Focusing on ‘Israeli Occupation’ is Hypocritical

There are many occupied territories and stateless peoples in the Middle East. So why do we only hear about the Palestinians?

By Ryan Jones | | Topics: palestinians
Photo: Hillel Maeir/Flash90

“Occupied Arab lands” is a term that most people around the world will understand.

However, thanks to mainstream media biases, most will associate that term solely with the supposed “Israeli occupation.”

The fact of the matter is that territories with majority Arab populations are under foreign occupation in several parts of this region. Most notably, Iran occupied the Arab-dominated Ahvaz region, while Turkey annexed the Syrian district of Alexandretta (now called Iskenderun) along the Mediterranean coast.

According to Saudi journalist Hussein Shubakshi, many Arabs now view it as grossly hypocritical for anyone to rail against the “Israeli occupation,” while entirely ignoring the Iranian and Turkish occupations.

“Unfortunately…[the term ‘occupied Arab lands’] has been restricted [to the lands occupied by Israel]. This was done by the scoundrels of the resistance [i.e., Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas], who are unable to demand the liberation of the Arab lands from the Iranian and Turkish occupation, because [their] interests bury the facts and override them, no matter how clear the reality,” wrote Shubakshi in an article for the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat.

“The hypocrisy of the media discourse of the resistance has become a subject of mockery and disgust,” he continued. “All the occupied Arab lands are precious, and all have the same status and importance. Whoever treats them differently is not one of us.”

[Translations by the Middle East Media Research Institute – MEMRI]

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