PALESTINE, INTERNATIONAL LAW AND MUSLIM UNITY

Abstract

The Palestine issue is a heart breaking politico-legal issue that has remained unresolved for so long. The issue started immediately after the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and following the occupation of Palestine by Great Britain. Britain disregarded the will of the majority of population, facilitated, directly or indirectly, Jewish settlements and supported foreign- led Zionist movement by making an unjust and illegal promise to them to create a state for Jews in Palestine which it eventually did and in doing so it further complicated the Palestine issue – an issue which the League of Nations was unable to solve due to its lack of commitment and its weak organizational structure. The issue has continued till today and is termed as “the most serious and prolonged unresolved political and human rights issue on the agenda of the United Nations (UN) since its inception.” The inability of the UN to resolve the Palestine issue is not due to the fault of international law but due to the lack of commitment of some of the powerful members of its executive organ, that is the Security Council. These powers disgracefully have shown passivity and apparent indifference about the long and cruel Israeli occupation of Palestine. As this paper explains, the indifference on the part of the UN Security Council has enabled the Zionist state of Israel to pursue with impunity its aggressive wars, its ethnic cleaning strategy, its settlements policy, its blockades of the Palestinian cities and towns and its denial of the Palestinians’ inalienable right of self determination. If the powerful nations of the world failed Palestine and its people, we the Muslims must not follow suit. We must stop our infighting and unite our strength and do everything that is peacefully possible to help Palestinians to find a just solution to their problem and if possible to restore Palestine to its historical status.