A sabbath musing : So, exactly where does “AFRICA” stand regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict ?
Cornelius Hamelberg
Now it’s flashpoint Gaza
In strictly Judaic legal terms, and I'm subject to correction by those who may know better, but as far as I know, there was Nathan of Gaza and all that plus more that can be found in the Jewish Encyclopedia etc, but Gaza is not a part of the promised holy land and that's one of the probable reasons why Warrior Sharon did not have any compunction about unilaterally and peacefully exiting the Jewish settlers from Gaza, lock, stock and barrel, in 2005
I wrote " Warrior Sharon" because that's the exact title of his autobiography: WARRIOR
And after Gaza was vacated fighting erupted between Fatah and Hamas, for control of the territory, but that's another story…
But, back to the big question: Exactly where does “ AFRICA” stand regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict?
Without a doubt, all of Africa, just like most of the ordinary people in this world, would like to be on the side of HUMAN RIGHTS and JUSTICE everywhere, including in the Middle East, and a just settlement of the Israel - Palestine Conflict.
Politically speaking, Africa of course covers quite a lot of space. In the North of Africa, i.e, North Africa, you have at least six countries that belong to the Arab League and further down south we also have Sudan, also a member of the Arab League and it is to be reasonably expected that since all the Palestinians are Arabs, and Palestine is a member of The Arab League there should be no ambivalence about exactly where The Arab League stands vis-a-vis THE ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONFLICT
Secondly, if the conflict is seen in religious terms, for instance, the status of the al-Aqsa Mosque which is a current and inevitably a future flashpoint, the ambitions fueling the current rumbling about the future site of the Third Temple also a major future flashpoint, the status of Jerusalem,” the City of David”, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and if there’s going to be any talk of “ a future “ or “a future religious war” in the air, - maybe even a religious third world war, then there are a good number of African countries including Nigeria, in the OIC / Organisation of Islamic Cooperation ( “the collective voice of the Muslim World”) not to speak of African nations who look towards the Vatican, others which identify with the World Council of Churches and other umbrella organisations of Christendom…
There are also economic factors - such as some African members of OPEC who could be aligned with the Palestinian cause… In 1974-75 OPEC was going to use oil as a weapon, jacked up the price of oil, and in Sweden for example, overnight the price of everything doubled!
It would seem that the Hindus, Buddhists, and non-” Abrahamic religions” do not have a stake in the conflict other than a desire to see peace on earth and goodwill to all men.
In certain quarters, sometimes, all you have to do is to express some deeply felt sympathy for the long-suffering Palestinians or to merely say, “The poor Palestinians” and you are accused of “antisemitism” or of being a so-called “antisemite”
Not so much to do with ethical relativism, but it is astounding how easily someone can be accused of holding or promoting unpopular opinions, in which case the question is, “unpopular” according to who? According to the majority of human beings on the planet? According to the Semites? According to the anti-Semities? On the Day of Judgement (whose day of judgement?) when the Judge asks, where did you stand on the Israel-Palestine conflict? what are you going to say?
A common/popular question/objection is “Why should Israel always be held to a higher standard?”
The question also occurs in the Holy Quran: Surah al-baqarah ayat 44:
“Enjoin ye righteousness upon mankind while ye yourselves forget to practise it? And ye are readers of the Scripture! Have ye then no sense?
If the vantage point is all about occupying the higher moral ground, the highest possible moral ground, of course, being the revelation at Mt.Sinai known among the faithful as “Torah MiSinai”, then a safe place to start is could be Yeshayahu Leibowitz’s seminal “Judaism, Human Values, and the Jewish State”
The whole higher moral ground probably goes back to the times of the Prophet Isaiah where the expression “a light to the nations” …” A LIGHT TO THE NATIONS “ first occurs
There are the rabbis of Neturei Karta and Satmar who are non-violently opposed to the whole Zionist enterprise, believing as they do, that brute force and military might / military superiority is not the means of fulfilling the redemption for all eternity
Cornelius Hamelberg
Oluwatoyin Adepoju
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Cornelius Hamelberg
I suppose that wherever the Shema has taken root in the heart, there you find an Israeli and the Israel Project.
And what about where the Shema has not taken root?
The complexity indeed. Just look at some of the maps
There are also daily updates from the Israeli Media and the Palestinian Media
The moot question still requires a response: So, exactly where does “AFRICA” stand regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict? After all, resolution after resolution, the African Muslim and non-Muslim Nations regularly cast their votes at the United Nations on the Israel- Palestine issue. If African Nations send peace delegations to Russia and Ukraine - then why not to Israel and the Palestinians?
I daresay that from the African Diaspora we get all that nostalgia, much idealism - not in your transcendental Kantian sense of course, but there have been all those idealistic streams of thought fuelling e.g Garvey’s from Babylon, back to Africa movement - call it Black Zionism if you will - back to the Garden of Eden; and if you want to focus on the negative side of things, on Africa’s once pristine Garden of Eden from where all of mankind emerged, it’s not so pretty, what’s coming from some of our down-to-earth intelligentsia - not least of all Baba Kadiri’s latest from last night ,we get a battering from some of the most pungent critiques of some of the African malpractices that are resulting and have resulted in Africa suffering from the curse of Ham, the brain-drain, underdevelopment, postmodernism, neo-colonialism, war, death and destruction, disease and famine and uncomfortable, sometimes racist, anti-immigration questions arising in Europe, such as “Why don’t you want to go back to your country?” - and for some people, - ah nostalgia that country could be Israel - the old country, including Judea and samaria, whilst for those called Palstininas, , that country could be Gaza - after the partition under the jurisdiction of Egypt , and today, what’s left of the West Bank which from 1948 and prior to the six day war of 1967, was being administered by the Kingdom of Jordan.
The World Zionist Congress and other influential organisations such as AIPAC, and indeed, ADL // The Anti-Defamation League and their many offshoots are very important but do not constitute the Israeli Government, nor are they some “ exile Israeli government-in-waiting, in the Diaspora, waiting to take over all the seats in the Knesset."
The Macho-Shilo etc will and do probably argue that the people of Israel are in Israel making the necessary changes as they deem fit and that the Jews who want to have a say so in Israeli affairs had better consult with the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs if they want to make Aliyah - to emigrate to Israel.
Consider. There are over 10 million Jewish souls living outside of Israel, and it’s said that when The Jewish Messiah comes - and the population of world Jewry could be much more significant by then, he - who will know who is a Jew and who is not, will take everybody to Israel.
In the meantime, the impasse could be with Article 11 of the Hamas Covenant: