The Hashemite custodianship of Jerusalem’s Muslim and
Christian holy sites remains steadfast in its mission, despite all opposing
agendas. That is probably the strongest message to be gleaned from His Majesty
King Abdullah’s rare trip on Monday to Ramallah, in Palestine.
اضافة اعلان
The “journalistically correct” way to describe Ramallah is
to refer to it as part of the “Palestinian territories” in the West Bank. But
one day, and maybe way sooner than initially envisioned, there will be a
Palestine under a two-state solution.
Someday, the United Nations will welcome the “State of
Palestine” into its fold as a sovereign country blessed with
self-determination. At that precious moment, the world – from east to west –
shall recognize the Palestinian people as a self-ruling nation, free to say “I
am from Palestine” and be fully recognized for it.
Palestinian women and men will be free to build a roof above
their heads among their rightfully owned olive groves, without the threatening hand
of a fanatic Israeli government that attacks unarmed civilians and demolishes
their homes like they were sub-human.
Palestinian home cooks and chefs will once again be able to
call their culturally appropriated food “Palestinian”, after years of being
deliberately misbranded as “Israeli”. They will reclaim their stolen heritage
and identity and make it their own, then market their food and culture to the
rest of the world as lovingly “Made in Palestine”.
Recent developments in our region, the US, Europe, and the
world have been building toward this culminating moment.
In May 2021, US Senator Bernie Sanders, who is Jewish, by the way,
wrote a landmark opinion piece in the New York Times where he made the rare
declaration, “Palestinian rights matter”, followed by the bold punchline
“Palestinian lives matter”.
In his article titled “The US must stop being an apologist
for the Netanyahu government”, Sanders shared the sobering truth about what was
going on in our neck of the woods.
He made reference to “Palestinian families in the Jerusalem
neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah… navigating a legal system designed to facilitate
their forced displacement”, and went on to say that “tragically, those
evictions are just one part of a broader system of political and economic oppression”.
He also wrote that the world has seen the Israeli
right-wing’s work to “marginalize” and “demonize” the Palestinians, as the
government pursued “settlement policies designed to foreclose the possibility
of a two-state solution and pass laws that entrench systemic inequality between
Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel”, the latter being widely referred to
as “Arab Israelis”.
In political terms, many might see Sanders’ words as largely
leftist. But in a moral world, his article is firmly aligned with the higher
values and universal principles that transcend partisan politics and polarized
opinions. It reminds us of Martin Luther King’s moving words: “The arc of the
moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”.
The Israeli right has indeed been painting the two-state
solution as an impossible mirage, all while hustling to accelerate the Abraham
Accords in hopes of deleting the Palestinian cause (and identity) from the
global and regional maps.
But Israeli tactics to “skip over” the Palestinians’ right
to exist have been met with unfaltering pushback from Jordan every step of the
way.
Because of its firm stance toward the Palestinian cause,
Jordan has had more than its fair share of premeditated shockwaves and
ill-intentioned propaganda. Rumors and conspiracy theories have been following
the Hashemites well before the Pandora Papers were ever published. Whereas
nowadays most of the information warfare is a product of Western media, during
the late King Hussein’s time, nearly all fabrications came from within the Arab
World.
My generation grew up submerged in conspiracy theories of
every kind. Yet, look at us today: we are perfectly capable of distinguishing
truth from falsehood. Our loyalty does not come from being subjected to
brainwashing at school or at home. In fact, our clarity of vision comes
“despite” the conspiracy theories we were fed as children, teenagers, and later
on as adults.
Such support signals an important shift in the international community’s consciousness, now more than ever leaning toward the moral universe of higher values and principles that unite us as humans of every creed, race, cultural background and faith.
Who can forget the Egyptian television personality who used
to hold endless on-screen monologues with vicious attacks on the person of the
late King Hussein? Or the tabloids running multi-page conspiracy theories, with
oversized headlines, about his politics and even his personal wealth?
With unmatched resilience, the Jordanian leadership and
nation have survived every single one of those cheap shots. Failing to leave a
dent in trust, those attacks have made us stronger, increasingly vocal, and
unusually determined.
A nation that can “see” regardless of the insistent
propaganda and barrage of intricately woven smear campaigns must be firmly
aligned with such intangible notions as justice, and in myriad unseen ways.
This is our strength in Jordan. And that is why world
nations, from the European Union to Bangladesh, have been voicing their support
for the Hashemite custodianship in Jerusalem. Such support signals an important
shift in the international community’s consciousness, now more than ever
leaning toward the moral universe of higher values and principles that unite us
as humans of every creed, race, cultural background and faith.
The King’s trip strategically coincided with the
unprecedented six-party Naqab summit, which involved the foreign ministers of
the US, Israel, Egypt, the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco. As expected, the
Palestinians were not invited. And the Jordanians, who were, turned down the
invitation to make a point about the legitimacy and centrality of the
Palestinian cause.
Regardless of the summit’s anti-Iran pretext or subtle
political connotations, the visit of the 41st direct descendant of the Prophet
Mohammad, peace and blessings be upon him, to Ramallah is a strong allegorical
sign that says: Justice is coming and we are its legion.
Ruba Saqr has reported on the environment, worked in the
public sector as a communications officer, and served as managing editor of a
business magazine, spokesperson for a humanitarian INGO, and as head of a PR
agency.
Read more Opinion and Analysis
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