The Muslim world has witnessed great destruction over the last two centuries; many parts of its geography were occupied, its people colonized and worst of all, the state of mind possessed by colonization severed its reasoning faculty.

Muslim society lost its ability to reason and analyze and has been suffering the loss of their courage and encouragement to act. Even today, this state of mind seems to be continuing. After World War II, the countries that gained their independence partly continued living under the influence of the invading powers. The will to become culturally, politically and economically independent has never developed among the Muslim society nor have they shown any sign of faith toward achieving this aim. The Islamic world has become the key zone that has witnessed destruction and wars the most fiercely for the last 30-40 years. The battles that took place in South Asia, South America and Africa somehow ended; but then the weapons industry targeted the Muslim geography for military exercise. The West, having experienced the hell of both World War I and World War II, started committing massacres as if they were getting revenge from the Muslims who did not take part in these wars, increasing segregation and deepening disagreements.

Internal struggle within Islamic world

One of the biggest wars of recent history was the one between Shiite and Sunni communities. We understood only at the end of the war what a strong sociological background this war had. When it was ended by the Iranian religious authorities, we grieved over the fact that so much blood was shed and questioned why it lasted for years. This is proof that the Islamic world had the willpower and when it was expressed, there could be constructive solutions. What happened in Afghanistan is full of tragedies that should be discussed all by itself. Afghans who resisted the Russian invasion first and then the American invasion do not seem to be tired of battling with each other. Afghanistan has become a place where fighting is a lifestyle now and one can dream of but not expect peace there in the near future. There are ongoing wars in many countries such as Syria, the Caucasus and Sudan. The Bosnian genocide, which took place in the middle of the West, is one of the greatest tragedies of this century and a tremendous calamity for the Muslims. The first stage of the war in Azerbaijan bears a resemblance to Bosnia.

None of these wars affected the Muslim society as deeply as the one in Palestine nor did they occupy their agenda as much as Palestine. The war between Israel and the Arab world, which dates back to a century ago, seems to have acquired new dimensions and continues in Palestine. But why does Palestine touch the hearts of Muslims more than any other catastrophes they have seen so far?

The first thing that comes to our minds is certainly not the death tolls or the destruction. Compared with the other Muslim countries, there are fewer casualties, and the destruction cannot be nearly as bad as the ones we saw in other countries. The greatest cities of the Islamic civilization like Baghdad and Damascus have been wiped off. Millions of Syrians lost their lives, their homes, their lands in a war that has been going on for more than 10 years, and what the Bosnians went through was an ethnic cleansing, etc. Therefore, neither the casualties nor the level of destruction can be the reason why Palestine is on the top agenda of the Muslim world. Then why is Palestine more in the spotlight?

War is between equal parties

I think the first reason is that this is not an ordinary war between two equal powers but rather a systematic oppression of a people held captive in their own land and constantly degrading them. Being oppressed and insulted has more serious repercussions than being killed; also, it leaves other Muslims helpless and frustrated with a strong feeling of guilt and in return, they start looking for someone whom they can blame and condemn. Maybe this is the plan all along: The frustration of being helpless breeds anger and with this growing anger, we start to mentally move away even from the oppressed. Human beings cannot live with such a long period of devastation; so, in order to get the load off their minds, they first feel sorrow, and then look for someone else to blame and lastly, they resort to abstention. Gaza is the textbook case of how to make people feel helpless.

People kept in the prison called Gaza have been tortured, killed and systematically insulted by a state whenever the thought flashes through its mind. There is no reason, rule or measure to its oppressions. If it was a war between two equals and the oppressed had the minimum capability to defend themselves, people would still feel troubled but not hopeless.

The second aspect of the problem involves Israel’s image. Muslim society holds the West in the person of Israel accountable for all the destructions and invasions, and their memories filled with such traumas are revived every time Israel acts. For Muslim society, Israel is never about Israel, let alone Jewish people. Israel reminds them of the multidimensional relations and values they want to share with the West, particularly with the U.S. That the West stands united with Israel with unconditional support assures the Muslims of the meaninglessness of the modern world's values and this situation weakens their relationship with the world and makes them more alone and isolated. In fact, the "values" of the modern world have never been eroded this much and the double standard has never been so obvious as today. In such an atmosphere, Muslim society approaches the Palestinian conflict as the insincerity of the modern world, which has not progressed even a little for centuries, and their anger grows as their argument is proven right every time.

The third aspect of the problem is its connection with religion. For Israelis, this is a holy war. Muslims do not see it as a war for religion. For them, Israelis are not their eternal enemy neither are they a community that needs to be fought against and removed from this region.

On the other hand, Israelis cannot be purified from their historic and racial reflexes however educated and modern they are, and the West supports them as if they are "defending a religion" for other reasons. That is why Muslim society becomes furious as the so-called values are nothing but a tool used to justify the superstitious and broken beliefs, and the representations of inaccurate and void notions. These sum up the reasons why the Palestinian conflict leaves a heavy burden on Muslim society.