I rang the doorbell and waited until a shoeless man confronted me. “Hello, I’m here to see Ismail Patel,” I said. Then with a grin on his face he took me inside the premises and asked me to wait.
The office seemed practical rather than beautiful. In fact there was not much decoration around. One could call it simple or humble. The only decoration I found was a scale model of Mecca on the side, a fixture I had previously found in other Islamic organisations.
While I waited I glanced over the pamphlets that were on display. Titles like Israeli War Crimes, Gaza: The Full Story, Isolating Bethlehem and Israeli Apartheid Policies caught my attention. However, Mr Patel did not give me enough time to feed my curiosity and quickly saw me through to a meeting room while offering me a glass of water.
He was born in Malawi therefore the South African apartheid seemed to be going on in his backyard while he was growing up. A Muslim by birth, he first visited Palestine 12 years ago as a student and the situation there shocked him so much he has since been dedicating his life to trying to help it.
He seemed calm and serene and although I knew he was a busy man he made me feel like he would give me all the time I needed. He had no problem with explaining in detail his perceptions and in fact he gave me the impression of enjoying himself while trying to educate others.
After a short introduction we moved directly onto the pressing subject.
He started by explaining that Israel is trying to have a maximum amount of land with a minimum number of Palestinians on it so they can achieve a Jewish majority and therefore call it a Jewish state.
He added: “Unfortunately, intrinsic to that ideology it means that in order to achieve that they have to employ policies that violate human rights. From simple intimidation, to apartheid policies, to almost ethnic cleansing.”
Although these first statements did not seem to surprise me at all, the term apartheid used in connection to the Israel-Palestine conflict was not a familiar one from previous interviews with other experts.
He explained: “You have policies within Jerusalem which are outright apartheid where Palestinians cannot live in certain areas, they have to carry certain cards, they can’t use certain roads and they do not have access to their holy places.”
According to the foundation’s own literature, “A state becomes apartheid when it has official policies of racial segregation involving political, legal, and economic discrimination against another race of people.”
Former US president Jimmy Carter once wrote that Israel was “a system of apartheid, with two peoples occupying the same land but completely separated from each other, with Israelis totally dominant and depriving Palestinians of their basic human rights.”
Problems in the region in relation to human rights and war crimes have been discussed for a long time now. Israel at one time or another has been accused of: willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, causing great suffering, unlawful deportation or transfer, depriving people of fair trials and destruction and appropriation of property.
Most recently in the last strike against Gaza during operation Cast Lead last December, Israel was accused of using white phosphorus to attack the civilian population. So the question arises, how does a country get away with all this?
The Israel-Palestine conflict has officially existed since May 14, 1948, when Israel declared its independence. From a religious point of view the Zionist political movement argued that Jews from around the globe were entitled to that land because it was stated on the Torah that God had promised it to them. In a more secular opinion, after the Second World War the Jews needed a place where they could feel safe.
However, as the land was already occupied by Palestinians war did not take long to arrive.
By 1964 the Arab population created the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, which claimed it wanted to destroy Israel. Yet in 1967 the Jews showed the world just how strong they were by beating the Arabs in the 6-day-war, which ended in the occupation of most of their territory.
Mr Patel explained that after Israel declared independence many Palestinians were forced out of their own houses and most Palestinians still carry the key to the house they left in 1948 or 1967.
Therefore in retaliation 11 Israeli athletes were kidnapped and killed by a militant group led by Yasser Arafat during the 1972 Munich Olympics. This action was internationally categorised as a terrorist attack and led the West to believe that Palestinians in general were a dangerous population.
However, by 1987 the Middle East confronted itself in a war called Intifada which in the end damaged Israel’s image when pictures of young Palestinian boys throwing rocks at Israeli tanks surfaced in the worldwide media.
During all this time the US has played an important part.
It has supplied Israel with arms and weapons. However, by 1993 Bill Clinton decided to negotiate both with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat. Back then a peace agreement seemed close by but when George W. Bush’s administration came it halted all progress and war broke again in the region.
In Palestine feelings of hatred and revenge are not hard to find. So much that Hamas, the ruling political party of Gaza, stated in their charter: “The day that enemies usurp part of Muslim land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Muslim. In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.”
However, Mr Patel explained on several occasions that no serious Hamas politician uses the charter for negotiating, as it would go against Muslim principles. He said: “For an Arab to be anti-Semite he is no longer a Muslim full stop. I would say they are anti-Israelis and anti-Israeli politics.”
