Ayoon Wa Azan (The cause and the lion of Aden)

A few days ago, I sat down with four Palestinian leaders, including Brother Yasser Abed Rabbo (Abu Bashar), member of the Central Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and we reviewed the Palestinian situation, the (broken) relations with the Israeli government and future opportunities. The four, like me, were downbeat about the possibility of seeing any breakthrough in the near future. Abu Bashar said sarcastically that he did not know why people complain because the two-state solution is a reality: one Palestinian state in Gaza and another in the West Bank. Or to be more precise, there are four states, Israel, the settler state and the two Palestinian states. Sarcasm aside, I heard details about how what is left of the Palestinian land is being gobbled up day after day. While the outside world is aware of decisions to build hundreds of housing units in the occupied territories, it is oblivious to the forcible displacement of families from their homes in Jerusalem, the appropriation of Palestinian buildings, and the daily assaults by the settlers against the Palestinians and the Haram al-Sharif. How insolent are the Israelis to have decided to demolish a building that houses the apartment of Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, head of the Supreme Islamic Council in Jerusalem? To name one example. One of those present at our meeting said that he feared that nothing may be left of Jerusalem and the occupied territories when the talks resume over the two-state solution. Abu Bashar said that this reminded him of the story of a lion in Aden. In short, after the British withdrawal from south Yemen on November 30, 1967, the British left behind a small zoo that contained some predators along with deer, monkeys and other animals. What happened after that was that the guards found out that the lion there was being given eight kilograms of meat each day, while they did not have enough to buy any for their families. So they decided that four kilograms would be enough for the lion, and shared the other four among themselves. Days or weeks later, they found that the lion had not been much affected by the “diet” imposed on it. So they took the remaining four kilograms of his ration, and gave him only bones without any flesh. The lion grew so weak as a result that he could no longer stand or move. Kids would go inside the (former) lion’s cage, ride on its back and pull it from its tail or mane. It is even said that a mischievous boy had gouged out the poor animal’s eyes. Such is the condition of the Palestinian cause today. Nothing is left of the lion except memories. But the brothers at the meeting in London, who were all from Fatah, did not blame Hamas or rail accusations at Zionism and colonialism, and spoke instead about a collective responsibility that has led to the current state of loss. A few days later, I read in the Guardian a report by Joe Sheffer from Aden about the smuggling of lions from Africa through Bab el Mandeb to Yemen, and the sale of lion cubs, cheetahs and other animals in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar at up to 50 thousand riyals for each cub. The report also mentioned that three-quarters of the cubs die on the way to their buyers. I wish I could say that the situation will worsen further before it gets better, but I believe that it will worsen more but without improving. Indeed, the next Israeli government will be like its predecessors, a neo-Nazi and racist outfit of occupation seeking to swallow what is left of Palestinian land and rights. The United States is complicit with Israel, with the U.S. administration avoiding a confrontation with the criminal Israeli government, and the Israel lobby steering Congress as it pleases. “The first few hours of Chuck Hagel’s confirmation hearing have been sickening. I thought he was named to be United States Secretary of Defense, not Israel's defense. The most urgent questions were about Israel, and many came from liberal Democrats insisting that Hagel is pledged to going to war against Iran if it acquires a nuclear weapon.” I did not say this. Rather, the above was directly quoted from an article written by Philip Weiss, a name that appears to be Jewish, in an American publication. --- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.