Even on a critically important issue like the future of Jerusalem where al-Masjid al-Aqsa, the first qiblah of the Muslims is located, Muslims rulers are divided. This was apparent from the attendance, or lack thereof, at the special meeting of the mostly impotent Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The meeting was called by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and held in Istanbul on December 13. Conspicuous by their absence were the rulers of “Saudi” Arabia (the medieval kingdom sent only an official from the foreign ministry), the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. All of them are American puppets and have cultivated close links with the Zionist entity.
Is Jerusalem important to the world of Islam? Not according to the Arabian rulers who described it as a “side issue.” Their principal obsession is with the Islamic Republic of Iran, which they describe as posing a greater threat to their miserable existence than the Zionists who have escalated oppression and killing of the hapless Palestinians.
The OIC meeting was a good first step — not doing anything is not an option — but what practical results emerged from it? The final communiqué declared “East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine” and invited “all countries to recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital.” They also declared US President Donald Trump’s decision “null and void legally” and “a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts” that would give impetus to “extremism and terrorism.”
The summit failed to agree on concrete steps against Israel or the US. For instance, a number of OIC members have diplomatic relations with the Zionist entity including Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, and several African countries. Would it not have been more meaningful if diplomatic relations with the pariah state as well as its patron saint, the US, were cut off? Instead, many Arabian regimes are deepening relations with Israel. They consider Islam and Islamic self-determination as greater threats to their illegitimate hold on power.
President Hassan Rouhani put his finger on the problem when he said, “Some countries in our region are in cooperation with the United States and the Zionist regime and determining the fate of Palestine.” This was an indirect reference to the secret meetings between Zionist and Arabian officials including Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman at which the pair decided to impose an Israeli solution on the Palestinians. Palestinian Authority head, Mahmoud Abbas, was summoned to Riyadh on November 10 and offered a $10 billion bribe to accept Abu Dis as the capital of a future Palestinian state. He was told to forget about Jerusalem — even the eastern part of it — and forego the right of return for Palestinian refugees. To his credit, Abbas refused the offer.
At the OIC summit, Iran tried to include the entire city of Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine into the final declaration. Regrettably, the slavish rulers — including the Palestinian leadership — had already accepted defeat and could not muster the courage to protect their rights.
The Jerusalem saga has exposed the puppets and corrupters and also made clear who are truly committed to the liberation of Palestine. The resistance front has emerged stronger despite many conspiracies hatched against Islam and the Muslims. The battle lines are clearly drawn. On the one side are the tyrants and oppressors. These regimes led by Saudi Arabia are pushing for total surrender to US imperialism and Zionism. On the other side is the resistance front led by Islamic Iran that stands for freedom, truth, dignity, and justice.
Committed Muslims worldwide must wake up to the reality confronting them. The puppet rulers who pollute Muslim lands with their policies of appeasement and surrender are not the ones to lead them to victory. In fact, the very existence of Muslim nation states, most of them totally artificial, is the negation of all that Islam stands for. They reflect the defeat and dismemberment of the Ummah. Unless these regimes are consigned to the dustbin of history, Muslims will not succeed in their quest for dignified existence.
The road to Jerusalem passes through Riyadh, Cairo, Amman, and a host of other Arabian capitals. Muslims must internalize this point so that the real struggle for the liberation of Jerusalem, al-Masjid al-Aqsa and the Holy Land can begin in earnest. This is the task of the global Islamic movement and all Muslims everywhere must join it.
Muslims must also bear in mind that the United Nations, despite its limited utility will not liberate Palestine. After all, it was the UN in violation of its own charter that helped pave the way for the Zionist colonization of Palestine, the ethnic cleansing of its inhabitants, and the balkanization of the Arab world.
The liberation of Jerusalem and Palestine from the clutches of Zionism will come about as a result of armed struggle as demonstrated by Hizbullah in Lebanon and the valiant resistance waged by Islamic Iran in defence of its land and rights in the eight-year imposed war by the Arabian potentates and their Western masters. There are reports that Hizbullah and Hamas plus al-Hashd al-Sha‘bi militias of Iraq have agree to coordinate their military, economic, and political activities. This is a positive development and if properly implemented, will lead to the defeat of US-Zionist-Saudi conspiracy against Islam and Muslims.