Is BRICS+ Misdirecting the Struggle for Palestine Back Towards Oslo 2.0?

Mohamed Ousman

The Joint Declaration that came out of the 17^th BRICS+ Summit offers nothing new.

The first striking observation is the reappearance of the clause “with East Jerusalem as its capital...” in regards to Palestine.

The said clause had been omitted for the 12 successive Joint Declarations issued at the conclusion of earlier twelve BRICS Summits.

The first and last time the said clause had appeared in any BRICS Summit Joint Declaration was at the 5^th BRICS Summit when South Africa joined the group.

The second striking observation is the call for a Pledge Conference to rebuild Palestine. This too is not new.

Verbalizing pledges has been a regular feature that usually followed all previous Israeli destructions of Palestine.

In all those instances there was no follow up nor honoring of the paltry pledges made; not to mention the paltry sums pledged by the rich Arabian regimes.

The third striking observation is the resurrection of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The PA comprises the zionist blue-eyed boys (be they Jews, Christians or Muslims).

The PA had been polished and presented as the representative of the Palestinians for eternity because of their role as the sentry and security guards of the Israelis.

The dominant political party in South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) is in the grip of the zionists, notwithstanding its anti-zionist theatrics that plays out in public.

The ANC’s anti-Islamic self-determination-cum-pro-secular position is well known.

In fact it is the South African state’s official doctrine.

It therefore supports the secular Palestinian Authority for whose political resuscitation it is dragging Hamas and Islamic Jihad to International Courts.

In order to eliminate Islamic self-determination, clause 25 of the Joint Declaration states: “We recall that the Gaza Strip is an inseparable part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. We underline, in this regard, the importance of unifying the West Bank and the Gaza Strip under the Palestinian Authority, and reaffirm the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination…”

Clause 26 of the Declaration continues: “We call on the international community to support the Palestinian Authority in undergoing reforms to fulfill the Palestinians’ legitimate aspirations for independence and statehood...”

This Joint Declaration as pertains to Palestine virtually drags the Palestinians back to Oslo.

Clause 24 calls for “… the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza strip …”

Have these diplomats forgotten that Israel had previously already fully “withdrawn” (even when defeated, beaten powers always withdraw; they are never defeated!) from the Gaza Strip in September 2005!

When these diplomats reaffirm as per clauses 25 and 27 the right to self-determination have they conveniently forgotten that the people of Gaza had already elected an Islamic government in the Gaza Strip in 2005?

Or does self-determination not apply when the outcome is specifically Islamic self-determination?

A pronounced silence in this regards comes from the so-called “Muslim pro-Palestinian activists” and so-called “Muslim Parliamentarians” particularly in South Africa.

They campaign for the Muslim vote and Muslim finances on the back of Muslim sympathy for the struggle and suffering experienced specifically by the Muslims in Palestine.

Equally silent are the sectarian clergy-class who are always warning Muslims with weak Imaan about the Shi‘i threat.

Yet they remain deaf, dumb and blind to the secular threat that has seen countless Muslims succumb to gender fluidity, atheism, homosexuality and immorality.

Neither have these so-called “Muslim pro-Palestinian activists”, so-called “Muslim Parliamentarians” and the sectarian clergy-class made any statement regarding the most detrimental clause in every Joint Declaration, clause 27 which imposes “… the unwavering commitment to the two-state solution, in accordance with international law, including relevant UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, and the Arab Peace Initiative, that includes the establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine within the internationally recognized 1967 borders...”

The silence of these so-called “Muslim pro-Palestinian activists”, so-called “Muslim Parliamentarians” and the sectarian clergy-class along with the ANC and all the other apparently pro-Palestinian political parties has brought their commitment to the people in Palestine’s right to self-determination under the spotlight.

Either they do not understand what they are singing when they sing “from the river to the sea”, or they are deliberately abusing the suffering of the people of Palestine in order to fool the people to vote for them and/or to support them financially.

It cannot be repeated enough: the two-state solution gives 78% of the land of Palestine to Israel.

The inescapable bottom line that emerges from this Joint Declaration clearly indicates that some of the supposed friends of Palestine are exerting pressure on the Islamic Movement in Palestine to succumb to the Israeli colonizers’ demands to give up both land and Islamic self-determination.

It is indeed astounding to note how many of these un-initiated-cum-shallow-cum-hollow (even fake) pro-Palestinian activists and zionist Muslims are quietly going along with this two-state solution under the secular Palestinian Authority in the same way that they had gone along with the so-called “revolution” in Syria.

Will they wake up one day and suddenly scratch their heads when they realize that the Palestinian Authority is no different from the Jolani junta in Syria?

Neither the PA nor Jolani is anti-Israel.

And neither represents Islamic self-determination.

“Guide us to the Straight Way [throughout our life-long efforts]—The way of those upon whom You have bestowed Your blessings, not those who have incurred [Your] wrath, nor those who go the wrong way.” (The Ascendant Qur’an, Surat Al Fatihah, verse 6-7).