By DANIELA MAURICIO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA—The Philippines is in a position to support the people affected by the Middle East crisis, given its own struggles for national liberation.
“They need a cradle in different parts of the world and we are one of the countries in that position to nurture, in whatever way, this kind of struggle because we also have our own fight for national liberation,” said Prof. Sarah Raymundo, international officer of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan).
Raymundo, also a faculty member at the Center for International Studies (CIS) of the University of the Philippines Diliman, was among the speakers at a forum held on October 18 organized by the League of Filipino Students (LFS), Lila Filipina, Courage, and Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) to explore the roots of the Middle East crisis.
Apart from the attacks against Palestine, Israel also invaded Lebanon, justifying it as its fight with Hezbollah which has resisted Israel since the 1980s.
Various international news outlets reported the damage that Israeli air strikes have done to Lebanon. Raymundo said that as of early October, Israeli forces launched over 4,000 attacks in northern Lebanon, using white phosphorus and fuel bombs, destroying more than 1,000 hectares of land and displacing around 9,400 people.
“This campaign goes beyond military objectives,” she said, adding that Israel aims to decimate the region’s social and economic infrastructure as part of a broader class war. “It’s really about diminishing the population. Israel aims to prevent people from socially reproducing themselves as laborers. This is class warfare. Their destruction of infrastructure, farms, and forests takes away resources from farmers in those areas.”
Historical context, US involvement
Raymundo said that colonial powers disrupted the region’s demographic and economic stability when they drew an “artificial border” after World War I. “So, if these borders are artificial, people remember this because it is tied to their ancestry, right? Their roots, their lineage, and their family history. They recall these things—how they lived, how they were displaced, how things were taken from them.”
According to her, the US has been supporting Israel in the region.
While Israel was officially established in 1948, the roots of Zionism may be traced to the First Zionist Congress in 1897 which sought to create a homeland for the Jewish people, said Pastor Alan Rey Sarte, secretary-general of the Philippines-Palestine Friendship Association.
“They wanted land where the Palestinians were. That was their target. But how would they take it? Essentially, it’s through colonialism, land grabbing. They did not just settle there. By 1897, they already had that plan in mind.” he said.
Sarte added that countries like the US have everything to gain in supporting Israel as it has managed to secure a strategic foothold in a geopolitically important and militarized area.
“The agenda of the US is to control their oil resources. They know how important it is to them. And is there another important agenda there? War and selling weapons. So, it is a market for weapons,” he said.
To bolster such attacks, Raymundo said that western media outlets have demonized Muslim populations in their reports to reinforce negative stereotypes of the Middle East as a region mired in chaos and danger.
She observed how reports of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian incidents rose in the US. There was also a documented increase in hate crimes against Muslims, including the fatal stabbing of a six-year-old Palestinian-American in Chicago, Illinois.
“This is not mentioned in current discussions, even in mass media. The focus is only on how strong Israel is, armed by Germany and the United States, extremely powerful and frightening. Every nation in the region must yield to Israel or else it will destroy them,” Raymundo said.
Filipino migrants also affected
In Lebanon, the plight of foreign migrant workers has become increasingly dire amid the regional conflict. More than 177,000 foreign nationals are employed in the country, excluding undocumented workers from Southeast Asia and Africa, said Joanna Concepcion, chairperson of Migrante International.
A major issue is the lack of a structured blueprint for mass evacuation. The Philippine government’s current approach primarily involves booking commercial flights which proved to be inconvenient. OFWs must compete for limited seats on these flights, leading to delays and uncertainty.
“During our dialogue with the Department of Migrant Workers, they admitted that when we asked if they had already reserved chartered flights, they said no because it’s expensive, it’s around P25 million. These are thousands of our fellow citizens whose lives are at risk, yet there are still no available resources for this.” Concepcion said.
Migrante called for the Philippine government to allocate more resources for safe repatriation efforts. “It is highly urgent that the blueprint includes sufficient resources for what was mentioned—ground vehicles for rescue, temporary shelters, evacuation centers, transport to the embassy, and expediting negotiations with the Lebanese government to assert the rights of our OFWs, allowing them to bypass exit clearance. If the situation becomes dangerous, ensure the swift and safe repatriation of migrant workers who wish to return to the Philippines.”
Raymundo said that solidarity among nations in West Asia, Africa, and Asia remains strong despite Western efforts to divide these regions. “At the heart of this regional solidarity is, in fact, class solidarity that no longer relies on the previous division imposed by imperialists on the people of these three nations. This solidarity is rooted in their shared history. Their solidarity is not merely Islamic in the political sense; it’s a kind of solidarity that is also geographic, rooted in the land, shared water and resources. This is why, no matter what the US or Israel tries to do, it’s difficult to destroy. They will continue to rise.” (JJE, DAA)
