'This award is funded by American money so I took this decision.'
Social activist Dr Sandeep Pandey has returned his Ramon Magsaysay Award in protest against the United States' support for Israel, which, he says, is indulging in war crimes in Gaza.
Dr Pandey tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com why he returned the prestigious Magsaysay Award, which he received in 2002.
Why have you returned the Magsaysay Award?
The atrocity committed by Israel on Palestinians in Gaza has exceeded all limits.
Children and women are dying every day due to the Israeli attacks on the population of Gaza. They have not even spared hospitals. Israel is attacking hospital patients too and refugee camps. This is a war crime.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is trying his best to stop the war, but the major powers, especially the United States of America, is supporting it blindly by selling arms to Israel. They continue to do so in spite of so much destruction, so I felt I need to do something about it.
And the only thing I could think of sitting in India was to return the Magsaysay Award conferred on me. This award is funded by American money so I took this decision.
If the US changes its position on the Israel-Palestine war, I am sure the war will stop. At present Gaza is in danger of being wiped out.
Israel is attacking Gaza because Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. Don't the Israelis have the right to retaliate?
Of course, they have a right to retaliate in self-defence. But once you attack in self-defence you have to go to the United Nations Security Council rather than going on attacking the innocent civilians of Gaza for three months.
You also have to see why the October 7 attack was carried out by Hamas. The answer is that Israel prevented the Arabs from entering the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. This is the reason why Hamas named the October 7 attack as Operation Al Aqsa Flood.
You also have to look into Israel's attack on the Al Aqsa mosque on September 17 before talking about the attack of October 7.
Does returning the Maysaysay Award not make you a Hamas supporter?
I have clearly said, 'What is wrong with Hamas?' They won the elections in Palestine. It should have ruled all of Palestine because it had a majority in the 2006 Palestinian elections.
But Hamas is a terrorist organisation, yet you are supporting it by returning your award.
If you are calling Hamas a terrorist organisation, what do you call the Taliban?
The USA was very happy to hand over Afghanistan to the Taliban. Everybody in the world knew when the Taliban came to power the women of Afghanistan will lose their right to education and work. And yet, the USA handed over power to the Taliban, but is complaining against Hamas.
Hamas is a legitimate organisation as it has won elections in Palestine. They had the right to form the government in the West Bank, but Israel and the USA forced Hamas to rule only in Gaza and not the West Bank which they handed over to the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas.
The fact that Israel is unable to conquer Hamas after three months of attack shows that Hamas has popular support in Gaza.
It is for the Palestinians to decide whether Hamas is a legitimate body to rule over them or not.
Israel is attacking Hamas because it wants to eliminate its leadership. Hamas leaders inflict pain on the people of Gaza too, isn't it?
All governments are involved in human rights violations at home. I will not say Hamas is the most democratic government to rule Gaza, but the fact remains they won the election. They have a legitimate right to rule.
I have met Khaled Mashal (the former head of Hamas now living in Qatar) in Damascus. He considered Mahatma Gandhi as his ideal. He told me Gandhi inspired him to fight against Israel the same way he fought against the British.
You should also remember that Khaled Mashal's life was saved by American intervention when he was attacked by Mossad agents. The USA forced Israel to give the antidote to the poison that was administered to Khaled Mashal. It was inserted in his ears by Mossad agents.
If Hamas is a terrorist organisation, why would the USA save the life of one of its most important leaders at one point of time? It is doublespeak of the USA as it negotiated with the Taliban and handed over power to them in Afghanistan.
If you want a solution to the Gaza problem, Israel will have to negotiate with Hamas today.
Mahatma Gandhi believed in non-violence and here Hamas is using every means of violence. Isn't it hypocritical for Khaled Mashal to tell you that he admires Gandhiji?
I asked him the same question and he said that from Mahatma Gandhi he gets inspiration. Mahatma Gandhi guided him in the fight of the weak against the strong.
There is no comparison between the Israeli war machine and the weapons that Palestinian fighters carry. So, he said that is the inspiration he gets from Gandhi, to fight when he himself has no resources to fight against the Israelis.
There is no economy in Gaza -- everything has to be smuggled in through underground tunnels in Rafah. His argument was that if we do not resist, Israel will walk over Gaza. His point was that he had to resist so that he could survive the might of Israel.
Violent resistance?
Mahatma Gandhi too said that if one has to choose between cowardice and violence, then it is better to choose violence. Today, Israel is pushing Palestinians in Gaza towards Egypt, which does not want to open its doors. So where will they go?
One day Israel will take over Gaza completely. Israel does not want to give any place to the Palestinians. They want to finish them off. It is here that the USA must intervene and bring both sides to the negotiating table to find a solution.
They are not doing that; the USA sold arms to Israel just two days back.
But Hamas does not believe in the two-State solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
It was Hamas' position earlier, but not now.
Yasser Arafat (the late leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation) did not believe in the two-State solution initially, but later on he agreed.
The problem with Israel is that whatever it agrees to in peace accords, they never honour those agreements. Be it the Oslo agreement or the Camp David agreement where the USA was playing the role of mediator.
For example, they are not willing to remove Israeli settlements which have forcibly been set up on Palestinian land.
If there is a proper negotiation where Israel is forced to commit to certain things, then there will be peace.
I think the pre-1967 war borders of Israel, most people will agree to this solution.
In 1947, the UN passed a resolution to create two States through which Israel was created. And today, Palestine has just an observer status (at the UN) which was given in 2012.
What about the Israelis captured by Hamas?
If you compare their number with the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, there is no comparison.
I agree that the Israeli hostages captured by Hamas should be released. But one cannot forget that 40 per cent of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are behind bars without any trial.
The law in Israel says the Israeli police can arrest any Palestinian without any charge. How can the USA then talk about establishing democracy and implementing human rights values across the world?
How can they tolerate such injustice against the Palestinian people?
What was the turning point that made you return the award? Was it because Israel said on New Year that the war in Gaza would continue for the next one year?
I had been contemplating for some time to return the award. It was on my mind, but on the eve of New Year I decided to return the award when Israel started attacking south Gaza too.
I have been to Gaza and I know how bad the situation in Gaza is because it is a very densely populated area.
Israel pushed them to one corner. Egypt, which borders Gaza, their forces are very insensitive to the Palestinians of Gaza. I recall we had to bribe Egyptian security forces to send across relief material into Gaza.
Why do you think the US supports Israel?
One is the guilt that this white race has about the Holocaust (when the Nazis killed 6 million Jews during World War II).
The more important reason is the hold of the Jews over the American economy. This lobby is very strong and therefore, the United States supports Israel.
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