Israeli peace activists make their debut in Malaysia
By Anil Netto
PENANG (Malaysia): Muslim-majority Malaysia and the Jewish nation of Israel are yet to establish diplomatic ties. For that reason it comes as no surprise that the presence of five Israeli peace activists in the Malaysian capital recently made heads turn.. The activists were given rare special permission to enter the country to participate in an international conference on peace in Palestine organised by the government-backed Peace Malaysia grouping of non-governmental organisations.
The three-day conference that ended at the end of last month was held at the administrative capital of Putrajaya.. Over 500 civil society activists from 34 countries, including Occupied Palestine and Israel, participated in the conference.
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the conference should “intensify the international campaign for a sovereign and independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side by side in peace and harmony with Israel.”
The Israeli activists were pleasantly surprised by the warm reception they received.
“We are very excited about having been there, “ Adam Keller, a peace activist from Gush Shalom (‘Israel Peace Bloc’) told IPS after the conference. “We were treated respectfully by the officials.”
Malaysia’s conservative opposition Islamic party, however, boycotted the meeting.
But Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar reportedly noted that “although they... decided to withdraw officially, unofficially they (the Islamic opposition party) was at the conference.” He added that Malaysians should differentiate between the Israeli government and individual Israelis.
The conference announced the ‘Putrajaya Action Plan’, which hopes to establish an International Centre on Palestine for Civil Society in the South to be located in Malaysia. The plan recognizes that the root cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the Israeli occupation from 1948 onwards of Palestinian land and the consequent subjugation and oppression of the Palestinian people.
It said that “this oppressive occupation”, which violates international law, was made possible by the protection Israel received from its powerful ally, the United States. The plan therefore recognised the importance of civil society in the United States as a site “for strategic intervention in the quest for a just solution” to the conflict.
The proposed centre would aim to coordinate the activities of existing Palestinian support groups and networks in the South and create new ones in the developing world. The action plan would also “study in depth and detail how civil society groups in the South could organise a selective boycott of Israeli goods and divestment from that country in order to pressure Tel Aviv to withdraw completely from the West Bank and Gaza.”
As expected, these measures provoked a strong response from Israel.
The ‘Jerusalem Post’ quoted an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying, “These sort of one-sided extreme and anachronistic resolutions do no one any good, neither do they serve the cause of peace. Those who are truly interested in peace should not be conducting boycotts, rather they should be encouraging dialogue.”
But Keller said he hoped an assertive but constructive attitude by non-aligned nations with a selective boycott, as a hint towards further sanctions would pressure Israel to comply with UN resolutions. Such an approach would also carry a message, he said: that Israel would be accepted among the nations, including Muslim countries, as soon as it withdraws to the 1967 borders and lives in peace side-by-side with an independent Palestinian state.
Peace Malaysia’s group coordinator is up-and-coming ruling coalition politician Mukhriz Mahathir, son of former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad. Mahathir stepped down as prime minister in 2003 after 22 years in power.
And when one of the Israeli activists asked to meet Malaysian officials for a dialogue, they were surprised to find themselves whisked to a private meeting with Mr Mahathir. “The meeting was nice,” said Keller, who is also editor of ‘The Other Israel.’ “Mahathir’s straightforwardness made sure it was not a boring exchange of diplomatic formulas.” The activists also queried Mahathir about his alleged anti-Semitic remarks, which raised a storm in the international media some time ago.
To this, Mahathir told them that “he really believes the influence of Jews on (North) American politics is out of proportion — with presidential candidates and congressmen (having to) be so careful about what they say regarding Israel”. Keller added that Mahathir stressed that most people did not read well what he had also said at the time — that he had also sharply criticized the Islamic world for not distancing themselves from the destructive use of violence against civilians.
During the conference, the activists said they were given a rosy picture of Malaysia as a model of multi-ethnic harmony that could be applied to other countries. They, however, received a broader picture of the Malaysian situation when, through their own initiative, they met opposition politicians in Kuala Lumpur and local civil society activists in Penang after the conference had ended.
From their discussions, they learnt of some similarities between Israel’s administrative detention laws, commonly used against Palestinians, and Malaysia’s harsh Internal Security Act (ISA) — both of which allow indefinite detention without trial. Coincidentally, both are vestiges from the British colonial years.—Dawn/IPS News Service
