the Palestinian cause.
However, there’s not much direct evidence from before the 1960s because many countries were still developing back then, so you’d need to dig through archives of old documents or newspapers to find anything.
And you're partially right, that the conflict has a religious aspect, but also territorial aspect mixed. Some Arab and Islamic leaders talk about it in religious terms, like opposing a Jewish state in lands that used to have a Muslim majority. But it’s also about things like displacement, control over land, and the right to decide our own future.
Yes, this is true. Unfortunately, Palestinians live in the past. Jews live for the future. When Palestinians start to think about the future, then both will be able to live side by side.