And the Israeli politics focus on creating an exclusively Jewish state, which obviously creates concerns among the Muslim population. As Mr Patel explained: “The problem is not the Jewish-Muslim relationship. The problem is colonialism and the political project for Zionism. The problem occurred in the Second World War when the Zionist movement wanted to create an exclusive Jewish state because they did not go to Palestine as equals, they did not go there as refugees, they wanted to create an exclusive Jewish state.”
Jewish beliefs say that Israel is the Promised Land and the place where the Messiah will come to save them. Muslims believe Palestine is where the prophet Mohammed will come on judgement day. Although a religious Messiah has not yet arrived a political one took the oath of president of the United States last January.
During his inaugural speech president Obama said: “To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.” This statement alone gave hope to many Muslims who previously felt ignored by the West.
Shortly after, President Obama carried out a speech at the University of Cairo on June 4. In this speech he stated “let there be no doubt: the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. America will not turn its backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own.”
But just because he talks about the problem, it doesn’t necessarily mean he is really going to act on it.
Mirza Abbas Raza, a Minister of Religion for the Al Zahraa foundation in Nottingham said it is very difficult to trust what president Obama is saying. He believes the Arabs would say: “Oh yes! He is a nice man but he does not have enough power to really implement his ideas.”
He added: “In relation to Obama’s policy for Palestine they have to recognise the choice of the people in Palestine. They have to consider Hamas as a political wing. Otherwise it’s not possible unless they really sit with Hamas and come up with a solution and Hamas is for the two-state solution.”
But the fact still remains that the American government like most of its European allies see Hamas as a dangerous terrorist group, which supports suicide bombers. And although their politicians seem willing to negotiate there is no denying their charter still mentions Jihad. Therefore people still consider them dangerous.
Mr Abbas Raza said: “Many scholars today prohibit all activities that are carried out under the name of Jihad by terrorists.”
However they do still exist. Whether or not they are financed by Hamas or by small terrorist groups that are outside the ruling party it is still unknown. The fact is Israel claims that its land has been a victim of suicide bombers and illegal rocket launchings on its civilian population.
Mr Abbas Raza said that this is the result of ignorance among the Muslim population. He added: “They buy suicide bombers. They say paradise is promised for you and at the same time when you go away I will give $10,000 USD to your family and they can live well. So if a person who is deprived of everything, who has nothing in his house and has no hope even if he worked for 100 years to earn that much amount of money and at the same time he is promised paradise, what do you expect him to do?”
Mr Abbas Raza said that to start working on a solution both parties must also start working on toning down the inflammatory language. He said that when Obama is saying that America was wrong the Arabs should have to calm down as well.
However, Mr Abbas Raza is more concerned with what will happen with Israel. He feels sorry for the Jews. He said: “I’m more concerned about the Israelis, with their behaviour they will destroy themselves.”
He added: “We find that the Israelis are doing exactly the same thing that they have been through because they have suffered.”
Yet speeches and promises have not seemingly helped the civilian population.
Othman Salim, a Palestinian working for the Muslim Hands foundation as the sponsorship manager for programmes in the Middle East said: “We Palestinians don’t believe it’s a religious problem. We have lived with the Jews for centuries. It’s a political problem.”
It is a problem that has led to numerous deaths on both sides of the conflict and increasing poverty for the Palestinians. According to Mr Salim more than 80 per cent of the Palestinian population depend on humanitarian aid and charity for their survival.
The Muslim Hands foundation provides Palestinians with aid through various schemes. Among the items they give them are olive trees, which are their main source of livelihood, they help rebuild schools, they help orphans and they are also there during and after emergencies. They have become a common fixture in refugee camps.
Mr Salim claimed that after 50 years of conflict the number of Palestinian refugees had risen to five million who currently live in terrible situations. He explained: “In some of them you see 20 people living in two rooms. I have seen people live in the kitchen or the bathroom because there is no space.”
He added: “I think the situation of the refugees is something beyond our imagination.”
During the December conflict Gaza was (and still is) under siege and the borders were closed. Therefore their main problem was getting aid across to help wounded civilians.
Mr Salim said: “I think now Mr Obama has the responsibility of putting more pressure on Netanyahu to at least help the Palestinians either in Gaza or the West Bank.”
John Shemeld, co-coordinator for the Nottingham branch of Stop The War Coalition, told me about an incident in which a group of Jewish settlers occupied a block of land in the middle of the market in Hebron. The army was commissioned to protect these settlers in case of any violence, however it seemed to him that provocation came mainly from the Jewish population.
