“Israeli aggression during Eid should unite all Muslims and anyone with a heart” – Anila Baig – World News

For Muslims around the world this is the time we start our preparations for the end of the holy month of Ramadan. After a month of observing daily fasts from sunrise to sunset we are ready to feast with loved ones.

For my family, however, it will be a solemn occasion as it will be the first Eid without my father who passed away just three weeks ago.

He was the one who would cook up Eid specialities and tasty treats for us- taking on the mantle ever since my mother passed away five years ago.

But today I feel the searing loss of not only my father but of the many innocent lives lost in this latest act of Israeli aggression. And I’m not the only one.

My social media feed would normally be a constant stream of Eid recipes or make-up tutorials or young women showing off their hairstyles and henna designs in preparation of the big day. But instead young people – of all faiths, races and background – are highlighting the human rights abuses in Palestine.

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The conflict in this region is nothing new but in recent days it has become deadlier than ever and it seems to be young people who are shouting the loudest to bring the issue to attention.

The Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem is the third holiest site for Muslims and of such significance it merits a mention in the Holy book, the Quran.

To storm in and fire rubber bullets at worshippers is abhorrent. If a ‘Muslim’ did the same thing to a place of worship we would rightly call them a terrorist so why is it okay if the state of Israel does it?

And despite the fact that the United Nations has repeatedly declared that the settlers are violating international law, the expansion keeps happening.

This isn’t about Muslims against Jews either. We share many aspects of our faiths and God has told us that Jews are People of the Book like us. They are our brethren.

I have heard many impassioned speeches by practising Jews who have spoken out against the Israeli regime.

One of the most powerful was a Jewish man who said his entire family on both sides had been wiped out by the Holocaust.

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“Both of my parents were in the Warsaw ghetto uprising and it is precisely because of the lessons my parents taught me that I will not be silent when Israel commits its crimes against the Palestinians.

“I consider nothing more despicable than to use their suffering and their martyrdom to try to justify the torture, the brutalisation, the demolition of homes that Israel commits daily against the Palestinians.”

This latest acts of aggression will unite not just Muslims but anyone who has a heart and we will stand in prayer for Palestine.