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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.

 

"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."

   

      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

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