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Why I Dont Celebrate Palestine Day

Omar Alansari-Kreger
Each spring, an event called Palestine Day takes place around the United States. There
is absolutely nothing wrong with standing in solidarity with the Palestinian Diaspora in addition
to the unsung victims of Israeli war crimes. If anything such postures of altruism are nothing but
elevated acts of humanity. After all, the overarching ideal of Zionism is synonymous with the
machinations of evil. However, I do have a problem with supporting Palestinian nationalism.
Why? It fits and supports the narrative of Near Eastern Orientalism; the essence of which was
used to justify the expansion of colonial empire throughout the greater Middle East. The end of
the First World War introduced a divide and conquer system that produced the Modern Middle
East as we know it today.
With the arrival of state based nationalism, the reality of the Middle East has been
defined by a fragmented reality of steep polarity. In particular, that reality has been caused by
factors of ideology, ethnocentrism, and tribalism. The flag of Palestine is definitely no exception
to that reality. It is based on the design of the Arab Revolt Flag flown during the First World War.
In 1909, there was an organization centered in Istanbul called The Arab Nationalist Literary
Club. As ideologically based nationalisms began saturating the Ottoman state, the ANLC
featured the work of the 13th century poet Safi Al-Din Al-Hili; in one of his poetic works, he
detailed the configuration of colors that would symbolize the multicolor standard of PanArabism.

This poem is as follows:

Ask the high rising spears, of our aspirations Bring witness the swords, did we lose hope We are
band, honor halts our souls Of beginning with harm, those who wont harm us White are our
deeds, black are our battles, Green are our fields, red are our swords.

Sir Mark Sykes was a staunch proponent of empire and maintained a studious interest in
world history; in particular the history of the Orient/Near East. He designed the flag of the Arab
Revolt Movement and presented it to the distraught Arab nationalists of the Ottoman Middle
East. The flag was introduced to Sharif Hussein, ruler of the Hejaz, who later adopted the flag of
the Arab Revolt as his official national standard flown against the Ottomans during World War
One. The British wooed Sharif Hussein into believing that he would one day preside over a PanArab homeland in which he alone would rule over. As it turned out, he had little to no interest in
Pan-Arabism and was primarily concerned about reigning over a monarchical domain
exclusively promised to him by the British. The reforms initiated by the Committee of Union &
Progress (Young Turks) introduced an administrative policy that gave Turkish nationalism the
first priority; the Arab nationalists simply followed suit as a retaliatory gesture. The geo-political

House of Cards established by the British began to deteriorate once the victors of World War
One began dividing and conquering the Middle East.
Therefore, the origins of the Arab nationalist movement was established as a geo-political
tool that would inexorably assist the interests of European Colonial Empire. Therefore, it can be
argued that Arab unity, in its most nationalized form, is not even of Arab origin! That reality is
not too difficult to fathom considering that the origins of state based nationalism is largely a
phenomenon of the peace of Westphalia; the essence of which is exclusively rooted in the
tradition of Western statecraft. Nevertheless, truth-be-told, the Ottomans were on the verge of
collapse due to infrastructural backwater that consumed its empire despite multiple campaigns of
widespread reform. The reality is that nationalism, in all of its applied typological forms, has
done no favors to the posterity of the Middle East. The decline of the Ottomans is all too
indicative of the decadence of the human experience. Time again, great civilizations rise and fall
and each empire has its dying day marked in the future annals of history. Thus, the importation of
nationalism provoked the creation of artificial nations across the Middle East and North Africa in
addition to much of the underdeveloped South. That reality continues to attribute to the ongoing
upheaval that has consumed both worlds tumultuously.
On that note, we cannot help but to wonder, why have a Palestine Day at all? Why not
have a World Nabka or an International Diaspora Day? Why emphasize on the focalization of
Palestinian nationalism as the centerpiece of a purely human struggle? Surely, the lives of
innocent Palestinians are much more valuable when compared to the aesthetic commodities of an
otherwise trite state based nationalism. The tribalization of oppression undermines people that
actually live under burdens of unimaginable adversity. In this vein, one oppressed people
competes against another in ways where they argue on whose struggle is greater. That ultimately
leads to the absolute degeneration of the human condition.
A culture of nationalized oppression preserves the occidental dialogue of the Modern
Middle East as we know it. When that happens, an ideological hegemony of orientalism prevails
and the cultural integrity of an ancient people is condemned to abysmal obscurity. As a Muslim, I
have this to say: what good is an event like Palestine Day if it ultimately fails to deliver big
picture aid to those that need it most? Palestine Day affords us with a sense of identity, but how
does it raise Khilafah Consciousness among Muslims? Why do we continue to perpetuate the
divide and conquer paradigm when it is bent on undermining the oppressed peoples of the
Middle East?
Over the years I have often wondered, how many people have made the same objections
about events that mirror Palestine Day? Critical awareness is achieved wherever and whenever
there is an existential motivation to question the many yokes of cultural tradition. The longer we
succumb to the devices of nationalism, the more tribal we will become in our demeanor. The
Palestinian Diaspora is first and foremost a human struggle, but time again we have failed to
treat it as one. Our world is defined by the ubiquity of information, but we continue to condemn
ourselves to avenues of unprecedented ignorance.

All curiosities that entertain the human imagination can be researched in a matter of
seconds! There is no longer an excuse for ignorance anymore. Yet, as humans generally and as
Muslims specifically, what are we doing with such a vast array of information? My pursuit began
with a simple Google search and I was able to unlock a world of unconventional wisdom. Our
objectionable curiosities should stimulate a process of self-discovery where we are able to
acknowledge things for what they are as opposed to what they have been purported to be.