Resistance to occupation

Sir, When France surrendered to Nazi Germany on 22 June 1940, the French Resistance known as Maquis emerged to fight the occupation. Charles de Gaulle on 18 June 1940 called upon French to continue the fight even though their army had surrendered.

Britain, USA and all other allies supported Maquis with arms, ammunition, intelligence and logistic support. In response, Nazi Germany vowed to rule with an iron fist, including collective punishment of innocent civilians. The UN recognizes this right to resist for countries under occupation. Those involved in French Resistance were termed as terrorists by Nazis but for the rest of the world they were freedom fighters and heroes. Today we witness the leaders of the free world, reversing their stance and justifying an occupying force to target civilians as collective punishment, killing children, women and elderly as Israel’s right of self-defense. Other than Bernie Sanders, there is no other voice of reason or sanity that dares to talk about the rights and safety of Palestinians, as vital, as the safety of Jews. If occupying land where Palestinians lived for centuries can be justified on the basis of Zionist arguments misquoting their religious books, then this opens the doors for extremists of all shades to embark on aggression and unleashing miseries upon millions of innocent citizens living in any part of the world. The irony is that many elitists in Pakistan who are affiliated with Free Masonry and in other Muslim majority nations have assumed the role of apologists for Zionism. Jews have a right to live in peace and security, so do others, including Palestinians, Kashmiris, Rohingyas etc. As long as Zionist mindset does not accept that all human beings have equal rights, including their right of private property, justice etc. the world must be careful.

Malik Tariq Ali

Lahore