Maha Nasser: Is Israel's presence in Palestine legitimate?

The recent war on Gaza created widespread controversy, as the world is divided into supporters and opponents of the legitimacy of Israel's presence in Palestine. I wanted to talk about my point of view on this issue, knowing that talking about Israel is one of the topics that it is forbidden to talk about. As soon as one talks about Israel, he finds himself accused of racism, terrorism and anti-Semitism. Even the Facebook administration is deleting some posts and photos that criticize Israel.

First, I want to clarify that there is a great confusion between the Jewish religion as a great religion, like the rest of the monotheistic religions, and between Israel as an entity and Zionism as a political movement wrapped in a religious cover. Just as the Islamic State " ISIS" is being confused with the Islamic religion. And both organizations are political organizations that are not very different from the Nazi movement, no matter how different the names and concepts, the ideology is the same.

Secondly, if we talked about the legitimacy of Israel's presence in Palestine, and we credibly addressed this issue, we will find its existence is illegitimate, because the Palestinians are the original inhabitants of Palestine regardless of the religion they embrace or the beliefs they believe in. Historically, the inhabitants of Palestine were Jewish, and when Christianity appeared as a religion, some of them converted to Christianity, as did some when Islam came. This is what also happened in most Arab countries and most countries of the world. Thus, the religions of the owners of the same country varied, so the Palestinian Jews, Palestinian Christians, and Palestinian Muslims lived in peace until Israel came in the year 1948 and said that this land belonged to the Jews alone. The original owners of the country were expelled from their homes, and they were stripped of their land, and they had no right to defend themselves and their lands. And if they do, they are accused of terrorism. It has become the right of any person of the Jewish religion to live in Palestine, but the Palestinian has no right to live in his country. If you are a Jew from America, China, Europe or any other country, you have the right to live in Palestine, but the Palestinians do not have the right to their homes, land and homeland just because they do not believe in Judaism. For example, the Yemeni Jews are of Yemeni origin, but they are Jews and have been living in Yemen for thousands of years. Recently, they immigrated to Palestine and became Israeli citizens, and they have more right to it than the Palestinians. This is the formula that the world has been championing for more than 70 years. Unfortunately, Israel hides its political goals and practices it under a religious cover. This is what most honorable Jews reject. They reject what Israel practices in the name of the Jewish religion, because they know very well that its goals are purely political and use religion as a cover. Most Jews in America and Europe reject immigration to Israel and reject what Israel is doing against the Palestinians. Many of them went out in demonstrations condemning the occupation of the Israeli entity to Palestine. Because they know perfectly well that they abuse the Jewish religion with these terrorist acts. Just as Muslims reject what ISIS is doing in the name of Islam.

This war is an ideological and ethnic war, and what is happening in Palestine is ethnic cleansing. No matter how the media tries to hide this fact and tip the scales so that the victim becomes the culprit. And if you don't see it, you're wearing black glasses and you don't want to see the truth. Israel succeeded in gaining international sympathy and support through their media. First, because they speak to the world in its own language. Second, because Israel is heavily supported by superpowers. Israel was able to convince the world that they are among a group of Arabs who do not want their presence among them and that they will throw them into the sea. And they are not tired of repeating this phrase. But with time, it became clear that they are the ones who threw the Palestinians into the sea under shameful international support.

Today, the Palestinians are displaced in all parts of the world, and they do not have the right to return to their lands. The sad thing is also that many countries, including Sweden, do not grant the Palestinians the right to asylum and residence. Most Palestinians live in Arab countries, but without an identity card, they do not have the right to obtain the citizenship of the country in which they live. Consequently, they became unknown and outcast wherever they moved. It is as if we are all saying to these people that you should look for another planet to live on, if Israel will not come and claim that this planet belongs to them and say that it is mentioned in the holy books. What a pathetic game!