Colombia is more Arab than the Arab states

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro announced in August that his country had officially banned the export of coal to Israel. “Colombian coal,” he said, “is used to make bombs to kill Palestinian children.”

Meanwhile, Egypt still shares its natural gas trade with the Zionist state; Jordan exports vegetables and fruits to it; and Turkiye is sending its ships to the Zionist entity and then denouncing the Houthis for targeting them in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The latter is part of the noble Yemeni position of blocking ships transporting goods to the occupation state that is preventing the entry of water, food, fuel and medicine to Palestinians in Gaza.

Colombia is in South America, and yet has been part of the efforts to prosecute the Zionist entity and its officials for their crimes in Gaza before international bodies since day one, including at the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and the UN. Colombia is Arab in outlook and action at a time when the Arabs, or most of them, have shed and denied their Arabism, and become Zionists and Zionised.

The government in Bogota severed diplomatic relations with Israel, but the Arabs did not.

Colombia declared its brotherhood with Palestine when the Arabs abandoned it.

It wore the Arab robe of chivalry, gallantry and honour when the Arabs took it off. Colombia did not do this to pretend, to impersonate a role, or out of spite against Washington and Tel Aviv. Rather, it did so out of belief in the justice of the Palestinian people’s cause, its awareness of the essence of the conflict, and its knowledge of the real history, not the fake narrative.

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In an interview on Al Jazeera last Saturday, the Colombian president spoke about Arabs and Arabism as if he were Ibn Khaldun, Abd al-Rahman Al-Kawakibi or Gamal Hamdan. He said that Arabism has been an integral component of the Colombian people’s make up since the Spanish colonialists came to their country at the end of the 15th century, with the fall of Granada and the end of Arab rule in Andalusia. The invaders forced Arabs to enlist in colonial campaigns against Latin American countries, and Arab blood mixed with the blood of the Colombian people until the 19th century. He added that when the Spaniards went to the American continent in 1492, the last year of the Caliphate in Granada, the Arabs went with them, and the Muslims were forcibly converted to Christianity at that time. Petro noted that the white Spaniards, as they were known at the time, brought them to his land on their ships and forced them to serve in the army and navy because of their knowledge and navigation expertise.

The Columbian president also said that many of the miners in his country were also Arabs, and were found on its coasts, among the first lands to be “discovered” by the Conquistadors. He noted that this means they are the sons of the Caribbean, have Arab blood as well as African, Native Indian and European blood. Petro said that he believes that among the founders of his country were the Arabs, because they were not only Spanish, or of one race, and the link between them still exists, a cultural link as much as it is a socio-economic one.

This pride in its Arab roots is not the only driving force behind Colombia’s noble stance in defence of the Palestinian people. The primary motive is both civilisational and humane, a stance that expresses a deep cultural and political vision of the relationship between the Global North and South. This relationship is embodied in the political biases and positions on the conflict, as he says that the goal of the war of extermination waged by Israel in the Gaza Strip is to prevent the establishment of a homeland for the Palestinians.

“Since the first shell fell on Gaza,” explained Petro, “I saw that what Israel intended to commit was a genocide against the Palestinians for political reasons, and it is a genocide supported by the West. The results of the war that we have reached today confirm this, and clearly indicate that the main goal of this war is to prevent the establishment of a homeland for the Palestinians.”

What is happening in Gaza and the Middle East is not just a passing war…

He expressed his belief that what is happening in Gaza and the Middle East is not just a passing war; that what Israel is doing to Gaza and the rest of occupied Palestine and the region is sending a threatening message. “It is a threat to the nations who might otherwise oppose any approaches from the countries of the North when it comes to any decision, including those related to climate change, or any type of political or economic decisions, because the countries that see themselves as empires, and dream of controlling the world, have begun to build a different model to crack down on the world.” This, he said, is represented in the Global North “igniting conflicts permanently to distract the people and prevent them from liberating themselves and searching for independence in their decisions and positions.”

It may come as a surprise to contemplate Petro’s words, given that he is the president of a country suffering from economic problems and a debt crisis, and its fate is almost totally in the hands of the US, which is the full partner and primary supporter of the Zionist entity in this war of extermination against Gaza and Lebanon. This did not prevent him from sticking to his civilised, humane position, and from defending the independence of his political decision and challenging the rulers of empires dreaming of domination by announcing that his country respects the decision of the International Criminal Court, and will arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant if they visit Colombia.

This is a position that the Arab countries that claim close affiliation with Palestine would not dare to adopt or declare.

This article first appeared in Arabic in Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on 25 November 2024

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.