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CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE 
During
the last ten days of the Holy month of
Ramadan, all pious Muslims give alms or
charity known as Fitrah.
Although this is generally only a small
amount, it is paid directly to fellow
Muslims who are in need so that they too
may celebrate Eid
Al Fitar, the celebration to mark the
end of the holy month of fasting.
I
too, like all true Muslims, gave Fitrah
during this year’s holy month, as we are
reminded to do by the prophet Mohammed (PBUH).
This act of charity provoked the thought
that perhaps, the concept of Zakat
could extend not just to individuals but
to whole peoples as well. This fleeting
thought seemed to take a hold of me, so
later that day while resting, it
reoccurred and led me into a daydream,
that whilst amusing, was underpinned I
believe, by an element of profound truth.
In
my musings, I saw all the many palaces
that the leaders of the Islamic world,
from Brunei to Morocco, have built over
the last fifty years around the globe;
stunning and expensive dwellings, full of
the finest woods and marbles and furnished
with exquisite furniture and the finest décor.
There are many thousands of them, owned by
just a few hundred fortunate individuals,
many of who own in excess of 10 such
wonderful residences. According to some
sources, one such wealthy Arab has 80
palaces scattered across the world. Many
others own upwards of 10. I have heard
that many of these splendid dwellings cost
in excess of 100 million dollars, with
some actually costing as much as 300
million dollars!
I
dared to imagine that during the next
Ramadan, all of these fortunate
individuals would donate just one of their
wonderful homes to help people who are in
great need. Amongst those most in need of
their largesse, are of course the
Palestinians. They require all the help
and support they can get, just to maintain
their identity and eke out an existence in
their own land, as intolerable pressures
are brought to bear on them, to either
leave their country, or become the
servants of others.
There
are currently 3.27 million Palestinians
living on just 6,200 square kilometres of
land, giving an average population density
of 516 people per square kilometre, one of
the highest concentrations of people per
square kilometre anywhere in the world.
But even this factor does nothing to
describe the real hardship of 1.2 million
of those people, who are crammed into the
Gaza strip, giving it a population density
of 2,933 people per square kilometre, thus
making it the fourth most densely
populated place on the planet.
With
very few natural resources, exports of a
mere 682 million dollars a year, and an
import bill of 2.5 billion dollars per
annum, Palestine has a budget deficit of
1.8 billion dollars a year. Allied to
this, is their unemployment rate of over
40%. Apart from two small generating units
in Jenin and Nablus, the entire population
has to buy its power from Israel. Although
the West Bank has abundant water
resources, there is water scarcity for the
Palestinian population, as nearly all its
water resources have been appropriated by
Israel to supply Israel proper and the
many illegal settlements that take up a
lot of the Palestinians prime land. This
has been the story of their lives for over
fifty years. There are no other people in
modern times that have suffered so long.
They are truly deserving of all that we
can give them.
I
began to work out the implications of my
rather light-hearted thought. Imagine, if
there were just 600 individuals who have
the wherewithal to donate a “Palace to
Palestine”, the sum raised would amount
to over 60 billion dollars. Carrying my calculations further, I was
astonished at the impact that such a sum
would have on the lives of the people of
Palestine.
They
could for instance, balance their budget
for the next sixty years, or build their
own ports and power stations. They could
construct modern road systems and provide
good social housing for all Palestinians,
enabling them to, at long last, demolish
the refugee camps. They could create
employment for all, by encouraging trade
and commerce, and building a modern
industrial base. They could set up a
flexible and transparent banking and
financial system.
All
this could be possible if we just gave a
very small piece of our collective wealth
to these unfortunate people.
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The
Americans have done thisfor their ally,
Israel. Over the last fifty years, they
have given them over half the annual US
foreign aid budget. This now amounts to
the princely sum of 94 billion dollars
since 1948, with another 2.04 billion in
economic and military aid approved for
2002. Not bad for a country that has one
of the most developed economies in the
world, and one of the poorest human rights
records.
In
my daydream I saw our leaders following
America’s example by building a strong
nation state; supplying the financial
substance that would enable a Palestinian
government to build a strong economic
base, employing its people and alleviating
their poverty. A strong and vibrant people
that are economically better off, will
easily be able to resist and halt some of
the worst abuses that Israel has been
imposing on it. It would no longer depend
on it for its economic existence and
therefore would be better able to protect
its people.
The
contribution of just one palace, 100
million dollars, could go a long way to
combating the negative media image of the
Palestinians in the Western media. We
could present our case for a fair and just
settlement, by explaining the issues
involved, through our eyes. This sort of
money would easily combat the
misinformation put out by the Jewish lobby
in America. It could also be used to
conduct a campaign in the American media,
to show just how devastating American
military aid, in the form of tanks, bombs,
missiles, and F16 fighter aircraft is to
the civil population of the illegally
occupied Palestine Territories, in terms
of lives lost, land confiscated, and human
rights abuses. I’m sure that if ordinary Americans were made aware
of the truth about this immoral aid, it
would quickly bring pressure to bear on
the American government to stop giving aid
to a State that is using modern weapons on
a civil population.
But
as with all daydreams, the realities of
daily life soon caught my attention,
leaving my vision of the generosity,
goodness and foresight of our leaders on
behalf of our Palestinian brothers a
fleeting memory. I returned to more
mundane things in a world where the daily
reality for the much-abused people of
Palestine is poverty, repression, and
death, and the empty promises of fellow
Arabs.
Perhaps
by the next Holy month, we will indeed
manage to match our words of support with
tangible action, just as America does for
its ally, and really donate a palace for
Palestine.
Khalaf
Al Habtoor |