He said: “They continually harass their neighbours. They just provoke the Palestinians by throwing their rubbish out the window, which drops on the market. You never see that on the news.”
The violence has not only brought poverty to the region but also an increasing death toll. According to B’Tselem, an Israeli organisation with the purpose of supplying the world with information on the occupied territories, Israelis killed more than 3,000 Palestinians while Palestinians killed only 136 Israelis from September 2000 to last December.
However, Palestinians have been accused of a deep hatred towards Jews. Mr Shemeld said: “I hesitate to call them anti-Semitic. They hate what is happening to what they see as their kin in Gaza. They hate what has happened to them so much that they think all Jewish people are devils.”
Mr Shemeld said the situation is so bad that there are also many Jewish people, especially in Britain, who hate what Israel is doing.
Mr Shemeld described Gaza as “a big prison camp totally surrounded by Israeli jets, tanks and all armed to the teeth with the highest technological weapons.
“Inside the prison camp, from time to time the prisoners will try to fight back. They fire these rockets and these rockets are not guided in any way they are just big fireworks.”
He added: “It is kind of like throwing stones at prison guards.”
Mr Shemeld believes the United States could find a solution to the conflict quite easily. He said: “If Barack Obama wants to stop the settlements in the West Bank and the blockade in Gaza he could do it very easily by saying that’s the end of your Apache helicopters.”
Back in Leicester Mr Patel called Obama’s speech in Cairo a breath of fresh air. He said America is the only player in the international community, which can create a scenario in which it becomes a burden for Israel to maintain its land. Still, he mentioned that there are certain factors that America must take into account if they really want to help the Palestinians.
He added: “America first and foremost must understand that the Palestinians are not going to go away, they will no be subjugated and they will not be wiped out.
Fortunately for the Palestinians the international community has woken up to their plight.”
Secondly he argued that America must also realise that Islam and the western democratic system are not on a collision course. “They can live parallel,” he said.
Mr Patel claims that the speech still lacks substance because it was contradictory on a political level. He said: “Although it is welcomed I feel that the central tenants of American foreign policy and the grievances that are felt by the people in the Middle East have not been addressed.”
In the Israel-Palestine case these grievances can be pinpointed to the legitimate and recognised existence of both countries. Although many Arab states still have not recognised Israel, it has kept Gaza under siege for more than two years and only recently has the Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu mentioned the possibility of recognising Palestine as a separate state.
However, Israel’s recognition of Palestine will only come with several conditions.
Mr Patel said: “You can’t say that we give you the permission to be a state on the condition that you do not have borders, you don’t have an army, you cannot have direct international links, you do not have control of the air, you do not have control of the sea. What is that state worth? It’s not worth the paper it’s written on.”
He added: “If you believe in other people as people you leave them to do whatever they like.”
He believes that power is very corruptive and when it is all concentrated in one country it will lose all the parameters of norms. That is why he believes Israel will not negotiate on anything.
He added: “Israel has no sincere commitment towards peace, it has no respect for the Palestinian people as human beings.”
The situation still seems far from a solution and the land, which has searched for a Messiah for centuries might not have found one in Obama.
After I had taken an hour and a half of Mr Patel’s time I thought it was time to leave.
However, he still took the time to recommend books, which were ironically written by Jews.
Finally, when I asked him if he had ever sat down with Israeli authorities in their homeland he said he couldn’t. It turns out this man who has been advocating for peace as a living is blacklisted by the Israeli government. Apparently he is considered a terrorist threat.
On my way home I couldn’t help but find the idea amusing. After all Mr Patel was so calm and serene during the whole interview. He never lost his temper or got frustrated. I found it very hard to think about him with bombs strapped around his chest waiting to detonate them in the name of Allah.
His whole persona simply reminded me about what my newfound friend Rizwaan Araf told me when I started my research. He said: “A true Muslim will always be calm and collected and think how will they help the situation.”
Panel:
What is Jihad?
There are mainly two main types of Jihad.
• The most important one is the greater Jihad, which is defined as a personal spiritual struggle of self-improvement.
• The second is the minor Jihad or military Jihad, which is more commonly known by the West. It is a holy war, which according to the Koran, must follow certain rules:
Muslims cannot attack the opponent’s women or children, they cannot cut down trees, they cannot loot and they cannot destroy their houses.
If their opponent is running away they cannot attack or run behind them, and they cannot attack or kill them if they are injured.
(All names correct)
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