Britain's Prime Minister Belittles Palestinian Feelings

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Despite all the pain and grief Palestinians suffer because of the Balfour Declaration, and despite the horrific wars, killing, and destruction that flowed from that declaration, Britain’s prime minister stands boasting of her happiness with that declaration, and with the establishment of the Jewish national home at the expense of the Palestinian people.

Adding further insolence and contempt for the rights of the Palestinian people, and for the suffering it has endured across time, Britain’s prime minister invites the prime minister of the Zionist entity to Britain to celebrate together the anniversary of that ill-omened declaration’s issuance. She defies the feelings of the people of Palestine and of every Arab country, showing contempt for all the blood spilled for Palestine, on the battlefields ignited by the odious Zionist entity.

Britain lit the fire of tension, hatred, and animosity, and, in the end, manufactured the wars in the Arab region that show no sign of ending. Britain caused the displacement of the Palestinian people, the killing of its sons, and the destruction of its cities and villages, and caused the killing of tens of thousands of Jordanian, Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese, Iraqi, Moroccan, Yemeni, and Algerian Arabs, among others. And despite all this, she is happy, and unrepentant over what her state did — a state that committed crimes and still insists on continuing to commit them.

We constantly hear Western statements about stability in the Arab region, or what they call the Middle East, and hear them claim to support the region’s stability, directing sharp criticism and threats against whoever they believe threatens that stability. Of course, the Western states understand that their own interests are threatened whenever stability is absent from the region — Europe usually bears a share of the resulting acts of violence, and so does the United States.

But neither Europe nor America wants to acknowledge that the Zionist entity is the root cause of the instability, that it is the one undermining security and safety in the region, and that it is the one constantly waging wars and running an arms race. This means the Western states have not only worked to spread chaos, wars, and fighting across the Arab region — they have also worked, indirectly, to threaten their own security, and to threaten the security of the Jews as well, who have not tasted the flavor of stability since they arrived as invaders upon the Arabs.

Despite the retreat of traditional colonialism, the mindset of Britain’s prime minister remains tied to that very colonialism, and to what it represents of the exploitation of peoples, the plunder of wealth, and contempt for every human value and democratic principle. Nor does she abandon the practice of paying lip service to the principles colonial powers promote without ever respecting them. Theresa May is an extension of the colonial mindset that thrives on the misfortunes of other peoples.

The logic of Britain’s prime minister is entirely consistent with the colonial states’ view of Arabs, and of Palestinians in particular. They understand that Palestinians, and Arabs generally, are very weak, incapable of defending themselves, not people of confrontation, challenge, and clash — and so they trespass against them, driven by a covetous desire to continue plundering Arab wealth, subjugating Arabs, and using them for their own private benefit.

Most Arab rulers remain colonialism’s own creation, incapable of straying from the will of those who made them, and Arab wealth is squandered without Arabs turning their attention to building strength grounded in scientific, technological, and administrative development. Colonialism does not respect the weak, and does not build relationships of any mutual respect except with the strong. This is why we Arabs pay the price of our own failure, our own disappointment, and the poor conduct of our own rulers, and if we are ever to deter Britain’s prime minister, we have no choice but to change our own condition — which will certainly take a long time. But beginning late is better than never beginning at all.

The strong do not remain strong forever, and the weak do not remain weak forever; the days turn, and the wise are those who reckon for their hard days and are not blinded by days of prosperity. Britain’s prime minister did not act as a responsible official, or as a statesperson, but acted according to bravado and thuggish impulses, as though concerned only with flexing muscle.

It would have been more fitting for her to speak according to what Britain actually is today. Britain is no longer the kingdom on which the sun never sets; it is no longer Great Britain. Britain has shrunk, and the factors that led to its shrinking remain active, meaning its decline on the international stage will continue. Had she been a true statesperson, she would have drawn lessons from her country’s present to chart its future.

Contempt for peoples and their feelings brings neither strength nor greatness — it only stirs desires for revenge. And had the lady read history well, she would have found that the roots of the instability in the Arab region trace largely back to the establishment of the Zionist entity — an entity she takes pride in as Britain’s own creation. As long as this entity exists, further instability will emerge in the region and rebound onto Europe. It would have served Britain’s interest for the prime minister to show some sense, but she preferred to insist on keeping Britain among the states that have inflicted great injustice on others, on the Palestinian people above all.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “رئيسة وزراء بريطانيا تستخف بمشاعر الفلسطينيين” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.