An islanders' call for peace
The Maldives has consistently shown solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Andrew Shiva - Wikipedia
When they say the Maldives is very vocal about the Palestinian issue, they are not wrong! It is a point of pride that President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih delivered this powerful statement during his address at the United Nations General Assembly in 2019.
We are strongly of the view that a lasting peace in the Middle East can only come to fruition, through a two-state solution driven by genuine and meaningful dialogue between the Arab countries and Israel. We call on the United Nations, and its Member States to undertake every effort to work towards a settlement that would achieve this result. The Maldives will always stand unwavering in its support for the Palestinians, in their endeavour to achieve an independent and sovereign State of Palestine, based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its Capital City.
The plight of the people of Palestine has once again returned to our headlines, reigniting the passionate stance of the Maldivian people in their solidarity with the oppressed. On 11 May, Israel launched a fresh offensive on the already battered and bruised and blockaded city of Gaza. This struggle, however, has existed since the second World War, with the people of Palestine suffering for over 70 years. Today, the dawn of peace seems ever bleaker.
The Maldives, with our less than half a million population, has been involved in the fight for peace and a solution to the international atrocity that has been inflicted over three generations of Palestinians.
Maldivian support for the Palestinian cause
The Maldives is a proud member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a coalition of Muslim nations that came together to tackle the issue of the Palestinian people. In order to get a better understanding on the diplomatic connection between the Maldives and this issue, we need to first have a basic understanding of the OIC.
The OIC's website states that it was established in 1969 following the "criminal arson of Al-Aqsa Mosque." Its mandate is defined as “...to concretize and institutionalize the Islamic world’s vision and role as to what it could offer – at the Islamic States’ level – for the benefit of the cause of Palestine and Al Quds Al Sharif.” Their objectives include assuring the end of Israeli control on the Occupied Palestine Territories since 1967, to support the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state, to align the support of Islamic nations in accordance with OIC resolutions as well as the decisions of the United Nations and international legitimacy.
Further, the establishment of Al-Quds (East Jerusalem) as a seat of Islamic influence and culture is paramount to this organisation as well. This comes hand in hand with their work in supporting the cause of Palestine, at state level, by:
- Condemning, exposing and making public Israeli practices.
- Defending the cause of Palestine and Al-Quds, exercising pressure at the international and regional fora to support the Al-Quds cause and to keep it alive.
- Cooperating and coordinating with internationally active institutions with regards to the Palestine cause.
- Political support to the Palestinian cause through the endorsement and implementation of the Islamic Conference’s resolutions
- Contributing to the preservation of the historical and religious character of the targeted buildings and sites, in Al-Quds.
The reason why each of these points are important is because most of Maldives' stances in the international arena regarding related issues are aligned to the conclusions of the OIC group of countries. To this end, the official stance on the Palestine conflict of the Maldives has always been to reach a two-state solution as per the pre-1967 borders.
To this effect, it can be said that the Maldives has been the one country that has been calling for a resolution of the conflict most consistently on nearly every international fora, with each administration in the past forty years having done so.
The main reason for a two-state solution rests on history. The land had been contested and exchanged ownership between Arab nations, including ancient Egypt, Persia, Jordan, and the Ottoman Empire, for over centuries before the Balfour Declaration brought about the concept of a Jewish state. For all this time, Palestine was a land with people of all Abrahamic religions, with a majority of Muslims, but quite large populations of both Christian and Jewish Arabs as well. The declaration of Israel as a nation in the region of Palestine came before the native Palestinian people could establish themselves as a sovereign state beyond the control of the surrounding Arab nations.
The influx of Jewish refugees since the late 1800s and early 1900s created a lot of tension between the Arabs and the Jews in the region, leading to many conflicts and also a vested control by the United Kingdom in the area through imperialism during World War 1. This shakeup of powers in the Middle East is the opportunity that would have allowed Palestine to establish themselves distinctly as well. The pre-1967 borders are important, as they would allow both Jews and Arabs to settle in this territory fairly, with important religious sites under the control of their respective religious administrations and balance out the powers in the region. While we would all as a collective would have wished for things to have happened differently, a two-state solution is be the only viable option left to ensure the liberation of Palestinians from both the Jews and the contentious Arab nations in the region.
The Maldivian people have taken it upon themselves to extend aid for Palestinians at every opportunity as well. Multiple packages of basic necessities, including food and shelter, have been sponsored by the common citizenry of Maldives for years. Palestinians have repeatedly shown appreciation for our efforts, and this has redoubled our determination as well.
This is a chance for the world to choose peace over perceived superiority, to achieve liberation without falling prey to proxy warfare. From the river to the sea, Palestine can be free if we can achieve a solution to this nearly century-old conflict. We could still save the children from being used as human shields. We could still see a day when the war can be concluded and visit those important cultural sites of our religion and experience the holiness of the land that is Palestine.
