MUSCAT, OMAN– A couple of days ago, it was reported that a protocol on cooperation was signed to provide $25,000 in aid by the Bosnians for the suffering people of Gaza in Palestine to help restore electricity for 400 poor families. It is a large-hearted gesture by Bosnia, which is one of the poorest countries in Europe. Bosnia has the worst GDP per capita income out of 37 European countries. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) report 2012, Bosnia has the largest youth unemployment rate of 57.5% in the world.
It is against the backdrop of the Bosnian economy that the Bosnian aid to Palestine is very significant and worth emulating. It is like a person who is poor himself but goes out of the way to lessen other people’s suffering by giving away whatever little money he has. This noble gesture is bound to strengthen the brotherly bonds between the Bosniaks and the Palestinians. This bonding is rooted in history. A Bosniak is referred to as Boshnaq in the Arabic language.
Bosnia is the motherland of many Palestinians who migrated to Palestine in 1878. After the Ottoman Empire lost Bosnia to the Austro-Hungarian empire, many Bosnians emigrated to Palestine, which was back-then part of the Ottoman Empire. In Palestine, the Boshnaqs were given land in the Carmel region, in the Galilee, the plain of Sharon and Qaisariya. They were also exempted from paying taxes for 12 years. The Boshnaqs have assimilated well into the Palestinian society. A common thing between Bosnia and Palestine is that both countries were subjected to violence and brutality. Bosnia was a victim of genocide in 1992 while Palestine continues to suffer at the hands of the occupying forces of Israel. The international community monitored the genocide of Muslims in Bosnia silently as they are doing so in Palestine. The western powers support and aid Israel to carry out barbaric acts against the Palestinians. This common suffering has brought the Bosniaks and the Palestinians closer than ever.
The Republic Srpska of Bosnian Serbs is solidly behind Israel. In 2010, the then President Milorad Dodic visited Israel, and, since then, the Serbs have stood strongly against the Palestinians. Milorad Dodic even expressed his opposition to recognize the state of Palestine at the behest of Israel and the United States. The American President Barak Obama had asked Bosnia not to recognize Palestine. The Bosnian Tripartite Presidency has political constraints. But the hearts of the Bosnians and the Palestinians beat together for love and peace. The Bosnian aid will provide accumulators and aggregates for the poor Palestinians, helping them at least to restore some of Gaza’s electricity, though, to my eyes, it will make the Bosnian and the Palestinian hearts glow jointly with the same light.
By Ahmed Mohiuddin Siddiqui
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Well-known international columnist and political analyst Ahmed Mohiuddin Siddiqui’s articles are published across Asia, Africa and Europe. He writes for India Tomorrow, The Tunis Times, Bilkul, The Etemaad Urdu Daily and for news papers published from Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, where he is presently based. He interviewed for the Oman Daily Observer, Rais ul Ulema Dr. Mustafa Ceric, the then Grand Mufti of Bosnia, two years ago.[/symple_box]
