The Substitute Israel

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Respecting peoples’ right to self-determination is a universal, humanitarian, and moral principle, not subject to bargaining, violation, disregard, or manipulation. Arab peoples long to be free of colonialism, the domination of others, and the despotism of rulers, and to enjoy the right to self-determination.

The stark example before us concerns the Palestinian people, still denied its right to self-determination by colonial powers. The people of Palestine has struggled, since the Zionist invasion of Palestine began, to wrest its rights, foremost among them the right to self-determination, and there are subjugated Arab peoples helping it wrest its rights and attain its independence, even if a sham one.

And if we, as Arabs, believe in the principle of respecting peoples’ rights, then we certainly support the Kurds’ right to self-determination — what applies to peoples applies to the Kurds. Neither we Arabs, nor the Iranians and Turks, have any right to deny the Kurds a universal right most peoples of the earth enjoy.

Interest does not annul principle, and building credibility always requires holding to the principle and applying it to everyone without discrimination, bias, or favoritism. Many Arab intellectuals, thinkers, and writers have expressed this position, urging Arab and non-Arab countries to recognize Kurdish rights. But it seems the Kurds are searching less for independence than for threatening the security and stability of the region, the states in which they live especially.

It is possible, judging by Kurdish conduct, that someone is pushing the Kurds toward hostility with the region’s peoples — Arabs, Iranians, and Turks — for purposes unrelated to Kurdish interests, but rather the interests of external powers using the Kurds as their tools.

The Kurdish problem was not created by Arabs, Iranians, or Turks — it was created by the Allies who won the First World War, and decided to arrange the region in a way that suited their long-term interests. It was Western colonialism that divided the Arab region, the Levant and Mesopotamia especially, and it was colonialism that fragmented Kurdistan and distributed it among several states. The Allies did not recognize the Kurds’ right to self-determination, and the Zionist movement went along with them, being concerned with winning the Allies’ favor in order to continue its project of establishing the Jewish national homeland in Palestine.

In other words, the crime, from the very start, was a colonial scheme that worked to manufacture a large, standing problem capable of draining the energies of Arabs, Iranians, Turks, and Kurds alike. Colonialism planned to keep conditions tense, on the assumption that the Kurds would seek independence, would rise up against their conditions and the states in which they lived, and internal conflict would continue at the expense of the peoples caught up in the infighting.

The Kurds have risen up many times throughout their history, including against Ottoman rule, and other times against the governments of Iraq, Turkey, and Iran. Each time, they faced massive military forces that struck at them and at their homes and property. The Kurds never managed to achieve a breakthrough leading them to independence, and self-rule, in Iraq especially, was the utmost they achieved.

The fundamental problem, over time, has been that the Kurds did not engage flexibly with the governments they rose up against, nor were these governments willing to grant independence. Matters reached the point of the Iraqi government bombing some Kurdish population centers with chemical weapons, in Halabja especially. The Kurds also suffered greatly from attacks by the Iranian and (Iraqi) armies, and their uprising against Iran in 1979 was the peak of rational absence.

Iran was in a difficult position because of the Iranian revolution’s victory against the Shah, and needed to focus its efforts on rebuilding the state. Their uprising seemed as though it were driven by external powers, with the aim of sabotaging what the Iranian people had achieved. The matter is no different for the Kurds of Turkey, who still live under the weight of the Turkish army.

The Kurds do not act according to the noble hadith which says: “May God have mercy on whoever defends the honor of someone absent.” From the very beginning, the Barzani family established relations with the Zionists in Palestine and outside it, as though seeking to provoke Arabs rather than reconcile with them. Mustafa Barzani carried the Israeli banner, working seriously to ally with the Zionists at the expense of Palestinians and all Arabs. Barzani visited the Zionist entity several times, and sent many Kurds to the entity to receive military training and gain some civilian expertise. He welcomed the Zionists onto the land of Iraqi Kurdistan and received military and financial aid from them in order to continue occupying the Iraqi army’s attention, and the Zionists gained security bases from which they could spy on Iraqi security and military forces. Barzani cooperated without limit with the Zionists against the Republic of Iraq.

Barzani also worked to adopt good relations with the Zionists in cultural, educational, and media programs, both partisan and non-partisan. He instilled in Kurdish hearts and minds a spirit of friendship with the Zionists, until relations became entrenched at the popular level, and the Zionist entity became a friendly state relied upon in good times and bad.

Of course, this conduct is no more dangerous to the Palestinian cause than the danger posed by the Arab regimes that maintain relations with the Zionists, but it remains within the circle of hostility toward the Arab nation and provocation. The government of Iraqi Kurdistan has succeeded where the Arab regimes have failed. The Arab regimes have failed to internalize normalization within the hearts of the Arab peoples, but the Kurdistan government has succeeded to the point that many Kurdish demonstrators raise the Zionist flag during demonstrations without anyone confronting them.

Iraqi Kurds became rapidly active following the Iraqi army’s accomplishments against ISIS. America and the Zionist entity were not pleased with these accomplishments, believing the Iraqi army, together with the Popular Mobilization Forces, would turn into an axis of resistance, and that it was necessary for the state of instability in Iraq to continue. Zionist and American attempts to keep Iraq occupied will not stop, and the Kurds are not supposed to make themselves tools for Iraq’s enemies.

Given this, we reckon Iraqi Kurdistan is turning into a substitute Israel, threatening the security of Iraq, Iran, and perhaps Turkey. This is why the Kurds are not searching for friends in the region — they are making enemies instead.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “إسرائيل الرديفة” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.