Jalil Dabdoub | Advocacy must be based on truth and law

I was in shock reading a letter published on September 26 titled, ‘Jamaica gov’t must decide its position on Israel Palestine conflict’, by Wayne West. Grounded on religious extremism and fallacies it exposed an uninformed writer displaying scant regard for democratic rights. Every citizen has a right to advocate for causes, but advocacy must be anchored on truth, law and respect for the democratic rights of all citizens.

Objecting to Jamaica’s vote in the September 17, UNGA Resolution, West relied on inaccuracies. He claimed Israel’s occupation of Palestine is not unlawful alleging:

“Israel’s presence in (Palestinian territories) stems from the … defensive war of 1967, when Israel was attacked by ... Arab nations ... land acquisition in a defensive war is not automatically illegal and UNGA 242 did not mandate Israel’s withdrawal from … captured territories, but left room for negotiations ... .”

In 1967 Israel attacked Egypt after Egypt announced that the straits of Tirana would be closed to Israeli vessels. Jordan and Syria became involved in the war. After the war Israel occupied Palestine, parts of Egypt and Syria and the UNGA passed Security Council Resolution 242 which mandated the “withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict”. There was no room for negotiation under the resolution.

Israel remains in breach of that and countless UNGA resolutions. Israeli occupation is illegal. The ICJ ruled “Israel is under the obligation to bring an end to its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory … .” Palestinian territories are not “disputed territories”; they are illegally occupied territories. Israel continues to steal land from Palestinians, demolish their homes, build illegal settlements, populating them with European and American settlers who have no legal claims.

West states that Hamas is a terrorist organisation calling for the destruction of Israel. Hamas, a political organisation was democratically elected in 2007. Although some countries declare Hamas a terrorist organisation, the majority of the world view Hamas as a resistance movement. Its charter does not call for the destruction of the Jewish state or the killing of Jews; it calls for resistance against colonialism and Zionism. Paragraph 16 of the charter states that Hamas’ ‘conflict is with the Zionist project not with Jews’.

PROPAGATES FALLACY

West propagates the fallacy that the struggle is religious alleging that the conflict “has deep spiritual and existential roots “with Israel” in a battle for survival with “its right to exist continually challenged”. He posits that “for Hamas, the conflict is a religious war “with the goal of eradicating Jews”. He claims, that the “accusation that Israel is an occupying colonial power is entirely untrue as Israel has a historical and spiritual connection to the land over 3,000 years”, claiming Israel is the “only democracy in the Middle East”. Israeli laws such as the nation state law and marriage laws (addressing inter-faith marriage) are clearly not in keeping with democracy.

Presenting Israel as an innocent country surrounded by hostile Arabs who wish it harm is a racially charged narrative created and promoted by the Israeli regime, slavishly propagated by the uninformed. No Jamaican, given our history of slavery, oppression and colonialism should engage in such narratives. There is no place in our society for racial innuendos that cast aspersions on others or seeks to dehumanise.

The Palestinian struggle is a morally grounded political and legal struggle, arising out of violent racist settler-colonial methods employed to “transform Palestine into the land of Israel”. Zionist leader Jabotinsky said “Palestinian resistance is a product to these methods”.

Jewish Israelis are generally recent colonists from Europe and America with no historical ties to the land. Their religion (like Christianity) originates in Palestine, but their ancestors do not.

A classic settler colony, its first prime minister, Ben Gurion, said, “After the formation of a large army … , we will abolish partition and expand to the whole of Palestine, we want the land of Israel in its entirety.” How do you transfer a country that was 95 per cent Arab into a Jewish-only state? Ethnic cleansing. Israeli practices remain textbook cases of colonialism and ethnic cleansing. Since its creation, Israel has never sought peace. Its objective being colonising Palestine and ethnically cleansing it of Palestinians.

LUDICROUS

For West to claim that “Israel has taken significant steps to mitigate civilian casualties, while groups like Hamas have intentionally placed civilians in harm’s way, using them as human shields” is ludicrous and contrary to the facts as witnessed on media. As an ardent supporter of Israel, his ignorance of the Dahiya Doctrine is surprising. This Israeli doctrine calls on Israel to wield disproportionate power and cause immense damage and destruction. Gaza is a fine example of the doctrine in practice.

West is correct in calling on government to state its position. The government lacks spinal fortitude, it must do more. Israel has breached far too many UN resolutions, international laws and human rights to continue having ties with Jamaica. For example, the Pegasus software allegedly used in Jamaica for security purposes is surrounded by international controversy. In 2021 the US blacklisted the owners of Pegasus Spyware NSO ( Washington Post November 3, 2021). Recently, they sanctioned Tal Dilian who was previously associated with NSO Group, creator of the spyware Pegasus ( The Times of Israel, March 5).

West should be asking why is Jamaica engaging with such an entity and its sanctioned citizens? Jamaica is too embedded in our relationship with this entity. It is time to break ties with this terrorist settler colony.

In calling on our government to make its position clear West must be guided by facts, international law and human rights, not religious fundamentalism. A reliance on religious fundamentalism by government in any decision-making process is an affront to the constitutional rights of citizens. After all, not all citizens are religious or believe in God for that matter. We are governed by the rule of law, not the rule of man.

Jalil S. Dabdoub is an attorney-at-law. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.