Why are there different Muslim demonstrations going on for the Palestinian/Israeli conflict?

While I have my disagreements with Hizb ut-Tahrir, I made a conscious decision to attend today’s demonstration which was organised by the party as opposed to yesterday’s march to the Israeli embassy. I thought I’d briefly outline my reasons just so we can gain a wider appreciation for why Muslims are organizing differently at a grassroots level to address a solution to the crisis. 1) Yesterday’s protest was mainly organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign UK, CND, Friends of Al Aqsa, Muslim Association of Britain, Stop the War Coalition and the Palestinian Forum in Britain. Those who are familiar with the history, campaigns, publications and long-term objectives of these organisations ought to realise that when they advocate for a ‘Free Palestine’, they are promoting the rights of peoples to self-determination, freedom and independence based on the United Nation Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The political framework which they believe can guarantee such rights is a secular, democratic order which operates on the underlying premise that sovereignty belongs to man who is the ultimate arbiter of right and wrong and the ultimate overseer in a state’s decision making process. The organisers do not think outside of the contours of the present international rules based system and have adopted secular and democratic ideals as the guiding principle for their politics and activism. This is fundamentally at odds with the Islamic conception of statehood according to which authority is invested with the ummah and sovereignty belongs to Allah. As Muslims, we believe that the only framework for guaranteeing the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of individuals is the Khilafah system, which we are entrusted to establish as a matter of worship and obedience to Allah so that peace and justice can prevail on the earth. 2) The main organisers of yesterday’s protest are opposed to the liberation of the holy land through Jihad for the sake of Allah. Instead, they endorse the presence of ‘peacekeeping’ troops under the auspices of the UN, so that law and order can be restored, internationally agreed upon borders can be maintained and the secular democratic status quo can be preserved. Meanwhile, the normative position in orthodox Islam obliges all Muslims to strive in the path of Allah to liberate any Muslim territory from an occupying enemy, with the objective of not only defending the people from aggression but to make the word of Allah supreme in the land. There is consensus across all schools of thought that if a Muslim land is forcefully annexed or if an enemy approaches the borders of that land, then physically resisting the occupation becomes an individual obligation on the ummah, especially if those in that territory are incapable of deterring the aggressors which is evidently the case today. The aim of this resistance is not to enrust the security of that land to an intergovernmental organisation to broker peace and facilitate a system of governance based on secularism or any other kufr ideology. Rather, the aim-besides repelling the occupiers- is to ensure that Islam is practiced as a comprehensive way of life. This occurs when the law and order is based on the divine sharia and a system of governance is instituted according to the norms stipulated by Allah and not that which has been dictated by international treaties and conventions. 3) The organisers of yesterday’s protest ultimately believe that peace and justice can be restored to the holy land if Muslims become active stakeholders in the electoral process and enlist the support of the international community to highlight the plight of the besieged Palestinians. Besides the fact that democracy is kufr in its asl, the history of Muslim political participation in the west has achieved nothing for the Palestinians. Absolutely nothing. Think about it. After decades of grassroots activism, party fundraising, lobbying MPs, petitioning governments, membership drives and seasonal canvassing, the pro-Israeli consensus in Anglo-American politics is stronger than ever before. Yet we still persist in the delusion that change can be achieved through the very system that is notoriously committed to preserving zionist interests, both historically and in the present context. Let’s not forget that this is the same international community which not only supported the zionist project from its inception but is today strategically committed to maintaining its viability. The reason why Israel can maintain its destructive regional function as a war machine is due to the extensive support it receives from such international power-brokers. How else can you explain the fact that Israel continues to act with impunity despite having no legal authority in East Jerusalem? Remember, the international organisations which are dedicated to peace, security and developing friendly relations between nations know very well that Israeli police and courts have no jurisdiction across vast swathes of the land and their activities should be classified as a military occupation. This should oblige certain standards of conduct under international law and yet the oppression of the Palestinian people continues unabated. For decades, the actions of Israel have not simply amounted to acts of aggression against the Palestinians. These are acts of contempt and hostility against the entire international system of law and order, the framework for governing the conduct of nations and all global norms of justice. Although the international community acknowledges that Israel exists in East Jerusalem as an occupying army, it can do nothing to change the reality on the ground as the zionists bluntly affirm their presence on territories which international law has explicitly defined as illegal. Time and again, Israel has declared it will not cooperate with investigations by the International Criminal Court into war crimes and has vowed not to cave in to global pressure on the Palestinain issue. Why am I labouring this point? Simply to highlight that international law is a servant of the genocidal settler ideology which for decades has justified the brutalisation of the Palestinain people. 4) The gestures of solidarity and symbolism adopted by the organisers and protesters of yesterday’s march-however sincere-is misguided. The Palestinian flag may evoke feelings of solidarity and unity with a downtrodden community. However, this flag is symbolic of the Pan-Arab and nationalistic fervour of Arab tribes who were sponsored by the Anglo-French imperialists during the early 20th century to drive a deep and damaging wedge in the unity of the Muslim world by rebelling against the Ottoman Caliphate. So when you proudly sport those colours on your profile pic or at demonstrations, you may not realise that you are unwittingly aiding the colonial project which was obsessed with uprooting a transnational Caliphate and extinguishing its memory from the hearts and minds of Muslims. I’m assuming that the majority of Muslim protestors have probably not dedicated any real effort to studying and analyzing the objectives of these organisations or even thought long and hard about what Islam proposes as the solution to the crisis engulfing the Muslim world. However, it’s time we explore these issues in depth. Otherwise, ignorance will be the death of us. Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: “The believer does not allow himself to be stung twice from the same hole.”