the essential
While in recent years, the trend has been towards warming between Arab countries and the Jewish state, the assault launched on Gaza after the attacks of October 7 has reinforced popular hostility towards this rapprochement. From the Middle East to North Africa, the streets have continued to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people.
After the death of Ismaïl Haniyeh, thousands still marched in the streets of Morocco on August 3, brandishing flags, keffiyehs and portraits of the Hamas leader to show their anger. “Greetings from Rabat to our Gazan friends and to the Qassam (armed branch of Hamas, editor’s note), chanted the crowd on August 3. Since October 7, the Moroccan streets have regularly been the scene of large-scale demonstrations, in support of the people Palestinian. The war in Gaza “is a shame for humanity which does nothing”, declared Halima Hilali, 64, to AFP “Protesting is the least we can do to help our Palestinian brothers, explained Nabil Nasseri, 42. years. We cannot have relations with a group of criminals, we hope for the end of relations with Israel.
In Tunisia, support for the Palestinian cause is consensual, officially supported by President Kaïs Saïed. In the columns of L’Orient XXI, pro-Palestine activist Jawaher Channa recounted, last June, the shock wave caused by October 7 and its repercussions on Gaza, the cancellations of events which followed in Tunisia because “the heart was no longer there”. Quickly, many Tunisians, like their neighbors across the Arab world, responded to the call for boycott advocated by the BDS campaign (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) or apps like Boycott X. Carrefour, Coca- Cola, Starbucks and McDonald’s have been largely shunned in the region for a year.
Unhappiness and anger
The violence of the images emanating from Gaza has also exacerbated an already existing psychological unease in these countries. Mental health is still struggling to establish itself as a priority in this region where wars and political tribulations have marked recent decades. 29% of people surveyed across the Middle East and North Africa by the Arab Barometer in 2020 reported suffering from depression. On social networks, many confide their difficulty in continuing their daily lives, in continuing to work “as if nothing had happened” while ignoring the suffering of the Palestinians and the Lebanese.
A feeling shared by the diaspora in the West. “Ask any Arab what the most painful realization of the past year has been and they will tell you that we have discovered the extent of our dehumanization to such an extent that it is impossible to function in the world in the same way”, writes Lina Mounzer, Lebanese writer, for the literary magazine The Markaz Review.
Many of them also direct their anger towards the leaders of the Arab world. “O cowardly Arab governments! In the name of the voiceless, we protest against the land bridge. The land bridge is a betrayal. We too stand with Gaza. We are under siege,” exclaimed the crowd in the streets of Amman on April 14 according to Orient XXI, when Jordan had intervened to protect Israel from an Iranian drone attack. The Hashemite kingdom has been playing a balancing act for a year, denying popular support for Hamas so as not to be drawn into conflict with its neighbors. For appeasement, we will still have to wait.
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