DISCUSSIONS on the liberation of Palestine and solidarity with Palestinians require reflection on the policy of Salah Al-Din Al-Ayoubi. He united the once divided Al-Sham countries, including Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, with Egypt before taking a victorious step. He created a sparsely populated kingdom, which has been blessed with enormous natural resources, while its people spoke with one voice.
We should recall how he used to serve as a guide for the people during difficult times, similar to what we are currently experiencing. However, we have been using propaganda to brag about our ability beyond what we can actually do.

Each Al-Sham nation consists of many parties, sects, tribes, doctrines and ideological groups from outside. Egypt is similar to these countries, because it has various factions, too numerous to mention here, and all of them had been playing with the people’s fate to achieve personal goals. Pure local ideology and real Islamic interest, far from imported or ambiguous ideas, liberated the Al-Quds at the time. The triumphant Salah Al-Din excluded Abbasid from Baghdad, Iranians, Europeans or Americans. He succeeded in ousting the crusaders after several decades of occupation. Muslims liberated the Al-Quds through pure intentions and unity after 150 European invasions, the last of which was led by King Richard the Lion Hearted, who collaborated with the other European rulers.

It is disheartening to see Arabs threatening to withdraw from the peace talks every time they have an opportunity to do so, not knowing that Israel is deliberately pushing them towards this direction and waiting for them to commit mistakes to complete the occupation of Al-Quds. This will surely mark the end of the Palestinian issue, and it will be too late to cry over spilt milk. The liberation of Palestine is impossible if Gaza remains separated from the West Bank or if the Palestinian groups cannot set aside their differences, not to mention the conflicts among compatriots who allow Israel to gag them without any form of resistance.

It is difficult to liberate Palestine through foreign connections, as some people are keen on executing the agenda of Iran and the so-called ‘brotherhood’. This kind of connection grows through a foolish method of dealing with international drama. How can the world believe the people, who talk about the poverty in Gaza, if they wear clothes designed by Yves Saint Laurent and Versace or smoke Cuban cigars? These people include Khalid Meshaal, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammad Dahlan, Jibril Rajoub and numerous other Hamas and Fatah leaders. They have been trading in Palestinian blood, so they are happy every time Israel attacks the innocent people in Palestine. They were elated when the Israeli soldiers attacked the innocent people aboard the Freedom Flotilla, because they saw a reflection of the picture they wanted the whole world to see. They thought the international community will empathize with the innocent victims and push for lifting the blockade against Gaza. They seem oblivious to the fact that Israel has a strong connection with the international community and it can easily justify its brutal actions. On our part, we have no strong alliance with outsiders, so we only deal with ourselves as if we discuss issues behind closed doors.

A couple of ships carrying a few tons of aid, rice and flour would not have liberated Palestine. The convoy, even if it was full of supplies, would not have lifted the blockade against Gaza or freed even a small part of Palestine. Liberation can only happen through unity among Palestinians rather than being a paralyzed tool for the mercenaries and divided groups.
The international conscience will not move due to the death of innocent people aboard the ships, and we cannot achieve anything by welcoming the volunteers like heroes if the Palestinians remain factionalized due to fake positions. Meaningful achievements are not possible if these people remain under the bondage of regional interests. They are not concerned about the plight of Palestinians as they focus only on personal goals at the expense of Arabs.

Liberation is possible only by using the method of Salah Al-Din, instead of making unnecessary noises from hotels in Syria, Tehran, Argentina and Brazil. Propaganda and speeches are useless because they only depict Arabs as noisemakers who merely encourage divisions and discords.
If the international community sympathized with the victims of the attack, which has led to outcries from all angles, let us wait for a few days when the steam goes down to see how the world will descend against us and stand by Israel. There and then the outcry and propagandas will be useless. Palestine will remain occupied, while the expected genocide will be more disastrous and will attract stronger criticism from Turkey, apart from the renewed propaganda, statements and condemnations from the Arabs. Will the Arabs ever learn from their experiences?

Email: ahmed@aljarallah.com