The debates about the Israel-Palestine conflict re-emerge with latest Olympic incident, in which an Egyptian athlete refused to shake hand with his opponent from Israel.

So, there are all kind of debates going on in Facebook about the incident and the Israel-Palestine conflict. There are people throwing their support for the Zionist state. They’re claiming that, whatever Israel is doing is to protect itself from the hostilities from the Arabs. The incident is being cited as an example of level of hostility the Palestinians (or Muslims) share against the Jews.

There are arguments supporting Israel’s aggression towards Palestine, citing this incident. What I can see in such arguments is that mostly Muslims are speaking against Israel (and defending the Egyptian athlete’s conduct), while some non-Muslims are condemning the Egyptian athlete (and justifying Israel’s treatment of Palestinians). In my opinion, both are wrong. what the Egyptian did is wrong. After all, the Olympic is all about unity, beyond differences.

The Olympic is not a place for the Egyptian or anyone to show the hostility. His conduct is certainly an unacceptable one, judging from sporting sense. In the same tone, how could one justify the Zionist state’s atrocities against Palestinians citing this incident? The Israel-Palestine conflict is not a religious conflict to start with. It was made a ‘religious conflict’. The conflict was all about land.

So, if you are Muslims and supporting the Palestinians because they’re also Muslims, you are no different from those who are supporting the Zionists. But that is the reality, those who speak in support of Palestine, will not speak in support of the Tamils’ struggle for self-determination in Sri Lanka or the Kurds’ struggle for self-rule in Turkey. The Israel-Palestine conflict became a religious conflict because of such narrow-minded thinking.

I support Palestine, not because they’re Muslims; but because they’re humans. Palestinians were made to become refugees in their own land. I’m looking at the Palestinians struggle as a struggle for the liberty of their own land. Nothing more than that. The Palestinians land and liberty was sacrificed by the US and UK-backed United Nations. It was an International mistake, the repercussions of which are still ongoing in the present day.

The background of the Israel-Palestine conflict (as I understood it)

The Jews (of Palestine) became dispersed and started to leave their ‘land’, even before the time of Christ. From the 8th Century BC till the 2nd Century AD, they were either driven out or voluntarily left Palestine.

The ‘Diaspora’ begin with the fall of the northern Jewish Kingdom in the 8th century BC and later there was the destruction of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. In the first century AD, there were more Jews living outside Palestine than within. That was the situation throughout history. Yet, the Diaspora kept supporting the small number of Jews in their ‘Holy Land’ for centuries, because they believed that they would regain the land one day, because they’re the ‘chosen race’ of the Almighty God. That’s the history of Jews in Palestine 2,000 years ago.

Going back to the State of Israel, in 1947, Britain invited the newly-established United Nations to investigate the Jewish-Arab conflict in Palestine and to come up with a solution. The United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) produced majority and minority reports.

The majority report proposed the two-state solution, with Jerusalem placed under international trusteeship, because both the Jews and Muslims will not give up authority over the holy land. The minority report’s proposal was for a Federated State of Palestine with Jews and Arab living under one Federated State with two regions.

The Jews were ready to accept the Majority report as that will give them recognition from the UN. However, the Arabs were not agreeable to either majority or minority report. The reason that the Arabs were not ready to accept the UNSCOP Majority Report was because of the proposed partition of Palestine.

According to the UNSCOP solution, the Jews who owned merely 7 percent of Palestine’s land prior to 1947, will get 56.5 percent of Palestine’s land while the Arabs would get just 43.5 percent. The Arabs were not agreeable because for the Jews, they were just giving up their demands (on things what they need, not owned). But the Arabs must give up what they owned.

Arabs were not agreeable to the solution at all. It was forced on them by United Nations’ vote, where 23 members at the time backed the formation of Israel while 10 members were opposed.

Since the formation of Israel, the Jewish state expanded the border by military actions, illegal settlements and so on. The confrontation was not the reason for Israel’s extension of its border; the Zionist state just want to drive out the Arabs out of their own land, and control the ‘chosen land’.

Israel had violated 66 UN Resolutions (of which 28 were Security Council resolutions) in regard to Palestine since its formation. Israel is behaving like an international rogue, without a single sanction about it. Almost every day, the people of Palestine are facing the Israel Defence Force’s atrocities, yet no one blames the Zionist state. The blame is always on Palestinians (or to say precisely, on Hamas) for standing up against the rogue occupiers of their own land.

The Palestinians were not the source of problem, the problem was inflicted onto them by the international community, especially the UK and US. That's the historical background of Israel-Palestine conflict (that I understood).

Hence, I will support the struggle of Palestinians for an independent, sovereign state. For me, the struggles for self determination in any part of the world are the same. I don’t see it with my religious glasses on; and I expect my Muslim friends to do the same.

Don’t just show your ‘human’ side when it involves Palestinians. Show the same concern for all the struggles for independence and self-determination around the world, be it in Palestine, Sri Lanka or Kurdistan.

SATEES MUNIANDY is a councillor in the Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP).